Pierre Julien Turgeon (TUHR-zhawn, ; born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1987 NHL entry draft, Turgeon played in the NHL for the Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. He is the younger brother of former NHL player Sylvain Turgeon.
A productive scorer that utilized the ice over nineteen seasons, Turgeon recorded thirteen consecutive 20-goal seasons from 1988 to 2001 and recorded over 500 goals and 800 assists in over 1,200 games as a player. He was awarded the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for his sportsmanship in 1993 and was named to the NHL All-Star Game on five occasions. He was the 34th player to have scored 500 goals, doing so in 2005. Turgeon was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 13, 2023.
Early life Turgeon was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
Turgeon represented Canada in the Little League World Series in 1982 for his hometown along with future NHLer Stéphane Matteau; at 11 years old, Turgeon was already 5'11 and 185 pounds. Turgeon served as pitcher as the team advanced to the semifinals, where they faced Taiwan, which had won 30 straight games. Five outs away from the championship game, Taiwan rallied and defeated Canada 10-7. In 2007, Turgeon was inducted into the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum's Hall of Excellence as the first Canadian and first NHLer to be inducted (with his subsequent induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Turgeon became the first and so far only member of both the Hall of Excellence and the Hockey Hall of Fame). While Turgeon gave up baseball at the age of 14, he noted his fond pride at having played in the Little League World Series, which saw thousands of people greeting the team when they arrived back to Canada.
Following in the footsteps of his older brother Sylvain, Turgeon played for the midget hockey team Bourassa Angevins in the 1984–85 season. He was the league's top scorer among 15-year-old players with 49 goals and 52 assists. In 1985, Turgeon was selected as the first overall pick by the Granby Bisons in the 1985 Entry Draft of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In his first season, he won the Michel Bergeron Trophy for best offensive play for a rookie. His second season saw him win the Michael Bossy Trophy, as awarded to the player judged to be the best professional prospect. With 69 goals and 85 assists in 58 games, he helped the Bisons win the Jean Rougeau Trophy for the best regular season record in the league. In 127 career games for the Bisons, he scored 116 goals with 152 assists for 268 total points for an average of over two points per game. He was inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame in 2008.
Turgeon was a member of Canada's team that was involved in the "Punch-up in Piestany", a bench-clearing brawl between Canada and the Soviet Union during the final game of the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) on January 4, 1987. He was the only Canadian who did not initially leave the bench until Canadian head coach Bert Templeton convinced him to go on the ice. Many of his teammates never forgave Turgeon for failing to defend his teammates. In the words of Everett Sanipass: "I'm looking for someone to help (Stéphane) Roy out and I look over at the bench. There's this dog Turgeon, just sitting there, with his head down. He wouldn't get his ass off the bench ... just sitting there when everyone's off the Soviet bench and at least one of our guys is in real trouble getting double-teamed." Regarding not leaving the bench, Turgeon stated in 2017: "that wasn't my job. I didn't have to fight." Two other players for Canada in forward Steve Nemeth and goalie Jimmy Waite also did not throw a punch. Turgeon was one of numerous players that wound up being stars in the National Hockey League, which included Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Mogilny, and Brendan Shanahan, with each later being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In the lead-up up to the 1987 draft in the fall of 1986, he was speculated to be a "sure bet" to be a first-round pick. He was described by staff member (and former NHLer) André Boudrias of the Montreal Canadiens as "a mix of Wayne Gretzky and Jean Ratelle" with how he could beat a player with his intelligence. While Turgeon was with the Bisons, he stayed with Glen Brislan and his family in their home on the outskirts of Granby while finishing high school and learning to speak further in English.
Playing career Buffalo Sabres
Leading up to the 1987 NHL entry draft, Turgeon was confident that he would be selected as the first overall pick, with the league's Central Scouting Bureau ranking him as the number one prospect, ahead of Brendan Shanahan. On June 13, he was selected as the first overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres, the first overall pick selected by the team since Gilbert Perreault in 1970 (the Devils, with the second pick, picked Shanahan). Turgeon was the fourth QMJHL player to be selected first overall in the draft. With the prior selection of his brother Sylvain as the second pick in the 1983 draft, the Turgeons became the highest drafted siblings in NHL history. Rick Jeanneret, play-by-play announcer for the Sabres, coined the phrase "Ooh-la-la Pierre" for Turgeon. On October 21, 1987, he scored his first NHL goal against the Hartford Whalers.
Turgeon would quickly make an impact with the Sabres once he arrived. In his rookie season, he contributed a respectable 42 points (14 goals, 28 assists) during the 1987–88 season, helping the Sabres reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in three years. In his first postseason appearance as a player, he recorded four goals and three assists as the Sabres were eliminated in six games in the first round.
His production increased to 88 points (34 goals and 54 assists) for the 1988–89 season as he quickly became a fan favourite. In the 1989–90 season, he became a star by scoring 106 points (40 goals and 66 assists) and playing in the 1990 NHL All-Star Game. He was only the fourth Sabre to record a 100-point season in team history. Turgeon's production dipped a little bit in the 1990–91 season to 79 points (32 goals and 47 assists), but he was still a solid performer. Playoff success eluded the Sabres in Turgeon's time with the team, as they were eliminated in the first round each time that he played with them. In eight games played in the season, he led the team in scoring with two goals and six assists for Buffalo before being traded.
New York Islanders On October 25, 1991, after playing just eight games for the Sabres into the season, Turgeon was traded (along with Benoît Hogue, Uwe Krupp and Dave McLlwain) to the New York Islanders in exchange for Pat LaFontaine, Randy Wood, Randy Hillier and future considerations. Turgeon excelled with the Islanders as the season moved along, which saw him record a point in eighteen consecutive games (January 11 to February 22, 1992) with seventeen goals and assists each; his point streak ranks third for an Islander and no player has matched him since. In 77 total games, Turgeon had 40 goals with 55 assists for 95 total points.
Turgeon's best season as an Islander came with the season, where he scored 58 goals and 132 points, both being career highs. He recorded a point in 70 games, a mark eclipsed by only eleven other players for a single season. His 132 points rank as third-highest in team history for a season and he ranks as the last Islander to record 100 points in a season and last Islander to record 50 goals in a season. He helped lead the Islanders to a magical run in the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs, which notably saw the team upset the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The first round series, which the Islanders won in six games over the Washington Capitals, is infamous for an on-ice incident. After scoring a goal to put the Islanders up 5-1 during game six at Nassau Coliseum, Turgeon was checked from behind by Dale Hunter of the Capitals as he celebrated his goal. Turgeon suffered a separated shoulder and missed the first six games of the ensuing series against the Penguins. Hunter received a then-record 21-game suspension the next season for the hit. Turgeon was surprised about the attack by Hunter, who called him three days later and apparently told Turgeon that he "didn't even see that I scored". Prior to Game 7, Turgeon told head coach Al Arbour to dress him for the game, stating that while he was not good to play, he just wanted to be on the bench. When the game went into double-overtime, Arbour asked if Turgeon could handle a shift, which he responded by saying yes; not too long afterwards, the Islanders pulled off the upset with a goal by David Volek. In the Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens, Turgeon missed Game 1 but tallied five points in four games as Montreal (who won two of the games in overtime) defeated the Islanders in five games before winning the Stanley Cup later that month. Turgeon did not hold a grudge against Hunter, even wishing him well when Hunter was hired as head coach of the Washington Capitals in 2011.
On June 17, 1993, Turgeon was awarded the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for his "best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability", doing so over fellow finalists Adam Oates and Pat LaFontaine. He recorded 38 goals with 56 assists in the season for the Islanders that saw him named to the All-Star Game and finish third in voting for the Byng Trophy. He closed his Islander career with the team being swept in four games that saw him log one assist.
In 255 regular season games for the Islanders, Turgeon recorded 340 points.
Islanders teammate Steve Thomas was once quoted as stating, “Pierre is different from most superstars. He doesn’t know how good he is, so when I have the chance, I remind him.” General manager Bill Torrey remarked no regret at the move to acquire Turgeon, stating, "Pierre was a pleasure to watch, whether you were looking for a big goal or for someone -- meaning him -- to set up a key score. I was glad we were able to get him when we did. I had to give up talent to get talent but the important thing was that the time had come for me to change the team's look."
Montreal Canadiens Following the 1994–95 NHL lockout in which the 1994–95 season was limited to 48 games. With the Islanders having won just ten of its first 34 games, general manager Don Maloney (in a move speculated to try and keep his job), decided to rebuild the team, which included trading Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby at the trading deadline on April 5, 1995. Reportedly, Canadiens GM Serge Savard made the move for Turgeon when plans to acquire Joe Nieuwendyk from the Calgary Flames did not work out (as it turned out, Nieuwendyk, a future Hall of Fame member himself, was traded the following season, albeit not to Montreal). Savard hoped that the trade would help the play of Vincent Damphousse and Mark Recchi. In his first fifteen games, Turgeon had eleven goals and nine assists (with his first game seeing him score the tying goal and assisting the game-winner against Quebec) but the Canadiens finished a mere 18–23–7 and missed the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Four games into the season, with the Canadiens winless, Savard and head coach Jacques Demers were fired by the team. Réjean Houle was hired to be the general manager while Mario Tremblay was hired to coach the team and the latter immediately came into conflict with star player Patrick Roy, and Turgeon sensed that it was not going to work out between the two of them in an instant, particularly since he was Roy's neighbour that drove with him to the rink each day.