Deryk Engelland

Playing career

Engelland played five seasons of junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Moose Jaw Warriors. He appeared in two games in 1998–99 before establishing a place as a regular defenceman for the team in the following four seasons where he peaked at 17 points in 2001–02 and 199 penalty minutes in 2002–03. The New Jersey Devils selected Engelland in the sixth round, 194th overall at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, but never played with the team. He turned professional in 2003–04 and split that season between the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL and the Lowell Lock Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Returning to Las Vegas, Engelland played the entire 2004–05 season in the ECHL where he scored 5 goals, added 16 assists and recorded 138 penalty minutes. He then spent the following several seasons suffling between the ECHL and AHL. 2005–06 was split between the South Carolina Stingrays and Hershey Bears, and the following year between Hershey and the Reading Royals. His play with Hershey in the 2007 Calder Cup playoffs caught the attention of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins who signed him to a contract. Engelland joined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the 2007–08 AHL season where he played all 80 regular season games then added 23 more in the playoffs as the team reached the Calder Cup final. He again played all 80 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2008–09. After starting the 2009–10 season with the AHL club, Engelland reached a consecutive games played streak of 171 that was broken following a game played November 6, 2009, when he earned his first recall to Pittsburgh. After more than six years in the minor leagues, the 27-year-old Engelland made his NHL debut on November 10 against the Boston Bruins. He played a total of nine games with Pittsburgh and recorded two assists. With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he appeared in 71 games and scored 11 points.

Engelland praised the Penguins for their efforts to develop his skills as a physical defenceman; he played his first full NHL season came in 2010–11. Engelland appeared in 63 games for the Penguins and scored his first NHL goal on November 12, 2010, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. During the season, the Penguins signed Engelland to a three-year contract extension through the 2013–14 season and which paid him an average of $566,700 per season.

In his second season, 2011–12, Engelland appeared in 73 games for Pittsburgh and improved to 4 goals and 13 assists. When a labour dispute delayed the start of the 2012–13 NHL season, Engelland opted to sign with Rosenborg IHK in Norway's GET-ligaen. He played 15 games for Rosenborg where he recorded 9 points before returning to Pittsburgh when the NHL resumed operation. In 42 games with the Penguins, Engelland had 6 assists.

In his fourth NHL season, 2013–14, Engelland posted a career high of six goals (and added six assists) in a campaign where the Penguins occasionally played him at forward. Though a regular in the Penguins line-up, Engelland was typically used in limited role. He opted to leave the Penguins following the season and signed with the Calgary Flames where he hoped to earn expanded responsibilities with the rebuilding team. The Flames signed him to a three-year contract worth $2.9 million per season, a five-fold increase over his previous salary and which was criticized as being among the worst value contracts signed during the 2014 free agency period. However at the start of 2017 Engelland was made alternate captain of the Flames during the absence of Troy Brouwer.

As an impending free agent following the 2016–17 season, his third season with the Flames, Engelland was left exposed at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. As a Vegas resident, Engelland was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights on June 21, 2017. Marking a professional return to the area since his tenure with the Wranglers, Engelland was immediately signed to a one-year, $1 million deal.

Personal life

Engelland was born April 3, 1982, in Edmonton, Alberta. His father is a welder by trade, and the family moved frequently in his early life as he lived in the Edmonton-area communities of Leduc and Mayerthorpe before settling in Chetwynd, British Columbia. He met his wife Melissa while playing in the minors in Las Vegas, where the couple continue to live with their son, Cash.