Keegan Kolesar (born April 8, 1997) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expan ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Early life

Kolesar was born on April 8, 1997, in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

to former linebacker

K. D. Williams Kevin Dewayne Williams, Sr. (born April 22, 1973) is a former professional American football player who played linebacker in the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, and NFL Europe. Williams is the birth father of ice hockey ...

and Corrinne. The parents divorced following his birth and Corrinne remarried to Charles Peterson who played for the

Kansas City T-Bones The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly known as the Kansas City T-Bones, they are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball; which, in 2020, became designated as a Majo ...

of the Northern League. During the 2019–20 NHL season, Peterson contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. When Peterson’s death became imminent in mid-September 2020, Kolesar left his team’s bubble to say goodbye to his step-father.

Playing career

Kolesar was drafted 69th overall in the

2015 NHL Entry Draft The 2015 NHL Entry Draft was the 53rd NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 26–27, 2015, at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. The first three selections were Connor McDavid going to the Edmonton Oilers, Jack Eichel going to the Buffa ...

by the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

. On June 24, 2017, Kolesar was traded to the

in exchange for the Vegas' second-round draft pick in the

2017 NHL Entry Draft The 2017 NHL Entry Draft was the 55th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 23–24, 2017, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The first three selections were Nico Hischier going to the New Jersey Devils, Nolan Patrick going to the ...

. He was called up to the Golden Knights on January 10, 2020 and made his NHL debut the following night against the Blue Jackets. On March 22, 2021, Kolesar scored his first career goal in the third period for the Golden Knights against the St. Louis Blues.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1997 births Canadian ice hockey right wingers Chicago Wolves players Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks Living people Ice hockey people from Manitoba Quad City Mallards (ECHL) players Seattle Thunderbirds players Sportspeople from Brandon, Manitoba Vegas Golden Knights players Black Canadian ice hockey players {{Canada-icehockey-winger-1990s-stub