Montreal Canadiens: Randy Exelby’s unique NHL debut
By Scott Cowan
With the NHL season suspended due to the Covid-19 virus, I’m going take the time to showcase some interesting stories from the Montreal Canadiens history.
From the early 70s to the late 90s, being a goaltending prospect for the Montreal Canadiens must’ve been difficult, with the team first riding Ken Dryden to multiple Stanley Cup championships in the 1970s, followed by Patrick Roy’s emergence in the 1985-86 season. Randy Exelby was one such prospect yet does admittedly have his own unique claim to fame.
In the midst of Patrick Roy’s dominant rookie season, the Habs quietly selected Exelby in the 1986 supplemental draft. From 1986 to 1994, the draft was used as a way for NHL teams to select collegiate players who were not eligible for the proper NHL draft. Taking with the 12th overall pick, Exelby had put up decent numbers with Lake Superior State University in a 4 year stint but was simply seen as a way to add depth to the AHL’s Sherbrooke Canadiens, with Roy being tabbed as the teams’ goalie of the future.
However, after serving as a backup to Vincent Riendeau in his first season with the team, Exelby would post a 31-13-6 record with 6 shutouts in his sophomore season, winning the Baz Bastien award for the AHL’s top goaltender. In the middle of the 1988-89 season, Exelby was called up to Montreal after Roy went down with Tonsilitis. After backup Brian Hayward also went down with the flu, Roy came back to action, with Exelby riding the bench for a January 27th match against the Buffalo Sabres.
With Roy still being medicated, he was frequently dehydrated and midway through the 2nd period, had to go use the bathroom. “He (Roy) told the referee, who relayed the message to the coach (Pat Burns),” Exelby told The Hockey News in a past interview. “Burns started laughing and told me to get in there.”
Exelby guarded the Canadiens net for all of 3 minutes, turning away the 1 shot he faced. “”One from Rick Vaive hit me on the pad, and a defenseman (Rick Green) took it up the ice.” Exelby said to the Hockey News. Despite his performance in the AHL, Exelby was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers at the beginning of the 1989-90 season, in exchange for future considerations.
After being demoted to AHL Cape Breton, Exelby contemplated and briefly retired, before returning to play with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the now defunct International Hockey League. Despite enduring a rough season on a Roadrunners team that used 7 different goalies, Exelby managed to start his first and only NHL game, when Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr went down with an injury and Bill Ranford needed a rest.
Facing a star-studded Mario Lemieux led Pittsburgh Penguins team, Exelby managed 24 saves in a 6-3 loss to the Penguins, with Lemieux recording a hat trick. “It was okay, certainly a thrill to get in there and play against the caliber of guys like Lemieux and Paul Coffey,” Exelby said to the Hockey News.
After that, Exelby would only play 1 more professional season, splitting time between 2 AHL teams and an ECHL team, recording a 7-20 record overall. In 1994, he opened a chain of hockey equipment shops in the Phoenix area called “Behind the Mask”, which currently has 3 retail stores. Exelby’s nephew, Kyle Capobianco, plays for the Arizona Coyotes. While his professional career was short, there aren’t many players who have an NHL debut as bizarre as Exelby’s, being the victim of bizarre circumstances throughout his short-lived professional career.