Sean Day (born January 9, 1998) is a Belgian-born Canadian-American professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...
defenceman
Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...
who is currently playing for the
Syracuse Crunch
The Syracuse Crunch are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Syracuse, New York, at the Upstate Medical University Arena. They are the primary development affiliate of the National Hockey League's Tam ...
of the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
(AHL) while under contract to the
Tampa Bay Lightning of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
(NHL). Day was selected by the
Mississauga Steelheads fourth overall in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection. Day was drafted 81st overall in the third round of the
2016 NHL Entry Draft
The 2016 NHL Entry Draft was the 54th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The first three selections were Auston Matthews going to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Patrik Laine ...
by the
New York Rangers. After several years playing in the minor leagues, Day made his NHL debut in 2021 with the Lightning.
Early life
Day was born in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, but grew up in
Rochester, Michigan
Rochester is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census. It is a northern suburb in Metro Detroit located 20 miles north of the city of Detroit.
Rochester was the first European settl ...
. Keith Day, Sean's father, was an executive with a global chemical company, which has taken him all over the world. His family relocated periodically before he was transferred to the
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
area. Day holds dual Canadian and American citizenship.
Due to his family moving around the world, Day first skated on a mall rink in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
Playing career
Day's application for Exceptional Player Status was granted by
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 ...
on March 21, 2013, making him eligible to be drafted a year early in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection. Day was the fourth player to be granted the exemption, allowing him to start his major junior hockey career as a 15-year-old. The other players to have previously received the exemption are
John Tavares in 2005,
Aaron Ekblad
Aaron Ekblad (born February 7, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League (NHL). Ekblad was selected first overall in the 2011 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) e ...
in 2011 and
Connor McDavid
Connor Andrew McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers selected him first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
McDavid ...
in 2012.
He was drafted fourth overall in the OHL Priority draft.
In the
2016–17 season, on October 19, 2016, Day was acquired by
Memorial Cup hosts, the
Windsor Spitfires from the
Mississauga Steelheads in exchange for draft picks. Gearing towards the playoffs with the Spitfires, on March 8, 2017, Day agreed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the
New York Rangers. He would win the Memorial Cup with the Spitfires later that season.
In the
2017–18 season, on January 1, 2018, Day along with
Gabriel Vilardi were traded by the Spitfires to the
Kingston Frontenacs in exchange for Cody Morgan and six draft picks.
Day began his professional career in
2018 with the Rangers AHL affiliate
Hartford Wolf Pack. After a slow start in the first six games he was demoted to the
Maine Mariners Maine Mariners may refer to:
* Maine Mariners (AHL), an ice hockey team in Portland, Maine, which operated from 1977 to 1992
* Maine Mariners (ECHL)
The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018 ...
.
He played well enough in 19 games with the Mariners to earn a berth in the ECHL All-Star game, but was promoted back to Hartford before the game.
Day began the following season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack, but after posting a disappointing 4 points in 16 games, he was demoted to the Maine Mariners, where he would remain until the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.
On May 30, 2020, Day was placed on unconditional waivers by the Rangers for the purposes of contract termination. He cleared waivers the following day and the remaining year of his contract was terminated. As a free agent on July 17, 2020, Day was signed to a one-year, two-way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He made his NHL debut with the Lightning on December 28, 2021, against the Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Sean
1998 births
Living people
American men's ice hockey defensemen
Belgian ice hockey defencemen
Canadian ice hockey defencemen
Hartford Wolf Pack players
Ice hockey players from Detroit
Ice hockey people from Ontario
Kingston Frontenacs players
Maine Mariners (ECHL) players
Memorial Cup winners
Mississauga Steelheads players
New York Rangers draft picks
Sportspeople from Leuven
Syracuse Crunch players
Tampa Bay Lightning players
Windsor Spitfires players