Chris Gratton

Born July 5, 1975

Brantford, ON, CAN

Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)

Weight 230 lb (100 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 Jackets

National team Canada

NHL Draft 3rd overall, 1993

Tampa Bay Lightning

Playing career 1993–2009

Chris GrattonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 is the cousin

of Josh Gratton, who had also briefly played in the NHL as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers

and the Phoenix Coyotes.

Contents

◾ 1 Playing career

◾ 1.1 Junior Hockey

◾ 1.2 Tampa Bay Lightning

◾ 1.3 Philadelphia Flyers

◾ 1.4 Second Stint with Lightning

◾ 1.5 Buffalo Sabres

◾ 1.6 Florida Panthers

◾ 1.7 Return to Tampa Bay Lightning

◾ 1.8 Columbus Blue Jackets

◾ 2 Personal life

◾ 3 Career statistics

◾ 4 See also

◾ 5 References

◾ 6 External links

Playing career

Junior Hockey

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.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Gratton made his NHL debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 6, 1993 against the New

Jersey Devils. He recorded his first career point (a powerplay assist on a Bob Beers goal) in his

second game against the New York Rangers the next night. He scored his first career goal against Robb Stauber of the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-3

Lightning loss on October 20, 1993[1]

Philadelphia Flyers

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.

Second Stint with Lightning

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.

Buffalo Sabres

Gratton would play for the Buffalo Sabres from March 2000, till March, 2003, when the Sabres traded him 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.[2]

Florida Panthers

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.[3] 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).[4]

Return to Tampa Bay Lightning

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.[5] 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.[6]

Columbus Blue Jackets

Gratton was claimed off of re-entry waivers on February 21, 2009, by the Columbus Blue Jackets.[7] He played in six games for Columbus, recording

an assist, before retiring in 2009.

Personal life

Gratton is co-owner of the Florida Jr. Blades Organization (in the 29-team Empire Junior Hockey League).

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

OHL totals 120 82 93 175 162 16 11 18 29 42

See also

◾ List of NHL players who have signed offer sheets

◾ List of NHL players with 1000 games played

References

1. http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199310200TBL.html

2. "Avalanche acquire Salo, Gratton". CBC. 2004-03-09. Retrieved 2009-03-25.

3. "Panthers lock up Chris Gratton". CBC.ca. 2006-03-09. Retrieved 2008-03-02.

4. "Chris Gratton traded back to Lightning". CBC.ca. 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2008-03-02.

5. "Lightning's Chris Gratton to undergo hip surgery". lightning.nhl.com. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2009-06-07.

6. "Lightning assign NHL veteran Chris Gratton to Admirals". oursportscentral.com. 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2009-06-07.

7. "Lightning cast off Chris Gratton in waiver-wire move". sportingnews.com. 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-06-07.

External links

◾ Career statistics and player information from NHL.com (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8459425), or Hockey-Reference.com

(http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/grattch01.html), or The Internet Hockey Database

(http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=2007)

Preceded by

Bill Houlder

Tampa Bay Lightning captain

1999–2000

Succeeded by

Vincent Lecavalier

Preceded by

Roman Hamrlík

Tampa Bay Lightning first round draft pick

1993

Succeeded by

Jason Wiemer

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Gratton&oldid=639898066"

Categories: 1975 births Buffalo Sabres players Canadian ice hockey centres Colorado Avalanche players Columbus Blue Jackets players

Florida Panthers players Kingston Frontenacs players Living people National Hockey League first round draft picks Norfolk Admirals players

Philadelphia Flyers players Phoenix Coyotes players Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks Tampa Bay Lightning players

Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Brantford

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