Craig Valette

Craig Valette
Date of birth	October 7, 1982
place of birth	Shellbrook , Saskatchewan , Canada
size	185 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	Center / left wing
number	# 14
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1999-2001	Saskatoon Blades
2001-2003	Portland Winter Hawks
2003-2006	Cleveland Barons
2006-2008	Worcester Sharks
since 2008	Stockton Thunder

Craig Valette (born October 7, 1982 in Shellbrook , Saskatchewan ) is a Canadian ice hockey player . He currently plays for the Stockton Thunder in the ECHL in the position of the center .

Career

Valette began his career in the 1999/00 season with the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League . After he had managed only five points in one and a half seasons and 71 games, the Blades transferred him within the league to the Portland Winter Hawks in the course of the 2000/01 game year , where the Canadian was able to increase his offensive production slightly. His breakthrough in the WHL came in the 2002/03 season when he cracked the 30-goal mark and was the best scorer of his team with 56 points.

Undrafted Valette signed for the 2003/04 season a contract with the Cleveland Barons in the American Hockey League , who at that time were the farm team of the San Jose Sharks from the National Hockey League . Similar to the WHL, he initially had problems adapting to the level of the league, which meant he never reached more than 20 points in the three seasons up to 2006. Only with the move of the Barons to Worcester and the renaming in Worcester Sharks improved his offensive statistics and he was one of the top performers of the team in the 2006/07 season , as he was also able to set accents on the defensive. This continued in the following game year, although he again collected fewer points on the offensive. Since his expiring contract was not extended in the summer of 2008, he first moved to the Stockton Thunder in the ECHL as a free agent . After a good start with three scorer points from the first two games of the season, the Houston Eros from the AHL submitted a trial contract to him in early November. This was after 15 games in which Valette only got two assists , dissolved again in mid-December, after which he returned to the Thunder in the ECHL. Towards the end of the month he also received an AHL trial contract from the Syracuse Crunch , which was terminated after two and a half weeks and six games completed.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1999-00	Saskatoon Blades	WHL		47	2	1	3	25th		3	0	0	0	0
2000-01	Saskatoon Blades	WHL		24	2	0	2	19th		-	-	-	-	-
	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		39	8th	6th	14th	39		16	0	2	2	27
2001-02	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		67	8th	14th	22nd	160		7th	2	1	3	6th
2002-03	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		71	30th	26th	56	192		7th	5	4th	9	18th
2003-04	Cleveland Barons	AHL		56	6th	10	16	77		5	0	0	0	2
2004-05	Cleveland Barons	AHL		79	6th	6th	12	94		-	-	-	-	-
2005-06	Cleveland Barons	AHL		69	5	7th	12	95		-	-	-	-	-
2006-07	Worcester Sharks	AHL		55	15th	11	26th	77		1	0	0	0	0
2007-08	Worcester Sharks	AHL		69	4th	10	14th	97		-	-	-	-	-
2008-09	Stockton Thunder	ECHL		43	9	16	25th	65		14th	6th	7th	13	19th
	Houston Eros	AHL		15th	0	2	2	15th		-	-	-	-	-
	Syracuse crunch	AHL		6th	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
2009-10	Stockton Thunder	ECHL		22nd	4th	7th	11	36		-	-	-	-	-
2010-11	Stockton Thunder	ECHL
WHL overall				248	50	47	97	435		39	7th	7th	14th	51
ECHL total				65	13	23	36	101		14th	6th	7th	13	19th
AHL total				349	36	46	82	457		6th	0	0	0	2

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Craig Valette at hockeydb.com (English)
• Craig Valette at eliteprospects.com (English)