Geoff Platt

Geoff Platt (born July 10, 1985) is a Canadian-Belarusian ice hockey player, currently playing for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Geoff Platt
Platt playing for Ilves in 2008
Born (1985-07-10) July 10, 1985
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
KHL team
Former teams		 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
Columbus Blue Jackets
Anaheim Ducks
Dinamo Minsk
Ilves
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Växjö Lakers
CSKA Moscow
Jokerit
National team  Belarus
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2005–present

He has also played for the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), KHL outfit HC Dinamo Minsk, Ilves Tampere of the Finnish SM-Liiga and the Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Born and raised in Canada, Platt played major junior in the Ontario Hockey League before spending several years between the NHL and its minor league affiliate the American Hockey League (AHL). In 2008 Platt received an offer to join Ilves in Finland, briefly playing in Belarus beforehand. He played in Finland for one season before returning to Minsk the following year, and spent nearly five full seasons with Dinamo before being traded to Lokomotiv in 2013. Platt had previously played for the Canadian national under-18 team, winning a gold medal at the 2003 IIHF World U18 Championships, but in 2012 he acquired Belarusian citizenship, and having satisfied the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) criteria, was able to represent Belarus starting at the 2014 IIHF World Championship held in Minsk.

Playing career

As a youth, Platt played in the 1999 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from North York.[1]

Platt played junior ice hockey in the Ontario Hockey League for the North Bay Centennials, Saginaw Spirit and the Erie Otters. He has played in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Anaheim Ducks.

On February 26, 2012, after playing for five years with KHL's Dinamo Minsk, Platt accepted Belarusian citizenship.[2]

In the 2013–14 season, as leading scorer of Dinamo Minsk in the midst of his 6th season with the club, Platt was traded to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for monetary compensation on December 30, 2013.[3] He was later signed to a two-year contract extension with Lokomotiv through to the 2016 season on January 3, 2014.[4]

On August 16, 2015, a few days before the start of the new KHL season, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl broke the contract with him.[5] Lokomotiv's general manager explained this by the uncertain legal status of foreign players in KHL (Lokomotiv had signed 6 foreign players including him while the limit of foreign players for the Russian clubs is only 5 players in the roster) and by Geoff's lack of the Russian passport.[6] Two days later he signed a contract with CSKA Moscow.[7]

Platt left Moscow upon the conclusion of the 2015–16 campaign and took his game to Sweden, signing with the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) on June 23, 2016.[8] On December 14, 2016, he returned to CSKA Moscow for a second stint.[9]

On May 7, 2019, Platt signed as a free agent to a two-year contract to continue in the KHL with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.[10]

International play
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World U18 Championships
2003 Yaroslavl

Platt was a member of the Canadian national under-18 team during the 2003 IIHF World U18 Championships. He scored three goals in seven games as Canada won the gold medal.[11] After acquiring Belarusian citizenship in 2012 and playing the required amount of time in Belarus, Platt became eligible to represent Belarus in 2014. His first IIHF tournament at which he represented Belarus was the 2014 World Championship, which was held in Minsk.[12] Platt scored three goals and two assists as Belarus finished seventh in the tournament.

