Amateur career Roenick began playing hockey at age four when the parents of a playmate persuaded Roenick's parents to put Jeremy in a hockey program so that their child would be with someone he knew. The son of a
Mobil oil district coordinator, Jeremy constantly moved around the
Northeastern United States, joining new hockey teams with each stop. As a youth, Roenick played in the 1982
Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a
minor ice hockey team from
Middlesex County, Connecticut, and in the 1983 tournament with the Washington Capitals minor ice hockey team. Roenick then moved to
Fairfax, Virginia, where he traveled to play for the
bantam-level New Jersey Rockets, who had won back-to-back national championships in 1984–85 and 1985–86. At age 14, Roenick was required to take a flight from
Dulles Airport to
Newark, New Jersey, on a weekly basis to make the Rockets' games. Roenick helped the Rockets to a state championship, registering 300 points in only 75 games. After one year of traveling for hockey, the Roenick family would move back to
Massachusetts, where Jeremy enrolled at
Thayer Academy. before going on to represent the
United States at the
1989 World Junior Championship. In his second World Junior Championship, Roenick led the tournament in scoring and was named a
Tournament All-Star. Despite his scoring success, the United States finished the tournament in fifth place. During the tournament, Roenick become the all-time leading American scorer, totaling 25 points. Roenick's record stood for 21 years before being broken by
Jordan Schroeder in
2010. However, it took Schroeder three tournaments to pass Roenick, who set the record in just two events. Following Roenick's successful World Junior performance, the Blackhawks called him up during the
1988–89 season. In the
1989–90 season, Roenick joined the Blackhawks full-time and helped the team improve by 22 points to win the
Norris Division title; he scored 26 goals and 66 points in the regular season. During the
1990 playoffs, Roenick helped the Blackhawks reach the
Campbell Conference Finals before losing to the
Edmonton Oilers. He scored 18 points in 20 games. The Blackhawks' confidence in Roenick's abilities allowed them to trade star forward
Denis Savard for defenseman
Chris Chelios in June 1990. In
1990–91, Roenick paced the team with ten
game-winning goals as the Blackhawks improved another 18 points to win the
Presidents' Trophy. Roenick finished second on the team with 41 goals, 53 assists and 94 points and played in his first
NHL All-Star Game. In six playoff games, he scored eight points. The following year, Roenick led the team with 53 goals, 50 assists and 103 points and played in his second All-Star Game. While the team dropped to second in the Norris Division during the regular season, they marched all the way to the
1992 Stanley Cup Finals in the playoffs. Roenick scored 22 points in 18 games as the team captured the
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl over Edmonton but was held mostly in check in the Final. In Game 2, he failed to get a shot on goal and was benched for the final two periods by head coach
Mike Keenan to bring muscle against the Penguin defense, a move Roenick disliked. Before Game 3, Roenick appeared in a cast on his right arm with an apparent broken thumb after being slashed, although Roenick later stated the injury was a bit embellished in an attempt by Keenan to curry favor with the referees, which did not work. Roenick had two goals in the decisive Game 4 in what proved to be his only goals and points recorded in a Stanley Cup Final as the Blackhawks were swept by the Penguins. In the season, Roenick led the Blackhawks with 50 goals, 107 points and 22 power-play goals as the team improved 19 points to win their third Norris Division title in four years (47 wins, 106 points). During the season, Roenick played in his third All-Star Game. In the playoffs, he scored three points in four games as the Blackhawks were swept by the St. Louis Blues. In the season, Roenick again led his team with 46 goals, a career-high 61 assists, 107 points, a career-high 24
power-play goals, five
shorthanded goals and a +21
plus-minus rating as the Blackhawks fell back 19 points in the standings. He also played in his fourth mid-season All-Star Game. In the post-season, he scored seven points in six playoff games. He also won the Chicago Sports Profiles Humanitarian of the Year Award. In the
lockout-shortened season, Roenick scored 34 points in 33 games. He missed 15 games with a bruised
tibia. He played eight games in the
1995 playoffs as the Blackhawks reached the
Western Conference Final, where they fell to the
Detroit Red Wings. In
1995–96, Roenick scored 67 points in 66 games before missing the last 11 games with a
sprained ankle. At year's end, he was the team's leader with 32 goals.
Phoenix Coyotes (1996–2001) On August 16, 1996, Roenick was traded to the
Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for
Alexei Zhamnov,
Craig Mills and a first-round draft pick (
Ty Jones). As the number 27 he wore in Chicago was already worn by (and would eventually be retired for)
Teppo Numminen, Roenick chose number 97, becoming the first player in NHL history to wear number 97. In his first season with his new team, Roenick scored 29 goals and 69 points. In
1997–98, he finished second on the team with 56 points. In
1998–99, he led the Coyotes with 72 points and played in his fifth All-Star Game while also knocking 154 hits. In
1999–2000, Roenick again led the Coyotes in scoring, this time racking up 34 goals and 44 assists for 78 points. He tallied 125 hits on the season and played in his sixth All-Star Game. In
2000–01, Roenick led the Coyotes with 30 goals and 76 points. He played 80 games and registered 133 hits.
