Cory Cross (born January 3, 1971 in Lloydminster, Alberta) is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman, who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League.

[edit] Draft

Cross was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning 1st overall in the 1992 NHL Supplemental Draft.

[edit] Career

After being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cross went on to spend time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. A physically imposing player with a powerful shot, Cross has long been a sub-par skater by NHL standards. This became especially apparent after the 2004–05 NHL lockout, since which time he has only played 56 games at the NHL level.

After spending three seasons on defence for the University of Alberta, Cross made his professional debut with Atlanta of the IHL. He saw spot duty with the Lightning for two seasons before playing his first full season in the NHL during the 1995/96 season.

After spending parts of six seasons in Tampa Bay, Cross, along with a 7th round draft pick, was dealt in the offseason to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Fredrik Modin.

After three relatively good seasons with the Leafs, Cross was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the New York Rangers.

He played only 26 games in New York before being traded again, this time to the Edmonton Oilers, along with Radek Dvorak in exchange for Anson Carter and Ales Pisa.

Cross played 113 games for Edmonton before being traded along with Jani Rita to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Dick Tärnström. Cross was relentlessly criticized in Edmonton for his inability to adapt to the "New NHL".

On March 9, 2006, Cross was traded from the Penguins to the Detroit Red Wings for fourth round draft pick in 2007.

Cross signed with the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in July 2006. Cross retired as an active player on September 2009.

[edit] Coaching career

On September 27, 2009, the Calgary Dinos head hockey coach, Mark Howell, announced that Cross would be an assistant head coach along with former NHLer Brad Isbister.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cory Cross's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• NHL.com profile