Tom Sestito
| Tom Sestito | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Born |
September 28, 1987 Rome, NY, USA | ||
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) | ||
| Weight | 228 lb (103 kg; 16 st 4 lb) | ||
| Position | Left Wing | ||
| Shoots | Left | ||
| NHL team Former teams |
Pittsburgh Penguins Columbus Blue Jackets Philadelphia Flyers Vancouver Canucks | ||
| NHL Draft |
85th overall, 2006 Columbus Blue Jackets | ||
| Playing career | 2007–present | ||
Tom Sestito (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional ice hockey player who currently plays for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Playing career
Sestito was drafted 85th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Drafted from the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League, he showed his potential scoring 42 goals in the 2006–07 season with the Whalers.[1]
Sestito signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets on March 29, 2007.[2] After playing with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, Sestito made his NHL debut with Columbus in the last game of the 2007–08 season against the St. Louis Blues on April 6, 2008.[3]
He scored his first NHL goal on December 15, 2010, against Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks in a 3–2 overtime loss. He scored his second NHL goal on December 23, 2010, against Cory Schneider, also of the Vancouver Canucks in a 7–3 losing effort. On February 28, 2011, Sestito was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forwards Greg Moore and Michael Chaput.[4]
On September 27, 2011, the Flyers placed him on waivers with the intention of having him play for their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.[5]
On October 8, 2012, he signed for EIHL team Sheffield Steelers on a temporary contract during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. He joined fellow NHL players Anthony Stewart and Drew Miller who were playing for Nottingham Panthers and Braehead Clan respectively.
On March 1, 2013, Sestito was claimed off waivers by the Vancouver Canucks.[6]
On May 29, 2013, Sestito received a two-year, one-way contract worth a total of US$1.5 million from the Vancouver Canucks.[7][8]
In his first full NHL season (2013–14), Sestito led the league in penalty minutes with 213, edging out Chris Neil by 2. In the 2014–15 season, with the enforcer role phasing out at the NHL level, Sestito appeared sparingly in 3 games with the Canucks before he was re-assigned to AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. On February 23, 2015, the Vancouver Canucks cut Sestito after 10 games with the Comets.[9]
After sitting out the remainder of the season, Sestito accepted an tryout invitation the following summer to the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp on August 26, 2015. Sestito was not offered a contract with Pittsburgh at the conclusion of camp but was offered a try-out with AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to begin the 2015–16 season on October 2, 2015.[10] At the mid-point of the season, Sestito was signed by Pittsburgh to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the year on February 1, 2016. He was immediately placed on waivers in order to continue to play in Wilkes-Barre.[11]
Sestito's older brother Tim is a member of Dinamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League.
Criticism
Sestito has been referred to as a "talentless thug"[12] and infamously as a "boxing hobo on skates" by ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann. Sestito made headlines after receiving twenty-seven combined penalty minutes for just one second of on-ice time against the Los Angeles Kings on January 13, 2014.[13] Afterwards, ESPN's Olbermann named Sestito "The Worst Person in the Sports World" on his show while stating that Sestito is "not a hockey player". Sestito's teenage sister subsequently attacked Olberman via Twitter.[14]
Sestito's penchant for taking ill-advised penalties resulted in a somewhat messy departure from the Canucks organization, and possibly the end of his NHL career. The Canucks ultimately announced that Sestito would receive his full pay but would not be welcomed to play for the Vancouver Canucks nor Utica Comets moving forward.[15] Canucks' General Manager Jim Benning stressed that his club needed players who could play in the opposition's end and contribute with more than an occasional fight.[16] Sestito subsequently found work painting a friend's restaurant in Rome, NY.[17]
In late 2014, Sestito received criticism for advocating via Twitter that the shooting death of an 18-year-old unarmed African American man named Michael Brown by a police officer was justified. The shooting incident sparked mass riots in Ferguson, MO, and received international media attention. Sestito later deleted the tweets.[18]
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2004–05 | Plymouth Whalers | OHL | 35 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 88 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Plymouth Whalers | OHL | 57 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 176 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 2006–07 | Plymouth Whalers | OHL | 60 | 42 | 22 | 64 | 135 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 10 | ||
| 2007–08 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 66 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 202 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 57 | ||
| 2007–08 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 52 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 168 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 36 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 138 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Springfield Falcons | AHL | 46 | 11 | 21 | 32 | 192 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Adirondack Phantoms | AHL | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 45 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Adirondack Phantoms | AHL | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 120 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 83 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Sheffield Steelers | EIHL | 17 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Adirondack Phantoms | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2013–14 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 77 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 213 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2014–15 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2014–15 | Utica Comets | AHL | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 137 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 432 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
References
- ↑ "Hockey's Future. Prospect Tom Sestito Player Profile.". Hockeysfuture. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
- ↑ "Blue Jackets Sign 2006 Draft Pick Tom Sestito". Columbus Blue Jackets. 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
- ↑ "Tkachuk becomes 41st player to score 500th goal; Blues win". CBS Sports. 2008-04-06. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
- ↑ "Blue Jackets acquire Moore, Chaput from Flyers for Sestito". Columbus Blue Jackets. 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
- ↑ "Sestito waived; JVR, Nodl hurt.". Philly.com. 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
- ↑ "Canucks claim winger Tom Sestito off waivers". CBC. Associated Press. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
- ↑ Elliott Pap (May 29, 2013). "Canucks re-sign heavyweight Tom Sestito to one-way, two-year deal". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2013-07-07.
- ↑ "Tom Sestito, Contract History". capgeek.com. Retrieved 2013-07-07.
- ↑ "Sestito no longer on Comets roster". Vancouver Canucks. January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ↑ "Penguins signs Sestito". Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ↑ "Penguins sign forward Tom Sestito". Pittsburgh Penguins. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ New AHL fighting rule will have little impact on the sport http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/537790
- ↑ "Tom Sestito picks up 27 penalty minutes in one-second night". Yahoo Sports.
- ↑ "Keith Olbermann Calls Canucks' Tom Sestito 'Worst Sports Person' In World, Little Sister Responds On Twitter". Huffington Post.
- ↑ Rome native Tom Sestito's career with Vancouver Canucks is over http://www.syracuse.com/crunch/index.ssf/2015/02/utica_native_tom_sestitos_career_with_vancouver_canucks_is_over.html
- ↑ Canucks Under the Microscope http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/05/26/canucks-under-the-microscope-tom-sestito/
- ↑ "Ex-Syracuse Cruncher Tom Sestito takes a step back from hockey, plots ways to prove Vancouver wrong". Syracuse.com. 2015-05-23. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
- ↑ "Tom Sestito has some thoughts on Ferguson". Yahoo! Sports. 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Sestito. |
- Career statistics and player information from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database