Trevor Letowski
Canadian ice hockey player and coach
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Trevor Letowski (born April 5, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger and current assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the seventh round, 174th overall, by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Letowski also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Carolina Hurricanes. Following retirement from active play, he has served as head coach of the OHL's Sarnia Sting and Windsor Spitfires.
| Trevor Letowski | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
| Born |
April 5, 1977 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||
| Weight | 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb) | ||
| Position | Right wing | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for |
Phoenix Coyotes Vancouver Canucks Columbus Blue Jackets Carolina Hurricanes HC Fribourg-Gottéron Barys Astana | ||
| National team |
 Canada | ||
| NHL draft |
174th overall, 1996 Phoenix Coyotes | ||
| Playing career | 1997–2010 | ||
Playing career
Letowski began his career playing junior hockey for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He was selected in the seventh round, 174th overall, by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. The Sting named him Rookie of the Year for the 1994–95 season. Letowski won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 1997 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships held in Geneva, Switzerland. A banner depicting his number 17 in Canadian national team colours hangs at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ontario, where the Sting play.
After his third and final season with the Sting, Letowski spent the 1997–98 season with the Springfield Falcons, Phoenix's American Hockey League affiliate. He made his NHL debut during the 1998–99 season and became a regular in the Coyotes lineup, playing two full seasons thereafter. Midway through the 2001–02 season on December 28, 2001, Letowski was traded by the Coyotes, along with Todd Warriner and Tyler Bouck, to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Drake Berehowsky and Denis Pederson.
Letowski was signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets as a unrestricted free agent on July 3, 2003,[1] and played two seasons for the Jackets split by a term in Switzerland with HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the Swiss Nationalliga A during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. He then joined the Carolina Hurricanes as a free agent on July 6, 2006 and played there for two seasons.[2]
During a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 14, 2006, Letowski was hit by the Penguins' Colby Armstrong following a pass in the Penguins' zone and was knocked unconscious and removed from the ice on a stretcher; there was no penalty assessed on the play.[3][4]
Letowski joined Barys Astana as a free agent on August 3, 2008.[5] Following the conclusion of the 2009–10 season, his second year with Astana, Letowski announced his retirement from active play.
Post-playing career
Letwoski returned to where he began his playing career taking up an assistant coaching role with the Sarnia Sting on April 17, 2010 for the 2010–11 season.[6] However, on February 6, 2011, Dave MacQueen was fired as head coach and GM whereas Letowski took over serving as interim head coach.[7] In 18 games as head coach, the Sting went 7–10–1, and ultimately missed the playoffs for the second straight season. He returned to his assistant position under the Sting's next head coach, Jacques Beaulieu, in 2011–12 before being promoted to head coach on June 14, 2013.
On July 9, 2015, Letowski was hired by the Windsor Spitfires as their assistant coach, after previous assistant coach Bob Jones was hired by the Oshawa Generals. After two seasons, he was promoted to head coach of the Spitfires in 2017 when Rocky Thompson left to become the head coach of the Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League (AHL). In 2021, he was hired by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL) as an assistant coach.[8]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1993–94 | Thunder Bay Kings AAA | Bantam | 64 | 41 | 60 | 101 | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1994–95 | Sarnia Sting | OHL | 66 | 22 | 19 | 41 | 33 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 1995–96 | Sarnia Sting | OHL | 66 | 36 | 63 | 99 | 66 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 10 | ||
| 1996–97 | Sarnia Sting | OHL | 55 | 35 | 73 | 108 | 51 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 20 | ||
| 1997–98 | Springfield Falcons | AHL | 75 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1998–99 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1998–99 | Springfield Falcons | AHL | 67 | 32 | 35 | 67 | 46 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1999–2000 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 82 | 19 | 20 | 39 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2000–01 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 77 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 33 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 42 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2002–03 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 78 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 73 | 15 | 17 | 32 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004–05 | HC Fribourg-Gottéron | NLA | 9 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Columbus Blue Jackets | NHL | 81 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006–07 | Carolina Hurricanes | NHL | 61 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2007–08 | Carolina Hurricanes | NHL | 75 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Barys Astana | KHL | 37 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2009–10 | Barys Astana | KHL | 54 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| NHL totals | 616 | 84 | 117 | 201 | 209 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | ||||
| KHL totals | 91 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 54 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||
International
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing Canada | ||
| Ice hockey | ||
| World Junior Championships | ||
 | 1997 Geneva | |
Coaching record
| Team | Year | Regular season | Post season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | OTL | Pts | Finish | Result | ||
| SAR | 2010–11 | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | (57) | 4th in West | Missed playoffs |
| SAR | 2013–14 | 68 | 17 | 44 | 7 | 41 | 5th in West | Missed playoffs |
| SAR | 2014–15 | 68 | 29 | 32 | 7 | 65 | 2nd in West | Lost in First Round |
| WSR | 2017–18 | 68 | 32 | 30 | 6 | 70 | 3rd in West | Lost in First Round |
| WSR | 2018–19 | 68 | 25 | 33 | 10 | 60 | 4th in West | Lost in First Round |
| WSR | 2019–20 | 62 | 34 | 20 | 8 | 76 | 3rd in West | No playoffs |