About Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin (born October 29, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and team captain for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). In his youth, Potvin excelled for the Ottawa 67's for his play that saw him touted as the potential next Bobby Orr. Potvin was drafted as the first-overall pick by the Islanders in 1973. He would play all fifteen seasons in the NHL with the Islanders. In his first season with the team, Potvin won the Calder Memorial Trophy for his rookie play, the first Islander to win a major award. In the 1977–78 season, he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy for his defensive play, an award he would win two further times in his career. He served as captain of the team from 1979 to 1987 and led the team to the Stanley Cup championship in four consecutive years from 1980 to 1983. A reliable presence for the Islanders in physicality and his slap shot, he passed Orr for most goals as a defenceman and became the first player in his position to score 300 goals in NHL history, doing so in his final season in 1988. In over 1,000 games as a player, he recorded 310 goals and 742 assists for a total of 1,052 points, with each category being the most for a defenceman in NHL history when he retired. In 1991, alongside his teammate, Mike Bossy, he was among the first Islanders to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was the first Islander to have his jersey retired by the team in February 1992. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history. After his playing career ended, he served as a commentator, starting with SportsChannel America from 1988 to 1993. He was the first color commentator for the Florida Panthers in 1993 until 2009. He became the commentator for television broadcasts of the Ottawa Senators on Sportsnet from 2010 to 2014 before he was re-hired by the Panthers, where he worked until he retired as a broadcaster in 2019. The latter was his best offensive season, when he scored 31 goals and 70 assists in only 73 games, becoming the second defenceman (Orr being the first) to score 100 points in a season. After a stellar junior hockey career with the Ottawa 67s, Potvin was drafted first overall in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft on May 15, 1973, by the struggling expansion New York Islanders. He also won the Norris Trophy in 1977–78 and 1978–79. Potvin is also a three-time James Norris Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL's top defenceman. Potvin is the former color commentator for the Florida Panthers.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.