Rūdolfs Balcers

Rūdolfs Balcers (born 8 April 1997) is a Latvian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Sharks, 142nd overall, in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.[1][2] Balcers played three seasons playing for the Stavanger before moving to North America in 2016, where he spent one season with the Kamloops Blazers of the major junior Western Hockey League. After one season in the American Hockey League with the Sharks minor league affiliate San Jose Barracuda, Balcers was traded to the Senators in 2018, and made his NHL debut with the team in 2019. He rejoined the Sharks in 2021.

Rūdolfs Balcers
Balcers at the 2018 AHL All-Star Game
Born (1997-04-08) 8 April 1997
Liepāja, Latvia
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 194 lb (88 kg; 13 st 12 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams		 San Jose Sharks
Stavanger Oilers
Ottawa Senators
National team  Latvia
NHL Draft 142nd overall, 2015
San Jose Sharks
Playing career 2014–present

Playing career

As a junior, Balcers played in Norway with Lørenskog until joining the Stavanger Oilers in the 2013–14 season.[3] The youngest player on the Oilers in 2014–15, he recorded 21 points in 38 regular season as the club won the league championship, and was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the fifth round, 142nd overall, at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.[4]

After three seasons with Stavanger Oilers he moved to continue his development in North America, joining major junior club the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the 2016–17 season. Balcers made a seamless transition to the WHL appearing in 66 games with the Blazers, finishing with 40 goals, the most on the team.[5]

Having experienced a successful season with Blazers, he was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with his draft team, the San Jose Sharks, on 13 July 2017.[6] After attending the Sharks 2017 training camp, he was assigned by the Sharks to begin his North American professional career with AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.[7] In the 2017–18 season, Balcers led the Barrcuda with 23 goals, 25 assists and 48 points in 67 games.[5] He was selected to represent the Barracuda at the 2018 All-Star Classic.[8]

In September 2018, Balcers was traded by the Sharks to the Ottawa Senators as part of a package of players, prospects and draft picks for Erik Karlsson.[9] Assigned to the Senators' AHL affiliate the Belleville Senators to start the season, Balcers was leading the team in goals and points when he was recalled by Ottawa in early January 2019.[10] He made his NHL debut with the Senators on 5 January 2019 against the Minnesota Wild,[11][12] and scored his first goal in the next game, on 6 January against the Carolina Hurricanes.[13]

After missing most of the 2019–20 season with an MCL injury, Balcers signed a one year, two-way contract with the Senators in October 2020.[14] Shortly after that, he was loaned back to Stavanger until the start of the delayed 2020–21 season.[15] Balcers compiled 7 goals and 15 points in just 10 games in his return with the Stavanger Oilers before returning to the Senators organization.

Approaching the conclusion of training camp, Balcers was placed on waivers by the Senators and subsequently claimed by original club, the San Jose Sharks, on 12 January 2021.[16]

International play

After representing Latvia at the junior level, Balcers was selected by head coach, Bob Hartley, for the 2018 World Championship.[17] In his senior debut game against Norway, he scored two goals including the OT winner.[18][19] The four goals and six points he scored in eight games led the Latvian team.[5]

Career statistics
Balcers at the 2018 AHL All Star Classic.

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2013–14 Stavanger Oilers GET 20110 —————
2014–15 Stavanger Oilers GET 36813218 —————
2015–16 Stavanger Oilers GET 431592416 1764104
2016–17 Kamloops Blazers WHL 6640377716 62130
2017–18 San Jose Barracuda AHL 6723254812 42246
2018–19 Belleville Senators AHL 431714314 —————
2018–19 Ottawa Senators NHL 36591410 —————
2019–20 Belleville Senators AHL 3316203614 —————
2019–20 Ottawa Senators NHL 1512310 —————
2020–21 Stavanger Oilers GET 10781518 —————
NHL totals 516111710 —————

International
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2015 Latvia WJC18 9th 6 2 4 6 2
2017 Latvia WJC 10th 6 1 1 2 12
2018 Latvia WC 8th 8 4 2 6 0
2019 Latvia WC 10th 7 1 8 9 0
Junior totals 39 12 21 33 22
Senior totals 15 5 10 15 0

Awards and honours
Award Year
GET
Champions 2015, 2016
AHL
All-Star Game 2018, 2020 [20]

References
  1. "San Jose Sharks 2015 draft 5nd round selections". National Hockey League. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  2. eliteprospects. "San Jose Penguins 2015 draft elections". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  3. eliteprospects. "Stavanger Oilers 2013–14 season roster". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  4. "Quick FActs: Rudolfs Balcers". National Hockey League. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  5. Boylen, Rory (17 September 2018). "Prospect Of Interest: Who is Rudolfs Balcers?". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  6. San Jose Sharks (13 July 2017). "Sharks Sign Forward Rudolfs Balcers to Entry-Level Contract". National Hockey League. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  7. AHL. "San Jose Barracuda 2017–18 season roster". American Hockey League. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  8. "Barracuda rookie Balcers added to the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic". San Jose Barracuda. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  9. "Ottawa Senators complete most important trade in rebuild". National Hockey League. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  10. Tidcombe, Matt (4 January 2019). "Ottawa recalls Balcers from Belleville". Bellevillesens.com. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  11. Warren, Ken (5 January 2019). "WARREN GAME REPORT: Senators' winless slide hits seven with loss to Wild". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  12. Gundersen, Carl Gunnar (5 January 2019). "Tidligere Oilers-spiller debuterte i NHL". Aftenposten (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  13. Fraser, Callum (6 January 2019). "Hurricanes hand Senators eighth straight loss". National Hockey League. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  14. "Senators sign forward Rudolfs Balcers to a one-year, two-way contract". National Hockey League. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  15. "Senators' Rudolfs Balcers: Loaned overseas". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  16. "Sharks claim forward Rudolfs Balcers off waivers from Senators". San Jose Sharks. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  17. DELFI sports (2 May 2018). "Paziņots Latvijas hokeja izlases kaujas sastāvs pasaules čempionātam" (in Latvian). Delfi (web portal). Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  18. iihf (5 May 2018). "NOR vs LAT play-by-play". iihf. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  19. iihf (5 May 2018). "Team LAT match stats". iihf. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  20. "Bracco, Liljegren added to All-Star roster". American Hockey League. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
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