Sean Bergenheim

Sean Bergenheim (born February 8, 1984) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild.

Sean Bergenheim
Bergenheim with the Florida Panthers in 2012
Born (1984-02-08) February 8, 1984 (age 40)
Helsinki, Finland
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
PositionLeft wing
ShotLeft
Played forJokerit
New York Islanders
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
HIFK
Minnesota Wild
SC Bern
Frölunda HC
National team Finland
NHL draft22nd overall, 2002
New York Islanders
Playing career2001–2018

Playing career edit

Bergenheim played in Jokerit of the SM-liiga for three seasons, from 2001 to 2004, winning the Finnish championship in 2002. He was drafted by the New York Islanders as their first pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 22nd overall. In 2003, Bergenheim signed a three-year contract with the Islanders and played 18 games for the Islanders in his debut season, 2003–04. He scored his first NHL goal—a short-handed goal—against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was transferred back to Jokerit in January 2004, and moved back to the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Bridgeport Sound Tigers in April for the 2004 Calder Cup playoffs and for the subsequent 2004–05 AHL season, during the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Bergenheim With the New York Islanders

Bergenheim spent most of the 2005–06 season playing in the AHL for the Sound Tigers. His breakout in the AHL finally brought him back to the Islanders, but he was unable to agree to a new contract with the team in the 2006 off-season, after which he signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Russian Superleague.

On October 31, 2006, Bergenheim signed a one-year contract with Frölunda HC of the Swedish Elitserien.[1] In Frölunda, he found instant chemistry with forwards Steve Kariya and Martin Plüss to form a very successful line.

On June 18, 2007, Bergenheim signed a one-year contract with the Islanders to return to the NHL.[2] During the 2007–08 season, his first full season in the NHL, on March 4, 2008, he became the 350th different New York Islander skater to register a goal at Madison Square Garden.

Having scoring 10 goals in 78 games with the Islanders in the 2007–08 season, on July 14, 2008, Bergenheim signed a two-year contract extension with the club.[3] With higher expectations for the 2008–09 season, he scored 7 points in the first 16 games before he was felled by injury and illness that caused him to miss 26 games.[4] Returning to health in the second half of the season, Bergenheim had his first multi-goal game with two goals to help the Islanders shut-out the Buffalo Sabres 2–0 on February 28, 2009.[5] His strong form with New York continued, and on March 7, 2009, Bergenheim recorded his first career NHL hat-trick, against the New Jersey Devils.[4] He finished the season with a career-high 15 goals in 59 games.

After the 2009–10 season, on August 17, 2010, Bergenheim left the Islanders and signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.[6] In his first appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs, despite having only 14 goals in 80 games during the regular season, Bergenheim finished with 9 goals in 16 games en route to series victories over the Pittsburgh Penguins and a sweep of the Washington Capitals before the Lightning finally fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins, in seven games.[7]

On July 1, 2011, Bergenheim signed a four-year, $11 million contract with the Florida Panthers.[8] In the final year of his contract in the 2014–15 season, Bergenheim was used in rotation in the Panthers' starting lineup. After requesting a trade, on February 24, 2015, he was traded (along with a seventh-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft) to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a third-round draft pick in the same draft.[9]

At the conclusion of his contract, and as an un-signed free agent over the summer, on October 7, 2015, Bergenheim returned to Europe to sign a one-year contract (with the option for two more years) for the 2015–16 season with SC Bern of the Swiss National League A (NLA).[10] In signing with Bern, Bergenheim re-united with former NHL head coach Guy Boucher from his tenure with the Lightning. Under Boucher's successor, Lars Leuenberger, Bergenheim won the 2016 Swiss championship with Bern, but missed parts of the season (including the playoffs) due to a concussion.[11]

As a free agent in the following off-season, on September 20, 2016, Bergenheim returned to North America to participate in the Anaheim Ducks' training camp on a professional try-out contract.[12] Upon his release from the Ducks' roster, he returned to Europe, signing with Swedish powerhouse Frölunda HC on November 4, 2016, where he had played during the 2006–07 campaign.[13]

In February 2018, Bergenheim announced his retirement from professional hockey.[14]

International play edit


Medal record
Representing  Finland
Ice hockey
World Championships
2007 Moscow
2008 Quebec City
2006 Riga
World Junior Championships
2004 Helsinki
2003 Halifax
2002 Pardubice
IIHF U18 Championships
2001 Helsinki

Bergenheim has represented Finland in the World U18 Championships as well as the World Junior Championships, winning one and three bronze medals, respectively.

