Dainius Zubrus
Template: Infobox ice hockey player / file type
Dainius Zubrus ( born June 16, 1978 in Elektrėnai, Lithuanian SSR ) is a Russian- Lithuanian ice hockey player ( striker ), which is since 2007 with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League contract.
- 2.1 International
Playing career
Dainius Zubrus began his career as a hockey player in North America in the 1995/96 season at the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Canadian Junior Football League Central Junior A Hockey League and ended the same game time at the Caledon Canadians from the MTJHL. He was then selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1996 in the first round than a total of 15 players from the Philadelphia Flyers. For the season 1996/97 he received a contract with the Flyers, for whom he played against the Florida Panthers, where he also scored his first NHL goal on October 5, 1996 his debut in the National Hockey League. With the Flyers, he reached in his rookie year in which he belonged to the tribe squad from the beginning, the Stanley Cup Finals, the Philadelphia smooth but lost in four games against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Flyers transferred Zubrus on 10 March 1999 together with a second-round vote for the NHL Entry Draft in 1999 and a sixth- round option for the NHL Entry Draft in exchange for Mark Recchi in 2000 to the Montreal Canadiens. On 14 October 2000, the Lithuanians scored his first NHL hat trick in the game against the Chicago Blackhawks. For the 2000/01 season he was released along with Trevor Linden for Richard Zedník and Jan Bulis to the Washington Capitals. During the lockout in the NHL, he spent the 2004/05 season along with his teammate Alexander Syomin at HK Lada Togliatti in the Russian Super League.
During the season 2006 /07 he played in a series with Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Syomin, but was transferred to the Buffalo Sabres just before transfer deadline together with Timo Helbling. The Capitals received in return a first-round draft pick for the NHL Entry Draft in 2007 and Jiří Novotný. With the Sabres, he moved into the playoffs to the finals of the Eastern Conference, but failed there to the Ottawa Senators.
In summer 2007, he signed a six- year contract with the New Jersey Devils. The Devils then he failed three times in a row in the first playoff round, in the 2010/11 season he missed with this New Jersey even completely.
Internationally
First Zubrus played for the Russian national ice hockey team at the World Cup of Hockey in 2004, but decided at the World Championship Division I 2005 for the Lithuanian national team to go on the ice. This was possible because all players born in the former USSR, both for Russia and for the country on whose territory a birthplace is now eligible to play.
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented Russia at:
- World Cup of Hockey 2004
Represented in Lithuania:
- World Championship Division I 2005
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )