page_title: Matt Cooke
section_title: Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins
hierarchical_section_title: Matt Cooke / Playing career / Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins
caption_attribution_description: English: Matt Cooke during his brief 17-game stint with the Washington Capitals in a game against the team he would sign with the following season, the Pittsburgh Penguins, March 9, 2008 at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Matthew David Cooke is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played sixteen seasons and 1046 games in the National Hockey League. Cooke won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008–09 NHL season and was a member of the Team Canada team that won the gold medal at the 2004 World Championships. In addition to having previously played for the Penguins, he has also played in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild. Cooke was born in Belleville, Ontario, but grew up in Stirling, Ontario.
  Cooke's playing style has earned him the reputation as one of the NHL's "pests". During his NHL career, Cooke has been criticized and often suspended for hits, some involving head-shots, or knee-on-knee collisions that have injured opposing players. Most notable was a hit to the head of Marc Savard, which was an important factor influencing NHL rule changes intended to deter such conduct. Years later, during a lawsuit against the league, an email produced during the litigation from the then disciplinarian Colin Campbell revealed that he—an NHL executive—blamed Savard for keeping his head down.
context_section_description: Finishing the 2007–08 season, Cooke would play 17 games with the Capitals, scoring seven points. In the off-season, on July 5, 2008, Cooke signed a two-year, $2.4-million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He injured his ribs in his first season with the Penguins in October, missing four games, but was able to return by the end of the month. On December 2, 2008, he was named to the rotating position of alternate captain for the Penguins for the month of December. The next month, Cooke was suspended for two games on January 27, 2009, for a headshot that he delivered to Carolina Hurricanes forward Scott Walker seven days earlier. He was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play. He earned the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009.
  Cooke set a new career high during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs by scoring four post-season goals, two of those coming in the decisive Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. On June 22, 2010, Cooke signed a three-year contract to stay with the Penguins, a deal worth $1.8 million per season.
caption: Cooke with the Capitals, March 2008.
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