Kyle Wellwood

47

Kyle Wellwood : biography

May 16, 1983 –

Vancouver Canucks

Craig Anderson in a shootout.]] During the 2008 off-season, Wellwood broke a bone in his right foot while playing indoor soccer. With his contract set to expire, the Leafs placed him on waivers on June 24. He was claimed the following day by the Vancouver Canucks and was signed to a one-year, $998,000 contract. Reporting to training camp, he failed his initial fitness test and, although he passed a later evaluation, he was a healthy scratch to begin the season. On October 17, after having played just one game for the Canucks, he was placed on waivers; after clearing, he was assigned to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. Because the addition of Wellwood would have put the Moose over the limit for veteran players, Wellwood started looking at playing options in Europe; however, two days after clearing waivers, injuries to the Canucks forced them to call Wellwood up from the minors, and he cleared re-entry waivers 24 hours later. Wellwood took advantage of this opportunity by getting a goal and an assist in a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets and stuck with the club. Later in the season, on February 17, 2009, Wellwood ended a streak of 159 games without a penalty by taking a high-sticking penalty against the Calgary Flames. It was his first penalty since April 11, 2006. Wellwood ended his first regular season in Vancouver with 18 goals and 9 assists. Having never reached the post-season with the Maple Leafs, Wellwood made his NHL playoff debut with the Canucks in 2009 and scored his first NHL playoff goal in game four of the first round against the St. Louis Blues, helping Vancouver complete a sweep in a 3–2 overtime win.

In the off-season, Wellwood became a restricted free agent. After taking the Canucks to arbitration on July 28, 2009, he was re-signed to a one-year, $1.2 million contract two days later on July 30; terms in the collective bargaining agreement did not allow the Canucks to walk away from a ruling of less than $1.57 million. Having earned a reputation in his first Canucks season for a lack of fitness, Wellwood reported to training camp for the 2009–10 season 15 pounds lighter than in the previous year. He started the season on the third line with Steve Bernier and Mason Raymond, a combination that coach Alain Vigneault carried over from the latter stages of the 2008–09 season and playoffs. Wellwood was sidelined early in the season, suffering a broken toe after blocking a shot from Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek in a game on October 24, 2009, but he returned to the lineup just eight days later, on November 1. He finished the campaign with 14 goals and 25 points in 75 games. He followed that up with a seven-point post-season as the Canucks were eliminated by the Blackhawks in the second round.

KHL and San Jose Sharks

After two seasons in Vancouver, the Canucks let Wellwood become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010, opting instead to sign Manny Malhotra from the San Jose Sharks as their projected third-line centre. Wellwood’s main goal during the off-season was to find an opportunity to play centre on a scoring line. He accepted an invitation to the Phoenix Coyotes’ training camp on a try-out basis. However, he was unable to secure a spot on the Coyotes’ roster and was released on October 1. Four days later, Wellwood signed with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In January 2011, he was released from Atlant. Initially it was believed that he had been released due to performance issues, but it was soon revealed that Wellwood was returning to his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, for family reasons.

Later in the 2010–11 season, he was reported to have signed with the St. Louis Blues; however, Blues officials denied the report, stating that they were unsure where the information came from. Team general manager Doug Armstrong stated that they were interested in Wellwood but they had not signed him. According to a St. Louis-based reporter, the team was waiting for confirmation of Wellwood’s release from Atlant before they finalized the signing. On January 17, Wellwood officially signed a one-year deal with the Blues, but needed to clear re-entry waivers before joining the team. The following day, he was claimed by the San Jose Sharks. He scored his first goal for the Sharks on February 1, 2011 in a game vs. the Coyotes. Wellwood’s goal tied the game at 3–3 and was considered a rallying point for San Jose as they came back to win 5–3 after being down 3–0.