Pierre Turgeon ready for new challenge in L.A.
Former high-scoring centre joins Kings as the club’s first ‘offensive co-ordinator’
Former Canadiens captain Pierre Turgeon is ready to start a new chapter in his life.
Turgeon, who was the No. 1 overall pick by Buffalo at the 1987 NHL draft, retired 10 years ago after playing 1,294 career regular-season games with the Sabres, New York Islanders, Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
After hanging up his skates following the 2006-07 season, Turgeon settled in Colorado with his wife Elisabeth and their four children: twin daughters Elizabeth and Alexandra, son Dominic and youngest daughter Valerie. His No. 1 priority was to spend more time with his family and also coach his kids in youth hockey.
“During my career it was all about me and you miss so much (as a father),” Turgeon said during a phone interview Wednesday from Colorado. “So it was nice to spend some time with them and be around hockey at a different level. It was fun”
But tragedy struck the Turgeon family on Dec. 23, 2010, when Elizabeth was killed in a car accident in New Mexico at age 18. She had been part of a Team USA squad that won the under-16 world hockey championship and was a freshman at the University of Minnesota when she died.
No family can ever fully recover from such a tragedy, but life does go on.
Alexandra played volleyball at the University of Denver, Dominic was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the third round (63rd overall) at the 2014 NHL draft and spent last season with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, while Valerie — the youngest at 19 — plays for the women’s hockey team at Harvard University.
With his children all grown up, it’s time for Turgeon to take on a new challenge as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings. Club president Luc Robitaille announced Monday that Turgeon will become the first “offensive co-ordinator” in Kings history. After scoring 515 goals and adding 812 assists as a player in the NHL, it’s safe to say Turgeon knows a thing or two about offence — but his only coaching experience has been with his kids.
Turgeon, 47, never applied for the job with the Kings, instead receiving a call from Robitaille about a month and a half ago asking if he’d be interested in the position under a new coaching staff headed by John Stevens, who took over from Darryl Sutter. The Kings missed the playoffs last season after ranking 24th in the NHL in scoring with an average of 2.43 goals per game.
“I talked to my wife and she said, ‘Yeah, it would be a new chapter in our life and it would be a lot of fun,’ ” Turgeon said. “I think I can help them create some different scoring chances by bringing new ideas. I’m going to go there and share my experience. Hopefully I can help them create a couple more scoring chances during a game and hopefully one goal that might make the difference. To win a hockey game, you don’t need 10 goals. It’s a great challenge and something I feel very comfortable with. It will be a lot of fun.”
Fun might not be the best word to describe Turgeon’s stint with the Canadiens, which lasted only a year and a half after he was acquired from the Islanders on April 5, 1995, along with Vladimir Malakhov in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby.
Head coach Jacques Demers and GM Serge Savard were fired only four games into the 1995-96 season after missing the playoffs the previous year. Two months later, new GM Réjean Houle made the infamous trade that sent Patrick Roy and captain Mike Keane to Colorado, putting the “C” on Turgeon’s jersey. That was the same season the Canadiens played their final game at the old Forum and their first at the new Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre).
When asked what the highlight was of his time with the Canadiens, Turgeon responded: “It’s still closing the Forum ... no doubt about that. I was part of history with the Montreal Canadiens. That memory will always be there, which is very cool having grown up in Rouyn-Noranda and watching the Montreal Canadiens and then being a part of it. Having that torch, looking around at who was on the ice and the standing ovation for Maurice (Richard). Everything about that was just an amazing night.
“For me, it’s just being in the right place at the right time. I was there for just over a year, but a lot happened in that time.”
On Oct. 29, 1996, Houle traded Turgeon, along with Craig Conroy and Rory Fitzpatrick, to the Blues in exchange for Shayne Corson, Murray Baron and a fifth-round draft pick (Gennady Razin). Turgeon would score at least 22 goals in each of the next five seasons with the Blues, hitting the 30-goal mark twice.
He was the kind of centre the Canadiens could really use today.
“I loved my time in Montreal, I loved playing for the Montreal Canadiens,” Turgeon said. “I was very proud of it.”
Now he’s on to a new life in Los Angeles.
Bonne chance, Pierre.