Bryan Bickell

Bryan Bickell (born March 9, 1986) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015, and played in four early playoff games during the team's run to the 2010 Stanley Cup championship. Bickell spent nearly 10 years with the Blackhawks organization before being traded to the Hurricanes before the 2016–17 season. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis later that year and retired from playing hockey at the end of the season.

Bryan Bickell
Bickell with the Chicago Blackhawks in February 2012
Born (1986-03-09) March 9, 1986
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 233 lb (106 kg; 16 st 9 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Chicago Blackhawks
Orli Znojmo
Carolina Hurricanes
NHL Draft 41st overall, 2004
Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career 2006–2017
Website bickellfoundation.org

Early life

Bickell was born to Bill and Anne Bickell.[1] He was raised in Orono, Ontario with an older sister, Ashley.[1] In addition to hockey, Bickell was also interested in playing baseball during his youth.[1] He was an outfielder and pitcher for the Kendal Royals, where he was scouted by the New York Yankees.[1][2] Bickell ultimately choose to focus his career on hockey, and traveled to Ottawa to play for the Ottawa 67's. Bickell had several jobs prior to becoming a full-time hockey player. He was a construction worker and worked as a clubhouse assistant to the Ottawa Senators, where he cleaned laundry, performed custodian duties and met future Chicago Blackhawk teammates Antoine Vermette and Marián Hossa, who were both playing on the Senators.[1][3]

Playing career

Amateur career

Bickell grew up playing minor ice hockey with the Orono Leafs program, before playing AAA for the Central Ontario Wolves.[4] He played in the 2000 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Red Wings.[5]

For his Bantam season, Bickell was moved to the Toronto Red Wings of the GTHL for one season before being drafted in the second round (36th overall) in the 2002 OHL Priority Selection by the Ottawa 67's. Bickell was a member of the Bantam All-Ontario champions Toronto Red Wings with future Chicago Blackhawk teammate Dave Bolland.[6]

Professional career

The Blackhawks drafted Bickell in the second round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft with the 41st overall pick. After signing a three-year entry-level contract in 2006, Bickell left the Ontario Hockey League to play for the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL) during the 2006–07 season. Bickell later made his NHL debut on April 5, 2007, where he scored his first goal against the Detroit Red Wings.[7]

Bickell spent the majority of the next three seasons playing in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs.[8] On December 27, 2009, Bickell Recorded his first NHL assist on a goal scored by John Madden against the Nashville Predators.

The Blackhawks recalled him for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs after he had played 16 regular season games and recorded 3 goals and 1 assist followed with 65 games with the IceHogs where he recorded 16 goals, 15 assists and became a mainstay for the Blackhawks onwards with no Calder Cup playoff games played for the IceHogs. Bickell appeared in four postseason games with one assist, making his playoff debut on April 22, 2010, against the Nashville Predators with an assist on a goal scored by Jonathan Toews. Bickell and the Blackhawks eventually defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. He received a ring from the Blackhawks, but his name was not inscribed on the Cup.[9]

In the 2010-11 NHL season, his first full year in the NHL, Bickell recorded a career-high 17 goals and 20 assists in 78 appearances.[10] On April 8, 2011, Bickell played his 100th career game in a 4–2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. On April 19, 2011, Bickell recorded his first Stanley Cup playoff goal against Roberto Luongo. His offensive production dropped during the 2011–12 campaign, where he only tallied nine goals and 15 assists in 71 games.[11]

After playing all 48 regular season games in the 2012-13 shortened season and recording 9 goals and 14 assists, Bickell was highly productive during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored nine goals and eight assists in all 23 games during the post-season. He recorded the game-tying goal against Tuukka Rask during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.[12] The Blackhawks later scored the go-ahead goal 17 seconds later to win the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks awarded Bickell's strong post-season performance with a four-year, $16 million contract.[13]

Bickell tallied 14 goals and 14 assists while appearing in 80 games in the 2014-15 NHL season. The 80 games he played in the regular season was a new career high in regular season games played from the 78 played in 2010–11. His production declined in the postseason, where he recorded only five assists in 18 games.[14] After playing every game in the first three rounds, Bickell was scratched from the team's lineup for two games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals due to health-related issues.[15] Bickell did return to the lineup for game three only to be scratched again for games four, five and six. The Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, giving Bickell his second Stanley Cup.

The Blackhawks unsuccessfully attempted to trade Bickell prior to the 2015–16 NHL season.[16][17] The team initially waived Bickell but reinserted him into their roster as the season started.[18] Bickell was unable to consistently perform due to health-related issues and spent much of the season with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.[19] Bickell skated in 25 games for the Blackhawks and recorded two assists. He also played in 47 contests for the IceHogs where he scored 15 goals and 16 assists.[20]

During the 2016 off-season, Bickell's $4-million salary cap-hit posed a serious problem to the Blackhawks, who were struggling to stay below the NHL's salary cap. The team again shopped Bickell to other teams, but few teams seemed to be interested in him and his $4 million cap hit.[21][22] The Blackhawks eventually traded Bickell along with Teuvo Teräväinen at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 2016 second-round pick (originally acquired from the NY Rangers – used to select Artur Kayumov) and a 2017 third-round pick.[23] The Hurricanes also agreed to accept Bickell's cap-hit and remaining contract.[24] Bickell scored one goal in seven games for the Hurricanes, before experiencing health issues again. The Hurricanes announced that Bickell had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and placed him on injured reserve on November 12.[25][26]

