Potvin began his professional hockey career in December 1969 with the Springfield Kings in the American Hockey League (AHL). The next season in 1970-71, he led all defensemen on the team in scoring as he played on the Springfield Kings’ Calder Cup-winning team with teammates Butch Goring and Billy Smith. During that playoff season, Potvin scored two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 12 games. Ten years later, Goring, Smith, and Potvin would play together again on the first two New York Islanders\' Stanley Cup-winning teams, in 1980 and 1981.\n', '

During his 11-year career, Potvin scored 63 goals and 224 assists in 613 career NHL games. In the 1975-76 season, he was the second highest-scoring defenseman in the NHL with 72 points (17 goals and 55 assists). The only other defenseman to score more points that season was his brother Denis with 98 points (31 goals and 67 assists).\n', '

On January 22, 1976, in a game against the Detroit Red Wings at the Nassau Coliseum, Potvin scored three goals (two on the Power Play) and also added an assist while his brother Denis had two goals and two assists of his own. Potvin\'s final two goals came 45 seconds apart as he became the only defenseman in Islander history to ever score three goals in a period at the Coliseum.[citation needed] It was also the first time since 1947 that brothers had combined for at least five goals in an NHL game, and the first time in NHL history that it had been done by two defensemen. Potvin\'s hat trick is the only one by an Islanders defenceman not scored by Denis.\n', '

Return to Jean Potvin Autograph Profile