Background and career
James van Riemsdyk ( van REEMZ-dighk; born May 4, 1989), often known by his initials JVR, is an American professional ice hockey player who is a left winger and currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets. Van Riemsdyk was born in Middletown, New Jersey, and played minor ice hockey with local clubs through his childhood. As an adolescent, he left Christian Brothers Academy in New Jersey to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan and play with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. There, he befriended Patrick Kane, and the pair would go on to be drafted first and second overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft. Rather than start playing with the Flyers at once, van Riemsdyk played college ice hockey for the University of New Hampshire for two seasons. After leading the team in scoring as a sophomore, he forfeited his final two years of college hockey and signed an entry- level contract with the Flyers, including a tryout contract with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Van Riemsdyk made his NHL debut in 2009, and turned a pair of strong playoff performances for the Flyers before a series of injuries kept him sidelined for most of the 2011–12 season. During the 2012 offseason, the Flyers traded van Riemsdyk to the Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn. He was called up to the top line that fall to replace an injured Joffrey Lupul, but remained there alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel through the 2014–15 NHL season. When Mike Babcock took over as head coach, he paired van Riemsdyk with two-way forwards Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov, and van Riemsdyk was on track for a career season when a foot fracture shut him down in January. The next two seasons, van Riemsdyk set a personal record first in single-season point totals and then in single season goals. He also reached a number of milestones, including his 200th career NHL goal and the 20,000th goal in Maple Leafs history. Van Riemsdyk became a free agent after the 2017–18 season, and he signed a five-year contract with the Flyers that July. In his first season back, van Riemsdyk was sidelined for 16 games with a lower-body injury, but he returned for 27 goals, including a pair of hat tricks. The following two seasons were a series of goal droughts followed by hot streaks. In February 2021, van Riemsdyk scored his 500th career NHL point. In addition to his NHL career, van Riemsdyk has represented the United States at a number of international tournaments, including the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Van Riemsdyk was born on May 4, 1989, in Middletown, New Jersey, to parents Frans and Allison van Riemsdyk. His family, particularly his father, were strong supporters of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Van Riemsdyk began playing ice hockey around the age of five, practicing at a rink in Old Bridge, New Jersey. From there, he spent three years playing minor ice hockey with the American Eagles of the Monmouth County Youth Hockey Association, followed by six years with the Brick Hockey Club in Brick Township, New Jersey. During his tenure with the Brick Stars, James and his brother Trevor took the club to a national championship. His hockey career continued at Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) in Lincroft, New Jersey, where he made the varsity team as a freshman in high school. He continued to play with Brick, serving as the team captain for the 2004–05 Midget AA season and leading the team to the Atlantic District Championship. That same year, van Riemsdyk was part of the New Jersey Parochial championship-winning team at CBA. In 2013, the Ocean Ice Palace in New Jersey, where van Riemsdyk had skated throughout his childhood, retired his No. 21 jersey. Following the 2004–05 hockey season, van Riemsdyk left CBA to join the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his two seasons with the NTDP, van Riemsdyk scored 65 goals and 124 points, tying for fifth- and seventh-highest in program history at the time, respectively. While playing for Team USA, van Riemsdyk became friends with future Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane.
Heading into the 2007 NHL entry draft, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked van Riemsdyk as the third-best North American skater out of all available prospects, behind Kane and Kyle Turris. Kane was the first overall draft pick that year, taken by the Blackhawks, while the Philadelphia Flyers drafted van Riemsdyk second overall. Rather than immediately enter the professional leagues, van Riemsdyk chose to honor his commitment to the University of New Hampshire, where he was roommates with Capitals draft pick Phil DeSimone. As a freshman at New Hampshire during the 2007–08 NCAA season, van Riemsdyk was third on the team with 34 points – 11 goals and 23 assists – in 31 games. He received two Hockey East Rookie of the Month selections, in January and March, and was a Hockey East All-Rookie Team selection. New Hampshire was defeated that year in the NCAA tournament by Notre Dame in the regional semifinal round. The following year, van Riemsdyk led New Hampshire in scoring, with 17 goals and 23 assists before he decided to pursue professional hockey.
On April 1, 2009, van Riemsdyk agreed to forfeit his final two years of collegiate play in order to sign an entry-level contract with the Flyers. Although his contract did not go into effect until the 2009–10 season, meaning that van Riemsdyk was barred from participating in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, he was allowed to play with the Philadelphia Phantoms for the remainder of the American Hockey League (AHL) season under a tryout contract. He played in seven regular-season games for the Phantoms, scoring one goal and one assist, but went scoreless during the Calder Cup playoffs. Van Riemsdyk continued to impress Flyers coach John Stevens during training camp, scoring four goals and an assist during a September 11 preseason game against the Washington Capitals. Van Riemsdyk began the 2009–10 season serving on a line with Darroll Powe and prolific sophomore Claude Giroux. He made his NHL debut on October 2, 2009, picking up his first NHL point with a power play assist in the Flyers' 2–0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes. On October 24, he scored his first NHL goal in the third period of a 5–1 rout of the Florida Panthers. Van Riemsdyk continued his momentum through the month of November, scoring four goals and five assists in 12 games to be named the NHL Rookie of the Month. After scoring 18 points over his first 16 NHL games, Van Riemsdyk entered a prolonged scoring drought, with one goal in a 22-game stretch. He regained his momentum by late December, and by January 22, van Riemsdyk was a serious contender for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the top rookie in the NHL. He was third in scoring at the time, behind Matt Duchene and John Tavares, while playing fewer minutes per game. By the end of the season, van Riemsdyk had mostly fallen out of Calder Contention, but he received three points in trophy voting, tying for 11th place. He finished the season with 15 goals and 35 points in 78 games. In his first playoff appearance, van Riemsdyk was part of a massive comeback effort as the Flyers, down 3–0 at the start of the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, battled to Game 7. Van Riemsdyk scored his first career playoff goal in the first period of Game 7, shifting the momentum to the Flyers and helping them advance to the Eastern Conference finals. It was the first time that a team had come back from a 3–0 deficit to win an NHL playoff series since the New York Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975. The Flyers ultimately advanced to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, whereupon they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks. In 21 playoff games as a rookie, van Riemsdyk scored three goals and three assists.
