Introduction
Pierre-Marc Bouchard (born April 27, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who last played for EV Zug of the National League A (NLA). Bouchard played his junior hockey with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and is the older brother of Austrian Hockey League player François Bouchard. Bouchard was selected eighth overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild and has also featured in the National Hockey League with the New York Islanders.
Playing career
Pierre-Marc Bouchard appeared in professional play for the first time in the 2002–2003 NHL season in which he posted 7 goals and 13 assists for a total of 20 points in 50 games for the Minnesota Wild, which has been regarded as decent by NHL standards. During the 2004–2005 NHL lockout, Bouchard played for the Wild's minor league team, the Houston Aeros. Within this time period, Bouchard vastly improved his game. This was proved in the 2005–2006 season while he posted 17 goals and 42 assists for a total of 59 points in 80 games.
Bouchard is regarded as a creative playmaker and strong team player who often attempts unorthodox techniques during play. An example of one of these techniques was performed during an overtime shootout attempt in which he converted by utilizing a variation of a spin-o-rama against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. He repeated this move several years later, again against Khabibulin, though he did so during regulation play on a breakaway, rather than during an overtime shootout attempt. Bouchard later credited the move to his younger brother François Bouchard.
On July 25, 2008, Bouchard signed a five-year, $20.4 million deal with the Minnesota Wild. After suffering a hit to the head late in the 2008-09 season, Bouchard missed the rest of that season and all but the season opener of the 2009-10 season with post-concussion syndrome. Bouchard resumed play on December 1, 2010, against the Phoenix Coyotes after a 13-month absence, having missed 112 games. Bouchard scored a goal in his second game back, a loss to the Calgary Flames by a score of 3-2 in a shootout.
On July 5, 2013, Bouchard signed a one-year, $2.0 million deal with the New York Islanders. He was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks along with Peter Regin on February 6, 2014 in exchange for a 2014 fourth-round draft pick and assigned to the Blackhawk's American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
On July 8, 2014, Bouchard signed a one-year contract with Swiss club, EV Zug of the Swiss NLA. The contract also included an NHL out clause if he could reach a deal with a club prior to July 15. In his debut season with Zug in 2014–15, Bouchard's transition was seamless in producing as their top line centre with 51 points in 49 games. On December 23, 2014, Bouchard was signed to a two-year contract extension with Zug. Team captains and coaches of the NLA teams voted Bouchard MVP of the 2015-16 regular season.
On March 18, 2016, he announced his retirement from professional hockey after having played 2 years in the NLA. Bouchard, who missed more than a year with concussions during his career, commented on his decision, saying that he did not want to risk any further health issues.
Awards
- 2001–02 CHL Player of the Year.
- 2003–04 NHL YoungStars Game
- 2015-16 NLA MVP of the regular season
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2000–01 | Chicoutimi Saguenéens | QMJHL | 67 | 38 | 57 | 95 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | Chicoutimi Saguenéens | QMJHL | 69 | 46 | 94 | 140 | 54 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 2002–03 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 50 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2003–04 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 61 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004–05 | Houston Aeros | AHL | 67 | 12 | 42 | 54 | 46 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2005–06 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 80 | 17 | 42 | 59 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006–07 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 82 | 20 | 37 | 57 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 81 | 13 | 50 | 63 | 34 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2008–09 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 71 | 16 | 30 | 46 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 59 | 12 | 26 | 38 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 37 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Minnesota Wild | NHL | 43 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14 | New York Islanders | NHL | 28 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | Bridgeport Sound Tigers | AHL | 20 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | Rockford IceHogs | AHL | 24 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2014–15 | EV Zug | NLA | 49 | 17 | 34 | 51 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| NHL totals | 593 | 110 | 246 | 356 | 190 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Canada Quebec | U17 | 5th | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2002 | Canada | U18 | 6th | 8 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | |
| 2003 | Canada | WJC |  | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| Junior totals | 18 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 20 | ||||