Ken Klee

{{short description|American ice hockey player and coach (born 1971)}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| image = Ken Klee.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Klee with PWHL Minnesota in 2024

| played_for = Washington Capitals
Toronto Maple Leafs
New Jersey Devils
Colorado Avalanche
Atlanta Thrashers
Anaheim Ducks
Phoenix Coyotes

| position = Defense

| shoots = Right

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 210

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|4|24}}

| birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

| ntl_team = USA

| draft = 177th overall

| draft_year = 1990

| draft_team = Washington Capitals

| career_start = 1992

| career_end = 2009

}}

Kenneth William Klee (born April 24, 1971) is an American ice hockey coach and former professional defenseman who played most notably with the Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is currently the head coach of the Minnesota Frost of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

Early life

Klee was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. The son of a project engineer whose job required frequent moves, he spent portions of his childhood in Indianapolis, Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to Toronto and the St. Michael's Buzzers on a hockey scholarship as a 17-year-old.{{Cite web| url = https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/time-capsule-ken-klee/c-470098 | title = Time Capsule: Ken Klee | publisher = Washington Capitals | date = May 6, 2016 | access-date = May 6, 2016}}

Playing career

Klee was drafted 177th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. Klee would not play for the Capitals until the 1994–95 season, but it did not take him long to become a regular on the squad. Klee played with the Capitals until the end of the 2002–03 season. Klee had played in Washington for 9 seasons, and played in 604 games (regular season and playoffs) when he then became a free agent and signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 27, 2003.

In Klee's first season in Toronto, he registered career highs in assists (25) and points (29) despite missing 16 games. On March 8, 2006, a day before the NHL's trading deadline, Klee was traded by the struggling Maple Leafs to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for winger Alexander Suglobov. On July 24, 2006, Klee signed a one-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche as a free agent for the 2006–07 season.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=2528721|title=Avalanche sign defenseman Klee | publisher =ESPN | date = July 24, 2006 | access-date = October 28, 2008}} Klee finished the season leading the Avalanche with a plus/minus of 18. On July 2, 2007, Klee signed a two-year contract with the Atlanta Thrashers.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=2924008|title=Free Agent Klee signs contract with Thrashers | publisher =ESPN | date = July 3, 2007 | access-date = October 28, 2008}}

File:Klee2.jpeg

On September 26, 2008, into the final year of his contract with the Thrashers, Klee was dealt along with Brad Larsen and Chad Painchaud to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Mathieu Schneider.{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/507259|title=Schneider traded to Atlanta | work =TheStar.com | date = September 26, 2008 | access-date = October 28, 2008 | location=Toronto | first=Damien | last=Cox}} After starting the 2008–09 season with the Ducks, Klee was claimed off re-entry waivers by the Phoenix Coyotes on October 28, 2008.{{cite web|url=http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=389083 |title=Coyotes claim Klee off re-entry waivers |publisher=nhl.com |date=October 28, 2008 |access-date=October 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030034859/http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=389083 |archive-date=October 30, 2008 }} After playing out the season with the Coyotes and becoming a free agent, Klee unofficially announced his retirement.{{cite web |url=http://www.rds.ca/hockey/chroniques/279761.html|title=(in french) Numminen and Klee announce retirement| publisher =RDS | date = August 4, 2009 | access-date = February 24, 2010}}

Though not known as a goal scorer, 13 of his 55 career goals were game-winning goals, the highest percentage in NHL history.

International play

Klee represent United States at the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and senior level at the 1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, 1997 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and also at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Coaching career

Klee was the head coach for the U.S. squad that finished second during his first Four Nations Cup in 2014 (2–0–1–1). That season, he also guided the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team to a first-place finish during his first campaign behind the bench for the U.S. in the 2014 Under-22 Series, defeating Canada in all three games. Klee led the U.S. Women's National Team to the gold medal at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship in Malmo, Sweden. He also guided the U.S. to a first-place finish at the 2015 Under-22 Series, defeating Canada two games to one.

Serving in the same capacity at the 2015 Four Nations Cup in Sundsvall, Sweden, Klee led the U.S. to an undefeated record (3–1–0–0) and first championship title since 2012. The tournament marks the seventh consecutive event that Klee has been at the helm of Team USA and the third time he has been behind the bench at the Four Nations Cup. He now owns an 18–3–1–2 record overall.

Klee was the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team for the 2016 Four Nations Cup in Vierumaki, Finland from Oct 29 – Nov. 6. Klee then served as head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship in Kamloops, British Columbia. He led the U.S. to an undefeated record (4–1–0–0, W-OTW-OTL-L) and gold-medal.

