Playing Career
He was drafted in the 9th round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 183rd overall by the Buffalo Sabres. Despite his small stature, Audette became known for his gritty, feisty style of play and quickly endeared himself to Buffalo hockey fans with a 31 goal rookie season. However, his rough and tumble style of play led to lengthy trips to the injury reserve, including several knee injuries that ended his 1992–93 and 1995–96 seasons.
In 1998 Audette was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Two years later, as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers, he reached his career high in goals (34) and assists (45) and made it to the NHL All-Star game.
Audette was traded back to the Buffalo Sabres in March 2001, and signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Dallas Stars later that summer. In the middle of the 2001–02 season, Audette was traded again, this time to the Montreal Canadiens. In a game against the New York Rangers on December 1, 2001, Audette had the tendons of his forearm severed by an opponent's skate and required life-saving surgery to repair the extensive damage, but still managed to recover in time for the playoffs.
After struggling to make a mark with the Florida Panthers for half of the 2003–04 season, Audette stopped playing professionally.
Prior to playing in the NHL, Audette won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the top rookie in the American Hockey League (AHL), while playing for the Rochester Americans. However, he is most remembered, by some, for the spearing penalty he took the closing minute of the third period of game six of the '91 Calder Cup series which ended up costing the Americans the Calder Cup.
Read more about this topic: Donald Audette
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