Joe Colborne

Lore & Background

Colborne grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where his father Paul, an oil and gas executive and former university quarterback, encouraged his sporting pursuits. He played AAA hockey for the Edge Mountaineers in junior high and later spent a season of midget hockey with the Notre Dame Hounds before joining the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). With Camrose, he won two AJHL championships and was named Canadian Junior A Hockey League Player of the Year in 2007–08 after a 33-goal, 90-point season. He grew from five feet, nine inches at age 15 to six feet, five inches by age 18, becoming only the second first-round selection from the AJHL in NHL draft history.

After two seasons at the University of Denver, Colborne signed with the Boston Bruins but was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2011 before ever playing for Boston. He spent parts of three seasons in the Toronto organization, primarily with the AHL's Toronto Marlies, and made his NHL debut in the final game of the 2010–11 season. He scored his first NHL goal on November 22, 2011, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 2013, he was traded to his hometown Calgary Flames, where he played three seasons and set career highs of 19 goals, 25 assists, and 44 points in 2015–16. He signed as a free agent with the Colorado Avalanche in 2016 and recorded a hat-trick in his debut with the team, but his production declined sharply. A back injury and subsequent concussion ended his career partway through the 2017–18 season.

Reader's Guide

Joe Colborne's NHL career spanned seven seasons across three organizations, defined by his unusual path from the AJHL to a first-round draft pick and his eventual return to his hometown team. He never played for the team that drafted him, the Boston Bruins, instead making his debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs after a 2011 trade. His most productive season came with the Calgary Flames in 2015–16, when he recorded 44 points in 73 games. A versatile forward capable of playing centre or wing, Colborne was used in a checking-line role with the Colorado Avalanche but struggled to replicate his earlier success. His career was cut short by a concussion during the 2017–18 season while playing for the Avalanche's AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Colborne's legacy includes being one of only two first-round selections from the AJHL at the time of his draft, and his career illustrates the volatility of professional hockey, from a promising start to an abrupt end due to injury.

Did You Know?

• Colborne was only the second first-round selection from the Alberta Junior Hockey League in NHL draft history, following Brent Sutter in 1980.
• Colborne recorded a hat-trick in his debut game with the Colorado Avalanche on October 15, 2016.
• His father Paul was a former football quarterback at the University of Calgary.