Ben Walter

Ben James Walter (born May 11, 1984, in Beaconsfield, Quebec) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played with EC VSV in the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL). He has previously played in the National Hockey League and is the son of former NHL player Ryan Walter.

Ben Walter
Born (1984-05-11) May 11, 1984
Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
team
Former teams		 Free Agent
Boston Bruins
New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils
Örebro HK
Jokerit
EC Red Bull Salzburg
Nippon Paper Cranes
EC VSV
NHL Draft 160th overall, 2004
Boston Bruins
Playing career 2005–present

Playing career

Walter first played junior hockey with the Langley Hornets in the British Columbia Hockey League for two seasons before he committed to play collegiate hockey with the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the NCAA Hockey East. An offensively minded center he finished second on the River Hawks in scoring as a sophomore in 2003–04 and was consequently drafted 160th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins. The ensuing season, Walter then co-led the River Hawks with 39 points in 34 games as a junior. Posting 3 hat-tricks throughout the season, Walter also led the Hockey East with 26 goals to be selected to the Hockey East Second All-Star team and earning a nomination as a Hobey Baker Award finalist.[1]

Walter did not return for his senior year when he signed a three-year entry level contract with the Bruins on August 31, 2005.[2] He was among the final cuts of the Boston Bruins training camp for opening night roster for 2005–06 and started his first professional season with American Hockey League affiliate, the Providence Bruins.[3] On the turn of the year Walter was recalled from Providence and made his NHL debut with the Bruins against the Los Angeles Kings on January 12, 2006.[4] He went scoreless in 6 games with Boston before finishing his first season by scoring 40 points in 62 games with Providence. In the following 2006–07 season, Walter failed to find a role within Boston's line-up and appeared in only 4 games with the Bruins for the year. He spent the majority of the season with Providence and posted 67 points in 73 games to place second on the team in scoring and was named Providence Most Valuable Player to end the season.[5]

On September 11, 2007, Walter was traded by the Bruins, along with a conditional second-round pick to the New York Islanders for Petteri Nokelainen.[6] For the 2007–08 season, Ben was initially assigned to the Islanders AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before he played his first game for New York against the Pittsburgh Penguins in coach Al Arbour's 1,500th honorary NHL game for the Islanders on November 3, 2007.[7] On March 11, 2008, Walter finally scored his first NHL goal (and point) against Karri Ramo and the Tampa Bay Lightning.[8] In his three brief recalls to the Islanders he totaled only 8 games, however, he figured in a more prominent role to finish second on the Sound Tigers with 20 goals and 66 points. After the season Walter re-signed with the Islanders for an additional year in which he again was an influential player with the Sound Tigers in 2008–09.[9] In 65 games with Bridgeport he matched his previous season tally with 20 goals and scored 50 points while also appearing in a further four games with the Islanders.

On June 30, 2009, he was traded by the Islanders to the New Jersey Devils for Long Islander, Tony Romano.[10] After agreeing to a one-year deal with the Devils, Walter returned to his UMass Lowell roots when he was assigned to AHL affiliate, the Lowell Devils to start the 2009–10 season.[11][12] Ben was leading Lowell in scoring after 45 games before on January 22, 2010, he was recalled to New Jersey to make his Devils debut against the Montreal Canadiens.[13] He went scoreless in 2 games with the Devils before he was returned to Lowell to finish the year as top scorer with 22 goals and 58 points in 78 games to help Lowell reach the playoffs for the first and only time in franchise history.

On July 7, 2010, Walter signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche.[14] During the 2010–11 pre-season, following the Avalanche's training camp, Walter was reassigned to AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, to start the year.[15] Walter led the Monsters in scoring with 70 points and in turn helped the Monsters qualify for their first post-season berth.

On July 2, 2011, Walter signed a two-year deal as a free agent with the Calgary Flames. He was later reassigned to AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat to start the 2011–12 season. In two seasons with the Flames organization, Walter remained as an offensive leader in Abbotsford.

After the conclusion of the 2012–13 with the Heat, Walter was signed to his first contract abroad as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year deal with Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League on May 25, 2013.[16] In the 2013–14 season, Walter struggled to transition to the Swedish league, posting just 2 goals in 35 games with Örebro before accepting a mid-season transfer to the Finnish Liiga with Jokerit on December 29, 2013.[17]

In the off-season, Walter joined his third European club in short succession, in agreeing to a one-year deal with Austrian club, EC Red Bull Salzburg of the EBEL on August 5, 2014.[18] During his two-year tenure in Salzburg, Walter contributed to the Red Bull's success in claiming back-to-back championships.