Having left the women's national team, on July 18, 2017, Klee was hired as an assistant coach with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League.{{Cite web| url = http://www.syracusecrunch.com/news/2017/7/18/ken-klee-hired-as-syracuse-crunch-assistant-coach.aspx | title = Ken Klee hired as Crunch assistant coach | publisher = Syracuse Crunch | date = July 18, 2017 | access-date = July 18, 2017}}

On December 27, 2023, it was announced Klee would be replacing Charlie Burggraf as the head coach of PWHL Minnesota, after Burggraf stepped down from the position one week before the team's first game.{{cite web |author1=CBC Sports |title=Charlie Burggraf steps down as head coach of PWHL Minnesota days before season opener |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/pwhl/pwhl-minnesota-burggraf-coach-klee-1.7069836 |website=CBC |access-date=December 27, 2023 |language=en |date=December 27, 2023}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! colspan="5" | Regular season

! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! colspan="5" | Playoffs

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

1988–89

| St. Michael's Buzzers

| MetJHL

| 40

| 9

| 23

| 32

| 64

| 27

| 5

| 12

| 17

| 54

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1989–90

| Bowling Green Falcons

| CCHA

| 39

| 0

| 5

| 52

| —

1990–91

| Bowling Green Falcons

| CCHA

| 37

| 7

| 28

| 35

| 50

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1991–92

| Bowling Green Falcons

| CCHA

| 10

| 0

| 1

| 14

| —

1992–93

| Baltimore Skipjacks

| AHL

| 77

| 4

| 14

| 18

| 93

| 7

| 0

| 1

| 15

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1993–94

| Portland Pirates

| AHL

| 65

| 2

| 9

| 11

| 87

| 17

| 1

| 2

| 3

| 14

1994–95

| Portland Pirates

| AHL

| 49

| 5

| 7

| 12

| 89

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1994–95

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 23

| 3

| 1

| 4

| 41

| 7

| 0

| 4

1995–96

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 66

| 8

| 3

| 11

| 60

| 1

| 0

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1996–97

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 80

| 3

| 8

| 11

| 115

| —

1997–98

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 51

| 4

| 2

| 6

| 46

| 9

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 10

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1998–99

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 78

| 7

| 13

| 20

| 80

| —

1999–2000

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 80

| 7

| 13

| 20

| 79

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 10

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2000–01

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 54

| 2

| 4

| 6

| 60

| 6

| 0

| 1

| 8

2001–02

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 68

| 8

| 16

| 38

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2002–03

| Washington Capitals

| NHL

| 70

| 1

| 16

| 17

| 89

| 6

| 0

| 6

2003–04

| Toronto Maple Leafs

| NHL

| 66

| 4

| 25

| 29

| 36

| 11

| 0

| 6

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2005–06

| Toronto Maple Leafs

| NHL

| 56

| 3

| 12

| 15

| 66

| —

2005–06

| New Jersey Devils

| NHL

| 18

| 0

| 14

| 6

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 6

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2006–07

| Colorado Avalanche

| NHL

| 81

| 3

| 16

| 19

| 68

| —

2007–08

| Atlanta Thrashers

| NHL

| 72

| 1

| 9

| 10

| 60

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2008–09

| Anaheim Ducks

| NHL

| 3

| 0

| 4

| —

2008–09

| Phoenix Coyotes

| NHL

| 68

| 1

| 10

| 11

| 24

| —

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | NHL totals

! 934

! 55

! 140

! 195

! 880

! 51

! 2

! 4

! 50

=International=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:50em"

ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! Result

! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

1991

| United States

| WJC

| 4th

| 7

| 1

| 2

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1992

| United States

| WC

| 7th

| 2

| 0

1997

| United States

| WC

| 6th

| 8

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 12

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2004

| United States

| WCH

| 4th

| 4

| 0

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="4" | Junior totals

! 7

! 1

! 2

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="4" | Senior totals

! 14

! 1

! 0

! 1

! 12

Transactions

Selected by Washington Capitals in 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He was Washington's 9th round choice, 177th overall.
Signed as a free agent by Toronto on September 27, 2003.
Traded to New Jersey Devils by Toronto for Aleksander Suglobov on March 8, 2006.
Signed as a free agent by Colorado Avalanche on July 24, 2006.
Signed as a free agent by Atlanta Thrashers on July 2, 2007.
Traded to Anaheim Ducks along with Brad Larsen and Chad Painchaud for Mathieu Schneider on September 26, 2008.
Claimed off re-entry waivers by the Phoenix Coyotes on October 28, 2008.