Scott Niedermayer (born August 31, 1973) is a Canadian retired ice hockey defenceman and current assistant coach of the Anaheim Ducks. He played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played with the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks.
Career
Before playing in the NHL, Niedermayer played 2 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL. He was drafted with the 3rd overall pick by the New Jersey Devils in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. He played 12 seasons with the New Jersey Devils and 5 seasons with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim/Anaheim Ducks. During his time in New Jersey, he reached the Stanley Cup Finals four times and won three Stanley Cups with the team. He was also able to win the James Norris Memorial Trophy in the 2003–04 NHL season after he finished second in league scoring among defencemen, recorded a plus-minus rating of +20 and lead the Devils to a modern NHL record low 164 goals against.[1]
Niedermayer was an unrestricted free agent after the 2004–05 NHL lockout. The Devils offered him a five-year contract worth $7.8 million per season (the maximum allowed under the new salary cap), but he decided to sign a four-year contract worth $6.75 million per season with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. He signed with the Mighty Ducks because he wanted to try to win a Stanley cup with his brother Rob.[2] Scott was named captain of the Ducks when he arrived in Anaheim.[3]
When the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007, Scott, as team captain, had the choice of who to hand the Stanley Cup to first. He chose to hand the Cup off to his brother Rob first. He later stated: "You don't really dream of passing it to your brother. I never have. To be able to do that is definitely a highlight of my career."[4] He was also able to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.[4]
He retired from playing professional ice hockey on June 22, 2010.[5] After he retired he stayed with the Ducks as a consultant to general manager Bob Murray. He took the role of assistant coach with the Ducks in the 2012–13 NHL season.[6] Niedermayer is the only player in hockey history to win every major North American and world title a Canadian can win: the Memorial Cup, World Junior championship, Stanley Cup, World Championship, World Cup and Olympic gold medal.[7] His jersey number #27 was retired by the New Jersey Devils in 2011[8] and the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL retired his jersey number #28 which he wore while playing with them.[9] He was inducted into both the BC Hockey Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[7][10] He was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 11, 2013.[11]
He has also competed in the Olympics with Canada. His first Olympics were in 2002 where he helped Canada defeat the United States, 5–2 in the final as the country won its first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 50 years.[12] His last Olympics were in 2010. He was named captain of Team Canada for the tournament that was held in his home province, in Vancouver. He was able to lead Canada to the gold medal, after they defeated the United States 3–2 in overtime.[13]
Personal life
He was born in Edmonton, Alberta but lived in Cassiar, British Columbia for three years before settling in Cranbrook, British Columbia.[14] He has a father named Bob, who worked as a doctor in Cassiar as well as Cranbrook, and has a mother named Carol who worked as a teacher.[15] His younger brother Rob was also an NHL player.
He is married to his wife Lisa and they have four sons: Logan, Jackson, Joshua and Luke.[16] The family live in Newport Beach, California and often return to Cranbrook, where they spent the off-seasons when he was playing.[17] Niedermayer is an environmentalist and joined WWF-Canada to speak out in favour of efforts to maintain British Columbia's natural wilderness.[18]
References
Other websites
