Patrick Mullen (ice hockey)

Patrick Mullen
Born (1986-05-06) May 6, 1986
Boston, Massachusetts, USA[1]
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Right
NHL team (P)
Cur. team		 Nashville Predators
Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2009–present

Patrick Mullen (born May 6, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Mullen played one season for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the United States Hockey League (USHL) before attending the University of Denver (DU). He was a four-year student-athlete at DU, twice being named to the All-WCHA Academic Team and as a senior was awarded the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Following his college career he signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent. Mullen played three season for the Kings minor league affiliate the Manchester Monarchs, before leaving as a free agent and signing with the Vancouver Canucks. Mullen has played both forward and defense throughout his career. He is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Mullen.

Early life

Patrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Linda and Joe Mullen.[2][3] He has two older brothers and a younger sister. Their father is a Hockey Hall of Fame forward. He graduated as an honor roll student from Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh.[3]

Playing career

Mullen played junior ice hockey for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the United States Hockey League (USHL) during the 2004–05 season. He registered 37 points in 60 games, fourth on the team; he also led the Stampede in plus-minus with a +11 rating.[4][5] After the season, Mullen chose to attend the University of Denver (DU) in part for the coaches and the city of Denver.[3]

Members of the Denver Pioneers celebrating their 2008 tournament victory

Prior to his first season with the Pioneers, Mullen was named Preseason Player to Watch by College Hockey News.[5] He scored his first career goal in a 4–2 win against the Air Force Academy, helping DU to their first win of the year.[6] He finished the year with 7 goals and 17 points in 37 games, tying for sixth on the team for goals and points.[5] The following season, he recorded four multi-point games, though he only managed to duplicate the 17 points recorded in his freshman season. Mullen spent most of the season on forward, but also played four games as a defenseman. He missed the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) playoffs after contracting mononucleosis.[7] Following the conclusion of the season, Mullen was named to the All-WCHA Academic Team.[5]

In the 2007–08 season, Mullen began the year playing defense.[8] Though he did spend some time at forward, Mullen led all DU defenders in scoring by season's end.[3][9] In back-to-back games leading up to the WCHA playoffs, Mullen received two 10-minute misconduct penalties. As a result, head coach George Gwozdecky suspended Mullen for the first game of the playoffs.[7] Mullen returned from his suspension the following game and helped the Pioneers to an eventual WCHA tournament win.[10][11] In his senior season, Mullen set career highs in assists and points while leading Denver in blocked shots.[3] At the conclusion of the year, he was again named to the All-WCHA Academic Team and was awarded the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.[5][12]

Mullen playing for the Chicago Wolves

Undrafted out of college, Mullen signed a two-year entry-level free agent contract with the Los Angeles Kings on April 3, 2009.[13] Playing with the Kings farm team the Manchester Monarchs, Mullen recorded his first professional point, an assist, in his first game, a 6–3 victory over the Albany River Rats.[14] His first professional goal came almost two months later in a 4–2 win against the Springfield Falcons. After playing 36 games for the Monarchs, Mullen was sent down to their ECHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.[15] After playing only one game for the Reign, he was recalled by Manchester.[16] He finished the year playing 8 more games for the Monarchs bring his total to 44 and recorded 4 goals and 10 points in his first professional season. In the playoffs Mullen played two games without recording a point.[4] In his second season Mullen received more responsibilities after being added to the Monarchs power play unit, and while he played mostly on defense he did see some ice time at forward. With the changes he doubled his production to 20 points in 67 games.[17] During the off-season Mullen was re-signed by the Kings to a one-year contract.[18] In his third season he again double his point production registering 41 points in 69 games. He also played in 4 playoff games for the Monarchs registering a goal and three points.[19]

Following the completion of his contract Mullen left the Kings organization as a free agent and signed with the Vancouver Canucks.[20] Due to the depth on defense on Vancouver Mullen was not expected to make the Canucks out of training camp.[21] With the 2012–13 lockout approaching Mullen was assigned to the Canuck's American Hockey League affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.[22] In his second game with the Wolves Mullen suffered an injury to his left shoulder. The injury required surgery which ended his season.[23] Despite his limited playing time in Chicago the Canucks re-signed Mullen to a one year contract in the off-season.[24]

On March 4, 2014, Mullen was traded by the Canucks to the Ottawa Senators organization for Jeff Costello.[25]

