Brian Bellows

Lore & Background

Bellows excelled in the junior leagues for the Kitchener Rangers, leading them to appearances in the championship game in both 1981 and 1982, culminating with them winning the event in the latter year. He set a record for the fastest goal in tournament history at 11 seconds and recorded five points in the championship game. Projected as one of the best prospects for the 1982 NHL draft, he was selected second overall by the Minnesota North Stars. He recorded 20-goal seasons in each of his first twelve seasons, peaking with the 1989–90 season when he scored 55 goals to tie the franchise record and a career-high 99 points. He recorded 29 points in the 1991 Stanley Cup playoffs to lead the North Stars to the Stanley Cup Final, which they lost in six games. Traded to the Montreal Canadiens in the 1992 offseason, he scored 40 goals in the 1992–93 season and won the Stanley Cup with Montreal. He later played for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Washington Capitals, recording his 1,000th career point in his final season in 1999. Internationally, he represented Canada on four occasions from 1984 to 1990, winning the Canada Cup in 1984 and finishing second at the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1989.

In Their Own Story

The Forum was a cauldron. Fourteen thousand voices pressed against the glass, the overhead lights cutting through the mist of breath and spray. Bellows dropped his stick, re-gripped it, and skated back through the neutral zone with his head up, reading the Rangers' setup like a book. He knew the play before it happened. He knew the pass was coming to the left circle. He was already there, stick extended, body low, and the puck met his blade with a soft, decisive thud. He didn't celebrate. He just turned, skated the other way, and was already forechecking again before the crowd's roar had even peaked. That was Bellows. Every shift. Every night. No exceptions.

Reader's Guide

Brian Bellows never played for the Los Angeles Kings. He was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in 1982 and won the 1993 Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens.

Did You Know?

• Bellows set a franchise record with a point streak of 20 straight games in the 1985–86 season, a record that still stands as of 2026.
• He was named interim captain of the North Stars at age 19 years and 4 months, making him younger than Connor McDavid, Gabriel Landeskog, and Sidney Crosby at the time of their captaincies, though McDavid is still conside
• Bellows scored the series-clinching overtime goal in Game 6 of the first round of the 1998 playoffs for the Washington Capitals.