Kurtis Foster

Kurtis Foster
Born	November 24, 1981 (1981-11-24) Carp, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	226 lb (103 kg; 16 st 2 lb)
Position	Defence
Shoots	Right
NHL team Former teams	Minnesota Wild Atlanta Thrashers Tampa Bay Lightning Edmonton Oilers Anaheim Ducks New Jersey Devils
NHL Draft	40th overall, 2000 Calgary Flames
Playing career	2001–present

Kurtis Foster (born November 24, 1981) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently playing for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League.

Playing career

Kurtis Foster was selected in the second round, 40th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. On December 18, 2001, Foster was traded by Calgary with Jeff Cowan to the Atlanta Thrashers for Petr Buzek.

On June 26, 2004, Foster was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Niclas Havelid. After one season with the Ducks, Foster signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild. He started the season in Houston of the AHL, but after a hot start, got called up and played his first NHL game of the year on November 19, 2005. He scored his first two goals of his young career that game against Tomas Vokoun.

On March 20, 2008, Foster suffered a broken left femur in a game against the San Jose Sharks. Foster suffered the injury when Sharks centre, Torrey Mitchell, checked Foster into the bottom of the boards while attempting to prevent an icing call. The hit which resulted in a penalty was later ruled, by the NHL, accidental. Foster had season-ending surgery to repair his broken left femur and missed the remainder of the season and postseason.

In light of Foster's injury, following the 2007–08 NHL season, the NHL added the following to the rule regarding icing to protect both competitors as they raced for the puck:

“

Any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck. Unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player.

”

Foster was not ready for the beginning of the 2008–09 season, but on October 11, 2008, announced he was skating with full gear and feels no pain when skating. On February 9, 2009, Kurtis returned to play for the Houston Aeros of the AHL on a conditioning stint from the Wild. He played in a 6-3 win over the Chicago Wolves and registered 2 PIM.

On July 8, 2009, Foster was signed as a free agent to a one-year contract by the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he posted a career high 42 points. On July 1, 2010, he signed a two-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

In his ongoing effort to get the NHL to change its icing rule, on February 3, 2011 Foster told TSN that there was complications during his surgery to repair his broken femur. Foster bled out and was in danger of losing his leg and could have died. A surgery that typically takes three hours took close to eight hours to complete. Foster wondered aloud if the NHL would have changed the icing rule had he not made it through the surgery. He stated he would like to see the NHL change the rule before anybody else has to go through what he went through, or worse, such as a spinal injury. Don Cherry has been lobbying for many years for a rule change, and has been critical of the NHL for not going to no touch icing.

On February 12, Foster recorded his 100th career assist, a secondary assist on a goal by Andrew Cogliano, in a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Foster finished the 2010-11 NHL season with a disappointing record, as the Oilers hoped to get more out of him, despite this, Foster scored 8 goals to go along with 14 assist and 22 points.

On July 1, 2011, Foster was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenceman Andy Sutton.

On December 12, 2011, along with goaltender Timo Pielmeier, Foster was traded to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenceman Mark Fraser and forward Rod Pelley. After only 28 games with the Devils, Foster was on the move again on February 24, 2012, when he was traded back to the Minnesota Wild along with Nick Palmieri and Stephane Veilleux, and draft picks in exchange for Marek Zidlicky..

Foster has a brother, Craig, who was drafted 5th overall in the 2000 OHL Draft. He spent 5 years playing in the OHL, before playing 4 more in the CIS league with the UPEI Panthers. Craig resides in Charlottetown, and coaches a Midget AAA hockey team.

Awards

• 2003–04 AHL - Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (AHL Man of the Year)

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1997–98	Peterborough Petes	OHL		39	1	1	2	45		4	0	0	0	2
1998–99	Peterborough Petes	OHL		54	2	13	15	59		5	0	0	0	6
1999–00	Peterborough Petes	OHL		68	6	18	24	116		5	1	2	3	4
2000–01	Peterborough Petes	OHL		62	17	24	41	78		7	1	1	2	10
2001–02	Chicago Wolves	AHL		39	6	9	15	59		14	1	1	2	21
2001–02	Peterborough Petes	OHL		33	10	4	14	58		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Chicago Wolves	AHL		75	15	27	42	159		9	1	3	4	14
2002–03	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		2	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Chicago Wolves	AHL		67	11	19	30	95		10	0	3	3	12
2003–04	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		3	0	1	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
2004–05	Cincinnati Mighty Ducks	AHL		78	17	25	42	71		9	2	3	5	28
2005–06	Houston Aeros	AHL		19	4	11	15	32		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Minnesota Wild	NHL		58	10	18	28	60		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Minnesota Wild	NHL		57	3	20	23	52		3	0	2	2	0
2007–08	Minnesota Wild	NHL		56	7	12	19	37		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Houston Aeros	AHL		6	1	5	6	6		3	0	2	2	0
2008–09	Minnesota Wild	NHL		10	1	5	6	6		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		71	8	34	42	48		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		74	8	14	22	45		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		9	1	1	2	8		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	Syracuse Crunch	AHL		2	0	1	1	4		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	New Jersey Devils	NHL		28	3	9	12	23		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				368	41	114	155	279		3	0	2	2	0

External links

• Kurtis Foster's career stats at Eliteprospects.com
• Kurtis Foster's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Kurtis Foster at TSN.ca