Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Jean-Sébastien Giguère (born May 16, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played major junior with the Verdun Collège Français and Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he was drafted 13th overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. He played in the Calgary Flames organization for three seasons before joining the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2000. Giguère won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003 before winning the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007. Giguère and Chris Pronger were the only former Hartford Whalers still active in the NHL as of the end of the 2010–11 season.

Early career
Giguère was drafted out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) by the Hartford Whalers 13th overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. After a four-year major junior career that included QMJHL Second Team All-Star honours in 1997, he made his NHL debut with the Whalers, playing in eight games at the end of the 1996–97 season.

The following off-season, on August 25, 1997, Giguère was traded to the Calgary Flames with centre Andrew Cassels for forward Gary Roberts and goaltender Trevor Kidd. He played the entirety of the 1997–98 season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with Calgary's minor league affiliate, the Saint John Flames. He recorded a 2.46 goals against average (GAA) and a .926 save percentage in 31 games in his professional rookie season with Saint John. Giguère spent four seasons in the Flames organization, making brief 15- and 7-game appearances with Calgary in 1998–99 and 1999–2000, respectively, while spending most of his time in the AHL.

Anaheim Ducks (2000-2010)
On June 10, 2000, Giguère was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for a 2nd round pick in 2000 (later traded to the Washington Capitals; the Capitals selected Matt Pettinger). He began the 2000-01 season with the Mighty Ducks' farm team, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, until he was recalled from the AHL. Giguère eventually took over Dominic Roussel's backup position to starter Guy Hebert. Due to only brief stints in the NHL during his tenures with Hartford and Calgary, the 2000–01 season qualified as Giguère's rookie NHL season. He played in 34 games, posting a 2.57 GAA and .911 save percentage.

In the off-season, he was re-signed by the Mighty Ducks on August 17, 2001. Giguère continued to improve in 2001–02, his first full season with the Ducks, recording a 2.13 GAA and .920 save percentage in 53 games. In the 2002–03 season, he posted his first winning season, with a 34-22-6 record, as well as a career-high eight shutouts.

Giguère's first winning season in the NHL helped the Mighty Ducks enter the 2003 playoffs as the seventh seed in the Western Conference. From that point, Giguere delivered one of the greatest playoff performances in NHL history as he helped lead the team on a Cinderella run to their first Stanley Cup Finals. Facing the defending Stanley Cup champions and second-seeded Detroit Red Wings in the opening round, Giguère set an NHL record for most saves by a goaltender in their playoff debut with 63 in the Mighty Ducks' 2–1 triple overtime win in Game 1 (surpassing Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jiří Crha's mark by two saves). This record would later be broken by Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who stopped 72 shots in his playoff debut versus the Dallas Stars in 2007. The Ducks would proceed to shock the hockey world by sweeping the Red Wings in four games, with Giguere labeled as the star of the series. The Mighty Ducks then faced the Dallas Stars. Giguère stopped 60 of 63 Dallas shots in the series opener, a five-overtime Anaheim win. Giguere recorded his first shutout of the playoffs in Game 4, stopping 28 shots. The Mighty Ducks eventually eliminated the Stars in six games, and moved on to the Western Conference Finals to face the Minnesota Wild. Giguère held the Wild to an all-time best-of-7 series low of one goal in the entire series, which included a franchise record shutout streak of 217 minutes and 54 seconds (later surpassed by Ilya Bryzgalov in 2006).

However, the Mighty Ducks' dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup were stopped by the New Jersey Devils, to whom Anaheim lost in a seven-game series. Giguère finished the playoffs undefeated in seven overtime games, setting a record for the longest playoff overtime shutout streak at 168 minutes and 27 seconds. He finished with a 15-6 record overall, a 1.62 GAA and .945 save percentage, as well as fewer losses than Finals counterpart Martin Brodeur. He was the fifth player to receive the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP as part of the losing team and the first since Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall won in 1987. Along with the Conn Smythe, he received the 2003 ESPY award for best hockey player. The only other goalie ever to do so is Dominik Hasek.



Giguère's playoff MVP performance was rewarded in the off-season with a four-year contract extension, signed on September 10, 2003. However, his performance was inconsistent throughout much of the 2003-04 season as the Mighty Ducks missed the playoffs. He posted a 17-31-6 record and his GAA increased to 2.62. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Giguère went overseas to play for the Hamburg Freezers in Germany.

Giguère returned to an improved Mighty Ducks squad as NHL play resumed in 2005–06. Anaheim returned to the playoffs and made it to the Western Conference Finals, where they were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers. Giguère, however, appeared in just four games as Russian rookie backup Ilya Bryzgalov took over the starting position during the playoffs. Giguère missed the first game of the opening round against the Calgary Flames due to injury, but returned for games two through five. During Game 5, Giguère was pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots. Bryzgalov took over and subsequently reeled off three consecutive shutouts spanning the first and second rounds against Calgary and the Colorado Avalanche, tying an NHL playoff record and breaking Giguère's 2003 club record of consecutive playoff shutout minutes.

