Felix Potvin

Félix Potvin, nicknamed "The Cat," is a Canadian retired NHL goaltender who spent 14 seasons in the league. Born on June 23, 1971, he first played organized hockey in the 1983 and 1984 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a team from Mercier, Quebec. From 1988 to 1991, he played for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL, earning the Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP in the 1990–91 season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs selected Potvin in the second round (31st overall) of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. During the 1991–92 season, he played 35 games for the AHL's St. John's Maple Leafs, posting a 2.93 goals-against average. That performance earned him the AHL rookie of the year award (Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award), the Baz Bastien Memorial Trophy as the league's top goaltender, and a spot on the AHL First All-Star Team. He also appeared briefly in four NHL games that season, recording a 2.28 GAA and a .933 save percentage.

Potvin became a full-time NHL regular in the 1992–93 season, playing 48 games. He led the league with a 2.50 GAA and posted a .910 save percentage. His rapid rise made him the team's number-one goaltender, leading to the trade of Grant Fuhr to the Buffalo Sabres on February 2, 1993. That year, Potvin backstopped the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup conference finals, where they lost a seven-game series to the Los Angeles Kings. He was a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

In the 1993–94 season, Potvin proved his previous year was no fluke. He recorded 34 wins and a 2.89 GAA, tying Kirk McLean's NHL record for most wins in October (nine). He was selected to his first NHL All-Star Game, where his mask design was voted the league's best. In the playoffs, he recorded three 1–0 shutouts in the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks, including the final NHL game ever played at Chicago Stadium. He also became the first Maple Leafs goaltender to stop a penalty shot in a playoff game, denying Chicago's Patrick Poulin. Toronto again reached the conference finals, losing to the Vancouver Canucks in five games.

Potvin made his second NHL All-Star Game appearance in the 1995–96 season, but the Maple Leafs exited in the first round of the playoffs. The following season, with an aging defense, Toronto missed the playoffs. Potvin set an NHL record for most shots faced in a season (2,438), a mark later broken by Roberto Luongo. After Toronto signed free agent Curtis Joseph on July 15, 1998, Potvin became expendable. He played only five games due to a knee injury before being traded, along with a sixth-round pick (Fedor Fedorov), to the New York Islanders for defenseman Bryan Berard and a sixth-round pick on January 9, 1999. He never regained his Toronto form with the Islanders.

On December 19, 1999, Potvin was traded to the Vancouver Canucks along with second- and third-round picks for Kevin Weekes, Dave Scatchard, and Bill Muckalt. He struggled there and was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings for future considerations on February 15, 2001. With the Kings, he immediately made an impact, leading the team to the seventh seed with 13 wins and 5 losses, a 1.96 GAA, and a .919 save percentage. He helped the Kings upset the Detroit Red Wings in the first round and pushed the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to a seventh game in the second round, recording two shutouts in that series. Game 6 was a memorable 1–0 double-overtime duel between Potvin and Colorado's Patrick Roy. Potvin again led the Kings to the 2002 playoffs, where they rallied from a 3–1 series deficit to push the Avalanche to seven games in the first round.

On September 3, 2003, Potvin signed a one-year contract with the Boston Bruins, serving as backup to Calder Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft during the 2003–04 season. (Raycroft later broke Potvin's record for consecutive games played by a Maple Leafs goaltender in the 2006–07 season.) Early in the 2005–06 season, the Atlanta Thrashers discussed signing Potvin after injuries to Kari Lehtonen and Mike Dunham, but he lacked equipment meeting new NHL standards and declined a two-way contract, so Atlanta signed Steve Shields instead.

Internationally, Potvin won a gold medal at the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships as a backup to Trevor Kidd. He also played for Canada at the 1998 IIHF World Championship.

Now retired, Potvin lives in Magog, Quebec, with his wife Sabrina Tardif and their three children—Noemie, Xavier, and Felicia. He is the head coach of the midget AAA Magog Cantonniers, who finished second at the Telus Cup in both 2018 and 2019.