Stéphane Richer (ice hockey forward)
| Stéphane Richer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
June 7, 1966 Ripon, QC, CAN |
||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | ||
| Weight | 225 lb (102 kg; 16 st 1 lb) | ||
| Position | Right Wing | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for |
New Jersey Devils Montreal Canadiens Tampa Bay Lightning St. Louis Blues Pittsburgh Penguins |
||
| NHL Draft | 29th overall, 1984 Montreal Canadiens |
||
| Playing career | 1984–2005 | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's ice hockey | ||
Representing  Canada
|
||
| World Junior Championships | ||
 |
1985 Finland | Ice hockey |
Stéphane Joseph Jean-Jacques Richer (French pronunciation: [stefan ʁiʃe]; born June 7, 1966) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey right winger.
Richer was drafted 29th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. He played in 1,054 career NHL games, scoring 421 goals and 398 assists for 819 points. Richer won the Calder Cup in 1985. He also won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986 and with the New Jersey Devils in 1995.
After his Stanley Cup run in New Jersey, he found himself bouncing from team to team through trades including Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, a second stint in Montreal, and even a trip back to the minors before ultimately retiring.
Richer is among the all-time leaders (tied in second with six other players) in playoff overtime goals, with four:
Richer scored 50 goals for the Montreal Canadiens in 1987–88 and 51 in 1989–90, becoming the only player to do so since Guy Lafleur's heyday. To this date, Richer is the last player to have scored 50 goals in one season for the Montreal Canadiens.
The ensuing year after winning the Cup, New Jersey missed the playoffs, and Richer was traded back to the Montreal Canadiens in 1996.
Richer confirmed during the 2001–02 season that he has been battling depression during the majority of his career.
Richer was known to have one of the hardest shots in the NHL during his playing days, coupled with an extremely quick release. Unlike many other players, Richer only had to wind up his stick to about waist height to achieve full power on his shot. Recognition of his hard shot was noticed even more when Fleer trading cards included Richer in their "Slapshot Artists" limited set for the 1994–95 season. During the 1994 New Jersey Devils team-only skills competition prior to the All-Star Game, Richer recorded multiple slapshots that exceeded the 100 mph mark.
In a well documented legend, during one pre-game warm up session in New Jersey, Richer fired a slapshot at his own goalie, Martin Brodeur, which shattered the cup in Brodeur's jock strap, leaving him bruised and nauseated. Brodeur had to leave the ice and change equipment moments before the game started.
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