Stéphane Veilleux (born November 16, 1981) 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 A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He most notably 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

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

and the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

Playing career

As a youth, Veilleux played in the 1994 and 1995

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, ...

s 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 cla ...

team from

Beauce, Quebec Beauce (; ) is a List of Quebec regions#Historical and Traditional, historical and traditional region of Quebec located south of Quebec City. It corresponds approximately to the Regional county municipality, regional county municipalities of Beauc ...

. Veilleux was drafted in the third round, 93rd overall by the

in the

2001 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was the 39th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 23 and 24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. As of 2022, the only remaining active players in the NHL from the 2001 draft class are M ...

. He went on to play a total of six seasons for the Wild, playing many games alongside star forward

Marián Gáborík Marián Gáborík (; born 14 February 1982) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey right winger. He began his playing career in the Slovak Extraliga with Dukla Trenčín for two seasons before being drafted third overall in the 2000 NHL En ...

. After the 2008–09 season, the Wild decided not to renew his contract, and he was released into unrestricted free agency. On July 7, 2009, he signed a one-year contract with the

. On December 28, 2009, he skated in his 400th career NHL game, playing against the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

. In October 2010, Veilloux signed for

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

of the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. He left the team in January and signed with Swiss

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...

team

HC Ambrì-Piotta Hockey Club Ambrì-Piotta is a Switzerland, Swiss professional ice hockey club and a member of the National League (ice hockey), National League (NL). The club was founded September 19, 1937, and is also known as "Bianco-Blu" (English: white and b ...

. On July 29, 2011, he then signed a one-year deal with the

. On February 24, 2012, Veilleux was traded, along with

Kurtis Foster Kurtis Foster (born November 24, 1981) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 408 career games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Junior hockey Peterborough Petes (1997–2002) F ...

Nick Palmieri Nicholas Palmieri (born July 12, 1989) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the third-round of the 2007 NHL Draft. Playing career As a youth, Palmieri played in the 2002 Quebec Intern ...

and the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

' second-round pick in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, back to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenceman

Marek Židlický Marek Židlický (; born ) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the sixth round, 176th overall, by the New York Rangers in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career M ...

Personal life

Veilleux is known as an avid

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player in his spare time, and also plays before games as warm-ups.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veilleux, Stephane 1981 births Living people Albany Devils players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Espoo Blues players HC Ambrì-Piotta players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey people from Quebec Iowa Wild players Minnesota Wild draft picks Minnesota Wild players New Jersey Devils players Oji Eagles players People from Saint-Georges, Quebec Tampa Bay Lightning players Val-d'Or Foreurs players Victoriaville Tigres players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland