Kevin Bieksa Kevin Christopher Bieksa ( born June 16 , 1981 ) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) , serving as an alternate captain for the Canucks during away games . After a three - year career in the Ontario Junior Hockey League ( OPJHL ) with the Burlington Cougars , Bieksa was awarded a scholarship to Bowling Green State University . He was a one - time All - CCHA honourable mention during his four - year tenure with the Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association ( CCHA ) . He graduated from the university with a bachelor ' s degree in finance and was a two - time CCHA All - Academic honourable mention in 2003 and 2004 . Following his freshman year , Bieksa was selected 151st overall by the Canucks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and joined their minor league affiliate , the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League ( AHL ) , upon graduating . He earned AHL All - Rookie Team honours in his first and only full season with the Moose , before joining the Canucks as a regular member in 2005 – 06 . He is known as a physical and aggressive defenceman . Playing career . Minor hockey . Bieksa grew up in Grimsby playing minor hockey for the local Jr . Kings program of the OMHA ' s Niagara District BB - E league before graduating to the Stoney Creek Warriors of the OMHA South Central AAA League . He played part of the 1997 - 98 season with the Stoney Creek Warriors of the OHA Golden Horseshoe Jr . B . and the Jr . A . Burlington Cougars before being drafted by Don Cherry and the Mississauga Ice Dogs in the 19th round of the 1998 OHL Draft . Bieksa wasn ' t signed by the Ice Dogs and pursued an NCAA scholarship three years later . Junior and university . Bieksa began a three - year Junior A career with the Burlington Cougars of the OJHL in 1997 – 98 . He recorded 37 points over 48 games in his second season with the Cougars and 33 points in his third . Bieksa was drafted into the major junior Ontario Hockey League ( OHL ) by the Mississauga IceDogs , but opted to play college hockey in the National Collegiate Athletics Association ( NCAA ) instead . In 2000 – 01 , Bieksa joined the Bowling Green Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association ( CCHA ) . After a 13 - point regular season in 35 games as a freshman , he helped the Falcons become the lowest seeded team in league history ( ninth ) to advance to the CCHA semi - finals . He scored his team ' s lone goal in a 2 – 1 defeat to the Michigan State Spartans before the Falcons were eliminated . In the 2001 off - season , Bieksa was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks with the 151st pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft . He returned to Bowling Green to complete his four - year college career after being drafted , recording 15 points in 2001 – 02 . Bieksa was named an alternate captain to D ' Arcy McCovney prior to his third season and subsequently improved to a college career - high eight goals and 25 points in 2002 – 03 . Bieksa was chosen by Falcons fans as the recipient of the W . G . Grinder ' s Grinder Award and was a co - recipient of the team ' s Jim Ruehl Award as the best defensive player with Jordan Sigalet . He was also given his first of two consecutive honourable mentions as a CCHA All - Academic . Playing in his fourth and final college season in 2003 – 04 , he scored seven goals and 22 points in 38 games , while leading his team in shots on goal . He earned an honourable mention to the All - CCHA Team and received the Falcons ' Howard Brown Award as the coaches ' selection for best player . Manitoba Moose . Following his college career , Bieksa signed an amateur tryout contract with the Manitoba Moose , the Canucks ' American Hockey League ( AHL ) affiliate , on March 24 , 2004 . During his tryout , he was involved in an off - ice incident with teammate Fedor Fedorov . According to then - Canucks general manager Brian Burke , several Moose players had gone out together when Bieksa accidentally spilled Fedorov ' s beer . While Bieksa apologized and offered to buy him another beer , Fedorov challenged him to a fight outside of the establishment , resulting in Bieksa knocking him down with one punch . In recounting the story , Burke has recalled wanting to sign him the next day upon hearing of the incident . Bieksa went on to appear in four games with the Moose to close out the 2003 – 04 season , notching two assists . He remained with the Moose in 2004 – 05 and scored his first professional goal on the powerplay in a 3 – 2 shootout victory against the Cleveland Barons on November 11 , 2004 . Bieksa finished his first full professional season with 12 goals and 39 points in 80 games . He was chosen as the AHL Rookie of the Month for March after recording two goals , 11 points and a plus - 11 rating in 13 games and was named to the AHL All - Rookie Team after his first full professional season . His 39 points broke Kirill Koltsov ' s team mark of 32 for points by a defenceman , set the previous season . Canucks assistant general manager Steve Tambellini lauded Bieksa for his quick adjustment and development from college hockey to the AHL . Bieksa entered the Canucks ' 2005 – 06 training camp as a projected competitor to be the team ' s sixth defenceman . However , three days into prospects camp , he suffered a high ankle sprain after colliding into the boards with another defenceman . He was re - assigned to the Moose on October 3 , 2005 , and missed the first month and a half of the 2005 – 06 AHL season . While sidelined , Bieksa was named an alternate captain to Mike Keane by Moose coach Alain Vigneault on October 29 . He made his return to the lineup on November 11 against the Rochester Americans . In his second game back , he notched two goals and an assist on November 15 against the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 6 – 5 shootout loss . Vancouver Canucks . With 16 points through 20 games with the Moose , Bieksa was called up by the Canucks and played his first NHL game on December 19 , 2005 , against the Los Angeles Kings . He was called for a roughing penalty 10 seconds into his first shift and played 10 minutes and 45 seconds total in a 4 – 3 shootout loss to the Kings . The following month , he notched his first NHL point , an assist to Markus Naslund , in a 3 – 2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 5 , 2006 . He remained with the Canucks until near the end of the season , as he was re - assigned to the Moose on April 8 to make room for the return of Ed Jovanovski from injury . Bieksa finished the season with six assists in 39 games for the Canucks , averaging 16 minutes of ice - time per game . On August 17 , 2006 , he was re - signed by the Canucks to a two - year , one - way , $ 1 . 