Personal life

Platt is married to Finnish native Mia Platt since June 2015. They reside in Tampere, Finland during the off-season.[13]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 St. Michael's Buzzers OPJHL 6 2 0 2 4 — — — — —
2001–02 North Bay Centennials OHL 63 4 6 10 34 5 0 0 0 6
2002–03 Saginaw Spirit OHL 62 32 22 54 79 — — — — —
2003–04 Saginaw Spirit OHL 27 7 13 20 49 — — — — —
2003–04 Erie Otters OHL 28 18 11 29 22 9 9 1 10 22
2004–05 Erie Otters OHL 68 45 34 79 84 6 2 3 5 16
2004–05 Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies ECHL 2 0 2 2 0 3 0 0 0 0
2005–06 Syracuse Crunch AHL 66 30 35 65 58 6 3 0 3 6
2005–06 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 15 0 5 5 16 — — — — —
2006–07 Syracuse Crunch AHL 52 27 21 48 59 — — — — —
2006–07 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 26 4 5 9 10 — — — — —
2007–08 Syracuse Crunch AHL 15 4 3 7 6 — — — — —
2007–08 Portland Pirates AHL 60 28 30 58 49 18 8 9 17 24
2007–08 Anaheim Ducks NHL 5 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2008–09 Dinamo Minsk KHL 13 2 3 5 8 — — — — —
2008–09 Ilves SM-l 45 19 18 37 54 3 1 0 1 4
2009–10 Dinamo Minsk KHL 56 26 18 44 77 — — — — —
2010–11 Dinamo Minsk KHL 54 18 15 33 46 7 4 3 7 4
2011–12 Dinamo Minsk KHL 47 13 17 30 42 4 1 0 1 4
2012–13 Dinamo Minsk KHL 50 13 15 28 76 — — — — —
2013–14 Dinamo Minsk KHL 40 15 14 29 8 — — — — —
2013–14 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 16 6 5 11 2 18 5 4 9 20
2014–15 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL 60 17 13 30 24 6 1 0 1 2
2015–16 CSKA Moscow KHL 55 21 14 35 46 12 6 4 10 12
2016–17 Växjö Lakers SHL 25 10 5 15 12 — — — — —
2016–17 CSKA Moscow KHL 18 6 1 7 16 10 3 1 4 6
2017–18 CSKA Moscow KHL 28 8 3 11 2 10 0 2 2 6
2018–19 Jokerit KHL 60 11 13 24 32 4 0 0 0 4
2019–20 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg KHL 52 12 7 19 28 5 1 0 1 4
AHL totals 194 90 89 180 172 24 11 9 20 30
NHL totals 46 4 10 14 28 — — — — —
KHL totals 540 168 138 306 407 76 21 14 35 62

International
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2003 Canada WJC18 7 3 0 3 0
2014 Belarus WC 7th 8 3 2 5 0
2016 Belarus WC 12th 7 3 2 5 2
2016 Belarus OGQ DNQ 3 0 2 2 0
2018 Belarus WC 15th 7 1 3 4 4
2019 Belarus WC D1A 18th 5 3 4 7 0
Junior totals 7 3 0 3 0
Senior totals 30 10 13 23 6

References
  1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  2. "Platt and Lalonde accept Belarusian citizenship". news.bealt.by. 2012-02-26. Archived from the original on 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  3. "Platt goes to Yaroslavl". Kontinental Hockey League. 2013-12-30. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  4. "Transfer news". Kontinental Hockey League. 2014-01-03. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
  5. "Хоккей. Агент Платта: "Локомотив" расторг контракт с Джеффом, форвард до начала сезона перейдет в другую команду". pressball.by. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  6. ""Локомотив" расстался с Джеффом Плэттом из-за неопределенности его статуса как легионера". TASS. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  7. "Хоккей. Джефф Платт стал игроком ЦСКА". pressball.by. 2015-08-18. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  8. "Platt flyttar från CSKA Moskva – till Växjö". Retrieved 2016-06-25.
  9. cska-hockey.ru. "Джефф Плэтт вернулся в ЦСКА | Новости клуба | Новости | Профессиональный Хоккейный Клуб ЦСКА". www.cska-hockey.ru. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  10. "Motorist signs Geoff Platt to contract" (in Russian). Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  11. IIHF (2003). "Team Canada Roster - 2003 IHF U18 Championship". IIHF.com. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  12. Manninen, Henrik (2014-05-06). "A Belarusian Canuck". IIHF.com. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  13. Tammilehto, Teemu (2014-05-15). "Valkovenäläispelaaja on tamperelainen ja Ilves-fani – "Vaimoni suku tappaisi minut muuten"" (in Finnish). YLE.fi. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
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