Manny Legace

Emmanuel Legace (born February 4, 1973) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, who played most notably in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, and later the St. Louis Blues between 1998 and 2010.

Legace also enjoyed spells with the Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes, and Iserlohn Roosters of the DEL.

He finished his playing career for the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, for whom he is the career leader in goaltending wins.

Legace is the former goaltending coach for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.

Legace was born in Toronto, Ontario, but grew up in Alliston, Ontario.

As a youth, Legace played in the 1987 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Don Mills.

Prior to being selected by the Whalers, Legace played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Niagara Falls Thunder and in Roller Hockey International for the Toronto Planets.

Legace spent the 1993–1994 season as a member of the Canadian National Team and played in sixteen games.

From there, Legace spent a lengthy apprenticeship in the minor leagues, largely for the Springfield Falcons, between 1994–98.

He was a star with Springfield, garnering First Team All-Star honors and the AHL's leading goaltender award in 1996.

He also played a brief stint for the ECHL's Richmond Renegades in 1996–97 and for the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder in 1997–98.

On July 31, 1998, the Carolina Hurricanes traded Legace to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

Although he spent most of the 1999 season with the IHL Long Beach Ice Dogs, Legace got his first NHL start with the Kings.

While he played well in limited action for Los Angeles, he signed with Detroit on July 15, 1999.

However, since the Red Wings had both Chris Osgood and Ken Wregget as veteran goaltenders, Legace was left unprotected on waivers.

He was then claimed by the Vancouver Canucks on September 29, 1999.

Yet almost two weeks later, on October 13, 1999, Legace was reacquired by the Red Wings from the waiver wire when the Canucks in turn left him unprotected.

While Legace spent most of his time playing for the IHL's Manitoba Moose, he did get some action while playing for the Red Wings, posting a perfect 4–0–0 record.

In training camp the next season, Legace beat out Wregget to establish himself as the backup goaltender to Chris Osgood.

Osgood had a very slow start, and Legace subsequently saw much action.

Posting a 24–5–5 record in 39 games, Legace looked to have assumed the starting role for the team.

However, Osgood regained his stride and resumed starting duties in the playoffs.

With the 2001–02 season, Legace became backup to Dominik Hašek when Osgood was waived and claimed by the New York Islanders.

Legace played in 20 games and only saw playoff action to relieve Hašek during a loss to the St. Louis Blues; the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup that season.

The next season, with the retirement of Hašek and the signing of star goaltender Curtis Joseph, Legace saw his workload increase from 20 games to 25 games in the 2002–03 season, yet remained the team's backup.

At the start of the 2003–04 season, Hašek made the startling decision to come out of retirement and return to the Red Wings.

Curtis Joseph was still being paid $8 million a year and, due to his hefty contract, was not likely to be traded or picked up by a team.

While Legace was initially going to be the 3rd goalie behind two elite goaltenders, the Red Wings opted to send Joseph to the minors while Legace served as Hašek's backup.

Hašek, however, was not properly conditioned for a return to the NHL.

Minor injuries and inconsistent play from Hašek thrust Legace into the starting role.

Injuries to both Hašek and Legace opened the door for the Red Wings to call up Joseph from the minors, along with Joey MacDonald to serve as his backup.

When Legace returned from injury, MacDonald was sent back to the minors while Legace and Joseph ended up serving as Detroit's goaltending tandem for the remainder of the season, as Hašek opted not to return to the team from injury.

An injury to Joseph late in the season found Legace temporarily working with minor-league goaltender Marc Lamothe, but Lamothe was returned to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins when Joseph returned to the roster.

Due to Legace's strong play during the regular season, he was announced as Detroit's starting goaltender for the start of the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Red Wings faced the Nashville Predators in the opening round of the 2004 playoffs.

While Legace won the first two games, he did not perform up to team expectations and was pulled in the middle of the fourth game in favor of Joseph, who ended up backstopping for the remainder of the series.

The Red Wings won the series but lost the next series against the Calgary Flames.

Legace briefly played in Russia during the 2004–05 NHL lockout, but eventually sat the rest of the season out, preferring to be close to his family in the States.

Legace has since become a vocal critic of both the league and the players' union, especially in regard to how both sides handled the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Legace was the NHLPA Representative for the Detroit Red Wings until 2005, when the role was assumed by Nicklas Lidström.