Joe Vitale (ice hockey player)

Joe Vitale
Date of birth	August 20, 1985
place of birth	St. Louis , Missouri , USA
size	180 cm
Weight	93 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2005 , 7th lap, 195th position Pittsburgh Penguins
Career stations
2004-2005	Sioux Falls Stampede
2005-2009	Northeastern University
2009-2011	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
2011-2014	Pittsburgh Penguins
2014-2016	Arizona Coyotes

Joseph Dominic "Joe" Vitale (born August 20, 1985 in St. Louis , Missouri ) is a retired American ice hockey player . In his comparatively short professional career, the center played 257 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Arizona Coyotes in the National Hockey League .

Career

Vitale in the Pittsburgh Penguins jersey

Vitale began his career as a hockey player with the Sioux Falls Stampede, for which he was active in the 2004/05 season in the junior league United States Hockey League . He was then selected in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft in the seventh round as the 195th player of the Pittsburgh Penguins . First, however, he attended Northeastern University for four years , for whose ice hockey team he played parallel in the National Collegiate Athletic Association . In his senior year of college, he was named the Best Defensive Striker in Hockey East and All New England. The center then made its American Hockey League debut for Pittsburgh's farm team Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins towards the end of the 2008-09 season . He also spent the following season exclusively with Pittsburgh's AHL farm team.

After Vitale had also started the 2010/11 season at Wilkes-Barre / Scranton in the AHL, he made his National Hockey League debut for Pittsburgh on February 10, 2011 at the home game against the Los Angeles Kings . By the end of February he came in a total of nine games to each one goal and one template in the NHL. Then he was given back to the AHL farm team. At the beginning of the 2011/12 season, however, the attacker established himself in the NHL squad and played there over 150 competitive games in the following three seasons.

His contract expired in the summer of 2014, so in July 2014 he signed a new three-year contract with the Arizona Coyotes as a free agent . With the Coyotes, he was used regularly in the 2014/15 season before he fractured his eye socket in a fist fight in the first game of the 2015/16 season . Although Vitale should be operational again after two months, he subsequently suffered from persistent symptoms of a concussion ( post-commotional syndrome ) and was out for the rest of the season.

As part of the NHL Entry Draft 2016 , Vitale was handed over to the Detroit Red Wings in an exchange deal comprising several draft picks and the contractual obligations of Pawel Dazjuk . He did not play a game for the franchise during the season, however, and subsequently ended his active career.

Achievements and Awards

• 2007 Hockey East All-Academic Team
• 2008 Hockey East Second All-Star Team
• 2009 Hockey East Best Defensive Forward

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2004/05	Sioux Falls Stampede	USHL		53	11	20th	31	62		-	-	-	-	-
2005/06	Northeastern University	Hockey East		31	8th	8th	16	71
2006/07	Northeastern University	Hockey East		35	7th	9	16	54
2007/08	Northeastern University	Hockey East		37	12	23	35	75
2008/09	Northeastern University	Hockey East		40	7th	20th	27	68
2008/09	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		5	2	2	4th	2		12	0	0	0	12
2009/10	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		74	6th	26th	32	70		4th	0	2	2	0
2010/11	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins	AHL		60	9	21st	30th	64		11	3	3	6th	18th
2010/11	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		9	1	1	2	13		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		68	4th	10	14th	56		4th	0	0	0	12
2012/13	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		33	2	3	5	17th		6th	0	1	1	6th
2013/14	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		53	1	13	14th	29		13	0	0	0	4th
2014/15	Arizona Coyotes	NHL		70	3	6th	9	36		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Arizona Coyotes	NHL		1	0	0	0	5		-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		not played because of concussion
NCAA overall				143	34	60	94	268
AHL total				139	17th	49	66	136	27	3	5	8th	30th
NHL overall				234	11	33	44	156	23	0	1	1	22nd

( 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 : Joe Vitale  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Joe Vitale at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Joe Vitale at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Coyotes' Joe Vitale: Out for season. cbssports.com, February 10, 2016, accessed April 20, 2016 .