Chris Kotsopoulos

Chris Kotsopoulos
Date of birth	November 27, 1958
place of birth	Scarborough , Ontario , Canada
size	191 cm
Weight	98 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Right
Career stations
1974-1975	Wexford Raiders
1975-1976	Windsor Spitfires
1976-1988	Acadia University
1978-1979	Toledo Goaldiggers
1979-1980	New Haven Nighthawks
1980-1981	New York Rangers
1981-1985	Hartford Whalers
1985-1989	Toronto Maple Leafs
1989-1990	Adirondack Red Wings

Christopher "Chris" Kotsopoulos (born November 27, 1958 in Scarborough , Ontario ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played 510 games for the New York Rangers , Hartford Whalers , Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit in the course of his playing career between 1975 and 1990 Red Wings has played in the National Hockey League on the position of defender .

Career

Kotsopoulos first spent his junior years in his home province of Ontario . Between 1974 and 1975, the defender was active for the Wexford Raiders in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League before it moved him to the higher-class Ontario Major Junior Hockey League . There he played the 1975/76 season with the Windsor Spitfires . As a result, however, Kotsopoulos decided against continuing his junior career in the system of the Canadian Hockey League . Instead, he enrolled at Acadia University but took a year off ice hockey. It was not until the 1977/78 season that he was on the ice for the university team in the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union (CIAU).

For the season 1978/79 , the defender moved unmolested from the franchises of the National Hockey League in the International Hockey League , a minor league . He played his first professional year there in the service of the Toledo Goaldiggers , before he was then active for a season for the New Haven Nighthawks in the American Hockey League (AHL). With his sense of attack and the necessary physical toughness, he finally drew the attention of the New York Rangers from the NHL, who signed him as a free agent in July 1980 . Despite 16 scorer points in his rookie season , he was transferred to the Hartford Whalers in October 1981 - just before the start of the season - together with Doug Sulliman and Gerry McDonald . The Whalers gave Mike Rogers and a ten- round vote in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft to New York. In Hartford Kotsopoulos found a new sporting home for the following four years and completed his two best seasons in the NHL with 33 and 30 points. When the Whalers were stronger on the defensive in the course of the 1985/86 season , the Canadian came only sporadically to missions. Therefore, he was given in October 1985 in exchange for Stewart Gavin to the Toronto Maple Leafs .

In Toronto, the defensive player was able to re-establish himself in the NHL, but missed large parts of the 1986/87 and 1987/88 seasons due to injuries . After four years in the Leafs jersey, in which he had instructed the young players of the team, his contract was not renewed after the 1988/89 season, so he was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Red Wings . This put him in the course of the 1989/90 season but only twice, and he spent most of the season with the farm team in the AHL, the Adirondack Red Wings . The 31-year-old then declared his active career over in the summer of 1990.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1974/75	Wexford Raiders	OPJHL		30th	0	5	5	128		-	-	-	-	-
1975/76	Windsor Spitfires	OMJHL		59	3	13	16	169		-	-	-	-	-
1976/77	Acadia University	CIAU		not played
1977/78	Acadia University	CIAU		17th	0	7th	7th	72
1978/79	Toledo Goaldiggers	IHL		62	6th	22nd	28	153		6th	1	7th	8th	48
1979/80	New Haven Nighthawks	AHL		75	7th	27	34	149		10	4th	5	9	28
1980/81	New York Rangers	NHL		54	4th	12	16	153		14th	0	3	3	63
1981/82	Hartford Whalers	NHL		68	13	20th	33	147		-	-	-	-	-
1982/83	Hartford Whalers	NHL		68	6th	24	30th	125		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Hartford Whalers	NHL		72	5	13	18th	118		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	Hartford Whalers	NHL		33	5	3	8th	53		-	-	-	-	-
1985/86	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		61	6th	11	17th	83		10	1	0	1	14th
1986/87	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		43	2	10	12	75		7th	0	0	0	14th
1987/88	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		21st	2	2	4th	19th		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		57	1	14th	15th	44		-	-	-	-	-
1989/90	Adirondack Red Wings	AHL		24	2	4th	6th	4th		4th	0	0	0	2
1989/90	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		2	0	0	0	10		-	-	-	-	-
AHL total				99	9	31	40	153		14th	4th	5	9	30th
NHL overall				479	44	109	153	827		31	1	3	4th	91

( 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

• Official website
• Chris Kotsopoulos at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Chris Kotsopoulos at eliteprospects.com (English)