Dainius Zubrus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LithuaniaLithuania  Dainius Zubrus Ice hockey player
Dainius Zubrus
Date of birth June 16, 1978
place of birth Elektrėnai , Lithuanian SSR
size 193 cm
Weight 102 kg
position center
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1996 , 1st lap, 15th position
Philadelphia Flyers
Career stations
1995-1996 Pembroke Lumber Kings
Caledon Canadians
1996-1999 Philadelphia Flyers
1999-2001 Canadiens de Montréal
2001-2007 Washington Capitals
2004-2005 HK Lada Tolyatti
2007 Buffalo Sabers
2007-2015 New Jersey Devils
2015-2016 San Jose Sharks

Dainius Gintas Zubrus (born June 16, 1978 in Elektrėnai , Lithuanian SSR ) is a former Lithuanian ice hockey player , who played 1399 games for the Philadelphia Flyers , Canadiens de Montréal , Washington Capitals , Buffalo Sabers , New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks competed in the National Hockey League on the position of the center . Zubrus is considered one of the best Lithuanian ice hockey players of all time.

Career

Dainius Zubrus began his career as an ice hockey player in the youth department of SC Energija in his hometown Elektrėnai . As a teenager he went to North America, played in the 1995/96 season with the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Canadian Junior League Central Junior A Hockey League and ended the same season with the Caledon Canadians from the MTJHL. He was then selected in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in the first round as the 15th player of the Philadelphia Flyers . For the 1996/97 season he received a contract with the Flyers, for which he made his debut in the National Hockey League on October 5, 1996 in the game against the Florida Panthers , where he also scored his first NHL goal. With the Flyers he reached the Stanley Cup final in his rookie year , in which he was part of the regular squad from the start , which Philadelphia lost in four games against the Detroit Red Wings .

Zubrus in the dress of the New Jersey Devils

The Flyers transferred Zubrus on March 10, 1999 together with a second round vote for the NHL Entry Draft 1999 and a six round vote for the NHL Entry Draft 2000 in exchange for Mark Recchi to the Montréal Canadiens . On October 14, 2000, the Lithuanian scored his first NHL hat trick in the game against the Chicago Blackhawks . For the 2000/01 season he was handed over to the Washington Capitals together with Trevor Linden for Richard Zedník and Jan Bulis . During the lockout in the NHL, he spent the 2004/05 season together with his teammate Alexander Sjomin at HK Lada Tolyatti in the Russian Super League .

During the 2006/07 season he played in a row with Alexander Ovetschkin and Alexander Sjomin, but was transferred to the Buffalo Sabers together with Timo Helbling shortly before the transfer ended. In return, the Capitals received a first-round draft pick for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and Jiří Novotný . With the Sabers he moved in the playoffs to the final of the Eastern Conference , but failed there at the Ottawa Senators .

In the summer of 2007 he signed a six-year contract with the New Jersey Devils . With the Devils he then failed three times in a row in the first playoff round, in the seasons 2010/11 , 2012/13 and 2013/14 he even missed them with New Jersey completely. Only in the 2011/12 season Zubrus reached the play-offs with his team and was all the more successful there: Thanks to successes over the Florida Panthers (4: 3 wins), the Philadelphia Flyers (4: 1) and in the conference final against the New York Rangers (4: 2) reached Zubrus for the first time in his career the final of the Stanley Cup , which was then lost with 2: 4 wins against the Los Angeles Kings .

After the 2014/15 season and a total of eight years with the Devils, Zubrus did not receive a new contract. He subsequently joined the San Jose Sharks in November 2015 , where he signed a one-year contract and met head coach Peter DeBoer , with whom he had worked for several years in New Jersey.

International

Initially, Zubrus played for the Russian national ice hockey team at the World Cup of Hockey 2004 , but decided to go on the ice for the Lithuanian national team at the World Cup of Division I in 2005 . This was possible because all players born in what was then the USSR are eligible to play for Russia as well as for the country on whose territory their place of birth is today. In 2014 he also played for Lithuania in Division I and led his team onto the ice as captain. He was the top scorer and the best assists in group B and was consequently chosen as the best striker of the tournament. Four years later, he was again the captain of the Lithuanians at the 2018 World Cup and led them to their first promotion from the B to the A group of Division I, to which he made a significant contribution as the best assist provider of the tournament. The World Cup in 2019 denied Zubrus also.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1995/96 Pembroke Lumber Kings CJHL 28 19th 13 32 73 - - - - -
1995/96 Caledon Canadians MTJHL 7th 3 7th 10 2 17th 11 12 23 4th
1996/97 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 68 8th 13 21st 22nd 19th 5 4th 9 12
1997/98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 69 8th 25th 33 42 5 0 1 1 2
1998/99 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 63 3 5 8th 25th - - - - -
1998/99 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 17th 3 5 8th 4th - - - - -
1999/00 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 73 14th 28 42 54 - - - - -
2000/01 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 49 12 12 24 30th - - - - -
2000/01 Washington Capitals NHL 12 1 1 2 7th 6th 0 0 0 2
2001/02 Washington Capitals NHL 71 17th 26th 43 38 - - - - -
2002/03 Washington Capitals NHL 63 13 22nd 35 43 6th 2 2 4th 4th
2003/04 Washington Capitals NHL 54 12 15th 27 38 - - - - -
2004/05 HK Lada Tolyatti Super league 42 8th 11 19th 85 10 3 1 4th 22nd
2005/06 Washington Capitals NHL 71 23 34 57 84 - - - - -
2006/07 Washington Capitals NHL 60 20th 32 52 50 - - - - -
2006/07 Buffalo Sabers NHL 19th 4th 4th 8th 12 15th 0 8th 8th 8th
2007/08 New Jersey Devils NHL 82 13 25th 38 38 5 0 1 1 8th
2008/09 New Jersey Devils NHL 82 15th 25th 40 69 7th 0 1 1 10
2009/10 New Jersey Devils NHL 51 10 17th 27 28 5 1 0 1 8th
2010/11 New Jersey Devils NHL 79 13 17th 30th 53 - - - - -
2011/12 New Jersey Devils NHL 82 17th 27 44 34 24 3 7th 10 18th
2012/13 New Jersey Devils NHL 22nd 2 7th 9 12 - - - - -
2013/14 New Jersey Devils NHL 82 13 13 26th 46 - - - - -
2014/15 New Jersey Devils NHL 74 4th 6th 10 42 - - - - -
2015/16 San Jose Sharks NHL 50 3 4th 7th 20th 14th 1 1 2 6th
NHL overall 1293 228 363 591 791 106 12 25th 37 78

International

Represented Russia in:

Represented Lithuania at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
2004 Russia World cup 6th place 4th 2 1 3 4th
2005 Lithuania WM Div. I. 5th place 4th 3 1 4th 2
2014 Lithuania WM Div. IB 3rd place 5 2 7th 9 4th
2018 Lithuania WM Div. IB 1st place 5 0 6th 6th 2
2019 Lithuania WM Div. IA 6th place 5 1 0 1 4th
Men overall 23 8th 15th 23 16

( 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

Commons : Dainius Zubrus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ juniorhockey.com, After the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Dainius Zubrus announce he would play for his home country ...
  2. ↑ iihf.com, set for Vilnius - Lithuanian star to play in Worlds Division IB , April 14, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Zubrus, Dainius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zubrus, Dainius Gintas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lithuanian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Elektrėnai , Lithuanian SSR