Michael Busto (born June 20, 1986) 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 ...

former 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 h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He most recently played for Ducs d'Angers of the French

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champio ...

Playing career

Busto was born, in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Busto played in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

with the Swift Current Broncos,

Kootenay Ice The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and competed in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team played its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise w ...

, and

Moose Jaw Warriors The Moose Jaw Warriors are a major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The Warriors play in the East Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Moose Jaw Events Centre ...

. On April 27, 2007, Busto signed with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

to a three-year, entry-level contract. Busto was then assigned to Rangers affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL. Busto spent two seasons with the Checkers before on June 30, 2009, he was traded by the Rangers, along with

Scott Gomez Scott Carlos Gomez (born December 23, 1979) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was the assistant coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Gomez had previously played in the NHL with t ...

and Tom Pyatt, to the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

for Chris Higgins,

Ryan McDonagh Ryan Patrick McDonagh (born June 13, 1989) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Drafted in the first round, 12th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in 2007, he play ...

, Doug Janik and

Pavel Valentenko Pavel Aleksandrovich Valentenko (russian: Павел Валентенко; born 20 October 1987) is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman. He currently plays with HC Yugra of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). Playing career Valentenko was ...

. After completion of his entry-level contract, Busto was released as a free agent by the Canadiens to briefly play in 9 games with the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. On ...

during the 2009–10 season. He belatedly signed a one-year deal in Europe with Italian club, HC Bolzano of the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

on December 27, 2010. Busto played in 12 games for Bolzano before returning to the familiar ECHL for the following 2011–12 season with the Las Vegas Wranglers. Busto enjoyed his most successful season in the ECHL playing in a career high 65 games and contributing to the Wranglers playoff run as Kelly Cup finalists. On June 25, 2012, Busto returned to Europe to sign an initial one-year contract with French club Ducs d'Angers of the Ligue Magnus. In the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season with the Owls, Busto led the team from the blueline in scoring with 14 points in 26 games. He was signed to a two-year contract extension on May 7, 2013.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Busto, Michael 1986 births Living people Bolzano HC players Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Dayton Gems players Ducs d'Angers players Elmira Jackals (ECHL) players Kootenay Ice players Las Vegas Wranglers players Moose Jaw Warriors players Ice hockey people from Burnaby Swift Current Broncos players Canadian ice hockey defencemen