Frank Vatrano

Frank Vatrano
Date of birth	March 14, 1994
place of birth	East Longmeadow , Massachusetts , USA
size	175 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	center
number	# 77
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 2010	Boston Junior Bruins
2010-2013	USA Hockey National Team Development Program
2012-2013	Boston Junior Bruins
2014-2015	University of Massachusetts Amherst
2015-2018	Boston Bruins Providence Bruins
since 2018	Florida panthers

Frank "Frankie" Vatrano (born March 14, 1994 in East Longmeadow , Massachusetts ) is an American ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League since February 2018 .

Career

youth

Frank Vatrano grew up in East Longmeadow, a suburb of Springfield , the youngest of four brothers, two of whom played college- level ice hockey. In his youth he played for the Boston Junior Bruins , most recently in the 2009/10 season in the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL). In the summer of 2010, Vatrano moved to the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP), the central talent factory of the US Ice Hockey Federation in Ann Arbor , Michigan . With the NTDP he took part in the game operations of the United States Hockey League (USHL) and also played other games outside of a league against junior and college teams in the country. In addition, the teams of the NTDP act as junior national teams of the USA, so that the attacker took part in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2011 and won the silver medal there. In the following year, he was with the U18 national team at the U18 World Championship 2012 Junior World Champion.

university

In the fall of 2012, Vatrano enrolled at Boston College to play for the Boston College Eagles from now on . After just a few days, however, he was declared ineligible to play by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the umbrella organization for college sports in the United States. The reason for this was an invalid SAT , a study ability test ; according to Vatrano's own statement, he had submitted a false test result. As a result, he left Boston College with immediate effect and returned to the Boston Junior Bruins in the EJHL, where he could have returned to the USHL or in the Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec , as he was the Moncton Wildcats in 2011 in the League's Entry Draft in 140th position.

After 19 games in the EJHL and a handful of inserts in the NTDP in the 2012/13 season, Vatrano decided in January 2013 to enroll at the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Due to the still effective ban on the part of the NCAA, the attacker was only allowed to train with the Massachusetts Minutemen , the university team, but not participate in the official game operation. This state of affairs lasted for over a year, during which Vatrano was an integral part of the team and attended both home and away games. After clearing all the bureaucratic obstacles, he made his debut for the Minutemen in March 2014, although this was his only appearance in the ending season. In the following season 2014/15, his first full college season, the attacker scored 28 points in 36 games, led his team by 18 goals and was one of 59 nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award , which was the best college USA player receives.

Boston Bruins

Due to his involuntary break in play, Vatrano was not considered in any NHL entry draft and now attracted attention for the first time from teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), so that the Boston Bruins equipped him with an entry contract in March 2015 . A little later, the American made his professional debut in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Providence Bruins , the farm team of the Boston Bruins.

The following season 2015/16 spent Vatrano in roughly equal parts in the NHL and AHL, where he came to eleven points in 39 games for the Boston Bruins in the NHL. In the AHL, however, the attacker stood out: for the Providence Bruins he scored 36 goals and 19 assists in 36 games, making him the top scorer in the league ( Willie Marshall Award ), although he had played less than half of the regular season's games . With an average of around 1.5 scorer points per game, he also led the AHL. As a result, Vatrano received the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the best rookie in the league (together with Mikko Rantanen ) and was voted into the First All-Star Team and the All-Rookie Team of the AHL.

After the season he made his debut for the senior national team of his home country at the 2016 World Cup , where he scored eight points in ten games and finished fourth with the team.

Florida panthers

Nevertheless, Vatrano did not succeed - also due to a foot injury lasting several months at the beginning of the 2016/17 season - subsequently not to establish himself finally in the NHL squad of the Bruins, so that he in February 2018 in exchange for a third-round vote in the NHL Entry Draft 2018 was given to the Florida Panthers . In the Panthers jersey, he significantly increased his personal performance in the 2018/19 season, so that he signed a new three-year contract in Florida in February 2019, which earned him an average annual salary of around 2.5 million US dollars at the start of the 2019/20 season should bring in.

Achievements and Awards

• 2016 AHL First All-Star Team
• 2016 Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award (together with Mikko Rantanen )
• 2016 Willie Marshall Award
• 2016 AHL All-Rookie Team

International

• 2011 silver medal at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge
• 2012 gold medal at the U18 World Championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2009/10	Boston Junior Bruins	EJHL		8th	0	2	2		2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	USA Hockey NTDP	USHL		34	11	4th	15th	+2	22nd		2	1	0	1	± 0	0
2011/12	USA Hockey NTDP	USHL		24	7th	11	18th	+18	8th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	USA Hockey NTDP	USHL		1	0	1	1	± 0	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	Boston Junior Bruins	EJHL		19th	13	9	22nd		20th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	University of Massachusetts Amherst	NCAA		1	0	0	0	± 0	0
2014/15	University of Massachusetts Amherst	NCAA		36	18th	10	28	-15	28
2014/15	Providence Bruins	AHL		5	1	0	1	-1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Providence Bruins	AHL		36	36	19th	55	+21	22nd		3	1	0	1	+1	2
2015/16	Boston Bruins	NHL		39	8th	3	11	-3	14th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Providence Bruins	AHL		2	2	0	2	+2	4th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Boston Bruins	NHL		44	10	8th	18th	-3	14th		6th	1	0	1	-1	4th
2017/18	Boston Bruins	NHL		25th	2	0	2	-3	22nd		-	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Florida panthers	NHL		16	5	3	8th	+6	12		-	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Florida panthers	NHL		81	24	15th	39	-10	38		-	-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Florida panthers	NHL		69	16	18th	34	-8th	30th		2	0	0	0	-2	2
EJHL total				27	13	11	24		22nd		-	-	-	-	-	-
USHL total				59	18th	16	34	+20	32		2	1	0	1	± 0	0
NCAA overall				37	18th	10	28	-15	28
AHL total				43	39	19th	58	+22	26th		3	1	0	1	+1	2
NHL overall				274	65	47	112	-21	130		8th	1	0	1	-3	6th

International

Represented the USA at:

• World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2011
• U18 Junior World Championship 2012
• World Championship 2016
• World Championship 2019

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2011	United States	U17-WHC			5	2	2	4th		4th
2012	United States	U18 World Cup			6th	2	2	4th	+6	2
2016	United States	WM	4th Place		10	3	5	8th	+6	12
2019	United States	WM	7th place		8th	2	1	3	+6	4th
Juniors overall					11	4th	4th	8th		6th
Men overall					18th	5	6th	11	+12	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

• Player biography on the Florida Panthers website
• Frank Vatrano at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Nick Canelas: UMass' Frank Vatrano set to begin the next phase of his hockey career. dailycollegian.com, March 4, 2014, accessed July 12, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Alex Prewitt: Bruins rookie Frank Vatrano's unlikely rise to the NHL is stuff of local legend. si.com, November 18, 2015, accessed on July 12, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Annie Maroon: Western Mass. native Frank Vatrano, Austin Orszulak make Hobey Baker ballot. highschoolsports.masslive.com, January 8, 2015, accessed July 12, 2016 . 
4. ^ Bruins Sign Frank Vatrano to an Entry-Level Contract. bruins.nhl.com, March 13, 2015, accessed on July 12, 2016 (English). 
5. ^ Rantanen, Vatrano share Garrett Award. theahl.com, April 14, 2016, accessed July 12, 2016 .