At the conclusion of his contract, Walter opted for a new venture, signing a one-year deal with Japanese based club, Nippon Paper Cranes of the Asia League on August 6, 2016.[19] In the 2016–17 season, Walter added 12 goals and 39 points to the Paper Cranes offense.

On July 15, 2017, Walter returned to Austria in agreeing to a one-year deal with EC VSV of the EBEL.[20]

Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Langley Hornets BCHL 50 8 22 30 19 — — — — —
2001–02 Langley Hornets BCHL 50 29 47 76 29 — — — — —
2002–03 U. of Massachusetts-Lowell HE 35 5 12 17 12 — — — — —
2003–04 U. of Massachusetts-Lowell HE 36 18 16 34 18 — — — — —
2004–05 U. of Massachusetts-Lowell HE 36 26 13 39 32 — — — — —
2005–06 Providence Bruins AHL 62 16 24 40 33 3 2 0 2 2
2005–06 Boston Bruins NHL 6 0 0 0 4 — — — — —
2006–07 Providence Bruins AHL 73 24 43 67 58 13 4 4 8 6
2006–07 Boston Bruins NHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2007–08 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 68 20 46 66 31 — — — — —
2007–08 New York Islanders NHL 8 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2008–09 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 65 20 30 50 10 5 1 4 5 2
2008–09 New York Islanders NHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2009–10 Lowell Devils AHL 78 22 36 58 26 5 1 1 2 2
2009–10 New Jersey Devils NHL 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2010–11 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 77 23 47 70 24 7 3 2 5 4
2011–12 Abbotsford Heat AHL 75 19 40 59 30 8 1 7 8 2
2012–13 Abbotsford Heat AHL 68 15 34 49 18 — — — — —
2013–14 Örebro HK SHL 35 2 13 15 14 — — — — —
2013–14 Jokerit Liiga 23 2 5 7 4 1 0 1 1 0
2014–15 EC Red Bull Salzburg EBEL 50 13 30 43 12 13 2 8 10 6
2015–16 EC Red Bull Salzburg EBEL 41 5 13 18 22 16 5 5 10 0
2016–17 Nippon Paper Cranes AL 48 12 27 39 40 2 1 2 3 2
2017–18 EC VSV EBEL 43 4 7 11 22 — — — — —
NHL totals 24 1 0 1 6 — — — — —

Awards and honours
Award Year Notes
College
All-Hockey East Second Team 2004–05 [21]

Transactions
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References
  1. "First year pro: Ben Walter". hockeysfuture.com. 2005-10-13. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  2. "Walter signs a three-year contract". Boston Bruins. 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  3. "Bruins assign Thomas and Walter to Providence". Boston Bruins. 2005-10-03. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  4. "Kings 6, Bruins 0". Yahoo! Sports. 2006-01-12. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  5. Lindsay Kramer (2007-05-08). "Like father like son? Walter's working on it". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  6. "Islanders acquire Ben Walter". New York Islanders. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  7. "Arbour-led Islanders beat Pens 3-2 behind Satans two goals". Yahoo! Sports. 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  8. "Lecavalier's hat trick gives U.S. record to Lightning coach Tortorella". CBS Sports. 2008-03-11. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  9. "Tamby agree 2-year contract, Colliton and Walter accept QO's". New York Islanders. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  10. "Isles, Devils swap prospects". National Hockey League. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  11. "New Jersey/Lowell Devils sign eight players". Trenton Devils. 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  12. "5 Burning Questions: Ben Walter". Lowell Devils. 2010-01-27. Archived from the original on 2010-03-04. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  13. "Canadiens beat Devils to stop three-game losing streak". CBS Sports. 2010-01-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  14. "Yip gets new deal with Avs". ESPN. 2010-07-07. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  15. "Avalanche re-assign Goalie Cann, six others". Denver Post. 2010-09-23. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  16. "Ben Walter ready for Örebro HK" (in Swedish). Örebro HK. 2013-05-25. Archived from the original on 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  17. "Walter joins Jokerit" (in Finnish). Jokerit. 2013-12-29. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  18. "Canadian veteran strengthens Red Bulls" (in German). EC Red Bull Salzburg. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  19. "Paper Cranes announce roster additions". Nippon Paper Cranes. 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  20. "Canadian center Ben Walter comes to VSV" (in German). EC VSV. 2017-07-15. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  21. "Hockey East All-Stars". Hockey East. 2010-08-02. Archived from the original on 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
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