Entering the final season of his contract in 2006–07, Giguère earned his starting role back. In the first month of the season, October 2006, he did not lose a single game in regulation. He proceeded to put up a career-high 36 wins in 56 games.

Prior to the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Giguère and his wife welcomed a newborn son, Maxime-Oliver. Giguère missed the Ducks' last three regular season games as well as the first three games of their opening round matchup with the Minnesota Wild, with Bryzgalov taking over in Giguère's absence. He returned late in the series and was the Ducks' starter the rest of the way. During the second round against the Vancouver Canucks, his eight-game overtime winning streak in the playoffs was snapped on April 27, 2007, in a 2–1 defeat in Game 2. Nevertheless, Giguère and the Ducks went on to eliminate the Canucks en route to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, where they won their first ever Stanley Cup championship in a 6-2 Game 5 win against the Ottawa Senators on June 6, 2007.

On June 21, 2007, the Ducks announced that they had re-signed Giguère to a multi-year contract. Giguère posted a 35-17-6 record with a career-best 2.12 GAA in the 2007–08 season. Despite his numbers, the defending champion Ducks were defeated in the first round of the 2008 playoffs by the Dallas Stars in six games.

Giguère recorded sub-par numbers during the 2008–09 season, going 19-18-6 with a 3.10 goals against average, sharing an increased amount of playing time to his backup Jonas Hiller. This did not deter him from being voted into the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in his hometown of Montreal. As Hiller outplayed Giguere throughout the season, however, he was chosen over Giguere to start during the 2009 playoffs. Giguère's only appearance for the Ducks in the playoffs was in relief of Hiller in the third period of Game 4 of the Ducks' second round series with the Detroit Red Wings, to whom the Ducks would eventually fall in seven games.

Giguère suffered a groin strain early in the 2009–10 season on October 24, 2009. With Hiller's continued emergence as a bona-fide starter, Giguère publicly told L.A. Daily News on November 10 that he "would rather retire than be a backup goalie," fuelling a goaltending controversy on the team. Losing his starting position to Hiller, he did not record his first win of the season until November 23 in a 3–2 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames.

Toronto Maple Leafs (2010-2011)
Giguère was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 31, 2010, for goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake. Three days later, he played his first game for the Maple Leafs and recorded a 30-save shutout against the New Jersey Devils. Giguère registered another shutout in his next game against the Ottawa Senators on February 6, 2010, to become the first goalie in franchise history to record shutouts in his first two games. This accomplishment led Giguère to be named the NHL's second star of the week on February 8. After having recorded a 3.14 GAA and .900 save percentage in 20 games with the Ducks before being traded, he improved to a 2.49 GAA and .916 save percentage in 15 games with the Leafs.

The following season, Giguère suffered a groin injury in mid-November 2010, sidelining him for three weeks. Upon his return, he played in several games before re-injuring his groin. During that time, the Leafs were in need of a goalie, forcing them to sign goalie James Reimer. With Giguere sidelined, third-string goaltender James Reimer took over the starting position.

Colorado Avalanche (2011-present)
Giguère signed a two-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche on July 1, 2011.

Personal
Giguère and his wife Kristen have two sons: Maxime-Olivier, who was born during the Ducks Stanley Cup Championship run, and Luka. Giguère missed the team's last three regular season games as well as the first three games of the team's quarter-final series against the Minnesota Wild when he learned that Maxime-Olivier had been born with a deformed eye.

Giguère's father died of cancer on December 15, 2008, and this greatly affected his performance for the rest of the season. Giguère went into the All Star game that year with a very weak record, with only one win in his last nine games.

Giguère suffers from a rare gastric condition that causes his body to take in too much air when he drinks fluids. As a result, his body has difficulty absorbing water, leading to severe dehydration when he sweats. This became the case when he was in the AHL during the 1997-98 season. During one game, he lost 19 pounds, became sick, and was rushed to the hospital. Team doctors in Calgary then discovered the condition.

Awards and achievements

 * 1997 QMJHL Second All-Star Team
 * 1998 Hap Holmes Memorial Award (AHL) - shared with Tyler Moss as the goalies with 25+ GP for the team with the lowest GAA
 * 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy MVP (played on losing team: finals)
 * 2003 Best NHL Player ESPY Award
 * 2007 Stanley Cup Championship
 * 2009 NHL All-Star Game Montreal, Canada: Western Conference

Transactions

 * July 8, 1995 - Drafted by the Hartford Whalers in the 1st round, 13th overall.
 * June 25, 1997 - Rights transferred to the Carolina Hurricanes when the Hartford Whalers relocated.
 * August 27, 1997 - Traded to the Calgary Flames with Andrew Cassels for Gary Roberts and Trevor Kidd.
 * June 10, 2001 - Traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for a 2nd round pick in 2000 (Matt Pettinger).
 * June 21, 2007 - Signed a 4 year $24 million contract with the Anaheim Ducks.
 * January 31, 2010 - Traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake.