Kris Beech
Kris Beech was born in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and started his career playing for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. He played well with the Hitmen, scoring 86 points in the 1999-2000 season. Beech was drafted 7th overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals. He continued to play for the Hitmen up until the 2000-2001 season, in which he played 4 games for the Capitals. After that season, Beech was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that allowed Jaromir Jagr to arrive in Washington to play with the Caps. Beech played 79 games with the Penguins that season and put up modest numbers, posting 25 points in those games. Despite this, he spent the majority of the following year with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL but managed to work his way up for 12 games at the pro level with the Pittsburgh club. Beech again spent the majority of the following year with the AHL club, again popping up to Pittsburgh for minimal games. He spent the lockout year with, who else, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and was traded to the Nashville Predators in September of 2005. After only playing five games for the Preds, Beech was on the move once more and was sent back to Washington. After 5 games in Washington, he was sent down to the Hershey Bears to join their AHL playoff campaign and helped them to Calder Cup victory against the Milwaukee Admirals. Beech finally played a full season for the Capitals in the 2006-2007 season and finished with 26 points. He signed with Columbus recently and will start the 2007-2008 NHL season there. Where he'll finish the season is another matter.
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