Kelly Hrudey

Kelly Hrudey
Hrudey in 2006
Born (1961-01-13) January 13, 1961 (age 62)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for New York Islanders
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 38th overall, 1980
New York Islanders
Playing career 1981–1998

Kelly Hrudey (/ˈruːdi/; born January 13, 1961) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. He is a current hockey broadcaster with Sportsnet as an analyst for Hockey Night in Canada and the Calgary Flames as a commentator. During his playing career, Hrudey played in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks from 1983 to 1998.

Playing career

Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with the Western Hockey League Medicine Hat Tigers. He was drafted in the second round (38th overall) of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders. Hrudey first played for the Indianapolis Checkers, New York's minor league affiliate, and moved to the main club in the 1984–85 season.

New York Islanders

With Hall of Famer Billy Smith entrenched in the Islanders net, Hrudey managed to begin splitting the goaltending duties starting in 1984-85, his first full season with the club. Hrudey's arrival allowed the Islanders to trade goaltender Rollie Melanson to the Minnesota North Stars for a first round pick. Each season Hrudey's games played slowly crept up but he didn't fully eclipse the veteran Smith until the 1987 playoffs when he truly made a name for himself.

He was the Islanders' goaltender on April 18th, 1987, in Game 7 of the Islanders first round playoff series when they defeated the Washington Capitals in the longest game in club history, a four-overtime Game 7 thriller known as the "Easter Epic", which was won on a goal by Pat LaFontaine after 68:47 of overtime. Hrudey made 73 saves in a 3–2 Islander victory that ended just before 2am on Easter morning. Hrudey’s 73 saves in a single game stood as a modern NHL record until Joonas Korpisalo’s 85-save performance for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Tampa Bay Lightning 33 years later.

Later in 1987, he was the third string goaltender on Team Canada during the 1987 Canada Cup, but did not appear in a game.

Despite finishing in the top five in Vezina Trophy voting as the leagues top goaltender in two of his final three seasons in New York, Hrudey was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1989.

Los Angeles Kings

Hrudey was initially angry about the deal, because he had always dreamt of playing his career with one club, but he quickly adjusted and became and important part of the Gretzky-era Los Angeles Kings. Since his number #30 was retired by the Kings in honor of Rogie Vachon, Hrudey would switch to number #32 which he would wear for the rest of his career. His most notable achievement was playing in the 1993 Stanley Cup finals, but the team lost to Patrick Roy's Montreal Canadiens. The Kings used a first round draft pick in 1994 to select goalie Jamie Storr and with him projected as the Kings goaltender of the future, they let Hrudey test free agency when his contract ended. While it was time for him to move on, Hrudey really appreciated his time with the Kings. "It was maybe the best eight years of my life playing hockey. I loved the management and the ownership. Just a wonderful place to spend eight seasons."

San Jose Sharks

In 1996, in what Hrudey called "a pretty easy decision," he signed a two year deal with the San Jose Sharks. Hrudey served as the Sharks starting goaltender for the 1996-97 season until late January when the club traded for All-Star Ed Belfour. With Belfour on the roster, Hrudey was pushed into the backup role. Belfour left as a free agent at the end of the season, but the Sharks acquired another veteran in Mike Vernon and once again Hrudey played a support role making 28 appearances but managing just four wins. Hrudey retired at seasons end and announced he would be moving into a new career as a broadcaster joining CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

Broadcasting career

During the latter years of his playing career, he often joined Hockey Night in Canada as a studio analyst to supplement their playoff coverage if his team missed or was eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. After retiring, he joined the show full-time as a studio analyst when not washing cars and flipping burgers. He was featured in the "Behind the Mask" segment with hosts Scott Russell and later Scott Oake during the first intermission of the second game of Saturday night doubleheaders. In 2007, Hrudey helped debut Hockey Night in Canada Radio. The show originating from Toronto with host Jeff Marek is a three-hour program dedicated to hockey. The show is broadcast on Sirius XM Channel 122 and 97. Hrudey co-hosts Monday and Wednesday from his home studio in Calgary. For the 2008–09 season, he began working alongside host Ron MacLean and Elliotte Friedman on HNIC's lead studio team.

