Mark Popovic

Mark Popovic
Born (1982-10-11) October 11, 1982
Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Atlanta Thrashers
SKA St. Petersburg
HC Lugano
SCL Tigers
KHL Medveščak Zagreb
EC KAC
NHL draft 35th overall, 2001
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Playing career 2002–2017
Website popovichockey.com

Mark Popovic (born October 11, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Atlanta Thrashers.

Playing career

As a youth, Popovic played in the 1996 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Young Nationals minor ice hockey team.[1]

Popovic was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. He was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005.[2] Over the course of his North American career, Popovic appeared in 81 NHL games for 7 points.

On September 21, 2010, Popovic again left the NHL after a single season with the Thrashers and signed a one-year deal with HC Lugano of the Swiss National League A.[3]

After three seasons in Switzerland on June 6, 2013, it was announced that he signed a free agent contract with Croatian club, KHL Medveščak Zagreb of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).[4]

On June 21, 2015, Popovic left Croatia and signed a one-year contract with Austrian club, EC KAC in the EBEL.[5] Following two seasons with KAC, Popovic opted to conclude his playing career, retiring from professional hockey after 15 seasons.

Post-playing career

Post playing career, Popovic settled in Castle Rock, Colorado and worked initially as a consultant within the Colorado Avalanche and AHL affiliate Colorado Eagles organizations. He joined the Avalanche in an offical capacity as the team's skills coach for the 2025–26 season on August 7, 2025.[6]

Personal

Popovic, is the owner and founder of IGNITE HOCKEY, a hockey development company based out of Colorado. IGNITE provides both on and off-ice development for elite young hockey players. Popovic also owns Perfect Skating Denver, a similar development program for young players.[7]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1997–98 Mississauga Chargers OPJHL 51 10 16 26 32 — — — — —
1998–99 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 60 6 26 32 46 — — — — —
1999–2000 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 68 11 29 40 68 — — — — —
2000–01 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 61 7 35 42 54 18 3 5 8 22
2001–02 Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHL 58 12 29 41 42 15 1 11 12 10
2002–03 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 73 3 21 24 46 — — — — —
2003–04 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 74 4 10 14 63 9 1 2 3 4
2003–04 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2004–05 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 74 1 17 18 47 11 2 3 5 6
2005–06 Chicago Wolves AHL 73 12 26 38 66 — — — — —
2005–06 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 7 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2006–07 Chicago Wolves AHL 65 16 24 40 51 15 3 6 9 4
2006–07 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 3 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
2007–08 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 33 0 2 2 10 — — — — —
2008–09 SKA St. Petersburg KHL 52 8 14 22 40 3 0 0 0 2
2009–10 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 37 2 2 4 10 — — — — —
2010–11 HC Lugano NLA 33 4 12 16 20 — — — — —
2011–12 SCL Tigers NLA 24 3 9 12 14 — — — — —
2012–13 SCL Tigers NLA 11 1 4 5 29 — — — — —
2013–14 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 39 2 7 9 20 4 0 0 0 4
2014–15 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 46 2 6 8 20 — — — — —
2015–16 EC KAC AUT 46 5 10 15 31 7 0 2 2 2
2016–17 EC KAC AUT 50 4 16 20 12 10 1 2 3 0
AHL totals 359 36 98 134 273 35 6 11 17 14
NHL totals 81 2 5 7 20 — — — — —
KHL totals 137 12 28 40 80 7 0 0 0 6
Medal record
Representing Canada Canada
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 2002 Pardubice
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Moscow

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
1999 Canada U18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 0 0 0 0
2001 Canada WJC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 0 2 2 6
2002 Canada WJC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 0 1 1 2
Junior totals 17 0 3 3 8

References

  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "Thrashers, Mighty Ducks make swap". theahl.com. August 25, 2005. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  3. ^ "Mark Popovic to Lugano" (in Italian). hockeyfans.ch. September 21, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  4. ^ "Mark Popovic agree to contract with the Bears" (in Croatian). vecernji.hr. June 6, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  5. ^ "Mark Popovic from the KHL to KAC". EC KAC. June 21, 2015. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  6. ^ "Avalanche hires Popovic as Skills coach". Colorado Avalanche. August 7, 2025. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  7. ^ "Ignite Performance Hockey homepage". ignitehockey.com. August 8, 2025. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.