05 million contract . Early in the 2006 – 07 season , he scored his first NHL goal on October 13 , 2006 , against Vesa Toskala in a loss to the San Jose Sharks . Bieksa rapidly developed into one of the Canucks ' top blueliners and finished the season leading all team defencemen with 30 assists , 42 points and 134 penalty minutes , while also tallying a career - high 12 goals . Paired with stay - at - home defenceman Willie Mitchell , he was also regularly given a shutdown role against opposing teams ' top forwards . At the end of his first full NHL season , he was awarded the Canucks ' Babe Pratt Trophy as best defenceman and Fred J . Hume Award as the unsung hero . Bieksa went pointless over nine games in his first Stanley Cup playoffs in 2007 . He suffered two stomach oblique muscle tears during Game 6 of the opening round against the Dallas Stars , sidelining him for five games , before the Canucks were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round . The Canucks acknowledged Bieksa ' s breakout season , signing him to a three - year , $ 11 . 25 million contract extension , on July 9 , 2007 . The first year of the deal , in 2008 – 09 , saw Bieksa make $ 4 . 25 million , while the remaining two years were set at $ 3 . 5 million . He had one more season left on his original contract at $ 550 , 000 . A relative unknown in his first couple of seasons in the NHL , his last name , which is pronounced phonetically ( " Bee - ek - sa " ) , was frequently mispronounced by sports newscasters and hockey broadcasters such as Bob Cole and Harry Neale of " Hockey Night in Canada " . It has even been misspelled on scoreboards . A month into the 2007 – 08 season , Bieksa suffered a severe calf laceration in a game against the Nashville Predators on November 1 , 2007 . After battling with forward Vern Fiddler against the boards , Fiddler ' s skate slashed Bieksa across the back of his right calf . Bieksa was helped to the bench , leaving a trail of blood behind him on the ice . Although originally expected to miss two months , he ended up missing more than half the season with 47 games . Before returning to the lineup , he was assigned to the Moose for a one - game conditioning stint . Bieksa managed 12 points in 34 games with a team - worst minus - 11 rating . He continued rehabilitating his calf in the off - season , after the Canucks failed to qualify for the playoffs , admitting that his leg had not fully recovered upon his return . However , injury troubles continued early in 2008 – 09 , as just two games into the season , Bieksa injured his knee while attempting to hit Wayne Primeau in an October 11 , 2008 game against the Calgary Flames ; he was out of the lineup for a week . On November 4 , he was re - injured after taking a puck off his skate against the Nashville Predators . Bieksa played through the injury for two games before learning that he had suffered a bone fracture in his left foot . He returned to the lineup after missing seven games . Despite missing 10 games in total , Bieksa established a career - high 32 assists and 43 points , first among team defencemen . Without a no - trade clause in his contract with the Canucks and seen as an emerging offensive defencemen throughout the NHL , Bieksa was routinely the subject of trade rumours . In the 2009 off - season , one such trade rumour was central in a feud between general managers Mike Gillis of Vancouver and Brian Burke of Toronto . On a Leafs TV documentary on the 2009 NHL Entry Draft that aired in September 2009 , a segment involves Burke speculating that the Canucks had offered Bieksa to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a package that included forward Alexandre Burrows and a first - round draft - choice in exchange for Tampa Bay ' s second - overall selection . The documentary was immediately pulled from airing again and the Maple Leafs received a warning from the league . Bieksa suffered the second serious cut to his leg in three seasons in 2009 – 10 . During a game against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 29 , 2009 , he bodychecked opposing forward Petr Prucha , whose skate cut into his left leg , above the ankle . It was revealed six days later that Bieksa sustained severed tendons in his ankle . He was sidelined for three - and - a - half months , missing 27 games . The injury marked the second time in three years that he missed significant time due to a skate cut on his leg . As a result , he was limited to 55 games , notching three goals and 22 points . On the last game of the regular season , he scored his first two - goal game in the NHL in a 7 – 3 win against the Calgary Flames on April 10 , 2010 . Playing the sixth - seeded Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs , Bieksa scored his first NHL post - season goal in the series ' sixth and deciding game . His goal against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick tied the score at 2 – 2 in the third period , en route to a 4 – 2 Canucks win . The Canucks were then eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks the following round for the second consecutive year . Bieksa finished the playoffs with three goals and eight points in 12 games to lead team defencemen in scoring . Following the defensive acquisitions of Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis