Joe Vitale
Born (1985-08-20) August 20, 1985
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 207 lb (94 kg; 14 st 11 lb)
Position Center
Shot Right
Played for Pittsburgh Penguins
Arizona Coyotes
NHL Draft 195th overall, 2005
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2009–2015

Joseph Dominic Vitale (born August 20, 1985) is an American former professional ice hockey player and the current radio color analyst for the St. Louis Blues. Vitale was drafted 195th overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he made his NHL debut.[1] He also played with the Arizona Coyotes.

Playing career

Amateur

As a youth, Vitale played in the 1999 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the St. Louis Blues minor ice hockey team.[2]

Vitale graduated from Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was part of three state championships and two undefeated seasons. He also played for the St. Louis Jr. Blues of the Central States Hockey League for two seasons, including a national championship in 2003–04. In 2004–05, he played for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League.[3]

Joe Vitale, Pittsburgh Penguins

On July 30, 2005, Vitale was drafted by the Penguins with the 195th selection in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.[4] He enrolled in Northeastern University and began his college career as a freshman for the Huskies in 2005–06. He was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week in February and received Northeastern's Ed Arrington Memorial Rookie of the Year Award. In 2006–07, he was named alternate captain of the squad as a sophomore and was named to Hockey East's All-Academic Team. As a junior in 2007–08, he was named All-New England and New England's Most Improved Player, was named to the All-Hockey East Second Team, and was Northeastern's Most Valuable Player.[3] Vitale's college career concluded when Northeastern lost to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Northeastern's first trip to the NCAA tournament in 15 years. He finished his career at Northeastern with 34 goals and 60 assists for 94 points and 268 penalty minutes in 143 games.[5]

Professional

Pittsburgh Penguins

On April 3, 2009, Vitale signed a one-year, entry level NHL contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2009–10 season. He also signed an Amateur Try-Out contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the remainder of the 2008–09 season.[6] He recorded his first professional goal and assist on April 4, 2009 against the Albany River Rats. He finished the season with 4 points in 5 regular season games. Vitale also played in all 12 of the Penguins playoff games.[7] During the 2009–10 season, Vitale played in 74 games in the AHL, scoring six goals and recording 26 assists for a total of 32 points. In January 2010, the Penguins and Vitale agreed to a two-year contract extension through the 2011–12 season.[8]

Vitale made his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 10, 2011 against the Los Angeles Kings. On February 16, 2011, Vitale scored his first NHL goal against Peter Budaj of the Colorado Avalanche.

On February 3, 2012, Vitale was re-signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins to a two-year contract extension worth $1.1 million.[9]

Arizona Coyotes

As a free agent, Vitale joined his second NHL team, signing a three-year contract with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1, 2014.[10] In his second year with the Coyotes, Vitale began the 2015–16 NHL season. On October 17, 2015, Vitale was injured in his first game of the year against Boston Bruins.[11] In a fight against Kevan Miller, Vitale suffered a fractured orbital bone and was expected to miss 4–6 weeks. Suffering lingering concussion issues as a result of the fight, Vitale was unable to make progress and on February 11, 2016, he was ruled out for the remainder of the 2015–16 season.[12]

Detroit Red Wings

On June 24, 2016, the Coyotes traded Vitale, the 20th overall pick, and the 53rd overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Pavel Datsyuk's $7.5 million cap hit and the 16th overall pick.[13] Due to a concussion that sidelined Vitale for all but one game of the previous season, he sat out the entirety of the 2016–17 season[14] and, with his contract expiring that year, he never played a game for the Red Wings. Vitale retired in July 2017 due to his career-ending concussion.

Post-playing career

On August 15, 2018, St. Louis native Vitale was named as the new radio color analyst of the St. Louis Blues on KMOX, the team's flagship station.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Christian Brothers College High School HS-MO 8 24 32 — — — — —
2001–02 Christian Brothers College High School HS-MO 6 13 19 — — — — —
2002–03 Christian Brothers College High School HS-MO 6 3 9 — — — — —
2002–03 St. Louis Jr. Blues CSHL 44 19 30 49 44 — — — — —
2003–04 Christian Brothers College High School HS-MO 25 30 55 — — — — —
2003–04 St. Louis Jr. Blues CSHL 43 21 29 50 42 — — — — —
2004–05 Sioux Falls Stampede USHL 53 11 20 31 62 — — — — —
2005–06 Northeastern University HE 31 8 8 16 71 — — — — —
2006–07 Northeastern University HE 35 7 9 16 54 — — — — —
2007–08 Northeastern University HE 37 12 23 35 75 — — — — —
2008–09 Northeastern University HE 40 7 20 27 68 — — — — —
2008–09 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 5 2 2 4 2 12 0 0 0 12
2009–10 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 74 6 26 32 70 4 0 2 2 0
2010–11 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 60 9 21 30 64 11 3 3 6 18
2010–11 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 9 1 1 2 13 — — — — —
2011–12 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 68 4 10 14 56 4 0 0 0 12
2012–13 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 33 2 3 5 17 6 0 1 1 6
2013–14 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 53 1 13 14 29 13 0 0 0 4
2014–15 Arizona Coyotes NHL 70 3 6 9 36 — — — — —
2015–16 Arizona Coyotes NHL 1 0 0 0 5 — — — — —
AHL totals 139 17 49 66 132 27 3 5 8 30
NHL totals 234 11 33 44 156 23 0 1 1 22

Awards and honors

Award Year
College
All-Hockey East Second Team 2007–08

References

  1. ↑ "NHL Entry Draft Year by Year Results". National Hockey League. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  2. ↑ "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 2019-02-13.
  3. 1 2 "Northeastern Men's Hockey 2008–09 – #26 Joe Vitale". Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  4. ↑ "Pittsburgh Penguins — Team: Joe Vitale Official Player Page — Bio/News". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  5. ↑ "Joe Vitale's statistics profile at hockeydb.com". Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Bombulie, Jonathan. "Goalie of the Future — Penguins Insider — Community Server". Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  7. ↑ "WBS Penguins season statistics". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Vitale re-signs to two-year contract". Pittsburgh Penguins. 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  9. ↑ "Penguins Re-Sign Forward Joe Vitale to a Two-Year Contract Extension". Pittsburgh Penguins. 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  10. ↑ "Arizona Coyotes sign Joe Vitale, Devan Dubnyk". National Hockey League. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  11. ↑ "Bruins Kevan Miller pounds on Joe Vitale in vicious fight". CBS Sports. 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  12. ↑ "Concussion puts Coyotes Vitale out for remainder of season". The Hockey News. 2016-02-11. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  13. ↑ St. James, Helene (June 24, 2016). "Red Wings trade Pavel Datsyuk contract to Arizona on draft night". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Red Wings' Joe Vitale out for year with Concussion". CBS Sports. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
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