page_title: Ed Jovanovski
section_title: Phoenix Coyotes (2006–2011)
hierarchical_section_title: Ed Jovanovski / Playing career / Phoenix Coyotes (2006–2011)
caption_attribution_description: Phoenix Coyotes defenceman Ed Jovanovski during a team practice in September 2010.
context_page_description: Edward Jovanovski is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, and is of Macedonian descent.
  Jovanovski played major junior ice hockey for two seasons with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, earning First All-Star, Second All-Star and All-Rookie Team honours. He was then selected first overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers. During his rookie NHL season, he earned All-Rookie Team honours and helped the Panthers advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche. After three-and-a-half seasons in Florida, Jovanovski was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in a seven-player deal involving Pavel Bure. During his tenure with Vancouver, he was awarded the Babe Pratt Trophy as the team's best defenceman three consecutive years. He also led the club's defencemen in scoring four consecutive years. In July 2006, Jovanovski became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. He led the team's defencemen in scoring during his first three years with the club. Jovanovski returned to the Florida Panthers for three seasons, before retiring in 2015.
context_section_description: On July 1, 2006, Jovanovski joined the Phoenix Coyotes, signing a five-year, $32.5 million contract. Having received a contract offer from the Panthers, he was speculated to return to Florida, where he spent his summers. He cited being coached by Wayne Gretzky as a strong factor for choosing Phoenix. Jovanovski was named to his fourth NHL All-Star Game in the subsequent season, but continued to be plagued with injuries. He missed the last 22 games of the 2006–07 regular season with an abdominal injury, limiting him to 29 points (first among Coyotes defencemen) in 54 games. The Coyotes finished last in the Western Conference with 31 wins and 67 points.
  In 2007–08, Jovanovski recorded a career-high 51 points (12 goals and 39 assists), which tied for tenth among League defencemen and led all Coyotes defencemen. It was also the second-highest total for a defenceman in Coyotes history after Oleg Tverdovsky's 55-point year in 1996–97. Jovanovski's career season included a one-game suspension on December 1, 2007, for a hit to the head of Minnesota Wild forward Marián Gáborík. Jovanovski also appeared in his second consecutive All-Star Game in 2008. The team continued to struggle, however, as they ranked 12th in the West, eight points out of a 2008 playoff spot. The following season, Jovanovski's offensive production dipped to 36 points in 82 games. Although it was his lowest total since his third season with the Panthers in 1997–98 (not including seasons with major injuries), he still led all Coyotes defencemen in scoring for the third consecutive year. On a team basis, he missed the playoffs with Phoenix for the third-straight year, as they finished 13th in the West.
  Early in the 2009–10 season, Jovanovski missed ten games with a lower-body injury in November and December 2009. Shortly after returning to the Coyotes lineup, he was suspended for two games by the NHL for a hit to the head of Minnesota Wild forward Andrew Ebbett with his forearm on December 7, 2009. The following month, he received another two-game suspension for elbowing New York Islanders rookie forward John Tavares in the head. Over 66 games during the season, he notched 10 goals and 34 points. He was overtaken as the team's top-scoring defenceman by Keith Yandle, who had scored 41 points. While the season was marked with an uncertain future for the Coyotes from a business perspective, as the franchise had filed for bankruptcy in May 2009 and was taken over by the NHL, the team performed well and recorded their best season in history. With 50 wins and 107 points (a 28-point improval from the previous season), they finished with the third best record in the West and came within five points of a Pacific Division and Conference title, trailing only the San Jose Sharks. Facing the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round, the Coyotes were eliminated in seven games. Jovanovski had one goal and no assists in his first NHL playoffs since 2004.
  In the first month of the 2010–11 season, Jovanovski was chosen to serve in place of the suspended Shane Doan as team captain from October 21 to 25, 2010. Over a week later, he recorded his first career NHL hat-trick in a 4–3 win against the Nashville Predators on November 3. He scored all three goals against goaltender Pekka Rinne, becoming the first Coyotes defenceman to score a hat-trick in team history. On December 26, he became the 256th player in NHL history to play 1,000 career games, reaching the feat against the Dallas Stars. Jovanovski struggled with injuries throughout the season, missing time on six occasions. His most serious injury was an orbital bone fracture after his face collided with an opposing player's helmet in a game against the Atlanta Thrashers on February 17, 2011. After missing 20 games with the injury, he returned in April for the last three games of the regular season and the playoffs. In Jovanovski's limited time in the season, he recorded 14 points over 50 games. The Coyotes ranked sixth in the West, drawing the Red Wings in the first round for the second consecutive year. Jovanovski recorded one as
caption: With the Coyotes in 2010.
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