Toronto Maple Leafs

Joffrey Douglas Sheldon Lupul (born September 23, 1983) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and an alternate captainfor the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). A right hand-shooting natural right winger earlier in his career, Lupul has made the transition to become a left winger since joining Toronto.Two years into his 3-year Junior career with the Western Hockey League (WHL) Medicine Hat Tigers, Lupul was drafted by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as their first choice, seventh overall, during the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. London Knights' Rick Nash was chosen first and Lupul's Tigers teammate Jay Bouwmeester went third that year. The following season he made the final roster for Team Canada and played in the 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Lupul made the jump directly to the Anaheim lineup his first season out of Junior, but the following season, with the NHL locked out, he was assigned to their AHL affiliate the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. In his third pro season, he was back up with Anaheim and in the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Lupul became the first player in NHL playoff history to cap a three-goal game with an overtime score, as he tallied all the Ducks goals in a 4–3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference semi-finals.[1]After the 2005–06 season, Lupul was traded to the Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers along with Ladislav Šmíd and draft picks for Chris Pronger on July 4, 2006.[2]After only one 16-goal season with Edmonton, on July 1, 2007, Lupul was traded along with captain Jason Smith to the Philadelphia Flyersfor Joni Pitkänen, Geoff Sanderson, and a third round draft pick in 2007.[3]During the 2007–08 season, his first with the Flyers, Lupul was diagnosed with a spinal cord contusion after a collision with teammate Derian Hatcher in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 5, 2008.[4] Lupul made his return playing for the team on February 9, 2008 against the New York Rangers. On April 22, 2008, Lupul scored the series-winning goal in the first overtime of Game 7 in the first-round playoff series between the Flyers and the Washington Capitals. After helping the Flyers to the Eastern Conference finals, Lupul agreed to a four-year contract extension with Philadelphia on July 21, 2008.[5]Lupul made the jump directly to the Anaheim lineup his first season out of Junior, but the following season, with the NHL locked out, he was assigned to their AHL affiliate the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. In his third pro season, he was back up with Anaheim and in the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Lupul became the first player in NHL playoff history to cap a three-goal game with an overtime score, as he tallied all the Ducks goals in a 4–3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference semi-finals.[1]After the 2005–06 season, Lupul was traded to the Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers along with Ladislav Šmíd and draft picks for Chris Pronger on July 4, 2006.[2]After only one 16-goal season with Edmonton, on July 1, 2007, Lupul was traded along with captain Jason Smith to the Philadelphia Flyersfor Joni Pitkänen, Geoff Sanderson, and a third round draft pick in 2007.[3]During the 2007–08 season, his first with the Flyers, Lupul was diagnosed with a spinal cord contusion after a collision with teammate Derian Hatcher in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 5, 2008.[4] Lupul made his return playing for the team on February 9, 2008 against the New York Rangers. On April 22, 2008, Lupul scored the series-winning goal in the first overtime of Game 7 in the first-round playoff series between the Flyers and the Washington Capitals. After helping the Flyers to the Eastern Conference finals, Lupul agreed to a four-year contract extension with Philadelphia on July 21, 2008.[5]n June 26, 2009, after his second season with Philadelphia, and one year into a 4-year contract, Lupul was traded by the Flyers to the Anaheim Ducks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft along with Luca Sbisa and two first round picks for Chris Pronger, the second time in his short career he has been part of a trade involving the Ducks with Pronger going the other way.[6]December 2009 back surgery and a subsequent blood infection limited him to just 23 games during the 2009–10 season. He missed 12 months playing time: the final 59 games of that season and carrying over into the first 28 games of the next season.On February 9, 2011, nearing the end of his second season back with Anaheim, but having played only 49 games during that time, Lupul was traded, along with Jake Gardiner and a conditional 2013 draft pick, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for François Beauchemin, marking the third time Lupul has been involved in a trade with the Ducks organization.[7] After being dealt to Toronto, he made the transition to left wing and finished with 18 points in 28 games to close out the season.The following year, Lupul started the year on the opposite wing of Phil Kessel, he put together a strong first half of the season, resulting in his being invited to the 2012 National Hockey League All-Star Game as an alternate captain to Zdeno Chára. There, he scored two goals for "Team Chara" giving them a 12-9 win over "Team Alfredsson". On March 2, 2012, the Toronto Maple Leafs fired coach Ron Wilson and replaced him with Randy Carlyle, Lupul's former coach in Anaheim. Lupul suffered a severe shoulder separation on March 6, 2012 resulting in surgery which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2011–12 season. He finished with a career high of 67 points for the season while only playing a season total of 66 games. This pace of scoring over a point per game was the first time in his career.[8] Lupul was nominated for the Masterton Trophy in the 2012 NHL season.[citation needed]He played for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, a Russian team in the Kontinental Hockey League, during the 2012–13 NHL lockout.Prior to the lockout-delayed start of the 2012–13 NHL season, Lupul, along with teammate Clarke MacArthur, was named as an alternate captain of the Maple Leafs under captainDion Phaneuf. Days later, on January 20, 2013, Lupul signed a 5 year, US$26.25 million contract extension with the Maple Leafs.[9]Only three games into the lockout shortened season, Lupul fractured his right forearm when he was hit by a Dion Phaneuf slapshot while screening opposing goalie Marc-André Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins.[10] He missed 25 games. In his return to the ice on March 16, Lupul scored on his first shift of the night and once again in the second period of the game.[11] However, the Leafs went on to lose the game in a ten round shootout to the Winnipeg Jets. Rejuvenated in his return after a long absence, Lupul scored goals in 6 consecutive games and recorded points in a prolific rate, 8 goals and 6 assists in 6 games, before he suffered another injury in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Going deep into his defensive zone, Lupul was struck by two Flyers, including one to the head and suffered a mild concussion. He would miss an additional 2 weeks before making his return on April 16 against the Washington Capitals. Lupul finished the season with totals of 18 points in 16 games, including a goals per game rate of .69, which would put him among the league leaders alongside Alexander Ovechkin-.67, Steven Stamkos-.60, and John Tavares-.58.With 57 points in 48 games, the Toronto Maple Leafs would qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2004. During Game 2 of the series against the Boston Bruins, Lupul scored two goals to help propel the Leafs to a 4-2 win to even the series at one a piece. Lupul would score again in Game 4 at the Air Canada Centre when he scored the game's opening goal leading to a 2-1 win for the Leafs. He would end his first playoff series with Toronto with 3 goals and 1 assist in 7 games