Peter Budaj

Peter Budaj
Born (1982-09-18) September 18, 1982
Banská Bystrica, CS
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 192 lb (87 kg; 13 st 10 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NHL team
Former teams		 Los Angeles Kings
Colorado Avalanche
Montreal Canadiens
National team  Slovakia
NHL Draft 63rd overall, 2001
Colorado Avalanche
Playing career 2002–present

Peter Budaj (/buːˈdaɪ/ boo-DYE; born September 18, 1982) is a Slovak professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Colorado Avalanche, by whom he was drafted, and the Montreal Canadiens.

Playing career

Budaj was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2001 draft as the first pick for the Avalanche and 63rd overall. He wore number 31 for the Avalanche prior to playing for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Toronto St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

Budaj with the Avalanche in 2007.

In his first NHL season in 2005–06, he appeared in 34 games while backing up David Aebischer and then José Théodore. He recorded a combined 47 wins in the next two seasons while splitting duties with Théodore. His first NHL playoff appearances came in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs in relief of Théodore in Colorado's second round matchup against the eventual Stanley Cup champions Detroit Red Wings.

Budaj played his 100th NHL game on November 3, 2007, in a 4–3 home loss against the Vancouver Canucks.[1]

For the 2008–09 season, Budaj was named the starting goalie for the Colorado Avalanche for the first time. He and backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft struggled throughout the season as the Avalanche finished last in the Western Conference, missing the playoffs for the second time in last three seasons.[2]

On June 29, 2009, Budaj was re-signed by the Avalanche to a one-year contract for the 2009–10 season.[3] He started the season playing as the Avalanche backup goalie to Craig Anderson, formerly of the Florida Panthers. Before his first appearance in net, Budaj was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and was completely isolated from the rest of the team until he was cleared to play by the coaching staff.[4] Budaj finally made his first appearance of the season on November 4, against the Phoenix Coyotes. He stopped 28 of 29 shots and backstopped the Avs to a 4–1 victory.[5] Budaj made his second post season appearance on April 22, 2010 against the San Jose Sharks, when he relieved Craig Anderson at 11:05 in the third period. The Sharks won the game 5–0, with one goal scored against Budaj.[6]

On April 1, 2011, Budaj became the first Slovakian goaltender to reach 100 career NHL wins with a 4–3 shootout win over Phoenix.

Budaj signed a two-year contract worth $2.3 million with the Montreal Canadiens on July 1, 2011.[7] During the lockout shortened 2012–13 season, his second year as backup to Carey Price, Budaj carried an 8–1–1 record in 13 games, to earn a two-year contract extension with the Canadiens on April 10, 2013.[8]

On October 5, 2014, Budaj and Patrick Holland were traded to the Winnipeg Jets in return for Eric Tangradi.[9] He was waived less than a day later.[10] On the following day, he was assigned to the St. John's IceCaps, Winnipeg's American Hockey League affiliate, after clearing waivers.[11] Budaj remained with the IceCaps for the duration of the 2014–15 season, however was unable to impress with the club in failing to win a single game in 19 contests.

As a free agent from the Jets, Budaj was unable to secure an NHL contract and on August 28, 2015, agreed to sign a try-out contract to attend the Los Angeles Kings training camp.[12] On October 9, 2015 it was announced that Budaj signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Los Angeles Kings and was subsequently waived and assigned to the Ontario Reign of the AHL.[13]

On February 11, 2015, he was recalled by the Los Angeles Kings on an emergency basis.

Mask

Budaj, a devout Christian, is perhaps best known for having the depiction of Ned Flanders, a popular religious character from TV's The Simpsons painted on the back of his masks.[14] In 2008, Budaj began wearing a mask featuring the character Altaïr from the popular video game Assassin's Creed.[15] The mask primarily worn by Budaj during the 2008–09 season features a burgundy colored version of the comic book hero The Hulk,[16] although he did continue wearing the Assassin's Creed mask as well. Budaj's 2009–10 mask features his racing idol Valentino Rossi on one side, the Avalanche's alternate foot logo on the other, and retains Ned Flanders on the back.[17] Budaj's 2013–14 mask still has Ned Flanders' image as well as an image of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi. Ned Flanders continues to appear on Budaj's 2014–15 mask, without Lionel Messi.[18]