Bickell began practicing with the Hurricanes again on January 17, 2017.[27] The Hurricanes assigned him to the Charlotte Checkers for a conditioning stint on February 24, 2017.[28] Bickell returned to the Hurricanes on April 5, 2017, and skated in his first NHL game since leaving for MS treatment in November.[29] Bickell played the final game of his career on April 9, 2017, scoring the only shootout goal of his career in the Hurricanes' 4−3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.[30][31] This was only his second career shootout attempt in the NHL (his only other one in the NHL coming over 2 years earlier on December 20, 2014, while playing for the Blackhawks against Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky where he was stopped by Bobrovsksy). He concluded the 2016–17 season, his only season with the Hurricanes playing in 11 games and recording 1 goal and 0 assists. He concluded his NHL career with 66 goals and 70 assists over 395 NHL games. He also tallied 20 goals and 19 assists in 75 postseason games.[32]

Retirement

Bickell announced his retirement on April 8, 2017. He played his final game on April 9, 2017, against the Philadelphia Flyers.[33] The NHL honored Bickell's career at the 2017 NHL Awards ceremony and commended him for showing perseverance while battling multiple sclerosis.[34] On October 4, Bickell signed a ceremonial one-day contract with the Blackhawks to retire with the team.[35][36] The Blackhawks honored Bickell at the United Center before their 2017–18 season opener on October 5, 2017, against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which saw the Blackhawks win 10–1.[37]

Health issues

Bickell began experiencing symptoms of vertigo that forced him to miss the first two games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals.[38] He initially believed the ailment was caused by an infected tooth.[39] Bickell's agent later commented that Bickell had developed vestibular issues, which hindered his performance during the 2015–16 Chicago Blackhawks season.[40] In November 2016, Bickell began experiencing an unexplained pain in his shoulder and leg that caused him to miss multiple games.[41] Doctors later diagnosed Bickell with multiple sclerosis on November 11, 2016.[41] Bickell commented on his health by stating, "Since the 2015 playoffs, I've been struggling to understand what was going on with my body. Again during the past few weeks, it felt like something wasn't right."[42] Ron Francis, the Hurricanes' general manager, stated that Bickell would take an indefinite amount of time off from hockey to receive treatment for his condition.[43] While Bickell ultimately returned to Hurricanes towards the end of the 2016–17 season in April 2017, he announced he would retire from playing hockey to focus on his MS treatment.[33]

Personal life

On August 3, 2013, Bickell married his longtime girlfriend, Amanda Caskenette. They have two daughters, Kinslee born July 5, 2016, and Makayla born August 23, 2014.[44] Bickell and his wife established the "Bryan & Amanda Bickell Foundation", which helps rescue abused pit bulls.[45]

Career statistics
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Toronto Red Wings AAA GTHL U15 65 78 62 140 20 — — — — —
2001–02 Toronto Red Wings AAA GTHL U15 65 31 41 72 76 — — — — —
2002–03 Ottawa 67's OHL 50 7 10 17 4 20 5 3 8 12
2003–04 Ottawa 67's OHL 59 20 16 36 76 7 3 0 3 11
2004–05 Ottawa 67's OHL 66 22 32 54 95 21 5 12 17 32
2005–06 Ottawa 67's OHL 41 28 22 50 41 — — — — —
2005–06 Windsor Spitfires OHL 26 17 16 33 19 7 5 5 10 10
2006–07 Norfolk Admirals AHL 48 10 15 25 66 2 0 0 0 0
2006–07 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 3 2 0 2 0 — — — — —
2007–08 Rockford IceHogs AHL 73 19 20 39 52 12 2 3 5 11
2007–08 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 4 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2008–09 Rockford IceHogs AHL 42 6 8 14 60 4 0 2 2 4
2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 16 3 1 4 5 4 0 1 1 2
2009–10 Rockford IceHogs AHL 65 16 15 31 58 — — — — —
2010–11 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 78 17 20 37 40 5 2 2 4 0
2011–12 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 71 9 15 24 48 6 2 0 2 4
2012–13 Orli Znojmo EBEL 28 9 18 27 14 — — — — —
2012–13 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 48 9 14 23 25 23 9 8 17 14
2013–14 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 59 11 4 15 28 19 7 3 10 8
2014–15 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 80 14 14 28 38 18 0 5 5 14
2015–16 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 25 0 2 2 2 — — — — —
2015–16 Rockford IceHogs AHL 47 15 16 31 23 3 0 1 1 2
2016–17 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 11 1 0 1 4 — — — — —
2016–17 Charlotte Checkers AHL 10 1 3 4 4 — — — — —
NHL totals 395 66 70 136 192 75 20 19 39 42
AHL totals 285 67 77 144 263 21 2 6 8 7

Awards and honours
Awards Year
NHL
Stanley Cup champion 2013, 2015

References
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  2. Stevenson, Chris (2013-06-21). "Blackhawks' Bryan Bickell once scouted by Yankees". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  3. Scott King (June 26, 2020). "Before Blackhawks, Bryan Bickell did Marian Hossa's laundry for school credit". nbcsportschicago.com. NBC Sports Chicago. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  4. "Home of the Central Ontario Wolves AAA Hockey Program - Honour Roll". cowha.com. 2019. Archived from the original on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  5. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  6. Neveau, James (2013-06-21). "Bryan Bickell Opens Up About His Life on NHL Blog". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  7. "Blackhawks end struggles against Red Wings in shoot-out". areyouwatchingthis.com. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
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  9. "Bryan Bickell takes omission in stride". ESPN. 2010-09-30. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
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  31. BRYAN BICKELL TALLIES FIRST CAREER SHOOTOUT GOAL IN LAST NHL GAME
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