Derek Dorsett

Playing career

Dorsett played major junior hockey with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He helped the Tigers win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions in 2006–07. With Medicine Hat, he established himself as a gritty player, leading the team in penalty minutes in 2006–07 while finishing tied for second in team scoring with 64 points. After being drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets 189th overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, he graduated from major junior and spent the 2007–08 season with the Syracuse Crunch, the Blue Jackets' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate. He scored his first NHL goal on October 21, 2008, against Roberto Luongo in a 4–2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. During the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, Dorsett was included in a trade deadline deal on April 3, 2013, that sent him along with Derick Brassard, John Moore, and a sixth-round pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for Marián Gáborík and minor league players Blake Parlett and Steven Delisle. On June 27, 2014, the Rangers traded Dorsett to the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick in the 2014 NHL entry draft. With the Canucks, he initially wore number 51 because his usual 15 was taken by Brad Richardson. In the 2015 season, Dorsett posted career highs in both assists and points, scoring seven goals (including three game-winners), his most since 2012. On April 8, 2015, the Canucks signed him to a four-year, $10.6 million contract extension. After Richardson left the team, Dorsett switched back to number 15 for the 2015–16 season, during which he led the league in penalty minutes with 177. On December 5, 2016, the Canucks announced that Dorsett had herniated a cervical disc in his neck, requiring surgery and sidelining him indefinitely; he had one goal and three assists in 14 games that season. On November 30, 2017, Dorsett announced his retirement from the NHL, simultaneously revealing that he had again herniated a cervical disc in his neck, a separate injury from the previous one, and cited health reasons and risks associated with playing. In the 2017–18 season, he played only 20 games, recording seven goals, two assists, and 74 penalty minutes.