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Marc Savard
MSavard
Born July 17, 1977 (1977-07-17) (age 46)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 191 lb (87 kg; 13 st 9 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Calgary Flames
Atlanta Thrashers
NHL Draft 91st overall, 1995
New York Rangers
Playing career 1997–present

Marc Savard (born on July 17, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre currently under contract to the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He has previously played for the New York Rangers (by whom he was originally drafted in 1995), Calgary Flames and the Atlanta Thrashers.

Marc has not played since late in the 2010-11 NHL season because of post-concussion syndrome.

Playing Career

Early Career (1993-1999)

Marc played major junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Oshawa Generals, beginning in 1993–94.

After his second season with the Generals, in which he scored a league-leading 139 points, he was selected 91st overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers.

Marc continued to play in the OHL for two more seasons and earned his second Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as league leading scorer in 1996–97 with 130 points.

He then added 27 points in 15 playoff games, guiding the Generals to the 1997 J. Ross Robertson Cup and an appearance in the 1997 Memorial Cup.

In 1997–98, Marc was assigned by the Rangers to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack.

He put up 74 points with Hartford while being called up to play in 28 games for the Rangers in his rookie professional campaign.

The following season, Marc earned an expanded role with the Rangers and recorded 45 points in 70 games.

Calgary Flames (1999-2002)

On June 26, 1999, Marc was traded to the Calgary Flames along with the Rangers' first-round choice (Oleg Saprykin) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft for the rights of Jan Hlavac and Calgary's first (Jamie Lundmark) & third (which was later traded back to Calgary who selected Craig Andersson) round choices in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

He continued to improve with the Flames and in 2000–01, he finished second in team scoring to Jarome Iginla with 65 points.

Atlanta Thrashers (2002-2006)

On November 15, 2002 (shortly after he started his fourth season with the Calgary Flames), Marc was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for Ruslan Zainullin.

Playing with superstar wingers Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk, he became a point-per-game player and recorded 52 points in 45 games during an injury shortened 2003–04 season.

Due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Marc played in the Swiss hockey leagues on teams such as HC Thurgau of Nationalliga B and SC Bern of Nationalliga briefly.

When NHL play resumed the following season, he emerged as a top talent in the NHL with a career-high 97 points which was good for ninth overall in the league.

Boston Bruins (2006-current)

Concussion

On March 7, 2010, Marc suffered from a Grade 2 concussion in the 3rd period of the Bruins game against the Pittsburgh Penguins after taking a hit to the head from Matt Cooke.

The on-ice officials did not penalize Cooke for the hit. On March 10, 2010, Colin Campbell declared that the league would not suspend or fine Matt Cooke.

The hit and its aftermath were part of the key evidence that caused NHL to institute a new rule that more heavily penalized blindside hits.

Marc was not taken to a hospital following the incident, but stayed behind at a Pittsburgh hotel for the night before returning to Boston the following day.

He recovered enough to be cleared to play for the 2010 postseason against the Philadelphia Flyers after their victory against the Buffalo Sabres.

Marc scored the winning goal in overtime in the Bruins Game 1 win of the series.

On January 23, 2011, he then suffered a second concussion on a hit by former Bruin Matt Hunwick in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.

On February 8, 2011, the Bruins opted to shut him down for the season after he received his second concussion in ten months.

The Bruins went on to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.

Due to recurring symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, Marc was not able to travel to Vancouver to take part in the on-ice victory celebration with his teammates, but he was able to join them back in Boston for the official victory parade

Despite his not having played the required number of games for his name to be automatically included in the Stanley Cup engraving, the Bruins petitioned the league to include Marc's name on the Cup, along with teammate Steven Kampfer.

On August 1, 2011, Marc enjoyed his personal day with the Stanley Cup on August 1, 2011, in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario. At that time, he announced that he was still suffering the effects of his injury.

On September 12, 2011, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced that his name would be included on the Stanley Cup as he had missed games only because of injury.

On August 31, 2011, it was announced that he had been shut down for the 2011–12 season by GM Peter Chiarelli.

Chiarelli was quoted as saying:

"Based on what I see, what I hear, what I read, and what I'm told, it's very unlikely Marc will play again."

As of the 2013–14 season, Marc has not played since his concussion.

Career Statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1992–93 Metcalfe Jets OJHL-B 36 44 55 99 38
1993–94 Oshawa Generals OHL 61 18 39 57 24 5 4 3 7 8
1994–95 Oshawa Generals OHL 66 43 96 139 78 7 5 6 11 8
1995–96 Oshawa Generals OHL 47 28 59 87 77 5 4 5 9 6
1996–97 Oshawa Generals OHL 64 43 87 130 94 18 13 24 37 20
1997–98 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 58 21 53 74 66 15 8 19 27 24
1997–98 New York Rangers NHL 28 1 5 6 4
1998–99 New York Rangers NHL 70 9 36 45 38
1998–99 Hartford Wolfpack AHL 9 3 10 13 16 7 1 12 13 16
1999–00 Calgary Flames NHL 78 22 31 53 56
2000–01 Calgary Flames NHL 77 23 42 65 46
2001–02 Calgary Flames NHL 56 14 19 33 48
2002–03 Calgary Flames NHL 10 1 2 3 8
2002–03 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 57 16 31 47 77
2003–04 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 45 19 33 52 85
2004–05 SC Bern Swiss-A 5 1 2 3 0
2004–05 HC Thurgau Swiss-B 13 9 19 28 10
2005–06 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 28 69 97 100
2006–07 Boston Bruins NHL 82 22 74 96 96
2007–08 Boston Bruins NHL 74 15 63 78 66 7 1 5 6 6
2008–09 Boston Bruins NHL 82 25 63 88 70 11 6 7 13 4
2009–10 Boston Bruins NHL 41 10 23 33 14 7 1 2 3 12
2010–11 Boston Bruins NHL 25 2 8 10 29
NHL totals 807 207 499 706 737 25 8 14 22 22

Awards & Achievements

  • Won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy (OHL top scorer) in 1995 and 1997
  • Won the CHL Top Scorer Award in 1995
  • Named the NHL Offensive Player of the Week for October 5–8, 2005
  • Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2008 and 2009
  • Won the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Records

  • Oshawa Generals franchise all-time points leader - 413 points in 238 games (1993–94 to 1996–97)
  • Atlanta Thrashers franchise record for most single-season assists (69 in 2005–06)
  • Atlanta Thrashers franchise record for most assists in consecutive games (7 in 2 games) (November 11–12, 2005)

Personal Life

During the offseason, Marc qualified for the 2007 Royal Canadian Golf Association's Canadian Men's Mid-Amateur Golf Championship.

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