Eric Boulton

Eric Boulton
Date of birth	17th August 1976
place of birth	Halifax , Nova Scotia , Canada
size	183 cm
Weight	102 kg
position	Left wing
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1994 , 9th lap, 234th position New York Rangers
Career stations
1993-1995	Oshawa Generals
1995-1996	Sarnia Sting
1996	Binghamton Rangers
1996-1998	Charlotte Checkers
1998-1999	Kentucky Thoroughblades Florida Everblades Houston Eros
1999-2000	Rochester Americans
2000-2004	Buffalo Sabers
2004-2005	Columbia Inferno
2005-2011	Atlanta Thrashers
2011–2012	New Jersey Devils
2012-2016	New York Islanders

Eric Boulton (born August 17, 1976 in Halifax , Nova Scotia ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current scout . The left winger played over 600 games in the National Hockey League , most of them for the Buffalo Sabers and the Atlanta Thrashers . As a classic enforcer , he collected over 1,400 penalty minutes in the NHL and holds the record for the Thrashers in this category .

Career

During the NHL Entry Draft 1994 Boulton was selected in the ninth round as a total of 234 players by the New York Rangers . He had previously been active for the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League . In 1995 and 1996 Boulton played for their league rivals Sarnia Sting . Further stations before his NHL time were the Charlotte Checkers and Florida Everblades , each from the East Coast Hockey League , the Binghamton Rangers , Kentucky Thoroughblades and Rochester Americans from the American Hockey League and the Fort Wayne Komets and Houston Eros from the International Hockey League .

After Boulton had played for eight clubs from four different leagues in five years, he was signed by the Buffalo Sabers in 2000 and made his debut in the National Hockey League in the 2000/01 season . The Canadian stayed with the Sabers for a total of four years. The lockout of the 2004/05 NHL season he bridged with the Columbia Inferno from the ECHL. After resuming play in the NHL, he signed a contract with the Atlanta Thrashers .

In October 2005, Boulton was suspended for six games after injuring Paul Ranger of the Tampa Bay Lightning with his elbow in an October 20 game. About a week earlier, the Canadian caused similar unsportsmanlike conduct in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs , almost injuring his opponent Eric Lindros . Both Tampa's coach John Tortorella and Toronto's coach Pat Quinn were upset by this behavior. On December 18, 2010, the winger, who played predominantly in the fourth row of the Thrashers, scored his first hat trick in the NHL in the Atlanta Thrashers' home game against the New Jersey Devils and was then voted Man of the Game.

On July 15, 2011, Boulton signed a contract with the New Jersey Devils as a free agent . A year later, the Canadian, again as a free agent, was signed by the New York Islanders . The attacker spent the next five years with the Islanders organization, but during this time he was only on just over 50 missions due to injuries, most recently with the Islanders farm team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers . After the 2016/17 season he ended his active career and is now active as a scout for the Islanders.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1993/94	Oshawa Generals	OHL		45	4th	3	7th	149		5	0	0	0	16
1994/95	Oshawa Generals	OHL		27	7th	5	12	125		-	-	-	-	-
1994/95	Sarnia Sting	OHL		24	3	7th	10	134		4th	0	1	1	10
1995/96	Sarnia Sting	OHL		66	14th	29	43	243		9	0	3	3	29
1996/97	Charlotte Checkers	ECHL		44	14th	11	25th	325		3	0	1	1	6th
1996/97	Binghamton Rangers	AHL		23	2	3	5	67		3	0	0	0	4th
1997/98	Charlotte Checkers	ECHL		53	11	16	27	202		4th	1	0	1	0
1997/98	Fort Wayne Comet	IHL		8th	0	2	2	42		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Kentucky Thoroughblades	AHL		34	3	3	6th	154		10	0	1	1	36
1998/99	Florida Everblades	ECHL		26th	9	13	22nd	143		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Houston Eros	IHL		7th	1	0	1	41		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Rochester Americans	AHL		76	2	2	4th	276		18th	2	1	3	53
2000/01	Buffalo Sabers	NHL		35	1	2	3	94		-	-	-	-	-
2001/02	Buffalo Sabers	NHL		35	2	3	5	129		-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	Buffalo Sabers	NHL		58	1	5	6th	178		-	-	-	-	-
2003/04	Buffalo Sabers	NHL		44	1	2	3	110		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Columbia Inferno	ECHL		48	23	16	39	124		4th	2	3	5	8th
2005/06	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		51	4th	5	9	87		-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		45	3	4th	7th	49		4th	0	0	0	24
2007/08	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		74	4th	5	9	127		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		76	3	10	13	176		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		62	2	6th	8th	113		-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		69	6th	4th	10	87		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	New Jersey Devils	NHL		51	0	0	0	115		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	Albany Devils	AHL		2	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	New York Islanders	NHL		15th	0	0	0	36		-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	New York Islanders	NHL		23	2	2	4th	88		-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	New York Islanders	NHL		10	2	0	2	30th		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	New York Islanders	NHL		6th	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL		2	0	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-
OHL total				162	28	44	72	651		18th	0	4th	4th	55
ECHL total				171	57	56	113	794		11	3	4th	7th	14th
AHL total				137	7th	9	16	497		31	2	2	4th	93
NHL overall				654	31	48	79	1421		4th	0	0	0	24

( 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 : Eric Boulton  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Eric Boulton in the database of the National Hockey League (English)
• Eric Boulton at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Eric Boulton at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cbc.ca, Boulton suspended 6 games by NHL
2. ↑ usatoday.com, Eric Boulton's first hat trick leads Thrashers past Devils