Playing Career
Picard began his career playing for Trois-Rivières Draveurs in the QMJHL, where he established himself as a scoring force who was also tough and hard hitting. His final year there he scored 140 points in 66 games. Picard was drafted by the Whalers in the 9th round, 178th overall, in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. He met with great success in the minor leagues, leading the American Hockey League in goals with 56 for the Springfield Indians in 1991, setting a franchise record while leading the team to its final Calder Cup championship; he was also the last player for the 58-year old franchise active in professional hockey.
However, Picard would never translate his earlier success to the NHL. He never played a full season in the NHL and only played in at least half of the games in a season once, during the 1999 season. That season he also played in five playoff games, the only time he played in the NHL playoffs.
For the 2002 season Picard played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany for the Mannheim Eagles. He then played for two years with the Grand Rapids Griffins (a team for which he played parts of six seasons in all, and is the career leader in goals, assists and points) in the AHL before joining Thetford Mines Prolab of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey in 2004. He led the team in scoring in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and was the leading scorer in the LNAH in the 2007 season, retiring after the end of the 2009 season.
As of November, 2009, Picard is the 16th leading goal scorer in minor league history with 563, as well as 19th in points with 1256.
Read more about this topic: Michel Picard
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