Topic: Chris Kunitz

Christopher Kunitz (born September 26, 1979) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Atlanta Thrashers and Anaheim Ducks, the latter with whom he won a Stanley Cup in 2007. He won his second Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.

Kunitz played Junior A in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) with the Melville Millionaires for two seasons before joining the NCAA college ranks with the Ferris State Bulldogs in 1999–00. After a 79-point campaign in his senior year, he was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in 2003 (given to Peter Sejna), the same year Ferris State made it to the Division I Regional Finals, just missing out on the Frozen Four. He was part of the only Ferris State team to have ever make a NCAA Tournament appearance.

Kunitz was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on April 1, 2003. He split his professional rookie season between Anaheim and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. After spending the 2004–05 NHL lockout with Cincinnati, he was picked up on waivers by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005–06. Two weeks later, however, he was re-claimed off waivers by the Ducks and went on to play 67 games with them, scoring 19 goals and adding 22 assists for 41 points, surpassing Paul Kariya's club record 39-point rookie season in 1994–95 (Kunitz still qualified as a first-year player because he did not play the maximum required games with Anaheim in 2003–04 to register as his NHL rookie season; the record was broken the following season by Dustin Penner's 45 points).