Kevin Hodson

Did You Know?

• As a youth, Hodson played in the 1985 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Winnipeg South Monarchs minor ice hockey team.
• Hodson backstopped the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to their first Memorial Cup championship during the 1992–93 season and was selected the top goaltender of the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament.
• After hockey, Hodson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Algoma University and became a financial advisor, later joining RBC Dominion Securities.

Professional career

Kevin Hodson began his professional career in 1992 after signing with the Chicago Blackhawks. He split the 1992–93 season between his junior team and the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL, where he put up a 5–9 record. Once that season ended, he signed with the Detroit Red Wings and was sent to their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings, for the next two seasons. Detroit had a deep goaltending pool at the time, with Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon, Bob Essensa, Tim Cheveldae, Vincent Riendeau, and Peter Ing all taking turns in net during those years.

Hodson finally made his NHL debut with the Red Wings in the 1995–96 season, recording a 3–0 shutout against the Blackhawks. He finished that year with a 2–0–0 record. The following season, Detroit won the Stanley Cup, but Hodson served as the team’s third-string goalie, appearing in just six games and posting a 2–2–1 mark. Even though he didn’t meet the official requirements, the Red Wings included his name on the Cup because he spent most of the season with the club.

In the offseason, Vernon was traded to the San Jose Sharks, which bumped Hodson up to the backup role for the 1997–98 campaign. He played 21 regular-season games, going 9–3–3, as Detroit captured its second straight Stanley Cup. Heading into the 1998–99 season, Norm Maracle pushed for the backup job in Detroit. Because of Maracle’s strong play, the Red Wings traded Hodson to the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 23, 1999, in a deal that brought Bill Ranford and Wendel Clark to Detroit. Hodson went 2–1–1 in five games with Tampa Bay before a groin injury cut his season short.

For the 1999–2000 season, Hodson backed up Dan Cloutier, who had been his own backup back in 1993 with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Hodson’s record over 24 games was 2–7–4. He was later assigned to Tampa Bay’s minor league team, the Detroit Vipers, and then dealt to the Montreal Canadiens on June 2, 2000, for a seventh-round pick in that year’s draft.

Hodson stayed out of hockey until the 2002–03 season, when the Lightning re-signed him as the backup to Nikolai Khabibulin. He appeared in seven games, posting a 0–3–1 record. On January 15, 2003, Tampa Bay acquired goaltender John Grahame from the Boston Bruins to serve as Khabibulin’s new backup. Rather than accept a demotion to the minors, Hodson announced his retirement the next day.