Blair Betts
| Blair Betts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
February 16, 1980 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||
| Weight | 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Shot | Left | ||
| Played for |
Calgary Flames New York Rangers Philadelphia Flyers |
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| NHL Draft | 33rd overall, 1998 Calgary Flames |
||
| Playing career | 2000–2011 | ||
Blair Betts (born February 16, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers. Betts was born in Edmonton, Alberta, but grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta.
Betts was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft in the second round, 33rd overall.
During the 2006–07 season, Betts found success on the Rangers checking fourth line. He was mostly paired with Colton Orr and Ryan Hollweg. Betts was also a key factor on the penalty kill. He was one of the Rangers most consistent faceoff men with 52.3 percent of faceoffs won. He was first on the team with 1,186 faceoffs taken. He was also sixth on the team, first among forwards, with 98 blocked shots and led the team with 276 minutes and 42 seconds of short-handed time on the ice. In the 2008–09 season, Betts served as one of the Rangers' alternate captains while Scott Gomez was injured.
TSN hockey analyst Pierre McGuire declared Betts "the most underrated player in the league". Praise continued for Betts on January 24, 2009, when Larry Brooks, columnist for The New York Post, wrote that Betts and teammate Fredrik Sjöström could be the best penalty kill tandem in Rangers history. As of then, the penalty kill was a franchise high of 87.6 percent.
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