Nathan Walker

Nathan Walker (born 7 February 1994) is Australian professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Walker, who was born in Wales, grew up in Australia and first played ice hockey there.

He moved to the Czech Republic in 2007 in order to further his career, and joined the junior program of HC Vítkovice, a member of the Czech Extraliga.

During the 2007 season he played in both the under-14 and under-16 leagues.

During 14 U14 games he recorded 77 goals and 25 assists for 102 points, a record for the league; the second leading scorer had 70 points in 24 games.

Walker had similar numbers in the U16 league; he scored 69 points in 16 games to again lead the league in scoring, with the second highest total being 53 points in 20 games.

As Walker was dominating the local competition, he began to look for other options.

In 2007 his coach Ivan Manco, who came from Slovakia, arranged for Walker to tryout for HC Vítkovice in the Czech Republic, where Manco knew one of the coaches.

Walker impressed the team enough to be given a place on their under-18 junior team.

In 2009–10 he recorded 42 points in 28 games for the U18 team and earned a chance to play for the U20 team.

He also returned to Australia during the Czech offseason and played for the Sydney Ice Dogs of the Australian Ice Hockey League.

He first played for the senior team in 2011, becoming the first Australian ice hockey player to play for a professional senior team in Europe.

Along with HC Vítkovice, Walker was loaned to several lower-level Czech teams.

Walker represents Australia internationally, and first played for them at the 2011 IIHF World Championship Division II tournament, where he helped his team win their group and earn a promotion to Division I for the following year.

On 9 October 2011, Walker made his debut for the senior HC Vítkovice club in the Czech Extraliga, making him the first Australian to play professionally in Europe; he was also the youngest player in the Extraliga.

HC Vítkovice was invited to the 2011 Spengler Cup and in their first game against Canada Walker scored the only goal for Vítkovice.

He became the youngest player to score in Spengler Cup history and was named player of the game for Vítkovice.

With the conclusion of the 2011–12 Czech Extraliga season, HC Vítkovice loaned Walker to HC Olomouc of the 1. národní hokejová liga, the second-highest league in the Czech Republic, on 20 February 2012.

Walker played 34 games in his first season in the Extraliga, scoring four goals and five assists for nine points.

He played a further two games with HC Olomouc, recording an assist.

As a result of his play in the Extraliga, Walker began to be noticed by the National Hockey League (NHL).

In the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's January 2012 list of draft prospects, Walker was listed as the 21st best European-based skater for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the second highest Czech-based player on the list.

Walker was listed as the 25th best European skater in the NHL's final list of prospects for the 2012 Entry Draft.

During the 2012–13 season Walker appeared in twenty games with HC Vítkovice and recorded one assist; he was loaned to Hokej Šumperk 2003 for three games, where he also had one assist.

In 2013 Walker signed with the Youngstown Phantoms of the junior United States Hockey League, moving to North America for the first time.

He attended the training camp of the Washington Capitals in 2013 and signed with their AHL affiliate Hershey.

He was not selected in the Entry Draft, but was invited to participate in the Washington Capitals development camp in July; however NHL rules required that Walker participate in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft before he was able to sign with any team.

After six years in the Czech Republic, Walker signed a contract on 8 January 2013 with the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League, a junior ice hockey league in the United States.

He made his debut for the team on 11 January against the Chicago Steel, recording a goal.

After four games with the Phantoms, in which he recorded six points, Walker was named to the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on 23 January 2013; he replaced his teammate, who was ill.

Walker played 29 games for the Phantoms during the regular season and recorded 27 points (7 goals, 20 assists).

His 20 assists were good enough for fifth on the team, even though Walker only joined the team midway through the season.

His season ended early due to an injury suffered in a game on 5 April where Walker broke a bone in his neck as a result of a hit from behind; as a result he missed all the Phantoms playoff games.

Upon the conclusion of the season Walker returned to the Czech Republic to train, before heading back to Australia.

In July he was invited to once again attend the Capitals development camp, scheduled for September.

He performed well enough to remain with the team and attend their full training camp as one of 40 players.

Passed over in the previous two NHL Entry Drafts, Walker was selected by the Washington Capitals in the third round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, the first Australian selected in an NHL draft.

After a few years in the AHL, Walker joined the Capitals in 2017, the first Australian to play in the NHL.

He was placed on waivers and claimed by the Edmonton Oilers in the same season, but was re-acquired by the Capitals after only two games with the Oilers, and won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018.

Walker began playing hockey at age six and by thirteen he was in a league with players as old as twenty and able to outplay them.