Philadelphia Flyers (2001–2005) On July 2, 2001, Roenick signed a five-year contract with the
Philadelphia Flyers. In his first season with the Flyers, he won both the
Bobby Clarke Trophy (MVP) and
Yanick Dupre Memorial (Class Guy) team awards. He led the team with 46 assists, 67 points and a +32 plus-minus rating as the Flyers won the
Atlantic Division title. On January 30, he scored his 1,000th NHL point in a game against the
Ottawa Senators. Three nights later, he played in the mid-season All-Star Game. In the
2002 playoffs, Roenick played five games in an opening-round loss to the Senators. In
2002–03, Roenick led the Flyers with 27 goals and 59 points as the team won 45 games and finished second in the Atlantic Division. He also co-led the Flyers with 32 assists and eight power-play goals. On November 16, Roenick played in his 1,000th NHL game. In February, he played in the mid-season All-Star Game. In the
2003 playoffs, he scored eight points in 13 games as the Flyers reached the second round before again losing to the Ottawa Senators. On February 12, 2004, during a game against the New York Rangers, Roenick was hit in the face by an errant
slapshot from the Rangers' defenseman
Boris Mironov. The force of the shot broke Roenick's jaw in 19 places and knocked him unconscious for several minutes as he lay on the ice in a pool of blood. Roenick suffered his ninth
concussion on the play, and there was concern that he had suffered damage to his brain's circulatory system, However, further testing revealed no circulatory damage and Roenick returned ahead of schedule, after missing more than a month of hockey due to the concussion and broken jaw, with less than two weeks left in the season. In
2003–04, Roenick was limited to 62 games, but still scored 47 points as the Flyers won their third division title in five years. He finished second on the team with a .76 points-per-game average. In the
2004 playoffs, Roenick helped the Flyers reach the
Eastern Conference Finals, scoring four goals and 13 points, including the series-clinching overtime goal in game six of the second round series against the
Toronto Maple Leafs. The Flyers, however, lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the eventual
Stanley Cup champions, the
Tampa Bay Lightning.
Los Angeles Kings (2005–2006) Following the
NHL Lockout, the Flyers surprised everyone by signing
Peter Forsberg on August 3, 2005. In order to clear salary cap space for Forsberg's contract, Roenick was traded the next day to the
Los Angeles Kings. Roenick's
2005–06 season with the Kings was greatly disappointing, both for Roenick and for the team. He managed just 22 points in 58 games, his lowest total since he scored 18 points in 20 games in his rookie season. It was a trying season for Roenick, who missed time due to a broken finger suffered while blocking a shot during a
penalty kill, played games late in the season after suffering a chip fracture in his right ankle and, the concussion suffered from the slapshot had changed Roenick's game making him a tentative player. Roenick was displeased with his performances stating in an almost apologetic way: "I went to LA to finish off the last year of my contract and had a year off playing [lockout] and it was a really difficult year for me, it was hard mentally. A lot of people don't realize that for six months I had a lot of problems with the concussions and battling the jaw injury…" Becoming a free agent at the end of his first season in Los Angeles, he expressed strong interest in joining a Canadian team. "It was a nightmare season from hell last year," Roenick said, "I've always said I would like to play in Canada before my career is over."
Return to Phoenix Coyotes (2006–2007) Instead, Roenick signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract, on July 4, 2006, that brought him back to the Phoenix Coyotes. In Phoenix for his second tenure, he scored 28 points in 70 games, a relatively low scoring season for him. His second stint in Phoenix was not without its share of off-ice issues as well. On December 12, 2006, Roenick left
General Motors Place in
Vancouver after finding out he had been scratched from the game's line-up against the
Vancouver Canucks. Roenick went on record saying he left the arena to go to a restaurant for what he called "a nice dinner." At the heart of the problem was that Roenick felt that he was healthy enough to play in the game following a back injury, while Coyotes head coach
Wayne Gretzky felt he needed more time to recover. Roenick's antics led to him being benched again in the Coyotes' next game. The next time Roenick was scratched, he was more accepting of Gretzky's decision, stating a different mindset following the news that his daughter, Brandi, had been diagnosed with the kidney ailment
IgA nephropathy.
San Jose Sharks (2007–2009) After his low-scoring campaign in Phoenix, there was speculation Roenick would retire. Indeed, on July 4, 2007,
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Roenick sent them a text message announcing his retirement from the NHL. However, later that month, Roenick's agent, Neil Abbott, released a statement indicating the "text message retirement" announcement by the
Philadelphia newspaper had been premature, and that Roenick would be making a decision on his future within the next month. On September 4, 2007, it was confirmed Roenick had signed a one-year, $500,000 contract with the
San Jose Sharks to fill the role of
checking line center. Roenick credited Sharks' general manager
Doug Wilson, his former roommate when they played together in Chicago, with giving him another chance at hockey. One month into his first season with San Jose, on November 10, Roenick scored his 500th goal, coming against his former team, the Phoenix Coyotes – an unassisted mark from center ice that bounced off the end boards, then hitting the side of the net. Goaltender
Alex Auld attempted to clear the puck out of the crease from the side of the goal mouth, but accidentally bumped the puck off the heel of his goalie stick into the net. Roenick became the third American-born player to reach the 500-goal plateau, joining
Mike Modano and
Joe Mullen. On January 10, 2008, Roenick scored his 503rd goal, against the Vancouver Canucks, passing Joe Mullen for second in all-time scoring by American-born players. As the Sharks entered the
2008 playoffs against the
Calgary Flames, Roenick displayed an inspired Game 7 performance, scoring two goals and two assists to eliminate Calgary. However, after advancing to the second round to face Mike Modano and the
Dallas Stars in the second round, the Sharks were eliminated in six games. Roenick also finished the season with ten game-winning goals. On June 25, 2008, Roenick re-signed with the Sharks to a one-year, $1.1 million contract, doubling his previous year's salary. On February 21, 2009, Roenick recorded his 700th career assist, against the
Atlanta Thrashers, by setting up a goal by
Jonathan Cheechoo. He is the 48th player in NHL history, and the sixth American-born player, to reach that threshold.
Retirement On August 6, 2009, Roenick announced his retirement from the NHL and professional hockey. Roenick finished his career having scored 513 goals and 703 assists in 1,363 games for a total of 1,216 points. He was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame on November 11, 2024. ==Personality==