Joé Juneau

Joé Juneau (born January 5, 1968) is a retired Canadian professional player. He played for the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, Phoenix Coyotes and the Montreal Canadiens, all of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career
Originally drafted by the Bruins in the fourth round of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, Juneau was a star college hockey player at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he scored 71 goals in four regular seasons and was a two-time All-American selection. He was well-known for having a 4.0 grade point average and earning a degree in just three years in aeronautical engineering, despite the fact that he did not speak English when he first arrived in New York.

After college, Juneau spent a year with the Canadian Olympic team while disputing his contract offer from the Bruins. The sticking point was Juneau's insistence on being paid full salary even if he was sent to the minors, a demand Boston -- being burned the previous year in a similar dispute by Wes Walz -- refused. Then-general manager Harry Sinden was famously quoted in response to Juneau's threat to play in Switzerland instead "Then he'll have to learn to yodel." In the meantime, Juneau led Canada to a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics, and was the tournament's leading scorer.

Juneau would eventually sign with Boston on the team's terms, and Sinden's fears proved groundless. Juneau joined the Bruins' NHL roster right after the Olympics, and never spent a day in the minor leagues during his career. He had an impressive nineteen points in fourteen regular season games at the end of the 1992 season before a strong playoff.

His best season was his rookie year of 1992–93 with the Bruins, when, as the left winger on a powerful line with Adam Oates and Cam Neely, he had 32 goals and 102 points and set the NHL record for assists in a season by a left wing with 70, a mark Juneau still holds. As a reward, he was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team. In 1996, he became the first player ever to be awarded a penalty shot in overtime in a Stanley Cup playoff game (although he failed to score).

The Bruins traded him to the Capitals in an ill-fated deal for Al Iafrate (who played only twelve games for Boston), and Juneau was a member of the 1997–98 Capitals squad that reached the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, scoring seventeen points in twenty-one playoff games. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres in the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals that sent the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Final. The next season, 1998–99, with the Capitals plagued by injuries and missing the playoffs, Juneau was traded to the Sabres who reached the Cup 1999 Stanley Cup Final.

Juneau spent the 1999–00 with the Ottawa Senators, who signed him largely to fill the offensive gap which was created when Alexei Yashin was suspended for failing to honor his contract.

Juneau's offensive numbers steadily declined, largely due to chronic injuries. He became a journeyman, playing for five teams in four seasons before settling with his hometown Montreal Canadiens as a third-liner for the final three seasons of his career. Juneau finished with 156 goals and 416 assists for 572 points over thirteen seasons.

He announced his retirement after the 2003–04 NHL season. After his playing career, Juneau became a partner and account manager at Quebec City-based Harfan Technologies. Rensselaer awarded Juneau an honorary degree at the school's 2005 commencement ceremonies, then named him as the second inductee into the Rensselaer "Ring of Honor" in November. Between 2005-2007, Juneau moved to Fairbanks Alaska where he helped promote hockey to the youth in the area before moving to Kuujjuag, Quebec on a pernament basis. There he headed a hockey program for Inuit youth in northern Quebec focused on encouraging academic progress, a contribution for which he received the 2007 La Presse/Radio-Canada Personality of the Year Award.