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.

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

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. 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 to ever play a game in the NHL at 6-foot-6. Ben Bishop, standing 6-foot-7, has since surpassed Valiquette as the tallest NHL goaltender.

In July 2003, Valiquette signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers. In fact, Valiquette owned the league's lowest goals against average with 1.77. He then signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superleague on April 26, 2005. With the departure of starting goalie Kevin Weekes to the New Jersey Devils, in July 2007, Valiquette became the back-up to Henrik Lundqvist. On January 31, 2008, against the Philadelphia Flyers, Valiquette recorded the first shutout of his NHL career, as the Rangers won 4-0. Ten days later, on February 9, he recorded his second consecutive shutout in a 2–0 win, also against the Flyers. He went 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.

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. Over the span of five seasons with the Rangers, Valiquette recorded 14 wins, 4 of them as shutouts. He did not play for the Rangers again, and on July 15 Valiquette signed with the KHL side HC CSKA Moscow, who bought out his contract after one season.

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 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which killed nearly the entire team and staff. 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. After his season at HC Valpellice, Valiquette signed with Swedish club Djurgården of the HockeyAllsvenskan league, but instead retired due to injury.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1993–94 Burlington Cougars OPJHL 30 — — — — 1663 112 1 4.04 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Rayside-Balfour Canadiens NOJHL 2 0 2 0 — 89 12 0 8.09 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Smiths Falls Bears CJHL 21 10 8 3 — 1275 75 0 3.53 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Sudbury Wolves OHL 4 2 0 0 — 138 6 0 2.61 .949 — — — — — — — — 1995–96 Sudbury Wolves OHL 39 13 16 2 — 1887 123 0 3.91 .892 — — — — — — — — 1996–97 Sudbury Wolves OHL 61 21 29 7 — 3311 232 1 4.20 .899 — — — — — — — — 1996–97 Dayton Bombers ECHL 3 1 0 0 — 89 6 0 4.03 .882 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Sudbury Wolves OHL 14 5 7 1 — 807 50 0 3.72 .904 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Erie Otters OHL 28 16 7 3 — 1525 65 3 2.56 .917 — — — — — — — — 1998–99 Hampton Roads Admirals ECHL 31 18 7 3 — 1713 84 1 2.94 .916 — — — — — — — — 1998–99 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 1 0 1 0 — 59 3 0 3.05 .885 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 New York Islanders NHL 6 2 0 0 — 193 6 0 1.87 .949 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Trenton Titans ECHL 12 5 6 1 — 692 36 1 3.12 .902 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Providence Bruins AHL 1 1 0 0 — 60 3 0 3.00 .927 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 14 8 5 0 — 727 36 0 2.97 .901 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 Springfield Falcons AHL 20 7 10 1 — 1066 54 0 3.04 .907 — — — — — — — — 2001–02 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 20 10 5 1 — 1071 45 2 2.52 .923 1 0 0 18 1 0 3.30 .800 2002–03 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 34 15 14 3 — 1962 86 2 2.63 .912 4 3 1 253 9 0 2.13 .931 2003–04 Edmonton Oilers NHL 1 0 0 0 — 13 2 0 9.23 .714 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 Toronto Roadrunners AHL 35 14 14 5 — 2064 89 2 2.59 .913 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 7 2 4 1 — 400 15 1 2.25 .928 1 0 0 11 0 0 0.00 1.000 2003–04 New York Rangers NHL 2 1 1 0 — 119 6 0 3.03 .915 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 35 19 11 — 1 1900 56 7 1.77 .935 2 1 1 118 4 0 2.03 .938 2005–06 Yaroslavl Lokomotiv RSL 45 — — — — 2734 89 4 1.95 .923 8 — — 458 23 0 3.01 — 2006–07 New York Rangers NHL 3 1 2 — 0 115 6 0 3.14 .867 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 30 17 12 — 0 1694 66 6 2.34 .909 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 New York Rangers NHL 13 5 3 — 3 686 25 2 2.19 .916 — — — — — — — — 2008–09 New York Rangers NHL 15 5 5 — 2 823 39 1 2.84 .907 2 0 0 40 0 0 0.00 1.000 2009–10 New York Rangers NHL 6 2 3 — 1 305 19 1 3.74 .852 — — — — — — — — 2009–10 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 11 4 5 — 1 547 34 0 3.73 .877 — — — — — — — — 2010–11 CSKA Moscow KHL 35 9 16 — 5 1897 93 2 2.94 .897 — — — — — — — — 2011–12 HC Valpellice ITA 15 10 5 — 0 914 32 2 2.10 .940 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 46 16 14 0 5 2061 97 4 2.36 .905 2 0 0 40 0 0 0.00 1.000 KHL totals 35 9 16 — 5 1897 93 2 2.94 .897 — — — — — — — —