Georges Laraque

Georges Laraque (born December 7, 1976) is a Canadian former ice hockey player noted for being one the most successful hockey enforcers of his time.

After being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1995, Georges still finds the team closest to his heart.

He currently hosts a radio show on BPM Sports 91.9 in Montreal.

Laraque spends his time off the radio as a public speaker and member of the NHL diversity coalition.

Since starting his hockey career, Laraque has been active in charity work spending time with those in hospital as well as playing in charity hockey games.

After retirement he also aided in the development and building of a hospital in Haiti.

As a speaker he is passionate in the fight against racism in addition to being an outspoken vegan.

Laraque was a member of the 1996 Granby Prédateurs team which won the Memorial Cup.

After finishing junior, Laraque spent parts of two seasons with the American Hockey League's (AHL) Hamilton Bulldogs.

On October 25, 1996, Laraque was involved in his first professional fight taking on Chris LiPuma of the Kentucky Thoroughblades.

On September 15, 1997 in a pre-season game, Laraque fought established heavyweight fighter Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks in an attempt to impress the coaching staff.

On November 15, 1997, Laraque was called up to the NHL and took part in his first career fight against Todd Simpson of the Calgary Flames.

Laraque won the fight and would be victorious in four others before being reassigned to the AHL.

A year later, with much hard work to improve his game, Laraque showed enough at the AHL-level for Edmonton to bring him to the NHL on a regular basis.

Although he was something of a power forward in junior hockey, Laraque is considered primarily as an enforcer at the NHL level.

His 273-pound body and his habit of fighting made him one of the most feared forwards in the league.

Despite his reputation as a fighting-only player, Laraque has had offensive bursts during his career and on February 21, 2000, Laraque scored a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings and was also named the game's first star.

He was unanimously awarded the 'Best Fighter' award from The Hockey News in 2003.

During the 2004–2005 NHL lockout, he played in Sweden, signing on with AIK.

The following season with the Oilers, on November 23, 2005 in a game against the Minnesota Wild, Laraque defeated the 6'7" 260 pound Derek Boogaard. In the 2006 off-season, Laraque was up for free agency and wanted to stay in Edmonton and play. He even said he was willing to take a salary cut if the Oilers accepted on giving him a long-term, no-trade clause deal. The Oilers did not agree with Laraque's demand for a no-trade clause thus the contract was never signed. On July 5, 2006, Laraque signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. He scored his first goal as a Coyote against Edmonton on October 26, 2006. Laraque was then traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2007–08 season for agitating prospect Daniel Carcillo. Laraque's former junior coach and Penguins coach at the time Michel Therrien was heavily involved in this decision and believed that he was needed to protect the young stars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

He was named the number one enforcer by Sports Illustrated in 2008.

On July 3, 2008, Laraque signed a contract as a free agent with the Montreal Canadiens.

He elected to wear number 17 with the Canadiens rather than his usual 27, which was Alex Kovalev's number at the time.

One of the main reasons why Montreal sought Laraque was to add toughness; in the previous year's playoffs, they had been outplayed physically by the Philadelphia Flyers, and in the first round, they had difficulty countering Boston Bruin Milan Lucic.

On November 21, 2009 Laraque was suspended 5 games after hitting Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall with a knee to knee hit.

On December 12, 2009, Laraque would enter his final fight taking on Eric Boulton of the Atlanta Thrashers.

Laraque retired from hockey in 2010 after the Montreal Canadiens bought out his contract.

From 2010 to 2013, he was one of two deputy leaders of the Green Party of Canada.

Laraque entered the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he played for a variety of teams.

In 173 games at the junior level, Laraque stockpiled 107 points and 661 penalty minutes.

On January 21, 2010 the Montreal Canadiens released Laraque and announced they were planning to buy out the remainder of his contract.

His contract was officially bought out on June 15, 2010.

Because Laraque had been suffering from two herniated discs in his back during the last season and a half that he had been playing, he subsequently announced his retirement from professional hockey.

Laraque took advantage of being released by the Canadiens to offer his help to Haiti, his country of ancestry, and began raising money to rebuild the Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in association with World Vision and the NHLPA.

While playing with the Oilers, Laraque was famous for his "Laraque Leap", in which he would smash his body against the glass at Northlands Coliseum after the Oilers scored a goal.

On February 13, 2010, Laraque joined the Green Party of Canada.

In 2012 he was the executive director of the fledgling Canadian Hockey League Players' Association.

During his 14-year National Hockey League (NHL) career, he played for the Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Montreal Canadiens.

Laraque came out of retirement on January 16, 2015, joining Norway's Lokomotiv Fana, where he played two games before retiring again.

Additionally, he was the assistant coach of the Haiti street and ball hockey national team during the 2015 Streethockey World Championship in Zug, Switzerland.