As one might expect of a player selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, Oleksiak has been the most celebrated athlete in his family. That is, until the summer of 2016, when his sister Penny won four Olympic swimming medals as a 16-year-old at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Penny became Canada's youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist and the first athlete to win four medals for that country at a single Summer Olympics. And Oleksiak has another sister who is a successful athlete: Hayley Oleksiak became a member of the women's rowing team at Northeastern University, Jamie also attended Northeastern and became the highest-drafted hockey player in school history when the Dallas Stars picked him at No. 14 in 2011.
As one might expect of a player selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, Oleksiak has been the most celebrated athlete in his family. That is, until the summer of 2016, when his sister Penny won four Olympic swimming medals as a 16-year-old at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Penny became Canada's youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist and the first athlete to win four medals for that country at a single Summer Olympics. And Oleksiak has another sister who is a successful athlete: Hayley Oleksiak became a member of the women's rowing team at Northeastern University, Jamie also attended Northeastern and became the highest-drafted hockey player in school history when the Dallas Stars picked him at No. 14 in 2011.
After Oleksiak joined the Stars organization, he played in the Ontario Hockey League in 2011-12 for Saginaw and Niagara. He played his first professional game in 2012-13 with Texas of the American Hockey League and made his NHL debut with Dallas on Feb. 1, 2013, against the Phoenix Coyotes.
Oleksiak got his first NHL point with an assist Feb. 13, 2013, against the Calgary Flames. He scored his first NHL goal Oct. 28, 2014, against the St. Louis Blues.
Midway through his fifth season with Dallas, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 19, 2017. He scored 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 83 games over two seasons for Pittsburgh and finished with the third-best rating (plus-13) on the Penguins in 2017-18 but was traded back to Dallas on Jan. 28, 2019.
At 6-foot-7 with a long reach, Oleksiak is considered one of the more difficult defensemen to play against. A strong, fluid skater, he can move the puck well out of his own end.
A native of Toronto, Oleksiak moved to the United States to enhance his chances of developing into an NHL player. He played for Chicago and Sioux Falls of the United States Hockey League for two seasons before attending Northeastern.
A citizen of the United States and Canada, Oleksiak has represented each country in international play. He played for the United States at the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup and helped Canada win a bronze medal at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- Traded to Pittsburgh by Dallas for a conditional pick in 2019 NHL Draft, December 19, 2017.
- Traded to Dallas by Pittsburgh for a 4th-round pick in 2019 NHL Draft, January 28, 2019.
- Claimed by Seattle from Dallas in Expansion Draft, July 21, 2021.
