Paul Kruse
Paul Johannes Kruse ( born March 15, 1970 in Merritt, British Columbia ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. During his career he played between 1990 and 2001 for the Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League.
Career
Kruse played first in the junior division club leagues in British Columbia before moving to the beginning of the 1988/89 season to the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League. With the Blazers, he could end the season 1989 /90 President's Cup, the championship of the WHL win, and took part in the same year at the Memorial Cup. He was then selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1990 in the fourth round at 83rd position of the Calgary Flames.
The Flames took the left winger before the 1990/91 season as a professional under contract, but put him mainly in the International Hockey League at the Salt Lake Golden Eagles one. In the course of the game but also the year he came to his NHL debut in Calgary. The following two seasons Kruse also shuttled between the cadres of the farm teams and the NHL squad. It was not until the 1993/94 season, he was finally a place in the main squad, which he filled with his excellent physical presence as an Enforcer to the season 1996/97 into it. In November 1996, the Calgary Flames transferred the Canadians to the New York Islanders, he had to leave after only one and a half years since he had been discharged together with Jason Holland to the Buffalo Sabres. After he had come there between March 1998 and January 2000, only in a few games used, pushed him the management of the Sabres in the IHL Utah Grizzlies from the before he had taken in the summer of 2000 as a free agent by the San Jose Sharks under contract been. There he came in the 2000/ 01 season his last NHL use because it is largely played again in the IHL for the Chicago Wolves.
For the next game year Kruse moved to Europe, where he completed two years in the British Ice Hockey Super League for the Sheffield Steelers and Belfast Giants and one year in the Austrian Hockey League for the EHC Linz. During the season 2003/ 04 he ended his active career.