Personal life

Peter and his wife Taylor have one son, Peter Jr., who was born in July 2010.[19]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1999–00 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 34 6 18 1 1676 112 1 4.01 .882 — — — — — — — —
2000–01 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 37 17 12 3 1996 95 3 2.86 .907 11 6 4 621 26 1 2.51
2001–02 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 42 26 9 5 1148 89 2 2.29 .922 12 5 6 620 34 1 3.29 .898
2002–03 Hershey Bears AHL 28 10 10 2 1467 65 2 2.66 .911 1 0 0 6 2 0 20.81 .333
2003–04 Hershey Bears AHL 46 17 20 6 2574 120 3 2.80 .916 — — — — — — — —
2004–05 Hershey Bears AHL 59 29 25 2 3356 148 5 2.65 .919 — — — — — — — —
2005–06 Colorado Avalanche NHL 34 14 10 6 1802 86 2 2.86 .900 — — — — — — — —
2006–07 Colorado Avalanche NHL 57 31 16 6 3198 143 3 2.68 .905 — — — — — — — —
2007–08 Colorado Avalanche NHL 35 16 10 4 1912 82 0 2.57 .903 3 0 0 107 6 0 3.33 .908
2008–09 Colorado Avalanche NHL 56 20 29 5 3232 154 2 2.86 .899 — — — — — — — —
2009–10 Colorado Avalanche NHL 15 5 5 2 728 32 1 2.64 .917 1 0 0 9 1 0 6.67 .750
2010–11 Colorado Avalanche NHL 45 15 21 4 2439 130 1 3.20 .895 — — — — — — — —
2011–12 Montreal Canadiens NHL 17 5 7 5 1037 44 0 2.55 .913 — — — — — — — —
2012–13 Montreal Canadiens NHL 13 8 1 1 656 25 1 2.29 .908 2 0 2 63 7 0 6.67 .774
2013–14 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 10 8 3 1338 56 1 2.51 .909 1 0 0 20 3 0 9.00 .625
2014–15 St. John's IceCaps AHL 19 0 9 6 913 54 0 3.55 .888 — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 296 124 107 36 16,343 752 11 2.76 .903 7 0 2 199 17 0 5.13 .843

International

Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA
2000 Slovakia WJC18 5 2 3 0 249 13 0 3.13
2001 Slovakia WJC 4 1 3 0 239 16 0 4.01
2002 Slovakia WJC 4 1 0 2 212 11 1 3.11
2006 Slovakia OG 3 2 1 0 179 6 0 2.01
2008 Slovakia WC 1 0 1 0 59 3 0 3.03
2010 Slovakia WC 6 2 4 0 282 13 0 2.76
2014 Slovakia OG 1 0 0 0 27 2 0 4.53
Senior totals 11 4 6 0 547 24 0 2.67

Awards and achievements

References

  1. ↑ Associated Press (2007-11-03). "Game Recap – Canucks 4, Avalanche 3". NHL. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  2. ↑ "Avalanche GM Giguere pays price for poor season". nhl.com. 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  3. ↑ Dater, Adrian (2009-06-30). "Budaj signs deal, likely No. 2 in net". denverpost.com. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  4. ↑ Frei, Terry (2009-10-27). "Swine flu fells Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  5. ↑ "Back from swine flu, Budaj gets win in first start of season for Avs". CBS Sports. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  6. ↑ "Nabokov, Couture lead Sharks to 5–0 win over Avs". boston.com. 2010-04-22. Archived from the original on April 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  7. ↑ "NHL Free Agent Tracker". The Sports Network. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Canadiens re-sign backup Peter Budaj for two-seasons". CBS Sports. 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2013-04-10.
  9. ↑ Peters, Chris (5 October 2014). "Jets acquire G Peter Budaj in three-player trade with Canadiens". cbssports.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  10. ↑ Wyshynski, Greg (6 October 2014). "NHL cut day: Peter Budaj, Colton Orr among the waived". yahoo.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  11. ↑ Short, Robin (7 October 2014). "Veteran NHL goalie assigned to IceCaps".
  12. ↑ "Budaj to attend camp, Sharipzyanov inked to ELC". LAKingsinsider.com. 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
  13. ↑ "Peter Budaj Inked Then Waived by Kings". Today's Slapshot. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  14. ↑ Dater, Adrian (2010-11-09). "Faith is just one goal for Avs' Budaj". denverpost.com. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  15. ↑ Dater, Adrian (2008-11-17). "Mailbag: Man behind the Mask". denverpost.com. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  16. ↑ "Budaj getting swagger back into his game". foxsports.com. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  17. ↑ David Hutchison (11 October 2009). "Peter Budaj’s 2009–2010 Colorado Avalanche Mask". Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  18. ↑ Boysen, Greg. "Peter Budaj Gets A New Mask - Sep 30 2014". gohabsgo.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  19. ↑ "Colorado Avalanche 2010 Media Guide" (PDF). Colorado Avalanche. 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2011-02-03.

External links

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