in the off - season , Bieksa was once again involved in trade rumours . Despite being several million dollars over the salary cap , general manager Mike Gillis asserted after signing Hamhuis that the Canucks were " keeping Bieksa . " Regardless , in order to get under the salary cap , Bieksa seemed the strongest candidate to be traded . He was among six defencemen with a salary over $ 3 million , was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the subsequent season , had seemingly fallen out of favour with head coach Alain Vigneault and did not have a no - trade clause in his contract . On a July 2010 airing of The Sports Network ' s " Off the Record " , Bieksa conceded that he expected to be shopped around by the Canucks , stating " I can put two and two together . " The Province " newspaper at one time reported that up to 10 teams were in talks with Vancouver for acquiring Bieksa . The situation changed later in July after Canucks defenceman Sami Salo suffered a torn achilles tendon while playing floorball in his native Finland ; the injury put the Canucks back under the salary cap and speculation about a Bieksa trade quieted . During the 2010 – 11 season , Bieksa ' s offensive production decreased , but he was lauded by the media and head coach Vigneault for improving his defensive game . He had often been criticized in the past for making high - risk plays that resulted in scoring chances for the opposing team , but his play improved to become more responsible in the defensive zone . In February 2011 , he suffered a fractured bone in his foot . Playing in a game against the Minnesota Wild , Bieksa sustained the injury while blocking a shot . While he finished the game and initial x - rays came back negative , a subsequent CT - scan revealed the fracture . He became the sixth Canucks defenceman injured at the time . After missing 15 games , he returned to the lineup in late - March . Playing on a shutdown defensive pairing with Dan Hamhuis , his season - ending + 32 plus - minus established a personal best by 31 points ( his previous career - high was a + 1 in 2006 – 07 ) and ranked second in the league , one point behind Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara . Complementing his strong defensive play , he recorded 6 goals and 22 points in 66 games . With the Canucks winning the Presidents ' Trophy for the first time in franchise history , the team entered the 2011 playoffs as the first seed in the West . After helping Vancouver advance past the Blackhawks and Predators in the first two rounds , Bieksa scored a double - overtime winner in Game 5 of the third round against the San Jose Sharks to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994 . The goal came after fellow Canucks defenceman Alex Edler ' s dump - in had bounced off a stanchion along the boards . With Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi unaware of the puck ' s location , Bieksa took a slapshot from the blueline to win the game . Facing the Boston Bruins in the Finals , the Canucks were defeating in seven games . Bieksa finished the playoffs with 10 points over 25 games . His 5 goals led all playoff defencemen , while his average ice time of 25 minutes and 40 seconds per game was first among Canucks players . It was revealed after the Canucks ' elimination that several players had been playing with injuries , including Bieksa , who had suffered a bruised medial collateral ligament . Having played the final year of his existing contract , he addressed his pending unrestricted free agency by telling the media he was ready to re - sign for less than market value in order to remain with the Canucks . Shortly thereafter , on June 27 , 2011 , Bieksa signed a five - year , $ 23 million contract extension . The deal comes with a no - trade clause and was reported to be front - loaded , with Bieksa making $ 7 million in his first year , followed by $ 4 . 5 million , $ 5 million , $ 4 million and $ 2 . 5 million annual salaries . Playing style . Bieksa is known as a two - way defenceman with the Canucks , capable of playing in all situations . Throughout his NHL career , he has been placed on shutdown pairing with such defensive partners as Willie Mitchell and Dan Hamhuis . Offensively , he regularly jumps into the rush and has led the Canucks in defensive scoring in 2006 – 07 and 2008 – 09 . His play is characterized by aggressive and competitive components . He also earned a reputation as a fighter early in his career in the AHL . Personal life . Bieksa was born in Grimsby , Ontario , on June 16 , 1981 , to Al and Angela Bieksa . He has two brothers . His father works in the Ontario Federation of Labour and coached his three sons during minor hockey . Bieksa began playing minor hockey in Grimsby before joining AAA teams from Stoney Creek , Ontario . After attending Blessed Trinity Secondary School in his hometown , he graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2004 with a bachelor ' s degree in finance and a 3 . 42 grade point average . Bieksa and his wife , Katie , have one son , Cole Walter , born October 24 , 2007 , and one daughter , Reese , born October 7 , 2009 . They have a home in Smithville , Ontario , close to Bieksa ' s hometown of Grimsby , Ontario . During Bieksa tenure with both the Manitoba Moose and Vancouver Canucks , he became close friends with teammate Rick Rypien , who committed suicide in August 2011 after years of clinical depression . Bieksa was the first Canucks teammate that Rypien confided in regarding his mental health ; when Rypien took his first personal leave of absence from the Canucks in the 2008 – 09 NHL season , Bieksa took him into his home to live with his family . Having a close relationship with Rypien , Bieksa was involved in many of the ceremonies following his death . He was a pall bearer for Rypien ' s casket at his funeral in Alberta and he later presented Rypien ' s family with one of the forward ' s game - worn Canucks jerseys during the team ' s pre - game ceremony in Rypien ' s honour in October 2011 .