Anthony Stewart

Anthony Stewart (born January 5, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, having played in the NHL, AHL, and KHL. He was born in Quebec, and his family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Stewart played minor hockey in Toronto, winning three all-Ontario championships. After his minor hockey career, he was selected by the Kingston Frontenacs in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft. After two seasons with Kingston, he was drafted by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2003 NHL entry draft, at 25th overall. He spent four years in the Panthers' system, dividing his time between the NHL and the American Hockey League (AHL), after which he joined the Atlanta Thrashers for two years. When the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg to become the new Winnipeg Jets, they did not offer him a new contract, and he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes as a free agent. After one season in Carolina he was traded to the Kings, but spent most of the season in the minor leagues. He signed a professional tryout contract with the San Jose Sharks to begin the 2013–14 NHL season, but was not offered a contract. He subsequently signed with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in the KHL. His younger brother Chris also played in the NHL, and retired after the 2019–2020 season playing for Philadelphia Flyers.

Stewart has represented Canada internationally in two World Junior Championships, in the 2003 IIHF World U18 Championships, and twice in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge. He was the leading goal scorer for Team Canada when they won the World U18 Championships. In the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, in which Canada won a silver medal, Stewart tied for the tournament points lead. In the 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, he helped Team Canada win a gold medal. Representing the OHL at the Canada-Russia Challenge, Stewart helped his team go unbeaten in both tournaments (4–0), helping Canada to win the Challenge two years running.

Early life Stewart was born in LaSalle, Quebec, in 1985, the oldest of seven children of Norman and Sue Stewart. and Sue was a stay-at-home mother. The family moved to Toronto the year after Stewart's birth. Ziemendorf drove them home again after the practice, and from then on he regularly gave the family lifts and helped them with the cost of hockey and groceries. He played in the 1999 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with North York. After finishing his minor hockey career, Stewart was selected by the Kingston Frontenacs in the first round of the OHL draft. In his first season in the OHL, he scored 19 goals and 43 points, and in the 2002–03 season he increased his tally to 38 goals and 70 points, then added seven more points in five playoff games. With their second first round draft pick, the 25th overall, the Florida Panthers selected him. In his last OHL season, he led the Frontenacs' scoring with 67 points. After the Frontenacs failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year, Stewart made his professional debut, playing 10 games for the AHL team San Antonio Rampage, during which he scored a goal and two assists.

Professional

Stewart began the 2005–06 season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans. After four games he was called up by the Panthers, making his NHL debut on October 18, 2005, against New Jersey. During the game, he recorded his first NHL career point, an assist. Two days later he recorded the first NHL goal of his career, against Washington Capitals' goaltender Olaf Kolzig. He played ten games, scoring two goals and three points, before injuring his wrist when he crashed into the boards after a check by Carolina Hurricanes' defenceman Mike Commodore. The injury required surgery and ended Stewart's season. He finished the season with 31 points from 54 games. In the 2008–09 NHL season, for the first time in his career, Stewart played no games in the minor leagues. He played in 59 games for the Panthers, scoring 2 goals and 7 points. After the 2009 pre-season he was assigned to the Thrashers' AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. In his first year with them, he achieved AHL career highs in games played (77) and assists (19), and equalled his career high in points (31). In that season Stewart set both NHL career highs and professional career highs in games played and in every major offensive statistical category. He signed a two-year, US$1.8 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 2, 2011. After the first 50 games with the Hurricanes Stewart recorded 6 goals and 13 points, while playing mostly on the fourth line. Despite leading the team with a +4 rating Carolina placed him on waivers. He cleared waivers the following day and remained with the team. He finished the year with 9 goals and 20 points in 77 games, while his plus-minus rating fell to -2. He played 19 games for Nottingham recording 11 points. Upon the conclusion of the lockout Carolina traded Stewart to the Los Angeles Kings, along with two draft picks in exchange for Kevin Westgarth. Los Angeles did not play Stewart in their opening game and placed him on waivers prior to their next game. Stewart cleared waivers and was assigned to the Kings minor league affiliate the Manchester Monarchs. The move allowed the Kings to activate Anze Kopitar off of their non-roster list.

In the 2013–14 season, Stewart initially signed a one-year contract with Russian club, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL. In failing to establish himself within Avtomobilist, scoring just 1 goals in 19 games, Stewart was mutually released from his contract to join Swiss club, HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the National League A, on a monthly basis contract on December 16, 2013. Stewart contributed with 8 points in 12 games, before he continued his unsettled season, joining his third club and NLA strugglers, Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in a brief stint to end the year.

