Joe Callahan

Joseph Callahan ( born December 20, 1982 in Brockton, Massachusetts) is an American professional ice hockey player who is since October 2011 at the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League contract.

Career

Callahan played in the 2000 /01 season, first for the Boston College High School, before the age of 18 began studying at the prestigious Yale University. There he ran for the local hockey team in ECAC Hockey, a division in the play mode of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, on. After his first college game year in which he scored eleven points scorer, the Americans were selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 2002 in the third round to 70th out of the Phoenix Coyotes. In the following two years, Callahan improved his offensive output continuously and signed upon completion of the college season 2003/ 04 his first professional contract in the organization of the Phoenix Coyotes. Overall, the defender had played 94 games in the three years on the college team and scored 44 points scorer.

By signing the contract with the Coyotes brought him this towards the end of the season 2003 /04 in the squad of the Springfield Falcons, their farm team in the American Hockey League, where the defensive player prepared four goals in 13 games. Since Phoenix for season 2004/ 05 took a farm team changes, Callahan came in the wake of the Utah Grizzlies used. The first complete professional game year of his career ended the rookie with eleven points from 75 matches and a weak plus / minus score of -35. In addition, the Grizzlies missed - like the Falcons in the previous year - to qualify for the playoffs. The following off-season was marked by a renewed change of the cooperation partner, whereby the Americans ran aground in the next two years until the summer of 2007 for the San Antonio Rampage. The first year in San Antonio was sobering for Callahan, as the team also missed the playoffs. He joined offensively still less in evidence, but could continue his negative plus / minus statistics clearly improve. A trend he saw in the 2006/07 season, when he both in its point yield as well as his plus / minus balance new personal records aufstellte. The renewed miss the playoffs but led to the fact that the contract by the American was not renewed and he signed as a free agent a one-year contract with validity for the National Hockey League and American Hockey League with the Anaheim Ducks. This put him in the game in 2007/ 08 only in their AHL farm team, the Portland Pirates, one where the defender played the best season of his career up to that point. At 24, he collected as many points scorer like never before, and had for the first time to a positive plus / minus value. In the playoffs, the team failed only in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Callahan's power increase compared to previous years had not remained unnoticed by the New York Islanders, who provided its free agent in July 2008 with a two -way contract for a term of one year. First, he began the season back in the AHL, where the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the fifth station of the now 27 -year-old had already. On 9 December 2008 Callahan was first appointed to the NHL squad the Islanders, who were one of the weakest teams in the league at this time. There he was on the same day at a 3:4 defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers debut. In the course of the season he was brought six more times in the squad and came to a total of 18 appearances in the NHL and 56 in the AHL for the Sound Tigers. He was able to prepare two goals the Islanders and was involved in 13 goals Bridgeport, of which he scored four self. After the end of his contract, the San Jose Sharks committed him on 16 July 2009 for one year.

Due to injury, denied the defense during the 2009/10 season, only less than half of all season games of the AHL farm team Worcester Sharks. In summer 2010, Callahan was again available as a free agent and agreed in August 2010 on a one-year employment contract with the Florida Panthers, where the Americans significantly more NHL Ice Age was as before in San Jose. However, this did not prevent the defensive player turn again became available as a free player on the market a year later. In October 2011, finally, the Montreal Canadiens secured his services and beorderten Callahan subsequently to the farm team to the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Career Stats

( 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 )