Jay Leach (ice hockey player)

Jay Leach
Date of birth	2nd September 1979
place of birth	Syracuse , New York , USA
size	193 cm
Weight	100 kg
position	defender
number	# 28
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1998 , 5th lap, 115th position Phoenix Coyotes
Career stations
1997-2001	Providence College
2001-2002	Mississippi Sea Wolves
2002-2003	Augusta Lynx
2003-2004	Trenton Titans
2004	Bridgeport Sound Tigers
2004-2007	Providence Bruins
2007-2008	Norfolk Admirals
2008	Portland Pirates
2008-2009	New Jersey Devils
2009	Montréal Canadiens
2009-2010	San Jose Sharks
2010-2011	Worcester Sharks
2011-2013	Albany Devils

Jay Christopher Leach (born September 2, 1979 in Syracuse , New York ) is an American ice hockey coach and former player. Since 2016 he has been the assistant coach of the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League . His uncle Steve Leach was also a hockey player.

Career

As a player

Leach began his career as a hockey player in 1994 in the teams of John Marshall High School in the US state of Minnesota and the Capital District Selects from the Eastern Junior Hockey League . In the summer of 1997 he decided to study at Providence College , for whose ice hockey team he was also active in the Hockey East , a division in the game operations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . In total, the defender played in college for four years until 2001. In his last season, the now 21-year-old completed his best season when he scored 25 points in 40 games. In the three previous years, he had scored an average of only nine points and was already selected in the summer of 1998 in the NHL Entry Draft in the fifth round as a total of 115 players by the Phoenix Coyotes .

After Leach was signed by the Phoenix Coyotes in the fall of 2001, they sent him to their farm team , the Mississippi Sea Wolves , from the East Coast Hockey League . There he became a regular player in his rookie year . He was used in 70 games and scored 16 points. The following year he moved within the league to the new Coyotes farm team Augusta Lynx , where he was able to improve slightly compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the American came to nine missions with the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League . In the summer of 2003, the two-year contract with the Coyotes expired and was not renewed. Leach then signed the Boston Bruins. For their ECHL and AHL farm teams he played the following four years and developed into a solid defender with a defensive orientation. His increase in performance brought him his NHL debut in the 2005/06 season when he was used in two games of the Boston Bruins. As a free agent , the defender was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise in the summer of 2007 . There he was mainly used for the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL, but also played twice in the NHL for Tampa. Nevertheless, he only stayed a good six months in the team, since he was given to the Anaheim Ducks on February 26, 2008 for Brandon Segal and a seven-round vote in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft . Until the end of the 2007/08 season they only used it on their farm team, the Portland Pirates .

Since Leach had only signed a one-year contract in Tampa the previous year, he found a new team in the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2008 . During the 2008/09 season he came to both New Jersey Devils in the NHL and Lowell Devils in the AHL to 24 missions each. The American could not defend his place in the NHL squad over the summer break and found himself at the beginning of the 2009/10 season with the Lowell Devils. When New Jersey's management tried to get him back into the NHL squad in early November 2009, the Montréal Canadiens selected him from the waiver list, on which Leach had to stay for 24 and was eligible for the remaining 29 NHL teams. Since the Canadiens suffered bad luck with injuries in November, the defender came to seven missions before the Canadiens tried in early December to send him back to the American Hockey League via the waiver. This time he was picked by the San Jose Sharks , who were looking for an inexpensive, seventh defender for their NHL roster.

In February 2011, Leach was given to the New Jersey Devils in an exchange deal with Steven Zalewski , in return the Sharks received the two attackers Michael Swift and Patrick Davis .

International

For the USA , Leach took part in the U20 World Junior Championship in 1998 . The team finished fifth. Leach came to seven missions in the course of the tournament, in which he managed an assist and had to serve eight penalty minutes.

As a trainer

For the 2014/2015 season , Jay Leach moved from the USA to the DEL to take up a position as assistant coach at Adler Mannheim . There he succeeded at the side of Craig Woodcroft under head coach Geoff Ward immediately winning the German championship.

For the 2015/2016 season, Leach left Adler Mannheim and switched to the AHL as assistant coach for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins . There he took over the position of head coach on an interim basis in December 2015, when Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston in the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL . A little later, however, Leach returned to the position of assistant coach before moving to the Providence Bruins in the same role in the 2016/17 season.

successes

• 2015 German champion with the Adler Mannheim

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		GP	G	A.	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A.	Pts	PIM
1997-1998	Providence College	NCAA		32	0	8th	8th	29
1998-1999	Providence College	NCAA		33	1	8th	9	42
1999-00	Providence College	NCAA		37	1	9	10	101
2000-2001	Providence College	NCAA		40	4th	21st	25th	104
2001-2002	Mississippi Sea Wolves	ECHL		70	3	13	16	116		10	1	1	2	8th
2002-2003	Augusta Lynx	ECHL		65	8th	11	19th	162		-	-	-	-	-
	Springfield Falcons	AHL		9	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
2003-2004	Long Beach Ice Dogs	ECHL		3	0	1	1	4th		-	-	-	-	-
	Providence Bruins	AHL		3	0	0	0	4th		-	-	-	-	-
	Trenton Titans	ECHL		31	2	11	13	45		-	-	-	-	-
	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL		23	0	1	1	33		7th	0	1	1	10
2004-2005	Trenton Titans	ECHL		11	0	2	2	17th		-	-	-	-	-
	Providence Bruins	AHL		62	4th	5	9	92		17th	0	0	0	28
2005-2006	Providence Bruins	AHL		71	5	11	16	100		6th	0	1	1	15th
	Boston Bruins	NHL		2	0	0	0	7th		-	-	-	-	-
2006-2007	Providence Bruins	AHL		73	2	5	7th	128		13	0	4th	4th	13
2007-2008	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		55	3	8th	11	54		-	-	-	-	-
	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		2	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
	Portland Pirates	AHL		20th	3	6th	9	30th		18th	1	0	1	7th
2008-2009	Lowell Devils	AHL		24	2	4th	6th	29		-	-	-	-	-
	New Jersey Devils	NHL		24	0	1	1	21st		-	-	-	-	-
2009-2010	Lowell Devils	AHL		12	0	3	3	10		-	-	-	-	-
	Montréal Canadiens	NHL		7th	0	0	0	5		-	-	-	-	-
	San Jose Sharks	NHL		28	1	1	2	20th		-	-	-	-	-
2010-2011	Worcester Sharks	AHL		50	1	4th	5	45		-	-	-	-	-
	Albany Devils	AHL		16	1	3	4th	8th		-	-	-	-	-
	New Jersey Devils	NHL		7th	0	0	0	7th		-	-	-	-	-
NCAA overall				142	6th	46	52	276
ECHL total				180	13	38	51	344		10	1	1	2	8th
AHL total				418	21st	50	71	533		61	1	6th	7th	73
NHL overall				70	1	2	3	60		-	-	-	-	-

International

Represented the USA at:

• Junior World Championship 1998

year	team	event		GP	G	A.	Pts	PIM
1998	United States	June World Cup		7th	0	1	1	8th
Juniors overall				7th	0	1	1	8th

( 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

• Jay Leach at legendsofhockey.net (English)