Joe Sakic

Center, Colorado Avalanche

Career Highlights:  Captain of the Colorado Avalanche and considered one of the NHL’s most talented players, Joe Sakic is known for having won two Stanley Cups, various NHL trophies and being named to play in 13 NHL All-Star Games, as well as being one of the strongest team leaders in the game of hockey…He completed his 19^th NHL season, all with the Avalanche, and served as team captain for the 15^th consecutive season (16^th overall), the longest active streak in the league…He currently is the league leader for both assists and points and ranks third in goals…Sakic is the eighth all-time NHL points leader (1,629), as well as14th in all-time goals (623) and 11^th in all-time assists (1,006) …One of the most productive forwards in the game, Sakic twice scored 50 goals and earned at least 100 points in six different seasons…He was honored with the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs in helping Colorado to the NHL title that season…When the Avs won the Cup again in 2001, Sakic was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL’s MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award as league MVP in a vote of his fellow players and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for gentlemanly conduct...He served as captain of the 2006 Canadian Olympic hockey team…Sakic scored two goals and added two assists in Team Canada’s win over Team USA in the gold medal game of the 2002 Winter Olympics… Sakic was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the first round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft with the 15^th overall pick…The Nordiques were sold in 1995 and moved to Denver and were renamed the Colorado Avalanche… Sakic has been the Avs only team captain…He grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, where there is a street named “Joe Sakic Way”…Along with his wife Debbie, hosts the Joe Sakic Celebrity Classic and the Joe and Debbie Sakic Celebrity Bash, annual events benefiting the Food Bank of the Rockies…His charity work earned him an NHL Foundation Player Award in 2007.

Updated: May, 2008
Courtesy NBC