Van Riemsdyk continued his offensive trajectory during his sophomore 2010–11 season, scoring 21 goals in 75 games. On February 15, 2011, van Riemsdyk landed his first Gordie Howe hat trick, registering a goal, an assist, and a fight in a 4–3 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The fight was also the first of van Riemsdyk's NHL career, as he defended Giroux against former Flyer Randy Jones. His first regular hat-trick came the following month, with three goals in the Flyers' 4–1 victory over the New York Islanders on March 26, 2011. In the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, van Riemsdyk once again provided a critical Game 7 playoff performance for the Flyers, playing a role in three goals of the series-winning 5–2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. The Flyers took the Bruins to seven games in the semifinals as well, with van Riemsdyk netting two goals to take the final game into overtime, but the Bruins ultimately took the series 3–2 in overtime. As he entered his third season of professional hockey, van Riemsdyk became representative of the modern power forward. Unlike figures like Eric Lindros and John LeClair, he and other contemporary power forwards utilized their speed and agility as much as their strength. His effectiveness was limited, however, by a variety of injuries, including a hip problem, a concussion, an oblique strain, and a rib cage strain, that forced van Riemsdyk to miss a total of 43 games in both the regular 2011–12 season and the playoffs. Most debilitating was a fractured left foot that van Riemsdyk sustained on March 1, 2012, while blocking a shot in a game against the Islanders. The fracture required surgery, taking van Riemsdyk out of the lineup for the remainder of the regular season. This also interrupted the rhythm the Flyers had established with their "kid line", consisting of young forwards van Riemsdyk, Brayden Schenn, and Jakub Voráček. In the 43 games he did play, van Riemsdyk scored 11 goals and 13 assists, including one goal and one assist during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Following his injury-riddled season, van Riemsdyk spent the 2012 offseason as the subject of a number of trade rumors, with some sports journalists speculating that he would be sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Rick Nash. On June 23, van Riemsdyk was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn. His Toronto debut was delayed due to the 2012-13 NHL lockout, but when the season began, van Riemsdyk proceeded to score eight goals in his first 14 games. He was placed on the third line with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov to start the season, but soon replaced an injured Joffrey Lupul on the top line with Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak. He finished the 48-game regular season with 18 goals and 14 assists, and helped take the Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2005. In the Leafs' first-round playoff series against the Bruins, van Riemsdyk contributed two goals and three assists, including a pair of assists to force a game seven. The Bruins captured the series with a 5–4 overtime win in game seven. Van Riemsdyk began the 2013–14 season on a line with Bozak and Kessel, a trio that provided an early offensive boost to the Maple Leafs. In his first eight games, van Riemsdyk alone scored eight points. On March 29, 2014, van Riemsdyk tied the NHL record for the fastest goal from the start of a period, scoring against Steve Mason of the Flyers four seconds into the second period. He joined Claude Provost in 1957 and Denis Savard of 1986 as the third player to accomplish the feat. This was also the first season that van Riemsdyk scored 30 or more goals during his NHL career. The milestone came on April 3, 2014, in a 4–3 overtime victory over the Bruins. Although an eight-game losing streak at the end of the season caused the Leafs to miss the playoffs, Van Riemsdyk posted the best season of his career, with 30 goals and 30 assists in 80 games. The top line of van Riemsdyk, Kessel, and Bozak continued to play together into the 2014–15 NHL season, to inconsistent results. By mid-December, despite boasting a 15 percent scoring percentage, the line's collective plus–minus stood at −8. The Leafs struggled throughout the season, finishing 27th overall in the league, while van Riemsdyk dropped to 27 goals and 29 assists, as well as a −33 personal plus–minus. Despite these overall setbacks, the season brought a pair of milestones for van Riemsdyk. On October 31, 2014, he played against his brother Trevor for the first time in the pair's NHL careers, as the Leafs faced the Blackhawks. Shortly afterwards, on November 4, 2014, van Riemsdyk scored his 200th career point in a game against the Arizona Coyotes. That same night, the man he had been traded for, Luke Schenn, scored his 100th career point against the Edmonton Oilers. The Leafs underwent a change of management prior to the 2015–16 season, with Mike Babcock taking over as head coach. He moved van Riemsdyk onto a line with two-way forwards Kadri and Komarov, which strengthened all three players as they balanced offensive and defensive roles. On January 11, 2016, the Leafs announced that van Riemsdyk had suffered a "non-displaced fracture" in his left foot, and that he would be sidelined for up to two months as he recovered. As his recovery process dragged on, however, with van Riemsdyk still requiring crutches and a walking boot over a month later, the Leafs shut him down for the season on February 25. Prior to his injury, he had been on track for a career-best season, with 14 goals and 29 points in the 40 games that he did play.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
