Cole Bardreau

Cole Bardreau (born July 22, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey forward for HC Pustertal Wölfe of the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Philadelphia Flyers and has played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career Collegiate

While playing for the United States National Team Development Program, Bardreau committed to Cornell University.

In his sophomore season at Cornell, Bardreau was lent to Team USA to compete at the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Two weeks after returning from winning gold, Bardreau suffered a cervical fracture in his neck while playing at Cornell that caused him to miss the 2012–13 season and the NHL draft. Bardreau spent three months post-surgery in a neck brace with limited activity allowed before slowly being allowed to return to skating six months later. but was still able to rank fourth on the team with goals.

In his last season at Cornell, Bardreau eclipsed more than 20 points for the first time in his NCAA career. He was named an NCAA (ECAC) Third All-Star Team and NCAA All-Ivy League First Team and awarded the NCAA (ECAC) Best Defensive Forward.

The 2015–16 season was Bardreau's first full season in the AHL. Bardreau was forced to miss most of October and November due to an arm and knee injury. quote="The main thing with Cole is that he is tenacious," Gordon said. "When you are a pro, it means you can replicate the same process, not just here and there but with consistency. He takes pride in playing sound defense, killing penalties, finishing checks, winning puck battles; all those work ethic things we talk about. He has some skill, too, but the things he does that set him apart are in details." — – Scott Gordon on Bardreau.

On July 15, 2017, Bardreau signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Flyers. However, Bardreau broke his hand in a preseason game against the New York Islanders and started the season on injured reserve. He returned to the lineup on October 25 and recorded five points in six games.

On July 2, 2019, Bardreau signed as a free agent to a two-year, two-way contract with the New York Islanders. Bardreau's first NHL game came on October 19, 2019, when the New York Islanders were visiting Columbus, Ohio to play the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his first game Bardreau logged 8:54 over 15 shifts. His first NHL point came on October 27, 2019 in Nassau Coliseum against the Philadelphia Flyers. He received the primary assist on Ross Johnston’s goal in the first period. He recorded his first career goal on a penalty shot against the Ottawa Senators on November 5, 2019, which was the game-winning goal in a 4–1 Islanders win. On September 20, 2021, Bardreau was re-signed to a two-year contract by the Islanders. On December 1, 2022, the Islanders called Bardreau up from Bridgeport as one of two forwards to fill in for players who were out day-to day with injuries.

Following a productive 2022-23 season in which Bardreau scored a career-best 15 goals and 16 assists in 67 games — the eighth most on the team — at the conclusion of his NHL contract with the Islanders he opted to remain within the organization by signing a one-year AHL contract with the Bridgeport Islanders for the 2023–24 season on July 6, 2023.

After six seasons within the Islanders organization, Bardreau left as a free agent and opted to pursue a career abroad by signing a one-year contract with HC Pustertal of the ICE Hockey League on July 18, 2025.

International play

Bardreau was named an alternate captain for Team USA at the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Bardreau scored three points in seven games to help lead the team to a gold medal.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2009–10 U.S. National Development Team USHL 35 4 8 12 25 — — — — — 2010–11 U.S. National Development Team USHL 24 4 7 11 23 — — — — — 2011–12 Cornell University ECAC 34 4 4 8 18 — — — — — 2012–13 Cornell University ECAC 13 2 5 7 12 — — — — — 2013–14 Cornell University ECAC 26 7 9 16 14 — — — — — 2014–15 Cornell University ECAC 30 5 17 22 38 — — — — — 2014–15 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 15 1 1 2 2 — — — — — 2015–16 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 54 13 17 30 54 — — — — — 2016–17 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 72 9 15 24 85 5 0 0 0 4 2017–18 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 45 11 19 30 59 13 0 3 3 34 2018–19 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 40 7 5 12 38 — — — — — 2019–20 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 38 2 2 4 25 — — — — — 2019–20 New York Islanders NHL 10 1 1 2 6 — — — — — 2020–21 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 24 10 6 16 10 — — — — — 2021–22 Bridgeport Islanders AHL 45 14 11 25 6 6 0 0 0 4 2022–23 Bridgeport Islanders AHL 67 15 16 31 37 — — — — — 2022–23 New York Islanders NHL 1 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 2023–24 Bridgeport Islanders AHL 70 11 13 24 65 — — — — — 2024–25 Bridgeport Islanders AHL 65 4 14 18 79 — — — — — 2025–26 HC Pustertal ICEHL 44 16 23 39 28 13 4 5 9 18NHL totals 11 1 1 2 8 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2010 United States U17 6 0 0 0 6 2011 United States U18 6 0 0 0 4 2013 United States WJC 7 1 2 3 4 Junior totals 20 1 2 3 14