Kelly Hrudey

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.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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^[3] 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^[4] as the leagues top goaltender in two of his final three seasons in New York, Hrudey was traded to the Los Angeles Kings^[5] in 1989.

Hrudey was initially angry about the deal, because he had always dreamt of playing his career with one club,^[6] but he quickly adjusted and became an 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.^[7] 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.^[8]"

In 1996, in what Hrudey called "a pretty easy decision,"^[9] 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.

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. 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.^[10]

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.^[11] He received an honorary degree from Mount Royal University on November 3, 2017 for his mental health advocacy efforts.^[12] He is of Ukrainian origin.^[13] He has a dog named Kingston.

• WHL Second All-Star Team – 1981

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database