Donald Audette (born September 23, 1969) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers.

[edit] Playing career

He was drafted in the 9th round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 183rd overall by the Buffalo Sabres. Despite his small stature, Audette became known for his gritty, feisty style of play and quickly endeared himself to Buffalo hockey fans with a 31 goal rookie season. However, his rough and tumble style of play led to lengthy trips to the injury reserve, including several knee injuries that ended his 1992–93 and 1995–96 seasons.

In 1998 Audette was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Two years later, as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers, he reached his career high in goals (32) and assists (45) and made it to the NHL All-Star game.

Audette was traded back to the Buffalo Sabres in March 2001, and signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Dallas Stars later that summer. In the middle of the 2001–02 season, Audette was traded again, this time to the Montreal Canadiens. In a game against the New York Rangers on December 1, 2001, Audette had the tendons of his forearm severed by an opponent's skate and required life-saving surgery to repair the extensive damage, but still managed to recover in time for the playoffs.

After struggling to make a mark with the Florida Panthers for half of the 2003–04 season, Audette stopped playing professionally.

Prior to playing in the NHL, Audette won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the top rookie in the American Hockey League (AHL), while playing for the Rochester Americans. However, he is most remembered, by some, for the spearing penalty he took the closing minute of the third period of game six of the '91 Calder Cup series which ended up costing the Americans the Calder Cup.

[edit] Career statistics

                                   Regular Season Season  Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM  1990–91 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   8    4   3    7    4 1991–92 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   63   31  17   48   75 1992–93 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   44   12  7    19   51 1993–94 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   77   29  30   59   41 1994–95 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   46   24  13   37   27 1995–96 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   23   12  13   25   18 1996–97 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   73   28  22   50   48 1997–98 Buffalo Sabres          NHL   75   24  20   44   59 1998–99 Los Angeles Kings       NHL   49   18  18   36   51 1999–00 Los Angeles/Atlanta     NHL   63   19  24   43   57 2000–01 Atlanta/Buffalo         NHL   76   34  45   79   76 2001–02 Dallas/Montreal         NHL   33   5   13   18   20 2002–03 Montreal Canadiens      NHL   54   11  12   23   19 2003–04 Montreal/Florida        NHL   51   9   12   21   38                     NHL Totals         735  260 249  509  584 

[edit] External links

• Donald Audette's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Donald Audette's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

Note: Donald Audette served as the Sabres captain during part of the 1997–98 season, while Michael Peca was injured & out of the line-up.