Place your bid for you and 3 guests to join NHL Legend Jeremy Roenick for lunch or dinner in San Diego!
Few teams select high school players in the first round of the NHL Draft, but the Chicago Blackhawks were rewarded when they selected Jeremy Roenick with the No. 8 pick in the 1988 NHL Draft after he scored 34 goals in 24 games for Thayer Academy in Massachusetts! By the end of the 1988-89 season, Roenick was already in Chicago, where he had 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 20 games. He followed that with 26 goals and 66 points in 1989-90, finishing third in voting for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. In the next four seasons, Roenick established himself as one of the most prolific scorers in the NHL. He had 94 points (41 goals, 53 assists) in 79 games in 1990-91, then scored an NHL career-high 53 goals in 1991-92, helping the Blackhawks advance to the Stanley Cup Final before being swept by the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. In each of the next two seasons, he would score an NHL career-high of 107 points. Roenick averaged a point per game the next two seasons before being traded to the Phoenix Coyotes on Aug. 16, 1996.
With the No. 27 he'd worn in Chicago already being taken by veteran defenseman Teppo Numminen, Roenick switched to No. 97 -- becoming the first player in NHL history to wear that number. Although the Boston native didn't put up the same kind of offensive numbers with the Coyotes that he did with the Blackhawks, he scored at least 24 goals in each of his five seasons in Phoenix, including 34 in 1999-00 and 30 in 2000-01. Following that season, he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent on July 2, 2001. Roenick sparked the Flyers to the Atlantic Division title in 2001-02, leading Philadelphia in assists (46), points (67), and plus-minus rating (plus-32). He led the Flyers in goals (27) and points (59) in his second season as well, but he was limited to 62 games and 47 points in 2003-04 after a slap shot by New York Rangers defenseman Boris Mironov broke his jaw in 19 places. The Flyers traded Roenick to the Los Angeles Kings on Aug. 4, 2005. He struggled with injuries and inconsistency in his one season with the Kings, and after getting 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 58 games, he signed with the Coyotes on July 4, 2006. In his return to Phoenix, Roenick had 11 goals and 28 points in 70 games, then signed a one-year contract with the San Jose Sharks (whose general manager, Doug Wilson, was his old roommate in Chicago) on Sept. 4, 2007. On Nov. 10, 2007, Roenick became the third U.S.-born player to score 500 goals when his bouncer from center ice eluded Phoenix goalie Alex Auld. He finished the season with 14 goals, 10 of them game-winners, then scored two goals and had two assists in a 5-3 win in Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round to eliminate the Calgary Flames.
Roenick played one more season, earning his 700th NHL assist against the Atlanta Thrashers on Feb. 21, 2009, before retiring with 1,216 points (513 goals, 703 assists) in 1,363 regular-season games, and 122 points (53 goals, 69 assists) in 154 playoff games.