John Erskine

Ice hockey player
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroIce hockey player
PlacesCanada
isAthlete Ice hockey player
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth26 June 1980, Kingston, Canada
Age44 years
Star signCancer
Stats
Height:193 cm
Weight:220 lbs
Sports Teams
Dallas Stars
Washington Capitals
New York Islanders
The details

Biography

John Erskine (born June 26, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Dallas Stars, New York Islanders and Washington Capitals.

Playing career

Erskine was born in Kingston, Ontario, but grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown of Ajax, Ontario for the Ajax Knights of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association's (OMHA) York-Simcoe League and the Ajax-Pickering Raiders AAA of the OMHA's Eastern AAA League.

After a solid 1995-96 season with the Ajax-Pickering Raiders Midget AAA team, Erskine signed for the following season with the Quinte Hawks Jr.A. team of the Ontario Hockey Association's Metro Junior League.

The London Knights selected Erskine with the 2nd overall pick in the 1997 OHL Priority Selection.

Erskine was drafted 39th overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by the Dallas Stars. For the 1997–98, 1998–99, and 1999–2000 seasons, Erskine played for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Erskine won the Max Kaminsky Trophy as top defenceman in the OHL in 1999–2000. He showed marked improvement from season to season until his promotion to the Utah Grizzlies of the International Hockey League in 2000.

Erskine's NHL debut came during the 2001–02 NHL season with Dallas, where he played 33 games, notching a single assist. He remained in Dallas until midway through the 2005–06 NHL season when Dallas traded Erskine to the New York Islanders for Finnish defenceman Janne Niinimaa. At the conclusion of the season, the Islanders did not re-sign Erskine, leaving him a free agent.

On September 14, 2006, Erskine signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals. Following the end of the season he extended his stay with the Capitals for a further two years. In the final year of his contract a neck injury kept him out of the lineup for the entire 2014–15 season, effectively ending his playing career.

Career statistics

Regular seasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
1995–96Ajax-Pickering Raiders MidgetOMHA49112940122
1996–97Quinte HawksMTJHL4671926143
1997–98London KnightsOHL550992051605525
1998–99London KnightsOHL5781220208255101538
1999–00London KnightsOHL58123143177
2000–01Utah GrizzliesIHL77189284
2001–02Utah GrizzliesAHL39268118300010
2001–02Dallas StarsNHL3301162
2002–03Utah GrizzliesAHL522810274101115
2002–03Dallas StarsNHL1620229
2003–04Dallas StarsNHL3201184
2003–04Utah GrizzliesAHL500018
2004–05Houston AerosAHL613710238501120
2005–06Dallas StarsNHL2600062
2005–06Iowa StarsAHL30006
2005–06New York IslandersNHL3410199
2006–07Washington CapitalsNHL2916769
2006–07Hershey BearsAHL40229
2007–08Washington CapitalsNHL512799670226
2008–09Washington CapitalsNHL52044631201116
2009–10Washington CapitalsNHL5015666
2010–11Washington CapitalsNHL7347119491126
2011–12Washington CapitalsNHL280225140110
2012–13Washington CapitalsNHL303363470114
2013–14Washington CapitalsNHL3713456
NHL totals4911539548653916732

Awards and honours

AwardsYear
OHL
CHL Top Prospects Game1998
First All-Star Team2000
Max Kaminsky Trophy2000
CHL First All-Star Team2000
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 15 Apr 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.