{"id":576025,"date":"2026-05-16T02:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/576025\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T02:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:39:34","slug":"ny-islanders-mourn-former-first-round-pick-stanley-cup-champion-paul-boutilier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/576025\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Islanders Mourn Former First-Round Pick, Stanley Cup Champion Paul Boutilier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">Former New York Islanders defenseman and 1983 Stanley Cup champion Paul Boutilier has died, the NHL Alumni Association announced Thursday. He was 63.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">Boutilier was selected by the Islanders in the first round of the 1981 NHL Draft after playing junior hockey with the Sherbrooke Castors of the QMJHL. He joined the organization during the height of its dynasty years and made his NHL debut on Oct. 31, 1981.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">His first NHL goal came just over a year later, on Nov. 18, 1982, at Nassau Coliseum against the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">Boutilier\u2019s place in Islanders history is tied to the final championship of the franchise\u2019s four-year Stanley Cup run. During the 1982-83 season, he appeared in 29 regular-season games and two playoff games, enough to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after the Islanders won their fourth consecutive title.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">The NHL Alumni Association offered condolences to Boutilier\u2019s family, friends and former teammates in a statement.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our hearts and prayers go out to the Boutilier family and all his friends. A first round selection of the Islanders in 1981, Paul was a member of the 1983 Stanley Cup championship team. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/or39sC8xRA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/or39sC8xRA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NYIslanders\/status\/2055064745099534509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">Though his role on that team was limited, Boutilier remained part of the organization for several seasons. He played parts of five seasons with the Islanders from 1981-86, totaling 213 regular-season games and 36 playoff appearances with the club.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">His NHL career later included stops with the Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets. In all, Boutilier played parts of nine NHL seasons.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">Boutilier also had success internationally, representing Canada at the 1982 World Junior Championship and helping the team win gold.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">After retiring as a player, he moved behind the bench. Boutilier served as an assistant coach at Saint Mary\u2019s University from 1991-93 before becoming head coach, a position he held until 1997.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Boutilier\u2019s career connected several chapters of hockey history: a first-round pick, a member of the Islanders\u2019 dynasty era, a World Junior gold medalist and, ultimately, a Stanley Cup champion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow eyesonisles.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eyesonisles.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New York Islanders defenseman and 1983 Stanley Cup champion Paul Boutilier has died, the NHL Alumni Association&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-576025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116581942293466927","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}