Michael Henrich

Michael Henrich
Michael Henrich in 2007
Born	(1980-03-04) March 4, 1980 (age 44) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position	Right Wing/Centre/Defence
Shot	Right
Played for	AHL Hamilton Bulldogs Hershey Bears Toronto Roadrunners DEL Füchse Duisburg Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg Serie A HC Asiago EBEL Dornbirner EC EIHL Coventry Blaze
NHL draft	13th overall, 1998 Edmonton Oilers
Playing career	2000–2014
Medal record Ice hockey Representing   Canada Maccabiah Games 1997 Israel Ice hockey

Michael Henrich (born March 4, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. An NHL first-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1998, Henrich played several years of professional hockey in North America before moving to professional hockey in Europe. Henrich is the first Jewish player to be selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, ^[1] and the only player taken in the first round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft who did not play a regular season game in the National Hockey League. ^[2]

Henrich's younger brother Adam Henrich was also a former professional hockey player for the Coventry Blaze.

Personal life

Henrich, who is Jewish, ^[3] is from Thornhill, Ontario. ^[4]

Playing career

Junior

Michael Henrich had a standout junior career with the Barrie Colts from 1996 to 2000 in the Ontario Hockey League. Barrie drafted him 5th overall in the 1996 Ontario Hockey League priority selection draft out of the Metro Toronto Hockey Leagues Midget Wexford Raiders.

In 1997 he was selected to the Ontario Hockey League all-star game, was voted MVP for Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and was voted by the Ontario Hockey League eastern conference coaches poll as best shot, hardest shot and most dangerous in the goal area.

In 1999–2000 he was an assistant captain of the Ontario Hockey League champion Barrie Colts. Barrie competed in the 2000 Memorial Cup in Halifax finishing runner-up.

1998 NHL Draft and North American Hockey

Prior to the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, New York, Henrich was rated high by the NHL's Central Scouting Service who ranked him 3rd in their initial rankings amongst North American skaters, and by many sportswriters, including USA Today's Phil Colvin, who had him ranked as the third best prospect in the draft behind David Legwand and Vincent Lecavalier. ^{[5] [6]}

Henrich was ultimately selected 13th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. He was selected ahead of eight future NHL All-Stars including Simon Gagne (22nd overall), Scott Gomez (27th overall), Brad Richards (64th overall), and Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall). As a result of Henrich not playing a regular season NHL game, coupled with the large number of NHL all-stars drafted after him, many sportswriters and networks cite him as an example of a draft bust, ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]} with NHL.com columnist and hockey author John Kreiser even listing Henrich as one of Edmonton's all-time biggest draft disappointments alongside Jason Bonsignore and Scott Allison. ^[14]

His professional career in North America lasted four seasons in which he played a total of 9 preseason games for the Edmonton Oilers scoring 1 goal and 1 assist. He also played 219 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs, Toronto Roadrunners and Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and 6 games with the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks of the ECHL.

International

In 1996–97 Henrich competed for Team Ontario at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Red Deer, Alberta where Team Ontario won the gold medal. He was selected to the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team selection camp in 1998 and 1999. He represented Canada men's national ice hockey team at the Deutschland Cup in Hannover, Germany in 2002 where Canada finished as champion. In 2003, he represented Canada men's national ice hockey team at the Sweden Hockey Games in Stockholm, Sweden, where Canada placed third.

Henrich played hockey for Team Canada at the age of 17 at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel where the team won a gold medal. ^{[15] [16] [17]}

