- Chris Gratton
-
Chris Gratton 
Born July 5, 1975
Brantford, ON, CANHeight 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight 230 lb (104 kg; 16 st 6 lb) Position Centre Shot Left Played for Tampa Bay Lightning
Philadelphia Flyers
Buffalo Sabres
Phoenix Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche
Florida Panthers
Columbus Blue JacketsNational team 
CanadaNHL Draft 3rd overall, 1993
Tampa Bay LightningPlaying career 1993–2009 Christopher A. Gratton (born July 5, 1975) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who last played with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. He the cousin of Josh Gratton, who had also briefly played in the NHL as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Atlanta Thrashers.
Contents
Playing career
Gratton played his minor hockey in his hometown of Brantford, playing for such programs as the Brantford Nodrofsky Steelers (same program Wayne Gretzky played in many years earlier) and the Brantford CKPC Knights. As a 15-year-old, he played one season with the Jr B Brantford Classics.
In 1991, Gratton was selected third overall in the OHL Priority Selection by the Kingston Frontenacs. After his rookie year in the OHL, Gratton received the Emms Family Award as rookie of the year. In 1993, he was selected third overall in the NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In 1997 Gratton signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent after four seasons with the Lightning, earning a $9 million signing bonus. In 1997–98, Gratton matched his career high of 62 points and recorded a career-best plus/minus rating of +11. Gratton was traded back to Tampa Bay the next season.
Gratton served as Tampa Bay's captain during the 1999–2000 NHL season until his trade in March, 2000, when Tampa Bay traded Gratton to the Buffalo Sabres. In March, 2003, Buffalo traded Gratton to the Phoenix Coyotes. One year later on March 9, 2004, Phoenix traded Gratton, along with Ossi Vaananen and a second round draft pick (Paul Stastny) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft to the Colorado Avalanche for Derek Morris and Keith Ballard.[1]
After the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Gratton signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers. Gratton signed a two-year contract extension with the Panthers in March, 2006.[2] He was traded back to the Lightning again on June 13, 2007, in exchange for a second round draft pick (Florida selected Jacob Markström with the draft pick).[3]
During the 2007–08 season, Gratton scored 21 points in 60 games before tearing the Acetabular labrum in his left hip which required season-ending surgery.[4] Chris re-signed with the Lightning for the 2008–09 season but was waived in December and was assigned to Tampa's American Hockey League affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals.[5]
Gratton was claimed off of re-entry waivers on February 21, 2009, by the Columbus Blue Jackets.[6] He played in six games for Columbus, recording an assist, before retiring in 2009.
Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1991–92 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 62 27 39 66 37 — — — — — 1992–93 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 58 55 54 109 125 16 11 18 29 42 1993–94 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 84 13 29 42 123 — — — — — 1994–95 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 46 7 20 27 89 — — — — — 1995–96 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 82 17 21 38 105 6 0 2 2 27 1996–97 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 82 30 32 62 201 — — — — — 1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 82 22 40 62 159 5 2 0 2 10 1998–99 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 26 1 7 8 41 — — — — — 1998–99 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 52 7 19 26 102 — — — — — 1999–00 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 58 14 27 41 121 — — — — — 1999–00 Buffalo Sabres NHL 14 1 7 8 15 5 0 1 1 4 2000–01 Buffalo Sabres NHL 82 19 21 40 102 13 6 4 10 14 2001–02 Buffalo Sabres NHL 82 15 24 39 75 — — — — — 2002–03 Buffalo Sabres NHL 66 15 29 44 86 — — — — — 2002–03 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 14 0 1 1 21 — — — — — 2003–04 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 68 11 18 29 93 — — — — — 2003–04 Colorado Avalanche NHL 13 2 1 3 18 11 0 0 0 27 2005–06 Florida Panthers NHL 76 17 22 39 104 — — — — — 2006–07 Florida Panthers NHL 81 13 22 35 94 — — — — — 2007–08 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 60 10 11 21 77 — — — — — 2008–09 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 18 0 2 2 10 — — — — — 2008–09 Norfolk Admirals AHL 24 3 12 15 8 — — — — — 2008–09 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 6 0 1 1 2 — — — — — NHL totals 1,092 214 354 568 1,638 40 8 7 15 82 See also
- List of NHL players who have signed offer sheets
- List of NHL players with 1000 games played
References
- ^ "Avalanche acquire Salo, Gratton". CBC. 2004-03-09. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2004/03/09/salo_avs040309.html. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- ^ "Panthers lock up Chris Gratton". CBC.ca. 2006-03-09. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2006/03/09/chris_gratton060309.html. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ "Chris Gratton traded back to Lightning". CBC.ca. 2007-06-13. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2007/06/13/nhl-lightning-panthers-gratton.html. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ "Lightning's Chris Gratton to undergo hip surgery". lightning.nhl.com. 2008-02-28. http://lightning.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=355320. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ "Lightning assign NHL veteran Chris Gratton to Admirals". oursportscentral.com. 2008-12-09. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3749876. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ "Lightning cast off Chris Gratton in waiver-wire move". sportingnews.com. 2009-02-21. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=520293. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
External links
Preceded by
Bill HoulderTampa Bay Lightning captain
1999–2000Succeeded by
Vincent LecavalierPreceded by
Roman HamrlíkTampa Bay Lightning first round draft pick
1993Succeeded by
Jason WiemerCategories:- 1975 births
- Buffalo Sabres players
- Canadian ice hockey centres
- Colorado Avalanche players
- Columbus Blue Jackets players
- Florida Panthers players
- Ice hockey people from Ontario
- Kingston Frontenacs alumni
- Living people
- National Hockey League first round draft picks
- Norfolk Admirals players
- People from Brantford
- Philadelphia Flyers players
- Phoenix Coyotes players
- Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks
- Tampa Bay Lightning players
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