Bates Battaglia

Did You Know?

• Battaglia is the grandson of former Chicago Outfit mobster Sam Battaglia.
• He and his brother Anthony won the twenty-second season of The Amazing Race.

Playing career

Bates Battaglia was picked by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1994 NHL draft, going in the sixth round with the 132nd overall selection. He learned the game in Park Ridge, Illinois, where his youth coach was Tom Godwin. From 1994 to 1997, he played for Lake Superior State University, a team that won three straight NCAA national championships during his time there. On March 18, 1997, Anaheim traded him to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Mark Janssens. Battaglia turned pro in the 1997–98 season, first playing for the Beast of New Haven in the AHL, then making his NHL debut with the Carolina Hurricanes during their first season in Raleigh after the franchise moved from Hartford. He became a steady NHL presence with Carolina, and his best stretch came as part of the "BBC line" alongside Rod Brind'Amour and Erik Cole, which helped the Hurricanes reach the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals. On March 11, 2003, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Radim Vrbata. That stay did not last long; at the start of the 2003–04 season, Colorado sent him and Jonas Johansson to the Washington Capitals for Steve Konowalchuk. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Battaglia joined his younger brother Anthony on the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL on February 21, 2005, for the remainder of that season. On October 2, 2005, he signed a one-year contract with the AHL's Toronto Marlies. The following summer, on July 2, 2006, he inked a one-year deal with the Marlies' NHL affiliate, the Toronto Maple Leafs, as a free agent. He re-signed with the Maple Leafs for two more years on July 2, 2007, but was sent to the Marlies on a conditioning assignment on December 13, 2007, and stayed in the minors for the rest of that season. He began the 2008–09 season back with the Marlies, putting up 51 points in 59 games. After becoming a free agent in 2009–10, Battaglia signed with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch on November 11, 2009. He played 29 games there before leaving to join Finnish club Jokerit of the SM-liiga as an injury replacement on January 28, 2010, for the remainder of the season.