Réjean Houle (born October 25, 1949) 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 rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

forward who played the majority of his career 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 ...

of the

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

(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 ...

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 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

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 15 – Vietnam War: ...

and from

1976 Events January * January 3 – 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 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

1983 The year 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 ...

. He won five Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens. In between his NHL stints, he played for the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the ...

of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA).

Management career

After retiring as a player, Houle became an executive with

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which 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 Ca ...

, 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, OC, CQ (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 is the Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations with t ...

'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 retired professional ice hockey goaltender and executive, who serves as the head coach for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, Roy was named o ...

and

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

to the

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

in exchange for

Jocelyn Thibault Joseph Régis Jocelyn Thibault (born January 12, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blac ...

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 selectio ...

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

Pierre Turgeon Pierre Julien Turgeon (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, Turgeon played in the NHL for the Sabres, New York Islanders, ...

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. 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 Marcel Hossa (; born 12 October 1981) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey left winger. Hossa previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Phoenix Coyotes, having been drafted ...

, the younger brother of then-rising talent

Marián Hossa Marián Hossa (; born 12 January 1979) is a Slovak former professional 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 seven NHL seasons ...

, with his first round selections, as well as trading away a top ten pick in the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talen ...

for an underachieving Trevor Linden. Houle was fired from his post two months into the 2000–01 season and replaced by André Savard. He currently serves as an ambassador to the Canadiens organization.

Personal life

Houle and his wife Micheline have three children; two sons Jean-François, who is the head coach of the AHL's

Laval Rocket The Laval Rocket (french: Rocket de Laval) are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) as an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Montreal Canadiens. Based in Laval, Quebec, Canada, the Rocket play th ...

and Sylvain, and a daughter, Annie.

Awards

*1968–69:

Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy The Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy is awarded annually by the Ontario Hockey League to the player scoring the most points in the regular season. The trophy was donated by the Toronto Marlboros, Toronto Marlboro Athletic Club in memory of athlete and ...

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 French Quebecers Sportspeople from Rouyn-Noranda Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens executives Montreal Canadiens players Montreal Junior Canadiens players National Hockey League first-overall draft picks National Hockey League first-round draft picks Quebec Nordiques (WHA) players Stanley Cup champions Ice hockey people from Quebec