Martin Gerber

Martin Gerber (born 3 September 1974) is a Swiss former professional ice hockey goaltender.

Initially playing in the Nationalliga B, Gerber and the Tigers won promotion to Nationalliga A in 1998.

He was drafted in the eighth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (232nd overall) by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

In 2001, he was drafted by the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and spent the subsequent season in Sweden playing for Färjestads BK in the Elitserien.

Gerber, who earned 1 of Carolina's 16 playoff wins, became the second Swiss player in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup; David Aebischer, also a goaltender, was the first in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche.

He moved to the Ducks organization in 2002 and on 11 October of that year, Gerber played his first NHL game, a 4–2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

He went on to play 22 regular season games that season, serving as backup to Jean-Sébastien Giguère.

That season, the Mighty Ducks made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, narrowly losing in seven games to the New Jersey Devils.

Gerber continued his role as backup and played 32 games for Anaheim in 2003–04.

On 18 June 2004, Gerber was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Tomáš Malec and a third-round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Gerber returned to his former European teams, playing 20 games with the SCL Tigers and 30 with Färjestad BK.

Gerber returned to the NHL for the 2005–06 season, and it was a successful one for Gerber, who won 38 games and helped earn Carolina their third division championship.

He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Mighty Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Edmonton Oilers, winning the Stanley Cup as a member of the Hurricanes in 2006.

Gerber entered the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs as the Hurricanes' starting goaltender, but he struggled in the team's opening series and was replaced by rookie Cam Ward, who had been his backup for most of the season.

Ward went on to backstop the team to its first Stanley Cup championship as the Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Finals.

On 1 July 2006, as a free agent, Gerber signed a contract with the Ottawa Senators.

However, he struggled throughout the season and was replaced as starting goaltender by Ray Emery.

That season, Emery led the Senators to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, where they would lose to Gerber's former team, the Anaheim Ducks.

It was Gerber's third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in five years.

Gerber began the 2007–08 season as the Senators' starter when Emery was sidelined after off-season wrist surgery.

His play was inconsistent and Emery resumed the starting job once he was healthy again.

However, after the team suffered a rapid decline in the standings and head coach John Paddock was fired and replaced by general manager Bryan Murray, Murray declared Gerber as the starting goaltender for the remainder of the season.

Gerber entered the 2008–09 season in that role, but his uneven play continued and he was eventually supplanted by the newly signed Alex Auld.

On 22 January 2009, Gerber was placed on waivers after having been sent down to the Senators' then-American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.

On 4 March 2009, Gerber was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs to replace goaltender Vesa Toskala, who was scheduled for season-ending surgery.

During a game on 24 March against the Washington Capitals, Gerber was assessed a game-misconduct and immediately suspended for three games for an incident with the on-ice officials, during which Gerber was arguing a call and proceeded to make contact with referee Mike Leggo and a linesman who was attempting to restrain him.

During the off-season, Gerber signed a contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), coincidentally the same team that fellow former Senators goaltender Ray Emery played for the previous season before returning to the NHL in 2009.

On 13 December 2009, while playing for Atlant, Gerber suffered an apparent fracture of the fourth vertebrae when an opposing forward slid into him.

Gerber's neck injury was initially thought to be a compression fracture of a cervical vertebra and it was believed that he would miss upwards of six months.

However, after more comprehensive testing the following day, no fractures were found and it was diagnosed as a spinal contusion; he would only be sidelined for a few weeks.

On 6 August 2010, Gerber signed a one-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

He was assigned to the team's AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons.

He was recalled on 18 November after Oilers' goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was placed on injured reserve.

Gerber made his first start for the Oilers on 25 November, recording a 3–2 victory over the visiting Colorado Avalanche.

He stopped 35 of 37 shots and drew an assist on the game-winning goal scored by Taylor Hall.

Gerber started one more game, a 4–1 victory at Ottawa, before Khabibulin was re-activated and Gerber was returned to the Barons.

Gerber was again re-called in late February after another injury to Khabibulin.

Picking up where he left off in late November, Gerber stopped 34 shots in a 2–1 shootout win over the Nashville Predators on 1 March, improving to a 3–0 record with Edmonton.

Following the 2011–12 season, he played two seasons in the Swedish Elitserien before returning to the Swiss NLA, finishing his playing career with the Kloten Flyers.

Gerber began his career in his native Switzerland for SC Langnau.