Canadian ice hockey defenceman
Ice hockey player
Jesse Graham (born May 13, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for HC Sochi of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Playing career
Graham played major junior hockey with the Niagara IceDogs and Saginaw Spirit in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) before he was selected in the sixth-round, 155th overall, by the New York Islanders in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.[1] and signed an entry-level contract with the team on May 31, 2014. He spent three seasons with the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, as well as spells in the ECHL for the Florida Everblades and Missouri Mavericks, before signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche on July 26, 2017.[2]
Graham spent the 2017–18 season with the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliation of the Avalanche. On August 30, 2018, Graham signed for the Utica Comets of the AHL, serving as the primary affiliate to the Vancouver Canucks.[3]
After five professional seasons in North American, Graham opted to pursue a European career, moving to the Tipsport Liga in Slovakia to join HK Nitra on October 26, 2019.[4] but left just two weeks later after playing three games for the team to join Finnish club, KalPa of Liiga.[5]
Graham spent the duration of the 2021–22 season with Augsburger Panther of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), contributing with 3 goals and 39 assists for 42 points in 52 games, leading the blueline in scoring.[6]
As a free agent, Graham moved to the KHL, in agreeing to a one-year contract for the 2022–23 season with Kazakh based club, Barys Nur-Sultan, on July 20, 2022.[7] In his debut KHL season, Graham was a fixture on the Barys blueline, registering 19 assists through 66 regular season games.
On May 11, 2023, Graham opted to continue his tenure in the KHL, however moved to Russian club, HC Sochi, after securing a two-year contract as a free agent.[8]
