Patrick Traverse
Patrick Traverse is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 279 games in the National Hockey League with five teams including the Ottawa Senators, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, and Dallas Stars. He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the third round, 50th overall, in the 1992 NHL entry draft and joined the organization in 1993. In 2009, he left North America to play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany with the DEG Metro Stars and Hamburg Freezers. He played internationally for Canada at the 2000 World Championship.
Playing career
Amateur
As a youth, Traverse played in the 1988 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. He played with the Montreal-Bourassa Canadiens, a AAA minor hockey team, in 1990–91, earning the Guy Lafleur Award of Excellence, which celebrates the combination of academic excellence and sports.Traverse was selected by the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in the 1991 QMJHL entry draft in the first round, fourth overall. He joined the Cataractes for the 1991–92 season and recorded three goals and 11 assists for 14 points in 59 games. The Cataractes qualified for the playoffs and advanced to the division finals where they were eliminated. Traverse appeared in ten playoff games, going scoreless. He returned to Shawinigan for the 1992–93 season marking five goals and 29 points in 53 games. He was considered an imposing, physical defenceman, with a good first pass out of the defensive zone. Ahead of the 1993 playoffs, Traverse and two other players were traded to the Saint-Jean Lynx on February 17, 1993. Traverse made 15 regular season appearances for the Lynx, scoring one goal and seven points. In the playoffs, Traverse recorded one assist in four playoff games as the Lynx were swept in four games by the Hull Olympiques in the first round. In his first full season with Saint-Jean in 1993–94, Traverse marked 15 goals and 52 points in 66 games. The team qualified for the playoffs and faced the Sherbrooke Faucons in the first round. The Lynx were eliminated and Traverse made five playoff appearances, recording four assists.
Professional
Ottawa Senators
Ahead of the National Hockey League 's 1992 entry draft in June 1992, Traverse was scouted by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau, and was ranked as the sixth best player coming out of the QMJHL in December 1991. By the end of April 1992, he was rated as the 18th best North American player available in the draft, and was considered a possibility to go in the first round. Ultimately, Traverse was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the third round, 50th overall, in the entry draft, and the second player from the QMJHL. After his junior team was eliminated, Traverse joined Ottawa's American Hockey League affiliate, the New Haven Senators, for the final two games of the 1992–93 season, going scoreless. For the second year, after his junior team had been eliminated from the playoffs in April 1994, he was assigned to Ottawa's AHL affiliate, the Prince Edward Island Senators, for the remainder of the 1993–94 season. He played in three games in the AHL, recording one assist.In June 1994, Traverse signed a contract with the Ottawa Senators. He attended the Senators 1994 training camp, but faced strong competition as general manager Randy Sexton had brought in veteran defencemen, including Jim Paek, Chris Dahlquist and Sean Hill and prospects such as Radim Bičánek and Stanislav Neckář in an effort to improve Ottawa's defence. However, he was assigned to Prince Edward Island in September, with Sexton and head coach Rick Bowness agreeing that Traverse needed more development. He spent the entire 1994–95 season in the AHL, tallying five goals and 18 points in 70 games. Prince Edward Island finished first in the Atlantic Division and advanced to the second round of the 1995 Calder Cup playoffs before being eliminated by the Fredericton Canadiens. In seven playoff games, Traverse added two assists.
Traverse was assigned to Prince Edward Island to start the 1995–96 season. In October he suffered a broken thumb, causing him to miss time. After returning from the injury, he was recalled by Ottawa on December 29, 1995 and made his NHL debut in the 1995–96 season in a 4–1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on December 30. He appeared in five games, going scoreless, before being returned to the AHL at the NHL's all-star break on January 18. During the five games, he was routinely played with other inexperienced defencemen such as Neckář, Jaroslav Modrý, and Dennis Vial, as the Senators went through an injury crisis among their defence corps. He finished with four goals and 25 points in 55 games with Prince Edward Island. The AHL Senators finished first in the Atlantic Division again and made the playoffs, but were knocked out by Fredericton for the second year in a row, this time in the first round. In five playoff games, Traverse recorded one goal and three points.
Ottawa assigned Traverse to its new AHL affiliate, the Worcester IceCats to begin the 1996–97 season. In 24 games with Worcester, he notched only four assists. However, he suffered torn ligaments in his knee and missed time. In March 1997, he was reassigned by Ottawa to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the International Hockey League. In ten games with Grand Rapids, Traverse scored two goals and three points. The Griffins qualified for the 1997 Turner Cup playoffs and lost in the first round to the Orlando Solar Bears. Traverse appeared in two playoff games, notching one assist.
