Nikos "Nick" Kypreos (born June 4, 1966) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who played eight seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) for the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1 ...

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NH ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

and

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

. He is currently a hockey analyst on the

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

network in Canada.

Playing career

Of Greek descent, Kypreos was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. As a youth, he played in the 1979

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament () is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, and give an opportunity for international competition to p ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor ice hockey or minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body c ...

team from

Wexford, Toronto Wexford is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the eastern part of the city, on the western end of the district of Scarborough, spanning Lawrence Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and Birchmount Road. There a ...

. He was an effective goal scorer in juniors with the

North Bay Centennials The North Bay Centennials were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, who played from 1982–2002. The team was based in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. History The North Bay Centennials or "Cents" as they were popularly known, were na ...

of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

(OHL). He was a prolific scorer and finished second in the league for goals scored, with 62, in the

1985–86 OHL season The 1985–86 OHL season was the sixth season of the Ontario Hockey League. Fifteen teams each played 66 games. The Guelph Platers won the J. Ross Robertson Cup, defeating the Belleville Bulls. New Arena Copps Coliseum (Hamilton) The Hamilton ...

, leading the top scoring Centennials to second place in the regular season. Kypreos struggled to score at the NHL level and immediately became known as an enforcer, a role he maintained throughout his pro career. He was never drafted by an NHL team, but was signed as a free agent by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

on the eve of his second junior season. However, his NHL career began with the

. His best NHL season came in 1992–93 while a member of the

, when he scored a career-best 17 goals while earning 325 penalty minutes, which was the fourth-highest penalty minute total in the league that season. In

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, Kypreos was a member of the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

champion

. He made his final NHL stop with his hometown

. As a Maple Leaf, his career ended as the result of a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

sustained in a fight with the Rangers' Ryan VandenBussche in a pre-season game on September 15, 1997 when his face hit the ice after he was punched unconscious. After the injury, Kypreos suffered from

post-concussion syndrome Post-concussion syndrome (PCS), also known as persisting symptoms after concussion, is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or years after a concussion. PCS is medically classified as a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About ...

and was forced to retire. He finished his NHL career with 46 goals, 44 assists, 90 points, and 1,210 penalty minutes in 442 regular season games.

Television career

Since retiring as a player, Kypreos had gone on to serve as a hockey analyst for

in Canada, as the co-host of

Hockey Central ''Hockey Central'' is the brand used for programs and segments covering hockey (particularly the National Hockey League) on the Canadian sports channel Sportsnet. The ''Hockey Central'' name encompasses several programs, including segments aired ...

(first with

Darren Dreger Darren Dreger (born June 13, 1968) is a Canadian sportscaster for TSN, and is one of TSN's Hockey Insiders. He had previously hosted '' Leafs Lunch'' on CFMJ AM640 Toronto Radio. Broadcasting career After graduating from the Western Academy B ...

and later with

Daren Millard Daren Millard (born August 16, 1970 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) is a Canadian sportscaster. Millard began his broadcasting career in radio as he worked in cities including Melfort, Saskatchewan, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Yorkton, Saskatche ...

). He also co-hosts ''

at Noon'' on The Fan 590 in

and simulcast on Sportsnet as of 2018. Hockey Central at Noon is hosted by Jeff Marek. The show was previously co-hosted by

and Bill Berg until the fall of 2008, when Berg left and was replaced by Mike Brophy. Starting in the fall of 2009, former NHL coach and executive Doug MacLean was also added to the program as an analyst. His role was expanded in October 2014 when he became part of the new but revamped ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

'' as an analyst after its parent,

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties. Operations Current television brands owned by Rogers include two television sys ...

acquired the sole national television rights to the NHL in November 2013, until he departed in 2019. Kypreos has also appeared on TSN as an analyst, notably when

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

announced the Canadian national team for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. Kypreos appeared as a pro hockey player, acting in a 1996 episode of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

program '' Arli$$'' entitled "What About the Fans?".

Awards and achievements

* 1987–88:

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League (AHL). It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In it ...

champion (

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Bears have played in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 1938–39 season, making it the longest continuously operating member club of the league still ...

) * 1993–94:

champion (

)

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Sportsnet profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kypreos, Nick 1966 births Living people Baltimore Skipjacks players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Canadian people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Canadian radio sportscasters Canadian sports talk radio hosts Canadian television sportscasters Hartford Whalers players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Toronto Kitchener Rangers players National Hockey League broadcasters New York Rangers players North Bay Centennials players St. John's Maple Leafs players Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs players Undrafted National Hockey League players Washington Capitals players