{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player (born 1986)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox ice hockey player | name = Mike Blunden | image = Michael Blunden.png | image_size = 230px | caption = Blunden with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2009 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1986|12|15}} | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 4 | weight_lb = 217 | position = Right wing | shoots = Right | played_for = Chicago Blackhawks<br>Columbus Blue Jackets<br>Montreal Canadiens<br>Tampa Bay Lightning<br>Ottawa Senators<br>HC Bolzano<br>Schwenninger Wild Wings | ntl_team = <!--Senior Caps only --> | draft = 43rd overall | draft_year = 2005 | draft_team = Chicago Blackhawks | career_start = 2006 | career_end = 2020 }}
'''Michael Charles Blunden''' (born December 15, 1986) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. Over his professional career, Blunden has appeared in over 100 National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks.
==Playing career== Blunden was drafted 43rd overall in the 2005 NHL entry draft by the Chicago Blackhawks from the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. After his final year with the Otters, Blunden signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on May 24, 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/8764/blackhawks_sign_michael_blunden/|title=Blackhawks sign Michael Blunden | publisher =hockeysfuture.com | date = May 24, 2006 | accessdate = November 16, 2008}}</ref> Months prior to signing he made his professional debut with affiliate of the Blackhawks, the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL, for the 2005–06 playoff run.
Blunden made his NHL debut in the 2006–07 season with the Blackhawks playing in 9 games. His season was cut short when he suffered a shoulder injury on December 10, 2006, ruling him out for the rest of the season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icehogs.com/news/icehogs/index.html?article_id=67|title=Icehogs news|publisher=icehogs.com|date=December 26, 2007|accessdate=November 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825155146/http://icehogs.com/news/icehogs/index.html?article_id=67|archive-date=August 25, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
On January 10, 2009, Blunden was traded by the Blackhawks to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Adam Pineault.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/11245024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111092659/http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/11245024 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 11, 2013 |title=Blue Jackets trade Pineault for Blackhawks' Blunden |publisher=cbssportsline.com |date=January 10, 2009 |accessdate=January 10, 2009 }}</ref>
On July 7, 2011 he was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Ryan Russell.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=568507|title=Habs acquire Michael Blunden from Columbus in return for Ryan Russell| publisher =Montreal Canadiens| date = July 7, 2011 | accessdate = July 7, 2011}}</ref> On July 1, 2012, the Canadiens re-signed Blunden to a one-year, two-way contract extension.
On July 1, 2014, Blunden left the Canadiens organization to sign a one-year contract as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=724965 | title = Lightning sign forward Mike Blunden | publisher = Tampa Bay Lightning | date = July 1, 2014 | accessdate = July 1, 2014}}</ref>
On June 29, 2015, the Lightning announced the re-signing of Blunden to a one-year, two-way contract. Blunden appeared in two regular season games with the Lightning last season, recording two penalty minutes. He also played in 33 games with the Syracuse Crunch, recording 13 goals and 22 points.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=772841|title=Lightning Sign Mike Blunden to One-Year Contract|first=Lightning|last=Tampa Bay|work=Tampa Bay Lightning|date=June 29, 2015|accessdate=June 30, 2015}}</ref>
After two-years in the Lightning organization, Blunden left as a free agent to sign a two-year, two-way contract with the Ottawa Senators on July 1, 2016.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://senators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=888092 |title = Senators sign forward Michael Blunden to two-year contract | publisher = Ottawa Senators | date = July 1, 2016 | accessdate = July 2, 2016}}</ref> After starting the season with Binghamton, Blunden made his Ottawa Senators debut on November 9, 2016 against the Buffalo Sabres.
After completing his contract with the Senators, Blunden left North America as a free agent after 13 years and signed a one-year deal with Italian outfit, HCB South Tyrol of the EBEL on July 18, 2018.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.hcb.net/de/ex-nhl-spieler-stuermt-ab-sofort-fuer-die-foxes-mike-blunden-im-anmarsch/ | title = Ex-NHL player Mike Blunden joins the Foxes | publisher = HC Bolzano | date = 2018-07-18 | accessdate = 2018-07-18 | language = Italian}}</ref> Blunden contributed offensively with Bolzano, posting 33 points in 38 regular season games.