In the 2015–16 season, his third within the Senators' organization, Mullen was traded by Ottawa to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Conor Allen on January 14, 2016.[26]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2004–05 Sioux Falls Stampede USHL 60 14 23 37 8 — — — — —
2005–06 University of Denver WCHA 37 7 10 27 24 — — — — —
2006–07 University of Denver WCHA 37 5 12 17 20 — — — — —
2007–08 University of Denver WCHA 40 4 18 22 65 — — — — —
2008–09 University of Denver WCHA 38 4 21 25 39 — — — — —
2009–10 Ontario Reign ECHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2009–10 Manchester Monarchs AHL 44 4 6 10 16 2 0 0 0 2
2010–11 Manchester Monarchs AHL 67 3 17 20 32 7 0 1 1 4
2011–12 Manchester Monarchs AHL 69 13 28 41 45 4 1 2 3 8
2012–13 Chicago Wolves AHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2013–14 Utica Comets AHL 46 7 13 20 23 — — — — —
2013–14 Binghamton Senators AHL 20 1 11 12 12 4 0 2 2 6
2014–15 Binghamton Senators AHL 54 5 24 29 32 — — — — —
2015–16 Binghamton Senators AHL 36 1 15 16 18 — — — — —
AHL totals 338 34 114 148 178 17 1 5 6 20

Awards

Award Year
All-WCHA Academic Team 2006–07
2008–09		 [5]
Lowe's Senior CLASS Award 2008–09 [12]

References

  1. ↑ Skelnik, Justin, ed. (2012). "2012–13 Chicago Wolves Media Guide": 72.
  2. ↑ "Patrick Mullen Player Profile". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Patrick Mullen Denver Pioneers Player Profile". University of Denver. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  4. 1 2 "Patrick Mullen Career Statistics". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Patrick Mullen Bio". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  6. ↑ "DU Earns First Win of the Season: Fisher shines with 23 saves in 4-2 win over Air Force". U.S. College Hockey Online. 2005-10-21. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  7. 1 2 Chambers, Mike (2008-03-10). "DU’s Mullen suspended for playoff opener; Ryder could return by NCAAs". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  8. ↑ Chambers, Mike (2007-10-04). "DU’s Mullen pegged to begin on blueline". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  9. ↑ Chambers, Mike (2008-02-06). "Trotter saga continues; Ruegsegger injury". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  10. ↑ Chambers, Mike (2008-02-15). "Game 2: DU notes". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  11. ↑ "Championships: WCHA Playoff Summaries 1959–2009" (PDF). 2009–10 WCHA Men's Yearbook: 133. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  12. 1 2 "Patrick Mullen Player Card". Premier Sports Management. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  13. ↑ "Kings Ink Patrick Mullen to Two-Year Contract". TSN. 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  14. ↑ Mueller, Kim (2009-10-05). "Monarchs Report (Oct. 5)". Los Angeles Kings. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  15. ↑ "Mullen Assigned to Ontario". Los Angeles Kings. 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  16. ↑ "Mullen Recalled to Manchester". Ontario Reign. 2010-03-19. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  17. ↑ "Finding His Niche On The Monarchs Blueline". Manchester Monarchs. 2011-09-02. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  18. ↑ "Six Players Agree to Terms with Kings". Los Angeles Kings. 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  19. ↑ "Manchester Monarchs Individual Player Stats". Manchester Monarchs. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  20. ↑ "Vancouver Canucks sign blueliners Derek Joslin, Patrick Mullen". Vancouver Sun. 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  21. ↑ Arndt, Wyatt (2012-09-13). "Canucks waive Joslin, Debsiens, Mullen, Gordon, Ebbett, and probably Fin at this point". The Province. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  22. ↑ Tucker, Cam (2012-09-14). "Vancouver Canucks re-sign 'more confident, stronger' Alex Burrows to four-year deal Top prospects Zack Kassian, Chris Tanev, others assigned to AHL Chicago Wolves, top pick Nicklas Jensen off to Sweden". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  23. ↑ LaTour, Paul (2012-11-24). "Wolves drop 4-3 decision in shootout". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  24. ↑ Tung, Allen (2013-06-21). "Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Defenceman Patrick Mullen". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  25. ↑ The Canadian Press. "Canucks acquire Jeff Costello from Sens for Patrick Mullen". CBC News.
  26. ↑ "Predators acquire Mullen from Ottawa". Nashville Predators. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-01-14.

External links

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