Angelo Esposito

For the Italian rugby union player, see Angelo Esposito (rugby union).

Angelo Esposito
Esposito with the Texas Stars in 2012
Born	(1989-02-20) February 20, 1989 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Chicago Wolves San Antonio Rampage Texas Stars Lahti Pelicans Milano Rossoblu SG Cortina České Budějovice Motor
NHL draft	20th overall, 2007 Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career	2008–2017

Angelo Esposito (born February 20, 1989) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. Esposito was drafted in the first round (20th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

QMJHL

Esposito's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) career started in controversy. He was considered a possible first overall draft choice in the QMJHL, but told all general managers that he intended to play college hockey in the NCAA. As a result, he was passed up by the first ten picks in the QMJHL Draft. Just minutes before the Val-d'Or Foreurs were slated to make their pick, at eleventh overall, the Quebec Remparts announced that they had traded several players and draft choices to get the Foreurs' drafting position and selected Esposito.

Esposito began his QMJHL rookie season, in 2005–06, centring the first line. Esposito scored in his first regular season game on his very first shift against the Rimouski Océanic. By mid-season, Esposito was selected QMJHL Rookie of the Month twice and the Offensive Player of the Week once. He finished his rookie campaign with 98 points, second among QMJHL's rookies, behind Claude Giroux, and was named the league rookie of the year. Along with wingers Mathieu Melanson (86 points) and Alexander Radulov (152 points), the Remparts' first line was the most productive scoring line in the entire league. Despite losing in the President's Cup final series 4–2 to the Moncton Wildcats, Esposito and the Remparts earned a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup as runner up to the tournament hosts.

Impressing many in his major junior rookie season, Esposito was touted early as a possible first-overall pick for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He had, in fact, already drawn comparisons to former Remparts star Guy Lafleur. However, declining offensive production at the junior level – his points total fell from 98 to 79 – led to him eventually being picked twentieth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On February 26, 2008, the Penguins traded his NHL rights to the Atlanta Thrashers along with Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, and a 2008 first-round draft pick in a trade-deadline deal for Marián Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.

Professional

At the conclusion of his 2007–08 season with the Remparts, he made his professional debut with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL). In the off-season, he was traded in the QMJHL by the Remparts to the Montreal Juniors on June 7, 2008. After a strong start with the Montreal Juniors, Esposito was named to Team Canada and competed in the U20 World Championships, scoring the game-winning goal against Sweden in the gold medal game. After returning from the World Juniors, Esposito tore his ACL in his right knee, causing him to miss the rest of the season. After only 12 games in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Chicago wolves in 2009, Esposito re-tore his ACL causing him to require a second knee surgery.

On July 8, 2011, he was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Kenndal McArdle. On January 13, 2012, he was traded to the Dallas Stars for Ondřej Roman. After the 2011–2012 season was over Esposito became an unrestricted free agent.

On July 26, 2012, he signed a one-year contract with Finnish hockey club Pelicans from Lahti. After producing 7 points in 29 games in the 2012–13 season with the Pelicans, Esposito was mutually released from the remainder of his contract and immediately moved to play in Italy with Hockey Milano Rossoblu from Milan on January 17, 2013.

On July 21, 2014, Esposito returned to North America and signed a one-year contract in the ECHL with the Fort Wayne Komets. After the season opening game of the 2014–15 season with the Komets, Esposito decided to take a hiatus from hockey and Fort Wayne waived and released him from his contract.

After taking a years hiatus from professional hockey, Esposito returned to Italy signing a one-year contract with SG Cortina of the AlpsHL on September 5, 2015. He finished the season with 38 points in 31 games. During the 2016-17 season, Esposito had a 9-game stint with České Budějovice Motor of the Czech 2nd league before he suffered a concussion while playing with the team. He only scored 1 goal in the 9 games he played with the team and at the end of the season Esposito retired from professional hockey.