On August 4, 2014, Stewart returned for another attempt in the KHL, signing a trial contract as a free agent with Croatian club, KHL Medveščak Zagreb. He was released from his try-out after 12 games with the club on October 14, 2014.

International play

Stewart first played internationally at the 2002 World U-17 Hockey Challenge representing Ontario. The tournament is a non-International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) sanctioned event in which Canada is represented by five teams (Pacific, Western, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic). In the tournament Team Ontario won a bronze medal, defeating team Quebec 5–2 in the medal round. During 2002 he also made his first appearance for Team Canada playing in the non-IIHF sanctioned Eight Nations Cup, helping the team win a gold medal. His scoring success ranked him as the top goal-scoring Canadian; however, he contributed no assists, and finished third on the team in points. The Canadian team finished the preliminary round with a 2–2–1 record. In the elimination round they defeated the Slovak team 3–0 to win the gold medal. At the end of the tournament Stewart was named to the All-Star team.

The following year Stewart was selected to play for Canada in the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, Finland. Canada went unbeaten in the preliminary round and advanced to the final of the elimination round, where they faced the United States team. During the second period of the final, Stewart scored a goal to put Canada ahead 3–1. It was his third point of the game, as he had made assists in the two previous goals. However, Canada conceded three goals in the third period, losing 4–3 and receiving the silver medal. Stewart finished the tournament with 11 points, tying teammate Nigel Dawes and US player Zach Parise for the tournament lead in points scored. Having scored one more goal than Stewart and Parise, Dawes was officially named the tournament's leading scorer. Later in the year Stewart was selected to play in the 2004 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge as part of the OHL All-Stars team, and later he was named an alternate captain. He scored a short handed goal in the OHL's second game of the series, a 5–2 win. The OHL won both of its games in the series, helping the CHL to a 4–2 win in the series.

In 2005 Stewart was again selected to play for Canada in the World Junior Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Unlike in previous years, Stewart struggled at this tournament, and in the second game he was relegated to 13th forward. An injury to teammate Jeremy Colliton allowed Stewart to play in the following game, in which he scored two goals, contributing to a 9–0 defeat of the German team. Once more, Canada had an undefeated run to the final, where they faced Russia. In the final Stewart scored the fifth goal in a 6–1 win for Canada, earning him his third international gold medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2000–01 North York Canadiens 15U AAA GTHL 34 30 70 100 — — — — — — 2000–01 St. Michael's Buzzers OPJHL 5 0 2 2 0 — — — — — 2001–02 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 65 19 24 43 12 1 0 0 0 0 2002–03 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 68 32 38 70 47 — — — — — 2003–04 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 53 35 23 58 76 5 3 4 7 7 2004–05 Kingston Frontenacs OHL 62 32 35 67 70 — — — — — 2004–05 San Antonio Rampage AHL 10 1 2 3 14 — — — — — 2005–06 Rochester Americans AHL 4 2 3 5 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Florida Panthers NHL 10 2 1 3 2 — — — — — 2006–07 Rochester Americans AHL 62 13 14 27 64 6 2 0 2 2 2006–07 Florida Panthers NHL 10 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 2007–08 Rochester Americans AHL 54 13 18 31 61 — — — — — 2007–08 Florida Panthers NHL 26 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2008–09 Florida Panthers NHL 59 2 5 7 34 — — — — — 2009–10 Chicago Wolves AHL 77 13 18 31 67 13 9 3 12 6 2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 80 14 25 39 55 — — — — — 2011–12 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 77 9 11 20 30 — — — — — 2012–13 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 19 6 5 11 14 — — — — — 2012–13 Manchester Monarchs AHL 30 4 3 7 31 4 1 0 1 0 2013–14 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg KHL 19 1 1 2 6 — — — — — 2013–14 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 12 3 5 8 20 — — — — — 2013–14 Rapperswil–Jona Lakers NLA 2 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2014–15 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 12 1 1 2 6 — — — — — 2015–16 Jonquière Marquis LNAH 12 3 8 11 16 11 9 1 10 8 AHL totals 234 45 59 104 237 23 12 3 15 8 NHL totals 262 27 44 71 123 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2002 Canada Ontario U17 6 5 1 6 0 2003 Canada WJC18 7 6 0 6 6 2004 Canada WJC 6 5 6 11 2 2005 Canada WJC 6 3 1 4 0 Junior totals 25 19 8 27 8

Media

From 2018-2023, Stewart was employed as an on-air analyst by Sportsnet in Canada.