Marc-Andre Bergeron

Marc-Andre Bergeron (born October 13, 1980) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently under contract with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A (NLA).

Known in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a power play specialist, more than half of his career goals and points came on the man-advantage.

Marc-Andre is well known more for his impressive slapshot than his defensive abilities.

Playing Career
On July 20, 2001, Marc-Andre was signed as a free agent by the Edmonton Oilers. The fast-skating defenceman, with a penchant for end-to-end rushes, reminded some of former Oiler great Paul Coffey.

His popularity with Edmonton fans was cemented during the 2003 NHL playoffs when he sent Dallas Stars' Brenden Morrow head-over-heels with an open-ice hip check.

On January 23, 2005, he was signed as a free agent by Galve in Sweden. At the Edmonton Oilers skills competition on November 26, 2006, Marc-Andre recorded his second straight victory in the hardest shot competition with a puck speed of 103.5 mph (approximately 165 km/h).

While still with the Oilers, near the end of game one of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, he tried to steer Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrew Ladd wide of the net, however, the two of them piled into Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson causing him to be injured for the rest of the Finals.

The Oilers managed to re-group without Roloson, but they ultimately fell to the Hurricanes during game seven of the series.

On February 18, 2007, Marc-Andre was traded to the New York Islanders along with Edmonton's third-round choice (which was later traded back to Edmonton and later traded to Anaheim & later traded back to the Islanders who selected Kirill Petrov) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for Denis Grebeshkov.

On February 26, 2008, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Edmonton's third-round choice (that was previously acquired by the Islanders who selected Kirill Petrov) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

On June 10, 2008, Marc-Andre was traded to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Minnesota's third-round choice (Brandon McMillan) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

On October 6, 2009, he was signed to a one-year contract (worth $75,000 US) with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent after star defenceman Andrei Markov was injured.

Marc-Andre proved to be a valuable component to the Canadiens, playing forward on the fourth line as well as defence on power plays.

However, he did suffer a long scoring slump between December 31, 2009 until March 31, 2010. When Marc-Andre became a free agent on July 1, 2010, the Canadiens did not re-sign him.

On January 4, 2011, Marc-Andre was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Lightning and assigned to the Norfolk Admirals of American Hockey League where he recorded two goals and eight points in 13 games.

He was recalled to the Lightning on February 5th and spent the remainder of the season in Tampa Bay, appeared in 23 games with the Lightning last season, recording two goals and eight points including one game-winning goal.

Marc-Andre recorded two assists in his Lightning debut on February 6th against the St. Louis Blues and became the third player in franchise history to score his first Lightning goal in overtime (Millar, Gagne) on February 12th versus Carolina.

Marc-Andre became a fan-favourite and helped the team reach the Eastern Conference Finals, against the Boston Bruins.

On June 28, 2011, he was re-signed to a two-year, one-way contract worth $2,000,000.

On April 2, 2013, Marc-Andre was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Adam Hall and Carolina's seventh-round choice (Joel Vermin) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

On July 19, 2013, he left the NHL as a free agent and signed to a three-year contract with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss NLA.