Jean-Sébastien Giguère (born
May 16, 1977, in Montreal
, Quebec
) is a
French-Canadian professional
ice hockey goaltender currently playing with the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL).
He played
major junior with the
Verdun Collège
Français and
Halifax
Mooseheads in the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League (QMJHL), where he was drafted 13th overall by the
Hartford Whalers in the
1995 NHL Entry Draft. He played in the
Calgary Flames organization for four
seasons before joining the Ducks in 2000. Giguère won the
Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003 before winning
the
Stanley Cup with the Ducks in
2007.
Playing career
NHL beginnings
Giguère was drafted out of the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League (QMJHL) by the
Hartford
Whalers 13th overall in the
1995 NHL Entry Draft. After a four-year
major junior career that included QMJHL Second Team All-Star
honours in 1997, he made his NHL debut with the Whalers, playing in
eight games at the end of the
1996–97 season.
The following off-season, on August 25, 1997, Giguère was traded to
the
Calgary Flames with centre
Andrew Cassels for forward
Gary Roberts and goaltender
Trevor Kidd. He played the entirety of the
1997–98 season in the
American Hockey League (AHL)
with Calgary's minor league affiliate, the
Saint John Flames. He recorded a 2.46
goals against average (GAA)
and a .926
save percentage in 31
games in his professional rookie season with Saint John. Giguère
spent four seasons in the Flames organization, making brief 15- and
7-game appearances with Calgary in
1998–99 and
1999–00, respectively, while
spending most of his time in the AHL.
Anaheim Ducks
On June 10, 2000, Giguère was traded to the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for a 2nd round pick
in
2000 (later traded to the
Washington Capitals; Capitals
selected
Matt Pettinger). He began
the
2000-01 season with
the Mighty Ducks' farm team, the
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, until he
was recalled from the AHL. Giguère regained the confidence he
showed in junior and took over
Dominic
Roussel's backup position to starter
Guy
Hebert. Due to only brief stints in the NHL during his tenures
with Hartford and Calgary, the 2000–01 season qualified as
Giguère's rookie NHL season. He played in 34 games, posting a 2.57
GAA and .911 save percentage.
In the off-season, he was re-signed by the Mighty Ducks on August
17, 2001. Giguère continued to improve in
2001–02 in his first full season
with the Ducks, recording a 2.13 GAA and .920 save percentage in 53
games, assuming the starting role. In the
2002–03 season, he posted his
first winning season, with a 34-22-6 record, as well as a
career-high eight
shutouts.
2003 playoffs
Giguère's first winning season in the NHL helped the Mighty Ducks
enter the
2003 playoffs as
the seventh seed in the
Western
Conference. He helped lead the team on a
Cinderella run to their first
Stanley Cup Finals in team history.
Facing the defending
Stanley Cup
champions and second seeded
Detroit
Red Wings in the opening round, Giguère set an NHL record for
most saves by a goaltender in their playoff debut with 63 in the
Mighty Ducks' 2–1 triple overtime win in Game 1 (surpassing
Toronto Maple Leafs goalie
Jiri Chra's mark by two saves). After
sweeping Detroit in a four-game upset, the Ducks elimiated the
Dallas Stars in six and swept the
Minnesota Wild in the Conference
Finals. Giguère held the Wild to an all-time best-of-7 series low
of one goal in the entire series, which included a franchise record
shutout streak of 217 minutes and 54 seconds (later surpassed by
subsequent Ducks backup
Ilya
Bryzgalov in
2006).
Meeting the
New Jersey Devils in
the Finals, the Ducks were defeated in seven games. Giguère
finished the playoffs undefeated in seven overtime games, setting a
record for longest playoff overtime shutout streak at 168 minutes
and 27 seconds. He finished with a 15-6 record overall, a 1.62 GAA
and .945 save percentage, as well as fewer losses than his Finals
counterpart
Martin Brodeur. He was
the fifth player to receive the
Conn
Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP as part of the losing team and the
first since
Philadelphia Flyers
goaltender
Ron Hextall won in
1987.
Giguère in action.
Post-Conn Smythe
Giguère's playoff MVP performance was rewarded in the off-season
with a four-year contract extension, signed on September 10, 2003.
However, his performance was inconsistent throughout much of the
2003-04 season as the
Mighty Ducks missed the playoffs. He posted a losing 17-31-6 record
and his GAA increased to 2.62.
Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Giguère
went overseas to play for the Hamburg
Freezers in Germany
.
Giguère returned to an improved Mighty Ducks squad as NHL play
resumed in
2005–06.
Anaheim returned to the playoffs and made it to the Western
Conference Finals, where they were eliminated by the
Edmonton Oilers. Giguère, however, appeared
in just four games as Russian rookie backup
Ilya Bryzgalov took over the starting
position during the playoffs. Giguère missed the first game of the
opening round against the Calgary Flames due to injury, but
returned for games two through five. During Game 5, Giguère was
pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots. Bryzgalov took
over and subsequently reeled off three consecutive shutouts
spanning the first and second rounds against Calgary and the
Colorado Avalanche, tying an NHL
playoff record and breaking Giguère's 2003 club record of
consecutive playoff shutout minutes. However, Giguère was able to
extend his overtime playoff shutout record to eight games in one of
his four games.
Entering the final season of his contract in
2006–07, Giguère earned his
starting role back. In the first month of the season, October 2006,
he did not lose a single game in regulation. He proceeded to put up
a career-high 36 wins in 56 games.
Prior to the
2007 Stanley Cup
Playoffs, Giguère and his wife welcomed a newborn son,
Maxime-Oliver. Giguere missed the Ducks last three regular season
games as well as the first three games of the their opening round
matchup with the Minnesota Wild, with Bryzgalov taking over in
Giguère's absence. He returned late in the series and was the
Ducks' starter the rest of the way. During the second round against
the
Vancouver Canucks, his
eight-game overtime winning streak in the playoffs was snapped on
April 27, 2007, in a 2–1 defeat in Game 2. Nevertheless, Giguère
and the Ducks went on to eliminate the Canucks en route to the
2007 Stanley Cup Finals,
where they won their first ever
Stanley
Cup championship in a 6-2 Game 5 win against the
Ottawa Senators on June 6, 2007.
On June 21, 2007, the Ducks announced re-signing Giguère to a
multi-year contract. Giguère posted a 35-17-6 record with a
career-high 2.12 GAA in the
2007–08
season. Despite his numbers, the defending champion Ducks were
defeated in the first round of the 2008 playoffs by the Dallas
Stars in six games.
Giguère recorded sub-par numbers during the
2008–09 season, going 19-18-6 with a 3.10
goals against average, sharing an increased amount of playing time
to his backup
Jonas Hiller.
This did
not deter him from being voted into the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in his
hometown of Montreal. As
Hiller outplayed Giguere throughout the season, however, he was
chosen over Giguere to start during the
2009 playoffs. Giguère's only
appearance for the Ducks in the playoffs was in relief of Hiller in
the third period of Game 4 of the Ducks' second round series with
the Detroit Red Wings, whom the Ducks would eventually fell to in
seven games.
Giguère suffered a groin strain early in the
2009–10 season on October 24,
2009. With Hiller's continued emergence as a bona-fide starter,
Giguère publicly told
L.A.
Daily News on November 10
that he "would rather retire than be a backup goalie," fuelling a
goaltending controversy on the team. Losing his starting position
to Hiller, he did not record his first win of the season until
November 23 in a 3–2 shootout victory over the
Calgary Flames.
Personal
- Giguère and his wife Kristen have two sons, Maxime-Olivier, who
was born with a deformed eye during the Ducks Stanley Cup
Championship run, and Luka. Giguère missed the team's last three
regular season games as well as the first three games of the team's
quarter-final series against the Minnesota Wild shortly after becoming aware
of his son's condition.
- Giguère suffers from a rare gastric condition that causes his
body to take in too much air when he drinks fluids. As a result,
his body has difficulty absorbing water, with all the sweating he
does during a game, thus leading to severe dehydration. This became
the case when he was in the AHL during the 1997-98 season. During
one game, he lost 19 pounds, became sick, and was rushed to the
hospital. Team doctors in Calgary then discovered the condition
that caused him to lose weight. Since then, he began drinking water
from his bottle with a straw to reduce air intake. He and Steve Valiquette of the New York Rangers are the only NHL goalies
to drink from a straw.
Transactions
Awards and achievements
Career statistics
Regular season
References
- hockeygoalies bio
See also
External links
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