Career statistics edit

Regular season and playoffs edit

Regular seasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
2000–01JokeritFIN U1811014695148
2000–01JokeritFIN U201864102620004
2001–02JokeritFIN U20231119303610002
2001–02JokeritFIN U18562818
2001–02JokeritSM-l282244
2001–02Kiekko–VantaaFIN.2400052
2002–03JokeritFIN U2023032
2002–03JokeritSM-l38336420000
2003–04New York IslandersNHL181124
2003–04JokeritSM-l202241831120
2003–04Bridgeport Sound TigersAHL723510
2004–05Bridgeport Sound TigersAHL6115142969
2005–06Bridgeport Sound TigersAHL55252247112
2005–06New York IslandersNHL2845920
2006–07Lokomotiv YaroslavlRSL914526
2006–07Frölunda HCSEL3616173380
2007–08New York IslandersNHL7810122262
2008–09New York IslandersNHL591592464
2009–10New York IslandersNHL6310132345
2010–11Tampa Bay LightningNHL80141529561692118
2011–12Florida PanthersNHL62176234873364
2012–13HIFKSM-l21010
2013–14Florida PanthersNHL6216132940
2014–15Florida PanthersNHL398101834
2014–15Minnesota WildNHL17101630000
2015–16SC BernNLA21581349
2016–17Frölunda HCSHL325914391112314
2017–18Frölunda HCSHL41234
NHL totals5069684180379261251712

International edit

YearTeamEventResultGPGAPtsPIM
2001FinlandWJC18 63148
2002FinlandWJC184th884126
2002FinlandWJC 70114
2003FinlandWJC 72466
2004FinlandWJC 71342
2006FinlandWC 92134
2007FinlandWC 912331
2008FinlandWC 40002
Junior totals3514132726
Senior totals2233637

Awards and honours edit

AwardYear
AHL
All-Star Game2005
CHL
Champions (Frölunda HC)2017[15]

References edit

  1. ^ Peter Gyllander (2006). "Finske landslagsmannen Sean Bergenheim klar för Frölunda Indians" (in Swedish). Frölunda Indians. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
  2. ^ "Bergie's back!!!". New York Islanders. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  3. ^ "Bergenheim locked in for two years". New York Islanders. 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  4. ^ a b "Bergenheim builds momentum". New York Islanders. 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  5. ^ "Sabres close to dropping out of playoff spot after shutout loss to Isles". CBS Sports. 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  6. ^ "Lightning sign free agent Bergenheim to one-year deal". The Sports Network. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
  7. ^ "Sean Bergenheim Stats and News".
  8. ^ "NHL Free Agent Tracker". The Sports Network. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Wild get Bergenheim from Panthers". The Sports Network. 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  10. ^ "Sean Bergenheim for SCB". SC Bern (in German). 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  11. ^ boe (2016-04-12). "SCB 2015/16: Knatsch, Pech, Krisen – und jetzt Meister". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF). Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  12. ^ "Ducks bring in three on PTO's". Twitter. 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  13. ^ "Sean vänder "hem"". Frölunda Indians. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  14. ^ "BESKEDET: Sean Bergenheim avslutar karriären – berättar i öppet brev: "Jättejobbigt"". February 2018.
  15. ^ Gustav Orbring (2017-02-07). "Frölunda win CHL for second year running" (in Swedish). SVTSport.se. Retrieved 2017-02-07.

External links edit

Awards and achievements
Preceded by New York Islanders first round pick
2002
Succeeded by