Matt Cooke

Matthew David Cooke (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played sixteen seasons and 1046 games in the National Hockey League (NHL).

As a youth, Cooke played in the 1992 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Quinte minor ice hockey team from Belleville, Ontario.

Cooke played junior ice hockey in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for three seasons, predominantly with the Windsor Spitfires, prior to playing professionally.

Recording an impressive 95-point (tenth overall in the league), 146-penalty-minute campaign in his second OHL season, he was drafted 144th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

Returning to the OHL for a third season after being drafted, he was traded from Windsor to the Kingston Frontenacs on December 17, 1997, in exchange for Brent L'Heureux.

Cooke would finish the season and his OHL career with Kingston.

Splitting the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons between the Canucks and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, Cooke would play for the Canucks full-time in 2000–01.

Typically playing in the role of a checking winger, Cooke recorded a career-high 42 points in 2002–03 and earned the Fred J. Hume Award as the team's unsung hero.

Continuing to show offensive capabilities, after returning from an injury in 2003–04, he was promoted to the Canucks' top line towards the end of the season.

On account of Todd Bertuzzi's infamous suspension, Cooke joined Markus Näslund and Brendan Morrison on the Canucks' top line for the final 13 games of the season and the playoffs.

Perhaps Cooke's most memorable moment with the Canucks occurred during this stint on the first line as the Canucks entered the 2004 playoffs against the Calgary Flames.

With the Canucks down by a goal in the final minute of the series-deciding seventh game, Cooke drove the net on a Markus Näslund rush and dramatically tied the score with five seconds remaining in regulation; it was also Cooke's second goal of the game.

As the Canucks were short-handed at the time, however, Calgary began the overtime period on the powerplay and clinched the series.

After a year of inactivity on account of the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Cooke would play two more full seasons with the Canucks, scoring at a similar pace.

With Cooke's contract set to expire at the end of the 2007–08 season, he was sent to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Matt Pettinger at the trade deadline.

The trade ended Cooke's tenure with the Canucks in his ninth season with the club.

Finishing the 2007–08 season, Cooke would play 17 games with the Capitals, scoring seven points.

It marked Cooke's return to the Western Conference after leaving the Vancouver Canucks during the 2007–08 season.

Cooke won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008–09 NHL season and was a member of the Team Canada team that won the gold medal at the 2004 World Championships.

In addition to having played for the Penguins, he also played in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild.

Cooke was born in Belleville, Ontario, but grew up in Stirling, Ontario.

He is currently the head coach of the Newfoundland Growlers.

Cooke's playing style earned him the reputation as one of the NHL's "pests".

During his NHL career, Cooke was criticized and often suspended for hits, some involving head-shots, or knee-on-knee collisions that have injured opposing players.

Most notable was a hit to the head of Marc Savard, which was an important factor influencing NHL rule changes intended to deter such conduct.

In the off-season, on July 5, 2008, Cooke signed a two-year, $2.4-million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He injured his ribs in his first season with the Penguins in October, missing four games, but was able to return by the end of the month.

On December 2, 2008, he was named to the rotating position of alternate captain for the Penguins for the month of December.

The next month, Cooke was suspended for two games on January 27, 2009, for a headshot that he delivered to Carolina Hurricanes forward Scott Walker seven days earlier.

He was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play.

He earned the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009.

Cooke set a new career high during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs by scoring four post-season goals, two of those coming in the decisive Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.

On June 22, 2010, Cooke signed a three-year contract to stay with the Penguins, a deal worth $1.8 million per season.

After his longest suspension in 2011 for a hit to the head of Ryan McDonagh, Cooke pledged to change his style of play, although he had another lengthy suspension in the 2014 playoffs for a knee-on-knee hit delivered to Tyson Barrie of the Colorado Avalanche.

At the time of the trade, he was 12th all-time in games played as a Canuck with 556.

Following his contract expiry with the Pittsburgh Penguins, on July 5, 2013, Cooke signed a three-year, $7.5 million contract with the Minnesota Wild.

Playing in all 82 games in the 2013-14 NHL Season, Cooke scored 10 goals along with 18 assists for 28 points in his first season with the Wild.

With Minnesota up against the Salary cap and suffering an injury plagued 2014–15 season, having appeared in just 29 regular season games, Cooke was placed on waivers in order to buy-out the final year of his three-year contract with the Wild on June 19, 2015.

During his career, Cooke has been criticized by the media, league, fans, and team executives, and other players for his hitting in ways more likely to cause injury such as hits to the head or hits to an opponent's knee.

Of note, CBC host and former head coach Don Cherry has been consistently and effectively critical of Cooke, personally, and has faulted the NHL for not responding appropriately to Cooke's intents to render opposing players unable to play over the years.