My Career

I played my minor hockey in Tracy where I strictly played house league. Then when I joined the Bantam ranks where I played Bantam A and the second year, our family moved to Montreal where I played Bantam AA. After playing one year at that level, which was my first year playing with hitting, I got drafted into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at age 16 by the St-Jean Lynx. What a day that was, I knew it was the start of the goal I already had in mind for many years! After I was drafted, I played Midget AAA for Montreal Bourassa for a year and the following year I made the St-Jean Lynx. After my second year with St-Jean, I was selected in the second round of the NHL Draft by the Oilers. One step closer to my goal, it's easy to get drafted from junior to the NHL, but it's another thing to make the jump, I knew I had a long way to go. The following year, my team St-Jean, was sold and moved to Rimouski, the owner that sold the Lynx went on to buy the Laval Titan and kept me and four other players in that transaction. I played a bit for the Titan and that same year got traded to the St-Hyacinthe Laser. I was traded at the deadline to the Granby Predators where I won the Memorial Cup. I will never forget that day, it was 25 years since the Quebec League had last captured that championship and when we did the entire province celebrated with us. It was one of the best moments in my career.

I really have to thank Alain Faucher, the coach I had when I played Bantam AA because he's the reason I was drafted by St. Jean so quickly after playing only one year AA. Then I have to thank Normand Flynn who developed me into the player that was drafted in the second round by the Edmonton Oilers. I also need to thank Michel Therrien for making me a winner and being able to celebrate that Memorial Cup victory together. The junior years were definitely the most fun because you play for passion not money. You go to school and play with no pressure at all, well not compared to the NHL anyway!

The year after I won the Memorial Cup, I played in the American Hockey League for two years before making the jump to the NHL with the Oilers, who drafted me in 95. My dream finally came true. I played 490 regular season games with the Oilers and 36 playoff games. In 2004-05, during the lockout, I played in Sweden for A.I.K., which was one of the best experiences in my life, I took full advantage of that lockout to visit and live in a country that I always interested me. During my stay I lived and played in Stockholm, which is a beautiful city. After playing eight seasons with Edmonton, I signed as a free agent with Phoenix where I only played a couple months. I then requested a trade and at the deadline and was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins where I played for a year and a half. When my contract expired I finally signed a three-year contract with my home-town team the Montreal Canadiens. And my career is still going and this will be updated...

So in total, I've played 13 years in the NHL, 695 games including 57 in the playoffs, made two appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, one with Pittsburgh in 2008 and another with Edmonton in 2006 and I've scored one NHL hat trick. All of this went well beyond my expectations and I'm proud of what I have accomplished so far. Montreal is my fourth team and I have only been traded once, at my own request. Every time I become a free agent, I have a dozen teams to choose from. To me, it says I must be doing something right and when you retire, those are things that you never forget!