Europe

Henrich played in the HockeyAllsvenskan for Mora IK in 2002. He spent the 2004–05 NHL lockout with the Austrian National League team EK Zell am See and won the league championship. In 2005, he played for the Füchse Duisburg of the DEL. In 2006, he played for the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg of the 2nd Bundesliga and won the league championship. In 2008 he signed with Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio club HC Asiago and won the league championship. He was a member of Dornbirner EC of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga in 2012 and finished his career in 2014 with the Coventry Blaze of the Elite Ice Hockey League.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1995–96	Wexford Raiders AAA	GTHL		72	31	40	71	50		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Wexford Raiders	MetJHL		4	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	Barrie Colts	OHL		52	9	15	24	19		9	0	5	5	0
1997–98	Barrie Colts	OHL		66	41	22	63	75		5	1	3	4	0
1998–99	Barrie Colts	OHL		62	38	33	71	42		12	0	2	2	4
1999–2000	Barrie Colts	OHL		66	38	48	86	69		25	10	18	28	30
2000–01	Tallahassee Tiger Sharks	ECHL		6	1	1	2	0		—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	Hamilton Bulldogs	AHL		73	5	10	15	36		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Hamilton Bulldogs	AHL		67	14	24	38	24		9	2	2	4	2
2002–03	Hamilton Bulldogs	AHL		12	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Mora IK	SWE.2		12	3	1	4	16		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Hershey Bears	AHL		9	0	1	1	4		1	0	0	0	0
2003–04	Toronto Roadrunners	AHL		58	14	10	24	28		3	2	0	2	0
2004–05	EK Zell am See	AUT		34	42	35	77	122		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Füchse Duisburg	DEL		43	10	11	21	34		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg	DEU.2		48	16	20	36	94		10	8	4	12	6
2007–08	Grizzlys Adams Wolfsburg	DEL		56	16	15	31	26		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	HC Asiago	ITA		39	27	33	60	22		15	7	11	18	10
2010–11	HC Asiago	ITA		40	22	27	49	20		17	13	6	19	8
2011–12	HC Asiago	ITA		44	24	17	41	10		4	0	0	0	0
2012–13	Dornbirner EC	AUT		54	17	20	37	37		—	—	—	—	—
2013–14	Coventry Blaze	GBR		43	16	31	47	18		2	0	0	0	0
AHL totals				219	33	45	78	94		13	4	2	6	2
ITA totals				123	73	77	150	52		36	20	17	37	18

See also

• List of select Jewish ice hockey players

References

1. "A special brotherly connection: Henrichs on short list of Jewish players in pro hockey". Times Leader. March 15, 2009. Archived from the original on March 20, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
2. "1998 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com.
3. "Professional Hockey Review: 2010–11; European Hockey League". Jewish Sports Review . 8 (87): 8–9. September–October 2011.
4. "Michael Henrich at eliteprospects.com". www.eliteprospects.com.
5. "1998 NHL Scouting Service Rankings". Sports Illustrated. June 23, 1998. Archived from the original on February 15, 2001. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
6. "Top 10 prospects for the 1998 NHL Draft". Usatoday.com. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
7. "Winnipeg Free Press The top bargains and busts from the past 20 years of the NHL draft".
8. "EDMONTON OILERS: 2008-09 TOP 12 PROSPECTS". Tsn.ca. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
9. "NHL Draft 2011: Who's Next? the Biggest First Round Busts from 1975-2000". Bleacherreport.com. June 21, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
10. Zona, Derek (November 7, 2009). "Scouting Europeans From a Beach in Mexico". Coppernblue.com. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
11. "Lightning Top 20 prospects". Hockeysfuture.com. April 7, 2005. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
12. "1998 NHL Entry Draft". Hockeydb.com. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
13. Jes Golbez (June 16, 2008). "A Look Back at the 1998 Entry Draft". Aolnews.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
14. "Hits and misses at the Draft by Northwest Division teams". Nhl.com. June 21, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
15. "Maccabi announces its 'Team Canada'". The Canadian Jewish News. November 13, 2012.
16. Paul Lungen (December 7, 2012). "Maccabi Team Canada". Jewish Independent.
17. Gellar, Raphael. "Peres hosts Maccabiah's Olympian athletes". Times of Israel.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com , or  Eliteprospects.com , or  Eurohockey.com , or  The Internet Hockey Database
• Michael Henrich Serie A Profile
• Oilers: Q&A with Michael Henrich

Preceded by Michel Riesen	Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick 1998	Succeeded by Jani Rita