Kevin Francesco Bieksa (born June 16, 1981) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and television personality who co-hosts Hockey Night in Canada.
As a defenceman, Bieksa started and played most of his career with the Vancouver Canucks and later played for the Anaheim Ducks. After a three-year career in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) with the Burlington Cougars, Bieksa was awarded a scholarship to Bowling Green State University. He was a one-time All-CCHA honourable mention during his four-year tenure with the Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). He graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree (B.A.) in finance, and was a two-time CCHA All-Academic honourable mention in 2003 and 2004. Selected 151st overall by the Canucks in the 2001 NHL entry draft, he joined their minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL), upon graduating. He earned AHL All-Rookie Team honours in his first and only full season with the Moose, before joining the Canucks as a regular member in 2005–06.
Bieksa represented his country in the 2014 World Championship. He was selected as team captain and named one of three top players for Canada in the tournament. Bieksa represented Canada for the second time in his career at the 2018 Spengler Cup.
Playing career
Minor hockey Bieksa grew up in Grimsby playing minor hockey for the local Jr. Peach Kings program of the OMHA's Niagara District BB-E league before graduating to the Stoney Creek Warriors of the OMHA South Central AAA League. He played part of the 1997–98 season with the Stoney Creek Warriors of the OHA Golden Horseshoe Jr.B and the Jr.A Burlington Cougars before being drafted by Don Cherry and the Mississauga IceDogs in the 17th round of the 1998 Ontario Hockey League draft. Bieksa made the Ice Dogs out of camp but decided to pursue an NCAA scholarship.
Junior and university Bieksa began a three-year Junior A career with the Burlington Cougars of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) in 1997–98. He recorded 37 points over 48 games in his second season with the Cougars and 33 points in his third. Bieksa was drafted into the major junior Ontario Hockey League (OHL) by the Mississauga IceDogs, but opted to play college hockey in the NCAA instead.
In 2000–01, Bieksa joined the Bowling Green Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). After a 13-point regular season in 35 games as a freshman, he helped the Falcons become the lowest-seeded team in League history (ninth) to advance to the CCHA semifinals. He scored his team's lone goal in a 2–1 defeat to Michigan State University before the Falcons were eliminated.
In the 2001 off-season, Bieksa was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks with the 151st pick in the 2001 NHL entry draft. He returned to Bowling Green to complete his four-year college career after being drafted, recording 15 points in 2001–02. Bieksa was named an alternate captain prior to his third season and subsequently improved to a college career-high eight goals and 25 points in 2002–03. Bieksa was chosen by Falcons fans as the recipient of the W. G. Grinder's Grinder Award and was a co-recipient of the team's Jim Ruehl Award as the best defensive player with Jordan Sigalet. He was also given his first of two consecutive honourable mentions as a CCHA All-Academic.
Playing in his fourth and final college season in 2003–04, he scored seven goals and 22 points in 38 games, while leading his team in shots on goal. He earned an honourable mention to the All-CCHA Team and received the Falcons' Howard Brown Award as the coaches' selection for best player.
Manitoba Moose Following his college career, Bieksa signed an amateur tryout contract with the Manitoba Moose, the Canucks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, on March 24, 2004. During his tryout, he was involved in an off-ice incident with teammate Fedor Fedorov. According to then-Canucks general manager Brian Burke, several Moose players had gone out together when Bieksa accidentally spilled Fedorov's beer. Bieksa apologized and offered to buy him another beer, but Fedorov challenged him to a fight outside of the establishment which Bieksa won with one punch. When he heard about the incident, Burke said, he wanted to sign Bieksa the next day.
Bieksa went on to appear in four games with the Moose to close out the 2003–04 season, notching two assists. He remained with the Moose in 2004–05 and scored his first professional goal on the powerplay in a 3–2 shootout victory against the Cleveland Barons on November 11, 2004. Bieksa finished his first full professional season with 12 goals and 39 points in 80 games. He was chosen as the AHL Rookie of the Month for March after recording two goals, 11 points and a +11 rating in 13 games and was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team after his first full professional season. His 39 points broke Kirill Koltsov's team mark of 32 for points by a defenceman, set the previous season. Canucks assistant general manager Steve Tambellini lauded Bieksa for his quick adjustment and development from college hockey to the AHL.
During the campaign, he was given the nickname "Juice" by Moose goaltender Alex Auld, a moniker that continued into his NHL career with the Canucks. Bieksa described the origin of the nickname as a "funny story that's been escalated to the point where it's bigger than it should be" and was based around him "drinking juice."
Bieksa entered the Canucks' 2005–06 training camp as a projected competitor to be the team's sixth defenceman. However, three days into prospects camp, he suffered a high ankle sprain after colliding into the boards with another defenceman. He was reassigned to the Moose on October 3, 2005, and missed the first month and a half of the 2005–06 season. While sidelined, Bieksa was named an alternate captain to Mike Keane by Moose head coach Alain Vigneault on October 29. He made his return to the line-up on November 11 against the Rochester Americans. In his second game back, he notched two goals and an assist on November 15 against the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 6–5 shootout loss.