In the offseason, Traverse was a restricted free agent and was offered a qualifying offer. However, he did not sign with Ottawa, instead agreeing to terms with the Hershey Bears of the AHL right before the start of the 1997–98 season, though Ottawa retained his NHL rights. He played poorly to start the season and became the target of negative fan chants in Hershey. Traverse marked 14 goals and 29 points in 71 games, including a hat trick, that led to the team's fans reversing their opinion of him. In March 1998, Traverse suffered a hip pointer that caused him to miss time. Hershey finished second in the Mid-Atlantic Division and made the playoffs. They advanced to the second round where they were eliminated by the eventual champions, the Philadelphia Phantoms. Traverse made seven playoff appearances, recording one goal and four points.
In the 1998 offseason the NHL expanded by one team, the Nashville Predators. Traverse was made available for selection by Ottawa in the 1998 NHL expansion draft, but was not selected. He signed a new one-year contract with Ottawa in July. At Senators training camp, two open spots in the defence corps were open as Janne Laukkanen missed the beginning of the season due to injury and Neckář remained unsigned. Traverse competed with Sami Salo and Bičánek for the open spots. However, an injury to Jason York allowed all three to stay with Ottawa to begin the 1998–99 season. He was paired with Lance Pitlick to begin the season, however, once Neckář signed, the Senators had too many defencemen and players were in and out of the lineup. Injuries to Neckář and Salo soon cleared up the logjam and Traverse recorded his first NHL points on October 31, assisting on goals by Alexei Yashin and Andreas Johansson in a 5–1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. He tallied his first NHL goal on January 2, 1999, beating goaltender Martin Brodeur, in a 6–0 shutout win over the New Jersey Devils. In a game against the New York Islanders on January 30, he suffered a mild concussion that kept him out of the lineup for a few games. He returned in February only to suffer a sprained shoulder injury on February 20 in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. He missed a further 13 games with the injury. In 46 games with the Senators, Traverse recorded the one goal and ten points.
In the 1999 offseason, the league expanded again, adding the Atlanta Thrashers. In the 1999 NHL expansion draft, Traverse was among the defencemen made available for selection by the Senators, but was not chosen. However, this was due to a trade by general manager Marshall Johnston, who sent goaltender Damian Rhodes to Atlanta in exchange for the promise to select only certain players from the Senators, namely Chris Luongo and Phil Crowe, and in essence, expanding the Senators' draft protection to Traverse. Ottawa's management believed that Traverse would take the next step in his career and as a result, let Lance Pitlick depart as a free agent. Traverse made Ottawa's roster as the extra defenceman going into the 1999–2000 season. After injuries to Igor Kravchuk and Salo, Traverse moved up the depth chart and his play was soon complimented by head coach Jacques Martin. In late February 2000, Traverse himself missed time due to injury after suffering a bruised shoulder in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on February 15. Traverse finished the regular season with six goals and 23 points in 66 games. The Senators qualified for the playoffs and faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. Traverse made his NHL playoff debut in Game 1 on April 22, a 2–1 loss. The best-of-seven series went to six games, with the Maple Leafs prevailing. In the six games, Traverse went scoreless.
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Boston Bruins
On June 12, 2000, Traverse was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for defenceman Joel Kwiatkowski. A restricted free agent, he and the Mighty Ducks could not agree on a contract and went to salary arbitration, where he was awarded a one-year contract worth $550,000. He made his Anaheim debut in the opening game of the 2000–01 season against the Minnesota Wild on the second defence pairing with Vitaly Vishnevskiy. He recorded his first goal and point for the Mighty Ducks on October 17 on John Vanbiesbrouck in a 4–3 victory over the New York Islanders. However, Traverse fell out of favour with coach Craig Hartsburg by the beginning of November and was often scratched from the lineup. In 15 games with Anaheim, he recorded just the one goal.Traverse was traded to the Boston Bruins on November 18, along with winger Andrei Nazarov for forward Samuel Påhlsson. He made his Bruins debut on November 21 in a 2–1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. He scored his first goal and point for his new team in the following game on November 22, the game-winning goal on goaltender Chris Osgood in a 5–4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Traverse made 37 appearances for the Bruins, tallying two goals and eight points.