Chris Gratton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christopher A. Gratton (born July 5, 1975) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player
who last played with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. He is the cousin
of Josh Gratton, who had also briefly played in the NHL as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers
and the Phoenix Coyotes.

Chris Gratton

Contents
1 Playing career
1.1 Junior Hockey
1.2 Tampa Bay Lightning
1.3 Philadelphia Flyers
1.4 Second Stint with Lightning
1.5 Buffalo Sabres
1.6 Florida Panthers
1.7 Return to Tampa Bay Lightning
1.8 Columbus Blue Jackets
2 Personal life
3 Career statistics
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Playing career
Junior Hockey

Born

July 5, 1975
Brantford, ON, CAN

Height

6 ft 4 in (193 cm)

Weight

230 lb (100 kg; 16 st 6 lb)

Position

Centre

Shot

Left

Played for

Tampa Bay Lightning

Philadelphia Flyers
Buffalo Sabres
Phoenix Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche
Florida Panthers
Columbus Blue Jackets

Gratton played his minor hockey in his hometown of Brantford, playing for such programs as the
Brantford Nodrofsky Steelers (same program Wayne Gretzky played in many years earlier) and the
Brantford CKPC Knights. As a 15-year-old, he played one season with the Jr B Brantford Classics.
In 1991, Gratton was selected third overall in the OHL Priority Selection by the Kingston
Frontenacs. After his rookie year in the OHL, Gratton received the Emms Family Award as rookie
of the year. In 1993, he was selected third overall in the NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

National team

Canada

NHL Draft

3rd overall, 1993

Tampa Bay Lightning

Playing career

19932009

Tampa Bay Lightning

Gratton made his NHL debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 6, 1993 against the New
Jersey Devils. He recorded his first career point (a powerplay assist on a Bob Beers goal) in his
second game against the New York Rangers the next night. He scored his first career goal against Robb Stauber of the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-3
Lightning loss on October 20, 1993[1]

Philadelphia Flyers
In 1997 Gratton signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent after four seasons with the Lightning, earning a $9 million signing bonus. In 1997
98, Gratton matched his career high of 62 points and recorded a career-best plus/minus rating of +11. Gratton was traded back to Tampa Bay the next
season.

Second Stint with Lightning

Gratton served as Tampa Bay's captain during the 19992000 NHL season until his trade in March, 2000, when Tampa Bay traded Gratton to the
Buffalo Sabres.

Buffalo Sabres
Gratton would play for the Buffalo Sabres from March 2000, till March, 2003, when the Sabres traded him to the Phoenix Coyotes. One year later on
March 9, 2004, Phoenix traded Gratton, along with Ossi Vaananen and a second round draft pick (Paul Stastny) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft to the
Colorado Avalanche for Derek Morris and Keith Ballard.[2]

Florida Panthers
After the 200405 NHL lockout, Gratton signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers. Gratton signed a two-year contract extension with the
Panthers in March, 2006.[3] He was traded back to the Lightning again on June 13, 2007, in exchange for a second round draft pick (Florida selected
Jacob Markstrm with the draft pick).[4]

Return to Tampa Bay Lightning

During the 200708 season, Gratton scored 21 points in 60 games before tearing the acetabular labrum in his left hip which required season-ending
surgery.[5] Chris re-signed with the Lightning for the 200809 season but was waived in December and was assigned to Tampa's American Hockey
League affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals.[6]

Columbus Blue Jackets

Gratton was claimed off of re-entry waivers on February 21, 2009, by the Columbus Blue Jackets.[7] He played in six games for Columbus, recording
an assist, before retiring in 2009.

Personal life
Gratton is co-owner of the Florida Jr. Blades Organization (in the 29-team Empire Junior Hockey League).

Career statistics
Season
199192
199293
199394
199495
199596
199697
199798
199899
199899
199900
199900
200001
200102
200203
200203
200304
200304
200506
200607
200708
200809
200809
200809

Team
Kingston Frontenacs
Kingston Frontenacs
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
Phoenix Coyotes
Phoenix Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche
Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
Norfolk Admirals
Columbus Blue Jackets
NHL totals
OHL totals

League
OHL
OHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
NHL
AHL
NHL

GP
62
58
84
46
82
82
82
26
52
58
14
82
82
66
14
68
13
76
81
60
18
24
6
1,092
120

Regular season
G
A
Pts
27
39
66
55
54
109
13
29
42
7
20
27
17
21
38
30
32
62
22
40
62
1
7
8
7
19
26
14
27
41
1
7
8
19
21
40
15
24
39
15
29
44
0
1
1
11
18
29
2
1
3
17
22
39
13
22
35
10
11
21
0
2
2
3
12
15
0
1
1
214 354 568
82
93
175

PIM
37
125
123
89
105
201
159
41
102
121
15
102
75
86
21
93
18
104
94
77
10
8
2
1,638
162

GP

16

5
13

11

40
16

11

0
6

8
11

Playoffs
A Pts

18 29


2
2

0
2



1
1
4
10




0
0






7
15
18 29

See also
List of NHL players who have signed offer sheets
List of NHL players with 1000 games played

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199310200TBL.html
"Avalanche acquire Salo, Gratton". CBC. 2004-03-09. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
"Panthers lock up Chris Gratton". CBC.ca. 2006-03-09. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
"Chris Gratton traded back to Lightning". CBC.ca. 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
"Lightning's Chris Gratton to undergo hip surgery". lightning.nhl.com. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
"Lightning assign NHL veteran Chris Gratton to Admirals". oursportscentral.com. 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
"Lightning cast off Chris Gratton in waiver-wire move". sportingnews.com. 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-06-07.

External links
Career statistics and player information from NHL.com (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8459425), or Hockey-Reference.com
(http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/grattch01.html), or The Internet Hockey Database
(http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=2007)

PIM

42

27

10

4
14

27

82
42

Preceded by
Bill Houlder

Tampa Bay Lightning captain

19992000

Succeeded by
Vincent Lecavalier

Preceded by
Roman Hamrlk

Tampa Bay Lightning first round draft pick

1993

Succeeded by
Jason Wiemer

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Gratton&oldid=639898066"

Categories: 1975 births Buffalo Sabres players Canadian ice hockey centres Colorado Avalanche players Columbus Blue Jackets players
Florida Panthers players Kingston Frontenacs players Living people National Hockey League first round draft picks Norfolk Admirals players
Philadelphia Flyers players Phoenix Coyotes players Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks Tampa Bay Lightning players
Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Brantford

This page was last modified on 28 December 2014, at 03:51.

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