Today, we honor 25 past and present NHL players who celebrated their birthdays on April 16th. Only 14 players born on this day have appeared in more than 100 league games, but three active players are on the list, including Kyle Okposo, Nikita Zadorov, and Nikita Zadorov. . Dustin Wolf. Let's introduce some notable players who celebrate their birthdays on this day.
Kyle Okposo (1988)
Okposo was a first-round pick (seventh overall) by the New York Islanders in the 2006 draft. He played nine seasons on Long Island, his last seven seasons joining the team's coaching group as an acting captain. He played in 529 games, scoring 139 goals and 230 assists for 369 points, which ranks 18th on the team's all-time list.
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When the Islanders opted to rebuild their lineup, Okposo signed with the Buffalo Sabers as a free agent in July 2016, becoming an alternate captain in 2017 and promoted to team captain in 2022. Despite changing teams at the age of 28, he continued to maintain his productivity. During his time with the Sabers, he scored 245 points in 516 games, including 103 goals and 142 assists.
At the 2023-24 NHL trade deadline, Buffalo traded Okposo to the Florida Panthers, who had already clinched a playoff berth. He is playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season, scoring 15 points in 26 games.
Nikita Zadorov (1995)
Zadorov is also a first-round pick (16th overall) and is celebrating his birthday today. Selected by the Sabers in the 2013 Entry Draft, he played only 67 games with the team before a June 2015 trade with the Colorado Avalanche that brought Ryan O'Reilly to upstate New York.
RELATED: Today in Hockey History: April 16th
Zadorov skated with the Avalanche for five seasons, his longest with the club, scoring 59 points and logging 328 penalty minutes in 289 games. He went through further trades and played the 2020-21 season with the Chicago Blackhawks before signing with the Calgary Flames as a free agent in 2022.
With the Flames, Zadorov was known for playing with his body and creating a physical attack, making him an integral part of the team's defensive corps. As Calgary entered a rebuilding phase at the beginning of the 2023-24 season, the team traded him to the Vancouver Canucks, where he helped the team win the Pacific Division title. He has played in 640 games, scoring 146 points and accumulating 697 penalty minutes.
Dustin Wolf (2001)
Wolf is a future star goaltender for the Flames and a back-to-back winner of the American Hockey League's Goaltender of the Year award. At just 23 years old, he is experiencing his first NHL action and should be Calgary's No. 1 netminder if the team trades Jacob Markstrom.
A seventh-round pick (214th overall) in the 2019 draft, Wolf stands 6-foot-0 and weighs just 166 pounds and continues to overcome adversity to become the league's starting goaltender. Although he had only appeared in 17 games in the NHL before his 23rd birthday, he had success at every level, including a 97-31-9 record with a .926 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-against average in the minors. ing.
It won't happen next year or in his final year at the Saddledome, but Wolf has the skills to become the first goaltender to win the coveted Vezina Trophy since Miikka Kiprusoff in 2005-06. .
Inactive players celebrating birthday (age)
Editor's note: bold name of stanley cup winner
- Joffre Désilets – 1915 – 1994
- Don Garinger – 1925 – 2000
- Galen Head – 1947 (78)
- Mike Zook – 1954 (70)
- John Fontas – 1955 (69)
- Mike Crombeen – 1957 (67)
- Dean DeFazio – 1963 (61)
- Garry Galley – 1963 (61)
- Chris Lindberg – 1967 (57)
- Harry York – 1974 (50)
- Matthias Timander – 1974 (50)
- Eric Beltran – 1975 (49)
- Boyd Deveraux – 1978 (46)
- Peter Regin – 1986 (38)
- Jeremy Morin – 1991 (33)
- Joni Ortio – 1991 (33)
- Joseph Labate – 1993 (31)
- Marcus Granlund – 1993 (31)
- Gemel Smith – 1994 (30)
- Remi Elie – 1995 (29)
- John Quenneville – 1996 (28)
- Conor Vannaman – 1998 (26)
