Michael Henrich

Michael Henrich (born March 4, 1980) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Henrich is currently a member of Dornbirner EC. An NHL first-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1998, Henrich played several years of professional hockey in North America before moving to professional hockey in Europe. Henrich is the first Jewish player to be selected in the first round of the NHL draft, and the only player taken in the first round of the 1998 draft who has not played a game in the NHL.
Henrich's younger brother is Adam Henrich, who is also a professional hockey player for the Coventry Blaze.

Henrich, who is Jewish, was born in Thornhill, Ontario. He is married and has two children.

Junior

Michael Henrich had a standout junior career with the Barrie Colts from 1996 to 2000 in the Ontario Hockey League. Barrie drafted him 5th overall in the 1996 Ontario Hockey League priority selection draft out of the Metro Toronto Hockey Leagues Midget Wexford Raiders. In 1996–97 he competed for Team Ontario at the World Under-17 hockey tournament in Red Deer, Alberta, in which team Ontario won the gold medal.

In 1997 he was selected to the Ontario Hockey league all-star team, was voted MVP for team Orr at the CHL top prospects game and was voted by Ontario Hockey League coaches in the annual coaches poll as best shot, hardest shot and most dangerous in the goal area in his conference. He was also selected to the Canadian World Junior selection camp in 1998 and 1999.

In 1999–2000 and his final season in Junior as a 20-year-old, he was an assistant captain of the Ontario Hockey League Champions Barrie Colts, and was fourth in team scoring and led his team in playoff scoring finishing 2nd in league playoff points. His team competed in the 2000 Memorial Cup in Halifax in which they lost in the final game.

1998 NHL draft and North American hockey

Prior the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, New York, Henrich was rated high by the NHL's Central Scouting Service who ranked him 5th amongst North American skaters, and by many sportswriters, including USA Today's Phil Colvin, who had him ranked as the third best prospect in the draft behind David Legwand and Vincent Lecavalier.

Henrich was ultimately selected 13th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. He has yet to play a regular season game in the NHL, and is the only player taken in the first round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft who has not done so. He was selected ahead of eight future NHL All-Stars including Simon Gagne (22nd overall), Scott Gomez (27th overall), Brad Richards (64th overall), and Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall). As a result of Henrich not playing a regular season NHL game, coupled with the large number of NHL all-stars drafted after him, many sportswriters and networks cite him as an example of a draft bust, with NHL.com columnist and hockey author John Kreiser even listing Henrich as one of Edmonton's all-time biggest draft disappointments alongside Jason Bonsignore and Scott Allison.

His professional career in North America lasted four seasons in which he played a total of 9 pre-season/exhibition games for the Oilers scoring 1 goal and 1 assist. He also played 219 games in the minors for the Hamilton Bulldogs, Toronto Roadrunners and Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and 6 games with the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks of the ECHL.

International

In 2002 Henrich represented Team Canada at the Deutschland Cup in Hannover, Germany, in which his team won gold medal. In 2003 he was selected to represent Team Canada again at the Sweden Hockey Games in Stockholm, Sweden, where Canada placed third.

In 2002, Henrich played 12 games in the Swedish Elite League for Mora IK. After a full season in the AHL, Henrich spent 2004 during the 2004–05 NHL lockout with second tier Austrian National League team EK Zell am See. His team finished first place in regular season, won the championship and he led the team in playoff scoring. In 2005 he played for the Füchse Duisburg of the DEL, otherwise known as the German Elite League. In 2006 he continued to play in Germany playing for Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams and helping them win the league championship by finishing in the top three in playoff scoring. After one more season with Wolfsburg in the DEL, Henrich signed with Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio club HC Asiago.

Asiago won the 2009/2010 Serie A championship, with Henrich leading the way, topping the team in scoring. Henrich was named player of the month in October, finished 6th in regular season league scoring and 3rd in playoff scoring. He signed a two-year contract extension with Asiago in 2010, and along with his brother Adam again helped Asiago win the Serie A championship, finishing 3rd in team scoring during the regular season, and adding 19 points in 17 games during the playoffs.