Geoff Courtnall

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Geoffrey "Geoff" Courtnall (born 18 August 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 2000.

Position: Left wing
Shoots: Left
Height: 6 ft 1 in
Weight: 195 lb

Courtnall was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is the brother of former NHL player, Russ Courtnall.

[edit] Playing career

Geoff Courtnall was signed by the Boston Bruins of the NHL as an undrafted free agent on 6 July 1983. He played for the Bruins from the 1983-84 NHL season to 8 March 1988 when he was traded along with Bill Ranford to the Edmonton Oilers for Andy Moog. While in Edmonton He helped the Oilers win the 1988 Stanley Cup Championship. Barely four months later, the Oilers traded Courtnall to the Washington Capitals for Greg C. Adams, who was also born in Duncan, British Columbia. After two seasons in Washington, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Mike Lalor and Peter Zezel.

Courtnall's first nine seasons were spent bouncing between five NHL clubs and two AHL clubs, the Hershey Bears and Moncton Golden Flames. It seemed that Geoff was unable to stay in one place long enough to settle in. Not only that, but he was also injury prone as he managed to play only 4 complete seasons in his career.

After less than a season in St. Louis he was sent at the trading deadline to the Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade. Going to Vancouver were Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning, and future considerations. Going to St. Louis were Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn. This trade marked a major turning point for the Canucks as these players were among the core players that would lead the Canucks to their Stanley Cup run in 1994. Courtnall would only play one more season in Vancouver after the Cup run of '94 as he went back to the St. Louis Blues for the start of the 1995-96 season. Lingering effects of Post Concussion Syndrome suffered the year before forced Courtnall to retire after the 1999-2000.