Justin Williams (ice hockey player)

Justin Williams


Date of birth	4th October 1981
place of birth	Cobourg , Ontario , Canada
Nickname	Mr. Game Seven
size	185 cm
Weight	88 kg

position	Right wing
number	# 14
Shot hand	Right

Draft

NHL Entry Draft	2000 , 1st lap, 28th position Philadelphia Flyers

Career stations

1998-2000	Plymouth Whalers
2000-2004	Philadelphia Flyers
2004-2005	Luleå HF
2004-2009	Carolina Hurricanes
2009-2015	Los Angeles Kings
2015-2017	Washington Capitals
2017-2019	Carolina Hurricanes
since 2020	Carolina Hurricanes

Justin Williams (born October 4, 1981 in Cobourg , Ontario ) is an American - Canadian ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Carolina Hurricanes from the National Hockey League since January 2020 . The right winger was previously active in the NHL twice for the Hurricanes as well as for the Philadelphia Flyers , Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals . With Carolina he won the Stanley Cup in 2006 as well as with the Kings in the playoffs 2012 and 2014 , while in 2014 he was also honored with the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the post-season .

Career

Williams began his career in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers and was finally selected ( drafted ) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft as 28th in the first round of the Philadelphia Flyers . He was then on the ice for the Flyers for four seasons between 2000 and 2004, but suffered several injuries, including a broken hand in his rookie season 2000/01 and a torn cruciate and inner ligament after a check by his opponent Brad Lukowich in March 2003, thrown back. Furthermore, the attacker had enormous difficulties establishing himself at the level of the top division in North America due to the many coaching changes and the associated system changes.

In a swap, Williams was finally transferred to the Carolina Hurricanes in January 2004 for defender Danny Markov within the league . During the lockout in the 2004/05 season , the right-handed shooter played for Luleå HF in the Swedish Elitserien , where he scored 32 points in 49 games. In the summer of 2005 he received a one-year contract extension with the Hurricanes and played in the following season 2005/06 with 31 goals and 45 assists, the season with the highest points of his NHL career. Williams also impressed in the play-offs with good offensive performances and, with 18 scorer points in 25 games, played a key role in his team's first Stanley Cup victory, after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the final and the Canadian with an empty net goal to 3-1 final score in the decisive game of the series met. In the summer of 2006, his contract in Carolina was extended for a total of five years for a rumored annual salary of 3.5 million US dollars. In the 2006/07 season Williams was able to build on the performance from the previous season and was allowed to participate in the NHL All-Star Game for the first time in January 2007 .

After the winger had a good start to the season the following year with 30 scorer points from the first 36 games, Williams suffered another cruciate and inner ligament tear in December 2007 after a check by Rostislav Olesz in the game against the Florida Panthers , after which he was out for about four months . On his comeback in April 2008, the Canadian suffered a back injury, which meant the end of the season for him. The following season was also marked by injuries for Williams, for example he suffered a tear of the Achilles tendon during the pre-season preparation in September 2008. He returned to the ice a month ahead of schedule and played the first full NHL game in eleven months in December 2008.

In March 2009 Williams was transferred to league rivals Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Patrick O'Sullivan and a second-round draft pick . In the summer of 2011, the contract with the Kings was extended by four years for a total salary of 14.6 million US dollars. In the 2011/12 season he was finally able to build on his performances from previous years for the first time and scored 59 points in 82 games. Williams also recorded solid values in the play-offs with four goals and 11 assists and was able to win the second Stanley Cup of his career with his team in the final against the New Jersey Devils . The 2013/14 season would ultimately be the most successful of Williams' career. After initially rather moderate offensive performances in the main round, the Canadian was able to convince in the play-offs with strong performances and scored a total of nine goals and 16 assists as well as a plus / minus value of +13 when the Kings again won the Stanley Cup . After winning the title, Williams was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the post season .

After his contract expired, Williams became a free agent following the 2014/15 season and signed a two-year contract with Washington Capitals in July 2015 . In January 2016, he scored the second hat trick of his previous NHL career in a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers . On the last day of the 2015/16 season, the Canadian played his 1000th regular season game in the NHL. After another year in the capital, he returned to the Carolina Hurricanes in the summer of 2017, where he will act as team captain from the beginning of the 2018/19 season . Finally, he fulfilled his two-year contract there and announced in the summer of 2019 that he wanted to take a break from the NHL for the time being. The reason he gave was that he was unsure about his current goals in ice hockey ("[...] I've felt unsure of my aspirations with regards to hockey") . He ended this self-chosen break when he returned to the Hurricanes in January 2020 under a one-year contract.

International

In 2004 and 2007 , Williams won the Ice Hockey World Championship with the Canadian national team .

Achievements and Awards

2000 Participation in the CHL Top Prospects Game
2002 Participation in the NHL YoungStars Game
2006 Stanley Cup win with the Carolina Hurricanes
2007 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game

2012 Stanley Cup win with the Los Angeles Kings
2014 Stanley Cup win with the Los Angeles Kings
2014 Conn Smythe Trophy

International

2004 gold medal at the world championship
2007 gold medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

			Regular season					Playoffs
season	team	league	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1998/99	Plymouth Whalers	OHL	47	4th	8th	12	28	7th	1	2	3	0
1999/00	Plymouth Whalers	OHL	68	37	46	83	46	23	14th	16	30th	10
2000/01	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	63	12	13	25th	22nd	-	-	-	-	-
2001/02	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	75	17th	23	40	32	5	0	0	0	4th
2002/03	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	41	8th	16	24	22nd	12	1	5	6th	8th
2003/04	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	47	6th	20th	26th	32	-	-	-	-	-
2003/04	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	32	5	13	18th	32	-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Luleå HF	Elitserien	49	13	18th	32	61	4th	0	1	1	29
2005/06	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	82	31	45	76	60	25th	7th	11	18th	34
2006/07	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	82	33	34	67	73	-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	37	9	21st	30th	43	-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	32	3	7th	10	9	-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	12	1	3	4th	8th	-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	49	10	19th	29	39	3	0	1	1	2
2010/11	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	73	22nd	35	57	59	6th	3	1	4th	2
2011/12	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	82	22nd	37	59	44	20th	4th	11	15th	12
2012/13	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	48	11	22nd	33	22nd	18th	6th	3	9	8th
2013/14	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	82	19th	24	43	48	26th	9	16	25th	35
2014/15	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	81	18th	23	41	29	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Washington Capitals	NHL	82	22nd	30th	52	36	12	3	4th	7th	14th
2016/17	Washington Capitals	NHL	80	24	24	48	50	13	3	6th	9	6th
2017/18	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	82	16	35	51	56	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL	82	23	30th	53	44	15th	4th	3	7th	18th
OHL total			115	41	54	95	74	30th	15th	18th	33	10
NHL overall			1244	312	474	786	760	155	40	61	101	143

International

Represented Canada to:

year	team	event	result	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2002	Canada	WM	6th place	5	0	3	3	6th
2004	Canada	WM		9	0	0	0	4th
2007	Canada	WM		9	1	2	3	16
Men overall				23	1	5	6th	26th

( 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 )