Martin Gélinas

Martin Gélinas
Born	June 5, 1970 (1970-06-05) (age 41) Shawinigan, QC, CAN
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shot	Left
Played for	SC Bern (Swiss) Nashville Predators (NHL) Florida Panthers (NHL) Calgary Flames (NHL) Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) Vancouver Canucks (NHL) Quebec Nordiques (NHL) Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	7th overall, 1988 Los Angeles Kings
Playing career	1988–2008

Martin Gélinas (French pronunciation: [ʒeliˈna]; born June 5, 1970) is a former professional ice hockey forward and the current director of player development with the Nashville Predators.

Playing career

Gelinas made a splash in 1987–88 with the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL with a 63-goal, 131-point campaign. His season made him the CHL Rookie of the Year and the seventh overall choice by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.

But Gelinas never played for the Kings, however, as two months after the draft, on August 9, 1988, he was included in the celebrated "Gretzky Trade" that sent Gelinas, Los Angeles' star young center Jimmy Carson, the Kings's first round choices in 1989, 1991 and 1993 entry drafts, and a reported $15 million cash to Edmonton in exchange for Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley. Gelinas played six games for the Oilers in 1988, before being sent back to the Olympiques. In his first full season in 1989–90, Gelinas had 25 points in 46 games, and won his only Stanley Cup as a member of the Oilers, beating the Boston Bruins. Along with Joe Murphy and Adam Graves, he was made up a popular Oilers' forward line known as 'The Kid Line.' His Oilers career was a bit of a letdown, however, and his best season was a 40 point effort in 1990–91. Gelinas was the last active player from the 1980s Oilers dynasty in the NHL.

He was traded to the Quebec Nordiques during the 1993 NHL Entry Draft for Scott Pearson, and he lasted only 31 games for Quebec before being claimed on waivers by the Vancouver Canucks. The move proved to be a good one for the Canucks, as Gelinas was a factor in the Canucks' 1994 postseason run. Though they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the New York Rangers in 7 games, He had a strong career in Vancouver during his four year tenure there. His best season came in 1996–97 when he scored 35 goals and 68 points, highlighted by a four-goal game, and being voted the team's Most Valuable Player after the season. However, a slow start the next season due to injury made him expendable to the Canucks, and the fan favorite was traded by de facto General Manager Mike Keenan along with goaltender Kirk McLean to the Carolina Hurricanes on January 3, 1998.

Gelinas (left) talks with former teammate Craig Conroy during the alumni game at the 2011 Heritage Classic.

His Hurricanes career lasted four and a half seasons, and he was a role player who was primarily relied on for his penalty killing. His best season on the Hurricanes came in 2001–02 with 52 points, but his most memorable moment with the franchise came in the 2002 playoffs, when Gelinas scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals over the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving the Hurricanes their first-ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Their run ended after losing in five games to the Detroit Red Wings. He signed as a free agent with the Calgary Flames after the season ended.

Gelinas proved to be a bargain in his first season in Calgary. He notched 52 points and was one of the best players for the team that season. However, he would be the factor for another underdog team in 2004. The Flames entered that season missing the playoffs for seven straight seasons. They had a strong season that included efforts from longtime star Jarome Iginla and new goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. The postseason proved that Gelinas could perform in the clutch, as he scored the series-clinching goal in each of the playoff series leading to the Stanley Cup Finals. Gelinas may have scored a go-ahead goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals with the Flames leading 3–2 in the series, but the shot, which deflected off Gelinas' skate onto Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin's pad, went unreviewed and play was allowed to continue with no goal awarded.

Gelinas is almost unique in NHL history, having scored three playoff series-clinching goals in the same year (the only other player to do so was Ken Linseman), two of them in overtime. In fact, had a very close call in the third period of Game Six in the Finals not been disallowed by the referee, Gelinas might have scored all four series-clinching goals that year. Thanks to his clutch play, the Flames not only proved critics wrong by making the postseason and earning a Finals berth for the first time in 15 years, but also earning the unofficial moniker, "The Eliminator". Gelinas is one of the few players to have reached the Stanley Cup Finals with four different teams, having a major impact in every one of them.

During the locked-out 2004–05 season, Gelinas played in the Swiss league for HC Lugano and Morges.

On August 2, 2005, Gelinas agreed to a two-year, $1.9 million deal to play for the Florida Panthers. While Florida missed the playoffs in both years Gelinas was with them, he proved to be one of their consistent and dependable players, having played all 164 regular season games over the two seasons and scoring over 40 points in both seasons as well.

On July 26, 2007, Gelinas signed a one-year, $1.25 million deal with the Nashville Predators. The Predators made the playoffs that season, however Gelinas missed 25 games and the Predators' first round series in which they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings.

On November 3, 2008, Gelinas signed a two-week tryout contract to with Swiss Nation League's SC Bern. Gelinas stuck with the club and played 27 games, scoring 15 goals and 22 points in those games.

For the 2009-10 season Gelinas is the Predators director of player development.

Awards

• CHL Rookie of the Year - 1988
• George Parsons Trophy - 1988
• Stanley Cup - 1990

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1987–88	Hull Olympiques	QMJHL		65	63	68	131	74		17	15	18	33	32
1988–89	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		6	1	2	3	0		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	Hull Olympiques	QMJHL		41	38	39	77	31		9	5	4	9	14
1989–90	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		46	17	8	25	30		20	2	3	5	6
1990–91	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		73	20	20	40	34		18	3	6	9	25
1991–92	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		68	11	18	29	62		15	1	3	4	10
1992–93	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		65	11	12	23	30		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	Quebec Nordiques	NHL		31	6	6	12	8		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		33	8	8	16	26		24	5	4	9	14
1994–95	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		46	13	10	23	36		3	0	1	1	0
1995–96	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		81	30	26	56	59		6	1	1	2	12
1996–97	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		74	35	33	68	42		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		24	4	4	8	10		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		40	12	14	26	30		—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		76	13	15	28	67		6	0	3	3	2
1999–00	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		81	14	16	30	40		—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		79	23	29	52	59		6	0	1	1	6
2001–02	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		72	13	16	29	30		23	3	4	7	10
2002–03	Calgary Flames	NHL		81	21	31	52	51		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Calgary Flames	NHL		76	17	18	35	70		26	8	7	15	35
2004–05	HC Lugano	Swiss A		1	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2004–05	HC Forward-Morges SA	Swiss B		41	38	23	61	81		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Florida Panthers	NHL		82	17	24	41	80		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Florida Panthers	NHL		82	14	30	44	36		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	Nashville Predators	NHL		57	9	11	20	20		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				1273	309	351	660	820		147	23	33	56	120

International play

• 1988 - Played for Canada in World Junior Championships
• 1998 - Played for Canada in World Championships

See also

• List of NHL players with 1000 games played

External links

• Martin Gélinas's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Wayne McBean

Los Angeles Kings first round draft pick 1988

Succeeded by Darryl Sydor

Persondata
Name	Gelinas, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 5, 1970
Place of birth	Shawinigan, QC, CAN
Date of death
Place of death