Steve Valiquette

Stephen Valiquette (born August 20, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Valiquette played 46 games in the National Hockey League, nearly all for the New York Rangers, before finishing his playing career in Europe.[1]

Steve Valiquette
Valiquette playing for the New York Rangers in the 2006-07 season
Born (1977-08-20) August 20, 1977
Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for
NHL Draft 190th overall, 1996
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 2000–2012

Valiquette is currently employed as a studio analyst for MSG Network covering the Rangers.[2]

Professional career

While playing junior hockey for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Valiquette was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in the eighth round.[1] Playing two more seasons in the OHL with the Wolves and the Erie Otters, Valiquette never actually played for the Kings organization, and in 1998, now a free agent, signed with the New York Islanders.[3] Valiquette played in six NHL games for the Islanders in 1999-2000, but otherwise played for a variety of teams in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and American Hockey League (AHL) through 2003. When Valiquette made his playing debut in 2000, he was the tallest goaltender[4] to ever play a game in the NHL at 6-foot-6.[5] Ben Bishop, standing 6-foot-7, has since surpassed Valiquette as the tallest NHL goaltender.[6]

In July 2003, Valiquette signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers.[3] Three months later, he was claimed on waivers by the Florida Panthers in the NHL waiver draft on October 3, 2003. Six days later he was claimed back by the Edmonton Oilers. He appeared in one game with Edmonton, playing 14 minutes. Valiquette spent the balance of the 2003–04 season with the Toronto Roadrunners of the AHL, playing in 35 games.

On March 3, 2004, Valiquette was traded by the Oilers, along with forward Dwight Helminen and a second-round selection in the 2004 draft to the New York Rangers for center Petr Nedvěd and goaltender Jussi Markkanen.[3] Valiquette spent the 2004–05 season with the Rangers' AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, during the NHL lockout. That season, he and teammate Jason LaBarbera shared the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award, awarded to the goalie (or goalies) with the league's lowest team goals against average.[7] In fact, Valiquette owned the league's lowest goals against average with 1.77.[8] He then signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superleague on April 26, 2005.[3]

In July 2006, the Rangers brought Valiquette back, and re-signed him.[3] On March 3, 2007, he won his first game in the NHL in almost three years.[9] With the departure of starting goalie Kevin Weekes to the New Jersey Devils, in July 2007, Valiquette became the back-up to Henrik Lundqvist.[10] On January 31, 2008, against the Philadelphia Flyers, Valiquette recorded the first shutout of his NHL career, as the Rangers won 4-0.[11] Ten days later, on February 9, he would record his second consecutive shutout in a 2–0 win, also against the Flyers.[12] He would go on to finish the season 5-5-2. The following year, in a February 6, 2009 game against the Dallas Stars, he let 10 goals in a single game, a league worst for the season.[13]

Valiquette appeared in his first career NHL playoff games with the Rangers during the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Washington Capitals when he relieved starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the third period of games five and six, playing 40 minutes and allowing no goals on nine shots.[14][15] Over the span of five seasons with the Rangers, Valiquette recorded 14 wins, 4 of them as shutouts.[1] Shortly after what would prove to be his final NHL game, an 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in which he gave up all 8 goals, Valiquette was put on waivers, and subsequently sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack, in an effort to restore his game.[16] He did not play for the Rangers again, and on July 15 Valiquette signed with the KHL side HC CSKA Moscow,[17] who bought out his contract after one season.[18]