Hrudey also made a weekly appearance on the TSN 1040 in Vancouver with Rick Ball.

With Rogers Media, the parent company of Sportsnet, gaining the sole national rights to the NHL beginning in the 2014-15 season, in August 2014, Hrudey joined Sportsnet full time to participate in their hockey coverage. In addition to his HNIC role (which remains on CBC as part of a four year sub-licensing deal), he along with Ball became the new announcers for the Calgary Flames regional broadcasts.

Personal life

Hrudey lives with his wife Donna and their three daughters in Alberta. Hrudey does advocacy work in the field of mental health, inspired in part by his daughter's struggles with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He received an honorary degree from Mount Royal University on November 3, 2017 for his mental health advocacy efforts. He is of Ukrainian origin. He has a dog named Kingston.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1978–79 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 57 12 34 7 3093 318 0 6.17
1979–80 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 57 25 23 4 3049 212 1 4.17 .899 13 6 6 638 48 0 4.51
1980–81 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 55 32 19 1 3023 200 4 3.97 .895 4 1 3 244 17 0 4.18
1980–81 Indianapolis Checkers CHL 2 135 8 0 3.56
1981–82 Indianapolis Checkers CHL 51 27 19 4 3033 149 1 2.95 .900 13 11 2 842 34 1 2.42
1982–83 Indianapolis Checkers CHL 47 26 17 1 2744 139 2 3.04 .894 10 7 3 637 28 0 2.64
1983–84 New York Islanders NHL 12 7 2 0 535 28 0 3.14 .903
1983–84 Indianapolis Checkers CHL 6 3 2 1 370 21 0 3.40
1984–85 New York Islanders NHL 41 19 17 3 2335 141 2 3.62 .886 5 1 3 281 8 0 1.71 .946
1985–86 New York Islanders NHL 45 19 15 8 2563 137 1 3.21 .906 2 0 2 120 6 0 3.00 .898
1986–87 New York Islanders NHL 46 21 15 7 2634 145 0 3.30 .881 14 7 7 842 38 0 2.71 .918
1987–88 New York Islanders NHL 47 22 17 5 2751 153 3 3.34 .896 6 2 4 380 23 0 3.62 .851
1988–89 New York Islanders NHL 50 18 24 3 2800 183 0 3.92 .874
1988–89 Los Angeles Kings NHL 16 10 4 2 974 47 1 2.90 .904 10 4 6 566 35 0 3.71 .881
1989–90 Los Angeles Kings NHL 52 22 21 6 2860 194 2 4.07 .873 9 4 4 539 39 0 3.62 .853
1990–91 Los Angeles Kings NHL 47 26 13 6 2730 132 3 2.90 .900 12 6 6 798 37 0 2.78 .903
1991–92 Los Angeles Kings NHL 60 27 17 13 3509 197 1 3.37 .897 6 2 4 355 22 0 3.72 .877
1992–93 Los Angeles Kings NHL 50 18 21 6 2718 175 2 3.86 .897 20 10 10 1261 74 0 3.52 .887
1993–94 Los Angeles Kings NHL 64 22 31 7 3713 228 1 3.68 .897
1994–95 Los Angeles Kings NHL 25 14 13 5 1894 99 0 3.14 .910
1995–96 Phoenix Roadrunners IHL 1 0 1 0 50 5 0 5.95 .828
1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 36 7 15 10 2077 113 0 3.26 .907
1996–97 San Jose Sharks NHL 48 16 24 5 2631 140 0 3.19 .889
1997–98 San Jose Sharks NHL 28 4 16 2 1360 62 1 2.74 .897 1 0 0 20 1 0 3.00 .833
NHL totals 677 271 265 88 38,081 2174 17 3.43 .893 85 36 46 5161 283 0 3.29 .891

International

Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1986 Canada WC 5 299 22 4.41
Senior totals 5 299 22 4.41

Awards

  • WHL Second All-Star Team – 1981

This page was last updated at 2024-01-03 02:49 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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