Nathan Robinson

Nathan Robinson (born 31 December 1981) is a Canadian former ice hockey forward. He played 7 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins between 2003 and 2006. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2002 to 2020, was primarily spent in Europe.

Playing career

Robinson played major junior hockey with the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League, where he won the OHL scoring title in the 2001-02 season. He was passed over in the NHL entry draft but signed with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent on 15 October 2002. He made his NHL debut with the Red Wings during the 2003–04 NHL season, playing five games in all, going scoreless. After three years within the Red Wings organization on 15 August 2005, he signed with the Boston Bruins and over the course of the 2005–06 season played two more games in the NHL but again went pointless receiving very little playing time to prove his potential.

In 2006, he left for Europe signing with Adler Mannheim in Germany and then moved to Eisbären Berlin the next season becoming an elite player in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Prior to the 2009–10 season he signed a two-year contract to return with Adler Mannheim. In his first season in his return to Mannheim, Robinson helped the Eagles become DEL Champions, marking his third successive DEL Championship.

During the 2010–11 season, in his final year of his deal with Mannheim, Robinson struggled to maintain his previous form and was subsequently released to join eventual silver medalists Espoo Blues of the Finnish SM-liiga, for the remainder of the season finishing on 27 January 2011. In September 2011, he signed a contract with the Vienna Capitals of the Austrian Hockey League.

On 5 September 2012, he signed a one-year contract as a free agent in Germany with the Kölner Haie of the DEL.

On 28 July 2014, Robinson was announced as signing a short term deal with the Nottingham Panthers of the UK's EIHL who, for the first time in their history, are to compete in the Champions Hockey League in 2014/15. He had to leave the club in November 2014 as his work permit expired. Robinson then signed with the Belfast Giants of the EIHL.

Following the 2014-15 season, Robinson signed with HC Slavia Praha of the 1st Czech Republic Hockey League, a second level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. For the 2016-17 season, Robinson signed with Shakhtyor Soligorsk of the Belarusian Extraliga, and later signed with EHC Bayreuth in the DEL2. Despite originally signing with HC 07 Detva in the Slovak Extraliga, Robinson switched to the Saale Bulls Halle in the German league Oberliga for the 2017-18 season after playing 4 games.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1997–98 Kingston Voyageurs OPJHL 46 14 25 39 55 — — — — — 1998–99 Belleville Bulls OHL 50 11 8 19 23 21 4 4 8 14 1998–99 Belleville Bulls M-Cup — — — — — 4 0 0 0 0 1999–00 Belleville Bulls OHL 61 19 18 37 45 15 3 4 7 10 2000–01 Belleville Bulls OHL 66 32 37 69 57 10 6 10 16 7 2001–02 Belleville Bulls OHL 67 47 63 110 74 11 8 6 14 10 2002–03 Toledo Storm ECHL 9 5 9 14 29 — — — — — 2002–03 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 53 3 14 17 24 8 0 3 3 0 2003–04 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 69 24 26 50 41 3 0 0 0 2 2003–04 Detroit Red Wings NHL 5 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 2004–05 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 50 8 16 24 10 — — — — — 2004–05 Syracuse Crunch AHL 19 6 14 20 18 — — — — — 2005–06 Providence Bruins AHL 70 29 31 60 55 6 4 5 9 2 2005–06 Boston Bruins NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2006–07 Adler Mannheim DEL 50 15 29 44 34 11 4 7 11 26 2007–08 Eisbären Berlin DEL 56 14 40 54 62 13 4 11 15 29 2008–09 Eisbären Berlin DEL 48 14 37 51 92 12 5 7 12 24 2009–10 Adler Mannheim DEL 54 10 32 42 50 2 0 1 1 0 2010–11 Adler Mannheim DEL 32 6 6 12 28 — — — — — 2010–11 Blues SM-l 14 4 5 9 2 5 1 2 3 8 2011–12 Vienna Capitals EBEL 41 5 19 24 42 7 1 4 5 11 2012–13 Kölner Haie DEL 52 10 22 32 62 12 5 4 9 6 2013–14 Kölner Haie DEL 39 4 13 17 32 — — — — — 2014–15 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 13 3 11 14 11 — — — — — 2014–15 Belfast Giants EIHL 10 3 3 6 4 4 3 3 6 10 2015–16 HC Slavia Praha CZE-2 51 16 30 46 56 8 1 5 6 10 2016–17 Shakhtyor Soligorsk BLR 17 6 9 15 21 — — — — — 2016–17 EHC Bayreuth DEL2 12 5 6 11 2 7 0 2 2 6 2017–18 HC 07 Detva SVK 4 0 2 2 2 — — — — — 2017–18 Saale Bulls Halle GER-3 26 16 16 32 31 3 0 2 2 4 2018–19 Saale Bulls Halle GER-3 21 10 13 23 37 — — — — — 2019–20 EC Harzer Falken GER-4 6 1 6 7 2 5 5 10 15 4 DEL totals 331 73 179 252 360 50 18 30 48 85 NHL totals 7 0 0 0 2 — — — — —