International play

Medal record
Representing Canada
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
	2009 Canada
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament
	2006 Czech Republic
World U17 Hockey Challenge
	2006 Canada

Esposito competed for Team Quebec as captain during his QMJHL rookie season in the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, capturing gold. Later that year, he also captained Team Canada's under-18 squad at the 2006 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and won another gold medal. After three years of being cut from Team Canada's World Junior Championships selection camp, he eventually made the team for the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa. He scored 4 points in 6 games, including the game-winning goal in the gold medal game, helping Team Canada to its record-tying fifth straight gold medal.

Post–playing career

Real estate investor

Esposito currently works in the Quebec area as a real estate investor and landlord. He first bought property in 2015, but continued to buy more soon after.

Politics

2019 federal election

Esposito with Andrew Scheer in 2019.

Esposito was the candidate for the Conservative Party in the riding of Alfred-Pellan for the 2019 Canadian federal election. In the 2019 election, Esposito got 5,917 votes, which gave him 10.90% of the vote.

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Alfred-Pellan
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Angelo Iacono	26,015	47.90	+3.39	$97,523.02
	Bloc Québécois	Michel Lachance	15,549	28.63	+10.80	$16,657.44
	Conservative	Angelo Esposito	5,917	10.90	-0.45	none listed
	New Democratic	Andriana Kocini	4,109	7.57	-16.41	$443.23
	Green	Marguerite Howells	1,958	3.61	+1.63	$0.00
	People's	Mathieu Couture	471	0.87		$6,000.82
	Pour l'Indépendance du Québec	Julius Buté	177	0.33		$0.00
	Independent	Dwayne Cappelletti	113	0.21		$582.53
Total valid votes/expense limit			54,309	98.24
Total rejected ballots			973	1.76	+0.54
Turnout			55,282	69.90	+2.59
Eligible voters			79,083
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.71
Source: Elections Canada

Personal life

Born in Montreal and raised in Mount Royal, Quebec, Esposito grew up figure skating before beginning to play organized hockey at the age of six. At ten-years-old, he made the decision between the two sports to focus on hockey. He attended high school first at Selwyn House School then Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota, following in the footsteps of such NHL stars as Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews.

Despite his last name, famous in hockey circles, Esposito is not related to Hockey Hall of Famers Phil and Tony Esposito. He does, however, have uncles named Phil and Tony, in addition to sharing Phil Esposito's jersey number 7 and February 20 birth date.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2004–05	Shattuck-Saint Mary's	Midget AAA		68	31	35	66	47		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Quebec Remparts	QMJHL		57	39	59	98	45		23	6	5	11	4
2006–07	Quebec Remparts	QMJHL		60	27	52	79	63		5	4	3	7	2
2007–08	Quebec Remparts	QMJHL		56	30	39	69	69		11	4	6	10	6
2007–08	Chicago Wolves	AHL		1	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Montreal Juniors	QMJHL		35	24	18	42	25		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Chicago Wolves	AHL		12	0	4	4	2		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	Chicago Wolves	AHL		57	3	10	13	35		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	San Antonio Rampage	AHL		16	2	3	5	8		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	Cincinnati Cyclones	ECHL		3	0	1	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	Texas Stars	AHL		38	5	11	16	19		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Lahti Pelicans	SM-l		29	3	4	7	10		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Milano Rossoblu	ITA		5	1	3	4	2		—	—	—	—	—
2013–14	HC Bolzano	EBEL		35	1	7	8	14		13	0	0	0	0
2014–15	Fort Wayne Komets	ECHL		1	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	SG Cortina	ITA		31	15	23	38	26		4	0	1	1	4
2016–17	Motor České Budějovice	CZE.2		9	1	0	1	8		—	—	—	—	—
AHL totals				124	10	28	38	64		—	—	—	—	—

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2006	Canada Quebec	WHC17			6	3	1	4	0
2007	Canada	WJC18			6	3	3	6	0
2009	Canada	WJC			6	3	1	4	4
Junior totals					18	9	5	14	4

Awards

QMJHL

• Named Player of the Week for September 26 – October 2, 2005.
• Named Rookie of the Month for October and November 2005.
• Awarded the Michel Bergeron Trophy (offensive rookie of the year) in 2006
• Named to the QMJHL All-Rookie Team in 2006.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database