Réjean Houle (born October 25, 1949) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward who played the majority of his career with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL), also serving in a controversial stint as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the Canadiens.

Playing career

Drafted as the first pick overall in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, Houle played for the Habs from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and from

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. He won five

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

championships with the Canadiens. In between his NHL stints, he played for the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) an ...

of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...

(WHA).

Management career

After retiring as a player, Houle became an executive with

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

, one of Canada's leading breweries and the then-owner of the Montreal Canadiens organization. A disastrous start to the 1995–96 season resulted in then-general manager

Serge Savard Serge Aubrey Savard (born January 22, 1946) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman, most famously with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also served as the Canadiens' Senior Vice President of Hockey ...

's termination, and the team saw Houle, with his business background and history with the team, as the most viable replacement candidate. Houle then served as GM of the Canadiens from 1995 to 2000, though his tenure was largely viewed as a disaster by many fans. He initiated the infamous trade that sent

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, executive and former player who is the head coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Roy previously served as head coach for ...

and

Mike Keane Michael John Keane (born May 29, 1967) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey winger (ice hockey), winger. Undrafted, Keane played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League from 1988 until 2004. He then played five seasons ...

to the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

in exchange for Jocelyn Thibault,

Martin Ručinský Martin Ručinský (; born 11 March 1971) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Ručínský was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round as the 20th overall selection i ...

and Andrei Kovalenko just six weeks into the job. Following this trade, he dealt-away marquee players including

Mark Recchi Mark Louis Recchi (; born February 1, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, and he played f ...

Vincent Damphousse Vincent François Damphousse (born December 17, 1967) is a Canadian former professional hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for eighteen seasons. He played centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Ca ...

and

Pierre Turgeon Pierre Julien Turgeon (''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, TUHR-zhawn'', ; born August 28, 1969) is a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Selected List of first overall NHL draft picks, first overall by the Buffa ...

in exchange for players of little value to the team. He was also criticized for frequently trading with non-contending teams, being unable to land widely coveted free agents and for signing marginal players to inflated contracts.https://sports.yahoo.com/canadiens-trade-bit-back-120000411.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGLEvcf1XM_SoO-yel8KxSeUYyKWkg478qtjODFHouahECxAvF8QWzEVIwPSne1x8hKRtR4AR3ZZqFnBci51AR5JS_UCoGfxDmJWg4n_RpBfK2sSJM8ntJ_4Wd3ONlgAnUgfBVF3O4WUS2Mr0YMNXI1G8Dn429q314fgh-PJ8F9E Houle's drafting was considered even worse, however, as he was criticized for selecting players such as Matt Higgins, Jason Ward, Eric Chouinard and Marcel Hossa, the younger brother of then-rising talent

Marián Hossa Marián Hossa (; born 12 January 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey winger (ice hockey), right winger. Hossa was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the first round, 12th overall, of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. After spending his first ...

, with his first round selections. Houle was fired from his post two months into the 2000–01 season.

Personal life

Houle and his wife Micheline have three children; two sons, Jean-François, who is the head coach of the NCAA's Clarkson University Golden Knights and Sylvain, as well as a daughter, Annie.

Awards

*1968–69: Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Profile from Hockey Draft Central
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houle, Rejean 1949 births Living people Canadian ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Rouyn-Noranda Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens executives Montreal Canadiens players Montreal Voyageurs players Montreal Junior Canadiens players First overall NHL draft picks NHL first-round draft picks Quebec Nordiques (WHA) players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Stanley Cup champions