Blair Atcheynum

Infobox Ice Hockey Player
position = Right Wing
shot = Right
height_ft = 6
height_in = 02
weight_lb = 210
played_for = Ottawa Senators
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Chicago Blackhawks
league = NHL
nationality = CAN
birth_date = birth date and age|1969|04|20
birth_place = Estevan, Saskatchewan
career_start = 1989
career_end = 2001
draft = Round 3, 52nd overall
draft_year = 1989
draft_team = Hartford Whalers


image_size =

Blair Atcheynum (born April 20 1969 in Estevan, Saskatchewan) is a retired professional ice hockey right wing. Atcheynum is of Cree First Nation descent.

Atcheynum was selected 52nd overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft after scoring 70 goals in 71 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League during the 1988–89 season. He never reached the NHL with the Whalers and was later claimed by the new Ottawa Senators in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft [ [http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10042 "Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum"'s legendsofhockey.net profile of Blair Atcheynum] ] .

He spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues but was able to break into the NHL for a total of 196 games over four seasons. He got his first taste of the NHL during the 1992–93 NHL season when he played four games for the Ottawa Senators, although he spent the majority of the season with their farm team, the New Haven Senators of the American Hockey League. It would take another four years to make it as a regular in the NHL. He played in 61 games (scoring a respectable 11 goals and 14 assists) during the 1997–98 NHL season for the St. Louis Blues after signing with the team as a free agent. Blues general manager Larry Pleau was impressed by Atcheynum's hard work, saying "Blair's not a player in the bottom third of our roster. He's one of our first nine forwards. He can move up to the first or second line without missing a step if we need him" [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n10_v222/ai_20382949 "Sporting News" article by Gare Joyce] ] .

The next year he was selected in the 1998 NHL Expansion Draft by the newly-formed Nashville Predators. He played 53 games with the Predators before being traded back to St. Louis for a sixth-round draft pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. In 1999 he was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks, with whom he played 66 games between 1999 and 2001. Atcheynum retired as a professional hockey player in 2001.

Atcheynum is currently an assistant coach with the Battlefords North Stars of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League [ [http://www.northstars.ca/page.aspx?page_id=38 official website of the SJHL Battlefords North Stars] ] .

References