David Liffiton

David Liffiton
Born (1984-10-18) October 18, 1984
Windsor, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Defence
Shoots Left
Metal team
Former teams
Frederikshavn White Hawks
New York Rangers
Esbjerg fB Ishockey
Colorado Avalanche
Milano Rossoblu
Färjestad BK
Malmö Redhawks
HC TWK Innsbruck
NHL Draft 63rd overall, 2003
Colorado Avalanche
Playing career 2004present

David "Dave" Liffiton (born October 18, 1984) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing with Frederikshavn White Hawks in the Danish Metal Ligaen. He has previously played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche.

Playing career

Liffiton began his junior career with Aylmer Blues in the OHA-B before he was selected in the 16th round, 326th overall, in the 2000 Ontario Hockey League priority selection by the Plymouth Whalers.[1] Joining the Whalers in the 2001–02 season, and developing as a physical stay-at-home defenseman, Liffiton recorded his best season statistically in 2002–03 with 5 goals for 16 points in 64 games to help the Whalers reach Western Conference finals against the Kitchener Rangers. He was subsequently drafted 63rd overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. In his final year with Plymouth in 2003–04, Liffiton's rights were included in a trade by the Avalanche, along with Chris McAllister, to the New York Rangers in exchange for Matthew Barnaby and a third round selection in 2004 (Denis Parshin) on March 8, 2004.[2]

Signing an entry level contract with the Rangers on July 29, 2004, he began his professional career with Rangers ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, before moving up to American Hockey League affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack for the majority of the 2004–05 season.[3] In the 2005–06 season he continued to play primarily with Hartford and finished second on the Wolf Pack with 169 Penalty minutes. Towards the end of the season, the Rangers were hit with injury on the blueline and David made his NHL debut playing a solitary game against rivals the New York Islanders, registering 2 penalty minutes, in a 3-2 defeat on April 11, 2006.[4]

He played in two further games in the 2006–07 season with the Rangers, including his first NHL fight against the Boston Bruins' Jeremy Reich,[5] but again remained entrenched as a physical force among the Wolf Pack blueline amassing 189 penalty minutes in 72 games. In his fourth season within the Rangers organization in 2007–08, Liffiton was limited to only 21 games with the Wolf Pack suffering post-concussion symptoms that kept him sidelined for the majority of the year.[6]

On November 4, 2008, Liffiton signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with Esbjerg fB of the Danish League, Oddset Ligaen.[7] Upon Completing the season, he ended his European stint on July 13, 2009, and came back to North America initially signing a one-year deal with Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.[8] David was invited to Syracuse's NHL affiliate, the Columbus Blue Jackets, training camp for the 2009–10 season and was signed to a one-year contract with the Blue Jackets before he was reassigned to the Crunch on September 29, 2009.[9] David spent the entire year with the Crunch, and developed a career season high with 5 goals, 15 assists and 20 points as the Crunch failed to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs.

As a free agent, David returned to his original draft team in the Colorado Avalanche, signing a one-year contract on July 2, 2010.[10] He was then reassigned during the 2010–11 pre-season to the Avalanche's AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters, on September 23, 2010.[11] His first NHL goal was scored on October 30, 2010 against Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets.[12] With the return to health of Adam Foote, Liffiton was returned to the Monsters after 4 games with the Avalanche before suffering a season-ending injury.

After his second season as captain of the Lake Erie Monsters, Liffiton left and signed as a free agent for his second stint in Europe, on a one-year deal with newly promoted Hockey Milano Rossoblu of the Italian Serie A on September 11, 2012.[13]

Prior to the 2013–14 season, Liffiton remained in Europe, agreeing to a try-out with Swedish club, Färjestad BK, on August 26, 2013.[14]

On May 27, 2015, Liffiton signed a one-year contract with Austrian club, HC TWK Innsbruck of the EBEL.[15] After a season in Innsbruck, Liffton opted to leave as a free agent and return to Denmark in signing a one-year deal with Frederikshavn White Hawks of the Metal Ligaen on July 13, 2016.[16]

Career statistics

Liffiton with the Lake Erie Monsters.
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01Aylmer BluesOHA-B51191051
2001–02Plymouth WhalersOHL6239126560000
2002–03Plymouth WhalersOHL64511161391813429
2003–04Plymouth WhalersOHL44291185900012
2004–05Charlotte CheckersECHL16022181514527
2004–05Hartford Wolf PackAHL3301174
2005–06Hartford Wolf PackAHL58410141691200013
2005–06New York RangersNHL10002
2006–07Hartford Wolf PackAHL7221113189711218
2006–07New York RangersNHL20007
2007–08Hartford Wolf PackAHL2102252
2008–09Esbjerg fBDEN253698440004
2009–10Syracuse CrunchAHL7251520118
2010–11Lake Erie MonstersAHL1813457
2010–11Colorado AvalancheNHL410117
2011–12Lake Erie MonstersAHL65358149
2012–13 Milano Rossoblu ITL 44 6 4 10 84 6 0 2 2 12
2013–14Färjestad BKSHL1301147
2013–14Malmö RedhawksAllsv28000108101014
2014–15Malmö RedhawksAllsv5121012151
2015–16HC TWK InnsbruckEBEL5313485
NHL totals 7 1 0 1 26

References

  1. "Results for the 2000 OHL priority selection". HockeysFuture.com. 2000-06-07. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
  2. "Rangers get defenseman, draftee". ESPN. 2004-03-08. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  3. "Rangers sign goalie, junior defenseman". ESPN. 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  4. "Islanders get two goals from Satan to beat Rangers". CBS Sports. 2006-04-11. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  5. "Callahan scores first two goals as Rangers touch Bruins for 7". CBS Sports. 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
  6. "David Liffiton- Legends of Hockey". LegendsofHockey.net. 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  7. "EFB sign Canadian defenseman Liffiton" (in Danish). efb.dk. 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  8. "Crunch Sign Defenseman David Liffiton". Syracuse Crunch. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  9. "Columbus assigns Alexandre Picard, Mathieu Roy; signs defensemen David Liffiton and Dylan Reese". Syracuse Crunch. 2009-09-29. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  10. "Avalanche Signs Quincey, Winnik and six others". Colorado Avalanche. 2010-07-02. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  11. "Avalanche re-assign Goalie Cann, six others". Denver Post. 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  12. Dater, Adrian (2010-10-30). "Avs treat fans to easy 5-1 win over Columbus". Denver Post. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  13. "Milano sign NHL defender David Liffiton" (in Italian). Hockey Milano Rossoblu. 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  14. "FBK test AHL defender" (in Swedish). Färjestad BK. 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
  15. "Sharks puzzle is taking shape". HC TWK Innsbruck. 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2015-05-27.
  16. "David Liffiton to White Hawks" (in Danish). Frederikshavn White Hawks. 2016-07-13. Retrieved 2016-07-13.

External links

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