Professional (2005–2018) Vancouver Canucks (2005–2015) With 16 points through 20 games with the Moose, Bieksa was called up by the Canucks and played his first NHL game on December 19, 2005, against the Los Angeles Kings. He was called for a roughing penalty ten seconds into his first shift and played 10 minutes and 45 seconds total in a 4–3 shootout loss to the Kings. The following month, he notched his first NHL point, an assist to Markus Näslund, in a 3–2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 5, 2006. He remained with the Canucks until near the end of the season, as he was reassigned to the Moose on April 8 to make room for the return of Ed Jovanovski from injury. Bieksa finished the season with six assists in 39 games for the Canucks, averaging 16 minutes of ice-time per game.
On August 17, 2006, he was re-signed by the Canucks to a two-year, one-way, $1.05 million contract. Early in the 2006–07 season, he scored his first NHL goal on October 13, against Vesa Toskala in a loss to the San Jose Sharks. Bieksa rapidly developed into one of the Canucks' top blueliners and finished the season leading all team defencemen with 30 assists, 42 points and 134 penalty minutes, while also tallying a career-high 12 goals. Paired with stay-at-home defenceman Willie Mitchell, he was also regularly given a shutdown role against opposing teams' top forwards. At the end of his first full NHL season, he was awarded the Canucks' Babe Pratt Trophy as best defenceman and Fred J. Hume Award as the unsung hero. In Bieksa's first NHL playoff game he had just over 55 mins of ice time in a quadruple Overtime victory against the Dallas Stars. Later in the series Bieksa suffered three stomach oblique muscle tears in Game 6 sidelining him for five games, before the Canucks were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion, the Anaheim Ducks, in the second round in five games.
The Canucks acknowledged Bieksa's break-out sophomore season by re-signing him to a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension, on July 9, 2007. The first year of the deal, in 2008–09, saw Bieksa make $4.25 million, while the remaining two years were set at $3.5 million. He had one more season left on his original contract at $550,000.
A relative unknown in his first couple of seasons in the NHL, his last name, which is pronounced phonetically (Bee-ek-sa), was frequently mispronounced by sports newscasters and hockey broadcasters such as Bob Cole and Harry Neale of Hockey Night in Canada. It has even been misspelled on scoreboards.
A month into the 2007–08 season, Bieksa suffered a severe calf laceration in a game against the Nashville Predators on November 1, 2007. After battling with forward Vernon Fiddler against the boards, Fiddler's skate slashed Bieksa across the back of his right calf. Bieksa was helped to the bench, leaving a trail of blood behind him on the ice. He ended up missing 47 games. Before returning to the line-up, he was assigned to the Moose for a one-game conditioning stint. Bieksa managed 12 points in 34 games.
He continued rehabilitating his calf in the 2008 off-season, after the Canucks failed to qualify for the 2008 playoffs, admitting that his leg had not fully recovered upon his early return. However, injury troubles continued early in 2008–09. On November 4, 2008, he was re-injured after blocking a puck off his skate against the Nashville Predators. Bieksa played through the injury for several games before learning that he had suffered a bone fracture in his left foot. He returned to the line-up after missing seven games. Despite missing ten games in total, Bieksa established an impressive career-high 32 assists along with 11 goals for 43 points, first among team defencemen.
Without a no-trade clause in his contract with the Canucks and seen as an emerging offensive defencemen throughout the NHL, Bieksa was routinely the subject of trade rumours. In the 2009 off-season, one such trade rumour was central in a feud between general managers Mike Gillis of Vancouver and Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On a Leafs TV documentary on the 2009 NHL entry draft that aired in September 2009, a segment involves Burke speculating that the Canucks had offered Bieksa to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a package that included forward Alexandre Burrows and a first-round draft-choice in exchange for Tampa Bay's second-overall selection. The documentary was immediately pulled from airing again and the Maple Leafs received a warning from the League. Bieksa suffered the second serious cut to his leg in three seasons in 2009–10. During a game against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 29, 2009, he bodychecked opposing forward Petr Průcha, whose skate cut into his left leg, above the ankle. It was revealed six days later that Bieksa sustained severed tendons in his ankle. He was sidelined for three-and-a-half months, missing 27 games. The injury marked the second time in three years that he missed significant time due to a lower-body skate cut. As a result, he was limited to 55 games, notching three goals and 19 assists for 22 points. In the last game of the regular season on April 10, 2010, he scored his first two-goal game in the NHL in a 7–3 win against the Calgary Flames. Playing the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs, Bieksa scored his first career playoff goal in the series' sixth and deciding game. His goal against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick tied the score at 2–2 in the third period, en route to a 4–2 Canucks win. The Canucks were then eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks the following round in six games for the second consecutive year. Bieksa finished the playoffs with three goals and eight points in all 12 games to lead team defencemen in scoring.