John Clark LeClair (born July 5, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins from 1991 to 2006. LeClair was a member of the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup winning team in 1993, scoring two overtime game-winning goals in consecutive games during the Final. With the Flyers, LeClair became the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive NHL seasons while playing on the Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg.

Early life

LeClair was born on July 5, 1969, in St. Albans, Vermont, a town close to the Canada–US border. He is the son of Robert "Butch" LeClair, a manager of a paint store, and Beverly (Clark), a surgical nurse. LeClair has three older sisters, Mary Kay, Nancy, and Susan, and a younger brother, Joseph.

Although familiar with hockey, LeClair's father Butch never actually played the sport himself. Until the 1960s, there was no organized hockey in the Saint Albans area. Despite this, LeClair took notice and asked his father for a pair of hockey skates at age six. Butch recalls how the kids in the area first played:

<blockquote>At first, they played in an old railroad shed. Then they got a bunch of people who signed a note and built Coote Field Arena. It was just a metal shack with a lunch bar and an old tractor to scrape the ice. It was kind of primitive, but it worked very well. It produced some good hockey.

During his first five seasons with the Flyers, LeClair was named to the season-ending NHL All-Star team, twice to the first team and three times to the second team. That is currently the highest total among retired players eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame who have not been inducted.

LeClair played for the Flyers for 10 seasons and was one of the most productive players in franchise history, scoring 333 goals and an additional 35 in the playoffs, statistics good enough to place him in the top 10 Flyers' career goal scorers.

Pittsburgh Penguins

thumb|left|160px|LeClair with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006

On July 23, 2005, as a result of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement which finally introduced a salary cap to the NHL, the Flyers were forced to part ways with their longtime alternate captain, and they bought out LeClair's contract to create cap space. Rumors had LeClair going to the Boston Bruins or perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead, LeClair signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins on August 15, 2005. LeClair had a successful season in Pittsburgh during the 2005–06 season, finishing fourth on the team in scoring as he passed the 400-goal mark and had his ninth 50+ point season.

LeClair struggled in the first quarter of the 2006–07 season, scoring only two goals and five assists through 21 games. On December 14, 2006, he and the Penguins agreed to a mutual release from his contract. LeClair retired following the season.

Other information

thumb|upright|200px|LeClair signing autographs at [[Dick's Sporting Goods in 2014.]]

LeClair is president of the John LeClair Foundation which awards grants to non-profit Vermont organizations that sponsor programs for children. He currently divides his time between Haverford Township, Pennsylvania and his hometown of St. Albans, Vermont. LeClair was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame in 2014.

In June 2023, LeClair was hired by the Flyers as a special advisor to hockey operations.

Awards and honors

College

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! Award

! Year

!

|-

| All-ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team

| 1987–88

|

|-

| All-ECAC Hockey Second team

| 1990–91

|

|-

|}

Professional

{|class="wikitable"

|-

!Award

!Year

|-

| Stanley Cup champion

| 1993

|-

| Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy

| 1995

|-

| NHL first All-Star team

| 1995, 1998

|-

| NHL second All-Star team

| 1996, 1997, 1999

|-

| Bobby Clarke Trophy

| 1997, 1998

|-

| NHL Plus/Minus Award

| 1997, 1999

|-

| NHL All-Star

| 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000

|}

International

{|class="wikitable"

|-

!Award

!Year

|-

| World Cup All-Star team

| 1996

|-

| Olympic Tournament All-Star team

| 2002

|}

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Regular season

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Playoffs

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

|-

| 1985–86

| Bellows Free Academy

| HS-VT

| 22 || 41 || 28 || 69 || 14

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1986–87

| Bellows Free Academy

| HS-VT

| 23 || 44 || 40 || 84 || 14

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1987–88

| University of Vermont

| ECAC

| 31 || 12 || 22 || 34 || 62

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1988–89

| University of Vermont

| ECAC

| 18 || 9 || 12 || 21 || 40

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1989–90

| University of Vermont

| ECAC

| 10 || 10 || 6 || 16 || 38

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1990–91

| University of Vermont

| ECAC

| 33 || 25 || 20 || 45 || 58

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1990–91

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 10 || 2 || 5 || 7 || 2

| 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1991–92

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 59 || 8 || 11 || 19 || 14

| 8 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 4

|-

| 1991–92

| Fredericton Canadiens

| AHL

| 8 || 7 || 7 || 14 || 10

| 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1992–93

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 72 || 19 || 25 || 44 || 33

| 20 || 4 || 6 || 10 || 14

|-

| 1993–94

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 74 || 19 || 24 || 43 || 32

| 7 || 2 || 1 || 3 || 8

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1994–95

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 9 || 1 || 4 || 5 || 10

| — || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1994–95

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 37 || 25 || 24 || 49 || 20

| 15 || 5 || 7 || 12 || 4

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1995–96

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 82 || 51 || 46 || 97 || 64

| 11 || 6 || 5 || 11 || 6

|-

| 1996–97

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 82 || 50 || 47 || 97 || 58

| 19 || 9 || 12 || 21 || 10

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1997–98

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 82 || 51 || 36 || 87 || 32

| 5 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 8

|-

| 1998–99

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 76 || 43 || 47 || 90 || 30

| 6 || 3 || 0 || 3 || 12

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1999–00

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 82 || 40 || 37 || 77 || 36

| 18 || 6 || 7 || 13 || 6

|-

| 2000–01

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 16 || 7 || 5 || 12 || 0

| 6 || 1 || 2 || 3 || 2

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2001–02

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 82 || 25 || 26 || 51 || 30

| 5 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2

|-

| 2002–03

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 35 || 18 || 10 || 28 || 16

| 13 || 2 || 3 || 5 || 10

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2003–04

| Philadelphia Flyers

| NHL

| 75 || 23 || 32 || 55 || 51

| 18 || 2 || 2 || 4 || 8

|-

| 2005–06

| Pittsburgh Penguins

| NHL

| 73 || 22 || 29 || 51 || 61

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 2006–07

| Pittsburgh Penguins

| NHL

| 21 || 2 || 5 || 7 || 12

| — || — || — || — || —

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | NHL totals

! 967 !! 406 !! 413 !! 819 !! 501

! 154 !! 42 !! 47 !! 89 !! 94

|}

International

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em"

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! rowspan="102" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

|-

| 1988

| United States

| WJC

| 7 || 4 || 2 || 6 || 12

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1989

| United States

| WJC

| 7 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 12

|-

| 1996

| United States

| WCH

| 7 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 6

|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1998

| United States

| OLY

| 4 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0

|-

| 2002

| United States

| OLY

| 6 || 6 || 1 || 7 || 2

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan=3 | Junior totals

! 14 !! 10 !! 6 !! 16 !! 24

|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan=3 | Senior totals

! 17 !! 12 !! 6 !! 18 !! 8

|}

All-Star Games

{| BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" width="45%"

|- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Location

! ALIGN="center" rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | &nbsp;

! G

! A

! P

|- ALIGN="center"

| 1996

| Boston

| 0

| 1

| 1

|- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1997

| San Jose

| 2

| 1

| 3

|- ALIGN="center"

| 1998

| Vancouver

| 1

| 0

| 1

|- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1999

| Tampa Bay

| 0

| 0

| 0

|- ALIGN="center"

| 2000

| Toronto

| 0

| 0

| 0

|- ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan=3 | All-Star totals

! 3

! 2

! 5

|}

References

  • Vermont Sports Hall of Fame Bio