Donald Audette

Donald Audette
Born (1969-09-23) September 23, 1969
Laval, QC, CAN
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 192 lb (87 kg; 13 st 10 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for Buffalo Sabres
Los Angeles Kings
Atlanta Thrashers
Dallas Stars
Montreal Canadiens
Florida Panthers
NHL Draft 183rd overall, 1989
Buffalo Sabres
Playing career 19892004

Donald Daniel Audette (born September 23, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers.

Playing career

He was drafted in the 9th round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 183rd overall by the Buffalo Sabres. Despite his small stature, Audette became known for his gritty, feisty style of play and quickly endeared himself to Buffalo hockey fans with a 31-goal rookie season. However, his rough and tumble style of play led to lengthy trips to the injury reserve, including several knee injuries that ended his 1992–93 and 1995–96 seasons.

In 1998 Audette was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Two years later, as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers, he reached his career high in goals (34) and assists (45) and made it to the NHL All-Star game.

Audette was traded back to the Buffalo Sabres in March 2001, and signed a multimillion-dollar contract with the Dallas Stars later that summer. In the middle of the 2001–02 season, Audette was traded again, this time to the Montreal Canadiens. In a game against the New York Rangers on December 1, 2001, Audette had the tendons of his forearm severed by an opponent's skate and required life-saving surgery to repair the extensive damage, but still managed to recover in time for the playoffs.

After struggling to make a mark with the Florida Panthers for half of the 2003–04 season, Audette stopped playing professionally.

Prior to playing in the NHL, Audette won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the top rookie in the American Hockey League (AHL), while playing for the Rochester Americans. Audette is now an amateur scout for the Canadiens.

Personal life

Donald Audette's son Daniel (born in 1996) was the first pick of the 2012 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft and was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.[1]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1986–87 Laval Titan QMJHL 66 17 22 39 36 14 2 6 8 10
1987–88 Laval Titan QMJHL 63 48 61 109 56 14 7 12 19 20
1988–89 Laval Titan QMJHL 70 76 85 161 123 17 17 12 29 43
1989–90 Rochester Americans AHL 70 42 46 88 78 15 9 8 17 29
1989–90 Buffalo Sabres NHL 2 0 0 0 0
1990–91 Rochester Americans AHL 5 4 0 4 2
1990–91 Buffalo Sabres NHL 8 4 3 7 4
1991–92 Buffalo Sabres NHL 63 31 17 48 75
1992–93 Rochester Americans AHL 6 8 4 12 10
1992–93 Buffalo Sabres NHL 44 12 7 19 51 8 2 2 4 6
1993–94 Buffalo Sabres NHL 77 29 30 59 41 7 0 1 1 6
1994–95 Buffalo Sabres NHL 46 24 13 37 27 5 1 1 2 4
1995–96 Buffalo Sabres NHL 23 12 13 25 18
1996–97 Buffalo Sabres NHL 73 28 22 50 48 11 4 5 9 6
1997–98 Buffalo Sabres NHL 75 24 20 44 59 15 5 8 13 10
1998–99 Los Angeles Kings NHL 49 18 18 36 51
1999–00 Los Angeles Kings NHL 49 12 20 32 45
1999–00 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 14 7 4 11 12
2000–01 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 64 32 39 71 64
2000–01 Buffalo Sabres NHL 12 2 6 8 12 13 3 6 9 4
2001–02 Dallas Stars NHL 20 4 8 12 12
2001–02 Montreal Canadiens NHL 13 1 5 6 8 12 6 4 10 10
2002–03 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 11 12 23 19
2002–03 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 11 5 5 10 8
2003–04 Montreal Canadiens NHL 23 3 5 8 16
2003–04 Florida Panthers NHL 28 6 7 13 22
NHL totals 735 260 249 509 584 73 21 27 48 46

Awards and honours

Award Year
QMJHL
First All-Star Team 1989
Playoff MVP 1989
AHL
Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award 1990 [2]
First All-Star Team 1990
NHL
NHL All-Star Game 2001

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.