José Théodore

Playing career

Théodore played in the 1990 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Richelieu 47 minor ice hockey team. He spent four seasons in the QMJHL with the St-Jean Lynx and Hull Olympiques. At age 16, he began his rookie season in 1992–93, sharing goaltending duties with Jean-Pascal Lemelin. The following season he became the starter, posting a 3.61 goals against average and a 20–29–6 record.

The Montreal Canadiens selected him 44th overall in the 1994 NHL entry draft. Returning to the Lynx after his draft, he was traded early in the 1994–95 season to the Hull Olympiques. In 43 regular-season games with Hull, he recorded a 2.97 GAA and a 27–14–1 record, earning the Ford Cup as the top defensive player and a spot on the QMJHL second All-Star team. He led the Olympiques to the President's Cup as QMJHL champions and won the Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP.

At the 1995 Memorial Cup, the Olympiques finished last. After the major junior playoffs, he made his professional debut with one game for the Fredericton Canadiens in the AHL's 1995 Calder Cup playoffs. In his fourth and final QMJHL season (1995–96), he was named to his second consecutive second All-Star team, but the Olympiques did not repeat as champions. Injured, he missed the first two playoff rounds and returned in the semi-final against les Harfangs de Beauport, who defeated the Olympiques in five games.

Théodore spent his first three NHL seasons splitting time between the Canadiens and their AHL affiliate, the Fredericton Canadiens. He made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut in 1997 with a 4–3 triple overtime win against the New Jersey Devils, making 56 saves. The next year he appeared in three playoff games against the Buffalo Sabres despite not playing any regular-season games that campaign.

International play

Théodore played for Canada at the 1996 World Junior Championships in Boston, posting a 4–0–0 record with a 1.50 GAA. He earned Best Goaltender and Tournament All-Star honours as Canada won its fourth straight gold medal. He debuted for Canada's men's team at the 2001 World Championship, recording two shutouts and a 1.63 GAA, but Canada lost to the United States in the quarter-finals. In 2004, he served as backup for Team Canada at the World Cup, which Canada won by defeating Finland in the final.

Personal life

José Théodore’s father, Ted Théodore, has Macedonian roots, and his mother is of Spanish heritage, making him half Macedonian and half Spanish. In December 2004, Ted and José’s half-brother admitted to loansharking and illegal weapon possession; the father was fined $30,000 the following February but avoided prison. Théodore and his wife, Stéphanie Cloutier, have a daughter, Romi, born in March 2006. Their second child, Chace, arrived prematurely in summer 2009 and passed away two months later, as reported that August. He started the charity Saves for Kids to support the NICU at Washington, D.C.’s Children’s National Medical Center. In late 2013, TVA Sports announced he would become an NHL analyst starting the 2014–15 season, and in 2014 he began writing a hockey column for the Journal de Montréal.