Matthieu Andre Jean Marc Luc Descoteaux (born September 23, 1977) 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 ...

former 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 h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who played in 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) with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Playing career

As a youth, Descoteaux played in the 1991

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from c ...

team from Francheville, Quebec. Descoteaux was selected in the first round of the

1996 NHL Entry Draft The 1996 NHL Entry Draft was the 34th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1996. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Zdeno Chára, who retired after the 2021–22 season. ...

, 19th overall, by the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

. On March 9, 2000 he was traded from Edmonton to Montreal with

Christian Laflamme Christian Lucien Laflamme (born November 24, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played parts of eight seasons in the National Hockey League between 1996 and 2004. Biography As a youth, Laflamme played in the 1989 an ...

in exchange for

Igor Ulanov Igor Sergeevich Ulanov (russian: И́горь Серге́евич Ула́нов; born 1 October 1969) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Ulanov was drafted by the W ...

and

Alain Nasreddine Alain Jean-Paul Mohammed Nasreddine (born July 10, 1975) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the assistant coach for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played as a defenceman in the NHL. Pla ...

. He played five games in the

with the

. He spent the majority of his career 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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

, and also played in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, Italy and Germany. He last played in the

Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey The Catholic League of France (french: Ligue catholique), sometimes referred to by contemporary (and modern) Catholics as the Holy League (), was a major participant in the French Wars of Religion. The League, founded and led by Henry I, Duke o ...

for Sainte-Marie Poutrelles Delta.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* 1977 births Asiago Hockey 1935 players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Edmonton Oilers draft picks French Quebecers EHC Freiburg players Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players Hull Olympiques players Ice hockey people from Quebec Kansas City Outlaws players Living people Montreal Canadiens players National Hockey League first-round draft picks People from Centre-du-Québec Quebec Citadelles players Quebec RadioX players Shawinigan Cataractes players Tappara players Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players Vaasan Sport players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland {{canada-icehockey-defenceman-1970s-stub