Maxime Lajoie (born November 5, 1997) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player currently with the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) as a prospect to the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). Lajoie was chosen 133rd overall by the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

in the

2016 NHL Entry Draft The 2016 NHL Entry Draft was the 54th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The first three selections were Auston Matthews going to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Patrik Laine go ...

Early life

Lajoie was born in Quebec City and moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario and then

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta by the age of seven. His first language is French but is now bilingual.

Playing career

Lajoie played

major junior Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

hockey for the

Swift Current Broncos The Swift Current Broncos are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League. Founded during 1967 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the Broncos played seven seasons before relocating to Lethbridge from 1974 to 1986 as the Lethbridge Broncos ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WHL) from 2013 to 2017. He was drafted by the Broncos, 95th overall, in the 2012

WHL Bantam Draft The WHL Bantam Draft is an annual outing, in which the teams of the Western Hockey League select players who have graduated from bantam. The draft's order of selection depends on where the team finishes in the league standings. The teams that mi ...

. Lajoie played one game in 2013–14 and earned a roster spot in 2014–15. He increased his points per game over his three seasons with the Broncos and was selected by the

in his first season of eligibility, going 133rd overall in the

. Lajoie's coach until 2016, former Senator

Mark Lamb Mark William Lamb (born August 3, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey player, and current general manager and head coach of the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Lamb was previously the head coac ...

, considered the selection of Lajoie a "steal" at 133rd overall, noting he was the team's No. 1 penalty killer, No. 1 shut-down defenceman and assistant captain. Lajoie signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Senators on October 3, 2016, and attended their training camp, before returning to the Swift Current Broncos as an alternate captain for one final season in junior. In 2017, he became a professional, joining the

Belleville Senators The Belleville Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2017–18 season as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League team, the Ottawa Senators. Based in Bellevill ...

of the

in September 2017. In November 2017, Lajoie was assigned to the

Brampton Beast The Brampton Beast were a professional ice hockey team based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The team originally played in the Central Hockey League for one year during the 2013–14 season prior to the league's folding before joining the ECHL f ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

, returning to Belleville after one game at Brampton. In 2018, Lajoie made the jump to the NHL, earning a roster spot in training camp. He made his NHL debut on October 4, 2018, scoring a goal and an assist in a 4–3 overtime loss to the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

. Lajoie became the second Ottawa defenceman (after

Wade Redden Wade Redden (born June 12, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and a development coach of the Ottawa Senators, with whom he spent the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL). He also played for the New Yo ...

) to score in his NHL debut. After attending the Senators training camp for the delayed

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, on January 12, 2021, Lajoie was traded by Ottawa to the

in exchange for Clark Bishop. He was directly assigned by the Hurricanes to join AHL affiliate, the

. On August 6, 2022 the Hurricanes re-signed Lajoie's to an additional one-year contract.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lajoie, Maxime 1997 births Living people Belleville Senators players Brampton Beast players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Carolina Hurricanes players Chicago Wolves players French Quebecers Ice hockey people from Quebec City Ottawa Senators draft picks Ottawa Senators players Swift Current Broncos players