After a stellar junior hockey career with the Ottawa 67s, Potvin was drafted first overall in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft by the struggling expansion New York Islanders, a team which had recorded the worst record in modern NHL history the previous season. Right after Bill Torrey drafted Potvin, Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock approached Torrey, hoping to trade for Potvin. Pollock\'s strategy was to offer a "quick-fix" package of mature players to exchange for the top draft pick. Torrey ultimately turned down the offer since he felt Potvin would be a long-term asset to his team.\n', '

Upon joining the Islanders, Potvin wanted to wear number 7 on his uniform but was forced to take number 5, as forward Germain Gagnon was wearing number 7. Potvin entered the NHL with high expectations; he was regarded by some as the savior of the Islanders\' franchise, and by others as potentially the next Bobby Orr. While he did not dominate the game in the same way as Orr, Potvin became an immediate star, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in 1973–74 and the James Norris Memorial Trophy as league\'s top defenceman in 1975–76 ending Orr\'s eight year reign, at age 22, when he scored 31 goals and 98 points, the highest totals by a defenceman other than Orr. That year he finished second to Bobby Clarke in the voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL\'s most valuable player.\n', '

Upon Orr\'s decline and retirement in the late 1970s, Potvin became widely acknowledged (along with Larry Robinson) as the premier defencemen in the game. He also won the Norris Trophy in 1977–78 and 1978–79. The latter was his best offensive season, when he scored 31 goals and 70 assists in only 73 games, becoming the second defenceman (Orr being the first) to score 100 points in a season. He had an impressive +71 plus-minus rating that season and finished fourth in the balloting for the Hart Trophy. Between 1974–75 and 1980–81, Potvin was named to the NHL\'s first all-star team five times and the second all-star team once; the only season he missed the all-star teams was 1979–80, when he was only able to play 31 games due to injury.\n', '

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