During the summer of 2011, Valiquette turned down an offer to return to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, due to a lack of guaranteed playing time. This proved fortunate for him, in light of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which killed nearly the entire team and staff.[18] Unsigned and not playing, it was announced in November 2011 that Valiquette, who runs a goalie school of his own, was taking a position at Quinnipiac University as the volunteer goalie coach for the men's NCAA team.[19] However, a couple of days later, the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, for whom Valiquette had played while in the Islanders' system, put out a call for an emergency backup, as they were shorthanded due to injuries with their Islanders parent club.[18] Ultimately, Valiquette wound up not having to play for the Sound Tigers, and moved on to play for HC Valpellice of the Italian Serie A league, which in 14 games, he led in save percentage and goals against average.[20][21] After his season at HC Valpellice, Valiquette signed with Swedish club Djurgården of the HockeyAllsvenskan league,[22] but instead retired due to injury.[19]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season TeamLeagueGPWLT/OTMINGASOGAASV% GPWLMINGASOGAASV%
1998–99 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 101059303.05.885 ————————
1999–00 New York Islanders NHL 6200193601.87.949 ————————
1999–00 Trenton Titans ECHL 125616923613.12.902 ————————
1999–00 Providence Bruins AHL 110060303.00.927 ————————
1999–00 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 148507273602.97.901 ————————
2000–01 Springfield Falcons AHL 20710110665403.04.907 ————————
2001–02 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 20105110714522.52.923 10018103.30.800
2002–03 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 341514319628622.63.912 431253902.13.931
2003–04 Edmonton Oilers NHL 100013209.23.714 ————————
2003–04 Toronto Roadrunners AHL 351414520648922.59.913 ————————
2003–04 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 72414001512.25.928 10011000.001.000
2003–04 New York Rangers NHL 2110119603.03.915 ————————
2004–05 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 351911119005671.77.935 211118402.03.938
2005–06 Yaroslavl Lokomotiv RSL 45———27348941.95.923 8——4582303.01—
2006–07 New York Rangers NHL 3120115603.14.867 ————————
2006–07 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 301712016946662.34.909 ————————
2007–08 New York Rangers NHL 135336862522.19.916 ————————
2008–09 New York Rangers NHL 155528233912.84.907 20040000.001.000
2009–10 New York Rangers NHL 62313051913.74.852 ————————
2009–10 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 114515473403.73.877 ————————
2010–11 CSKA Moscow KHL 35916518979322.94.897 ————————
2011–12 HC Valpellice Serie A 1510509143222.10.940 ————————
NHL totals 461414520619742.36.810 20040000.001.000
AHL totals 21399101139319487162.65.824 8424001402.10.920
KHL totals 35916518979322.94.897 ————————

References
  1. "Steve Valiquette". Players. NHL.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  2. Ashmore, Mike (March 18, 2015). "Valiquette helping bring analytics to goaltending". The Trentonian. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  3. "Notes". Steve Valiquette. NHL.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. "2006 NHL draft review". Sports Illustrated.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. "News Archives". Archived from the original on 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  6. Pinkert, Chris (2008-10-24). "Home Sweet Home for Blues' Bishop". St. Louis Blues. Archived from the original on 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  7. "HARRY "HAP" HOLMES MEMORIAL AWARD". Trpohy case. American Hockey League Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. Williams, Patrick. "Top 10 developments of the decade". The Hockey News. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  9. Zinser, Lynn (4 March 2007). "Lundqvist Gets Rest, and Backup Saves Rangers". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  10. Brooks, Larry (2009-01-17). "Lundqvist understudy could become best No. 2 goalie in Rangers history". New York Post. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  11. Zinser, Lynn (1 February 2008). "Rangers Help Valiquette Claim First N.H.L. Shutout". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  12. Maaddi, Rob (2008-02-09). "NY Rangers 2, Philadelphia 0". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  13. "Rangers 2 Stars 10". ESPN.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  14. Zipay, Steve (2009-04-25). "Capitals blank Rangers, cut deficit to 3-2". Newsday. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
  15. Zipay, Steve (2009-04-26). "Rangers pushed to the brink after losing Game 6". Newsday. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
  16. Botte, Peter (3 December 2009). "New York Rangers put backup goalie Steve Valiquette on waivers, acquire Anaheim's Erik Christensen". New York Daily News. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  17. "Lundqvists backup väljer KHL". HockeySverige. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  18. Berlett, Bruce (20 November 2011). "Former Wolf Pack Valiquette Returns to Ice". Connecticut Whale.
  19. "Valiquette Joins Bobcats Staff". ECAC Hockey. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  20. "Steve Valiquette Calls it a Career". OHL Alumni Central. 2012-07-14. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  21. "Statistics Serie A 2011-2012". Euro Hockey.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  22. "Sound Tigers notebook: Gallant back, Valiquette retires". ctpost.com. 2012-07-14. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
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