Matthieu Descoteaux is a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 defenceman

Defenceman (ice hockey)

Defence in ice hockey is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring...

. Selected in the first round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft

1996 NHL Entry Draft

The 1996 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1996.- Selections by round :Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise noted.- Round one :- Round two :...

, 19th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

, Descoteaux played only five games at the NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 level, all with the Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

, and is widely viewed as a terrible first-round selection.

Descoteaux spent the majority of his career in the AHL

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

, and also had spells in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He last played in the Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey

Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey

The Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey was founded in 2004 and is a low-level professional league based in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was called the Quebec Semi-Pro Hockey League from 1996 until it turned pro in 2004...

 for the Thetford Mines Isothermic.

Transactions

• March 9, 2000 - Descoteaux traded from Edmonton to Montreal with Christian Laflamme
  Christian Laflamme
  Christian Laflamme is a former professional ice hockey defenceman. Laflamme was selected in the second round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 45th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks, after a successful junior career in the QMJHL....
  
   in exchange for Igor Ulanov
  Igor Ulanov
  Igor S. Ulanov is a former National Hockey League defenceman. Ulanov was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the tenth round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft...
  
   and Alain Nasreddine
  Alain Nasreddine
  Alain Nasreddine is a Canadian former professional ice hockey Defenseman who played in the National Hockey League...
  
  .

External links