Following Bolzano's defeat in the playoffs, Blunden left as a free agent to sign in the neighbouring DEL, agreeing to a one-year contract with German club, Schwenninger Wild Wings on April 3, 2019.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.wildwings.de/web/saison/news-detailseite/?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=3160&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail | title = Wild Wings sign Mike Blunden | publisher = Schwenninger Wild Wings | date = 2019-04-03 | accessdate = 2019-04-03 | language = German}}</ref>
==Personal== Blunden was born on December 15, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has one sister, Jennifer Blunden, and two brothers, Stephen Blunden & Sean Blunden, both of whom are also hockey players with Stephen enjoying his time in Canberra, Australia with the CBR Brave in the AIHL and Sean playing in the CIS for the Concordia University team, Concordia Stingers.
==Career statistics== ===Regular season and playoffs=== {| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em" |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="5" | Regular season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="5" | Playoffs |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM |- | 2001–02 | Gloucester Rangers | CJHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2002–03 | Erie Otters | OHL | 63 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 55 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2003–04 | Erie Otters | OHL | 52 | 22 | 17 | 39 | 53 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2004–05 | Erie Otters | OHL | 61 | 22 | 19 | 41 | 75 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |- | 2005–06 | Erie Otters | OHL | 60 | 46 | 38 | 84 | 63 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2005–06 | Norfolk Admirals | AHL | 11 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | 2006–07 | Norfolk Admirals | AHL | 17 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2006–07 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2007–08 | Rockford IceHogs | AHL | 74 | 16 | 21 | 37 | 83 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 35 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2007–08 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2008–09 | Rockford IceHogs | AHL | 37 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 42 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2008–09 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 39 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 68 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2009–10 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 40 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 59 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2009–10 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 25 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 43 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2010–11 | Springfield Falcons | AHL | 37 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 41 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2010–11 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2011–12 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 17 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2011–12 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 39 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2012–13 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 54 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 76 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2012–13 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |- | 2013–14 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 68 | 18 | 19 | 37 | 79 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2013–14 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2014–15 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 33 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2014–15 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2015–16 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 49 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 68 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2015–16 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 20 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |- | 2016–17 | Binghamton Senators | AHL | 67 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 57 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2016–17 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2017–18 | Belleville Senators | AHL | 45 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 95 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2017–18 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |- | 2018–19 | HC Bolzano | AUT | 38 | 16 | 17 | 33 | 32 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 33 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2019–20 | Schwenninger Wild Wings | DEL | 49 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 36 | — | — | — | — | — |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | AHL totals ! 573 ! 137 ! 155 ! 292 ! 709 ! 13 ! 1 ! 3 ! 4 ! 35 |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | NHL totals ! 127 ! 7 ! 6 ! 13 ! 145 ! 8 ! 0 ! 0 ! 0 ! 14 |}
===International=== {| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em" |- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Year ! Team ! Event ! Result ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM |- | 2003 | Canada | U18 | 4th | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 2006 | Canada | WJC | {{gold1}} | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan=4 | Junior totals ! 11 ! 3 ! 4 ! 7 ! 16 |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Ice hockey stats|nhl=8471663|elite=9195|espn=|euro=|hr=b/blundmi01|hockeydb=71747|legendsm=|legends=|legendstype=|tsn=}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunden, Mike}} Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:Belleville Senators players Category:Binghamton Senators players Category:HC Bozen–Bolzano players Category:Canadian ice hockey right wingers Category:Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:Columbus Blue Jackets players Category:Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Category:Erie Otters players Category:Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players Category:Montreal Canadiens players Category:Norfolk Admirals players Category:Ottawa Senators players Category:Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Category:Schwenninger Wild Wings players Category:Ice hockey people from Toronto Category:Springfield Falcons players Category:Syracuse Crunch players Category:Tampa Bay Lightning players Category:21st-century Canadian sportsmen