Sam Gagner
Sam Gagner was born in London, Ontario, Canada on August 10th, 1989 and is the Hockey Player. At the age of 34, Sam Gagner biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 34 years old, Sam Gagner has this physical status:
Sam William Gagner (born August 10, 1989) is a professional ice hockey player in Canada's National Hockey League, currently in Edmonton, Canada. (NHL) He was drafted by the Oilers in the first round, sixth overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, and spent seven years in the Oilers.
He appeared for one season, the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Vancouver Canucks before returning to Edmonton in 2019.
Personal life
Gagner lived in a house shared by Oilers captain Ethan Moreau in his rookie year, as well as teammates Andrew Cogliano and Tom Gilbert. Gilbert bought his own house in Edmonton in the summer of 2009, while Gagner and Cogliano obtained apartments in the same building. Gagner returns to his hometown, London, Ontario, during the offseason.
Dave Gagner, a former NHL player who spent 15 seasons with the Rangers, North Stars/Stars, Maple Leafs, Panthers, and Canucks, is Gagner's uncle. Sam Gagner grew up in Minneapolis, Dallas, Toronto, Calgary, Miami, Vancouver, and Oakville due to his dad's work. Jessica Gagner, his brother, played for the Dartmouth Big Green women's ice hockey team.
On July 12, 2014, Gagner married longtime girlfriend Dr. Rachel Linke in Muskoka, Ontario. They have three children.
Playing career
In 2004-2005, Gagner played midget hockey with the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL). He scored 173 points and was named the Buck Houle Award, a Marlboros team award for outstanding on ice results and leadership. He made his junior debut in the Milton Icehawks of the OPJHL, scoring 15 points in 13 games. He was the mentor of his minor hockey career. He played for the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) in 2005-06, finishing second in team scoring and sixth in team scoring. Gagner spent time with future NHLer John Tavares on the Marlboros and then the Icehawks, along the way. The pair also honed their skills and became associates on a backyard rink in Oakville that Sam's dad Dave built in 2002.
Gagner originally planned to play hockey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but later decided to stay closer to home by playing for a Canadian major junior hockey team. As a first-round talent, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s London Knights selected him in the fourth round of the 2005 OHL Entry Draft on a flyer because his dedication to playing college hockey discouraged many OHL teams from drafting him. Gagner scored 118 points in 53 games, fifth in OHL scoring, with future NHL stars Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn on the Knights' top line in 2006-07. In the 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game, he captained Team Burns/Bergeron (Red), winning by 5-3 over Team Bowman/Demers (White).
In the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Gagner was drafted in the first round, sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers. He had been signed to a three-year, entry-level deal with the Oilers on October 1, 2007. On October 4, he played his first NHL game against the San Jose Sharks in 3–2 shootout victory and earned his first NHL point while assisting on a goal by defenseman Tom Gilbert. Gagner scored his first NHL goal against the Calgary Flames' Miikka Kiprusoff on October 20.
In 79 games between wingers and fellow rookies Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson on a team nicknamed the "Kid Line," he scored 49 points. During the season, Gagner was also named the NHL Rookie of the Month for February in Atlanta, Georgia. He scored 13 points in 12 games during a month-long scoring streak, leading to the longest assists streak by a rookie in eight straight games.
In an 8–1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on March 19, 2009, he achieved his first NHL hat-trick and added an assist for a four-point victory. In 76 games, he played for 16 goals and 41 points in his sophomore season. He made 41- and 42-point attempts in the upcoming two campaigns.
When facing the Washington Capitals on March 9, 2011, Gagner broke a tendon in his left hand when running across the boards. Gagner was sidelined for the remainder of the 2010–11 season, as well as one month into the following year, making his return to the Oilers line-up on October 22, 2011. Several months later, Gagner scored four goals and four assists against the Chicago Blackhawks on February 2, 2012, tying the team's record of eight points in a game previously set by Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey. With the feat, he became the 13th NHL player to score eight or more points in a single game, and the first since Mario Lemieux did it in 1989. In the first period against the Detroit Red Wings, Gagner scored two goals and added an assist, tying a new Oilers record of 11 consecutive points, which was previously held by Gretzky, who scored ten points in a row twice in his career. Gagner finished the season with 47 points in 75 games, with over a quarter of his output coming from the two-game stretch.
Gagner joined Klagenfuter AC of the Eishockey Liga in Austria during the 2012-13 NHL lockout. The Oilers announced on July 22, 2013, shortly after the 2012-2013 season ended, the Oilers signed Gagner to a three-year contract extension worth an average annual income of $4.8 million.
The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Gagner in exchange for Teddy Purcell on June 29, 2014. Gagner, on the other hand, spent an hour as a member of the Lightning before being acquired by the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Arizona Head Coach Dave Tippett experimented with Gagner on the right wing rather than his traditional center position, where he appeared in a pre-season, 5–4 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings. In a 5–1 Arizona victory over Rexall Place in Edmonton on December 23, 2014, Gagner scored two goals and two assists against his old team, the Oilers. With Arizona, Gagner discovered chemistry playing on a line with center Martin Hanzal; the two players scored 16 points in just five games in December and January 2015.
Gagner was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on June 27, 2015, along with a conditional third (2017) or fourth (2016) draft pick in exchange for Nicklas Grossmann and Chris Pronger's contract. The departure, according to Coyotes general manager Don Maloney, was due to a firm's belief that Gagner "couldn't play center at the NHL level."
Gagner signed a one-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on August 1, 2016. Gagner signed a three-year $9.45 million deal with the Vancouver Canucks, marking a rebounding season for the Blue Jackets, where he set a career high in points with 50.
After being drafted by the Canucks in training camp and pre-season, Gagner was put on waivers by the Canucks prior to the 2018-19 season. He cleared waivers the next day and was loaned in order to be closer to his family to the Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before being recalled by the injury-plagued Canucks on November 18, 2018, Gagner scored 15 points in 15 games with the Marlies before being recalled by the Canucks on November 18, 2018. In 7 games before Vancouver recovered to health and he was back to the Marlies on December 4, 2018.
Gagner was one of the team's top scorers with 37 points in 43 games with the Marlies. On February 16, 2019, the Canucks traded him back to his original draft team, the Edmonton Oilers, in exchange for Ryan Spooner. In 36 games for the Oilers during the 2019–20 season, Gagner scored five goals and seven assists.
Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Kuffner were traded by the Oilers, along with second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Kuffner on February 24, 2020. In six games with the Red Wings, he scored one goal before being suspended from action due to the COVID-19 pandemic bans.
The Red Wings announced Gagner to a one-year, $850,000 contract extension on September 26, 2020. The Red Wings signed Gagner to a one-year deal extension on July 28, 2021.
Gagner continued his career by signing with the Winnipeg Jets as a free agent on September 2, 2022, in his 16th season in the NHL, after committing to a one-year, league minimum $750,000 deal.