Keven Veilleux

Juniors

Veilleux was drafted in the second round of the 2005 QMJHL Entry Draft by the Victoriaville Tigres. He would start the season with the Levis Commandeurs of the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League before joining the Tigres midway through the 2005-06 QMJHL season. Veilleux would finish the season with 15 points in 33 games, along with one point in five playoff games. Upon completion of the 2005-06 playoffs, Veilleux joined Team Canada's U17 team where he earned a gold medal with the team.

During the 2006-07 QMJHL season, Veilleux established career highs in goals (20), assists (35), points (55). He was also a point-per-game player in the playoffs, scoring six points (one goal, five assists) in six games. Veilleux also participated in the 2006-07 CHL Top Prospects Game, where he scored a second period goal for Team Bowman-Demers in a 5-3 loss to Team Burns-Bergeron January 17, 2007. After the completion of the 2006-07 QMJHL season, Veilleux was drafted in the second round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, being selected 51st overall.

Veilleux started the 2007-08 QMJHL season with the Tigres, scoring 42 points in 42 games. He was also a member of the QMJHL team that participated in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge in November, scoring the game-winning goal in the second game of the series on November 21, 2007. On January 5, 2008, Veilleux was traded to Rimouski Oceanic for centre Maxime Tanguay, defenceman Keven Dupont, a 2008 second round selection (previously belonging to the Quebec Remparts, used to select center Brandon Hynes), and a 2009 first round selection (used to draft left wing Philip Danault). The Tigres also received a fourth-round pick in the 2009 QMJHL Entry Draft.

Professional

Veilleux joined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in September 2009. Veilleux tallied his first professional point in his first professional game in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on October 3, 2009 against the Syracuse Crunch. He scored this goal in the second period against goaltender Kevin Lalande. Veilleux's first professional fight would come on November 7, 2009 where he took on John McCarthy of the Worcester Sharks. He scored three points in nine games before suffering a shoulder injury (took a hard hit from Greg Amadio of the Hershey Bears) on November 16, 2009 that would require surgery. Veilleux ended up missing the remainder of the 2009-10 AHL season.

After attending training camp for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Veilleux was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on September 24, 2010. Veilleux finished his first full season with the Penguins, playing 66 out of a possible 80 games and scoring 36 points. Veilleux, previously known as a scorer in juniors was starting to become known as a tough power forward as he picked up 12 fighting majors. Veilleux and the Penguins finished the 2010-11 AHL season with a league-best record of 58-21-0-1. but would later lose in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Veilleux scored four points (two goals, two assists) in eleven games during the 2010-11 playoffs, including his first career playoff goal on April 15, 2011 vs the Norfolk Admirals.

Veilleux attended Pittsburgh Penguins training camp for a second time, but was reassigned back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on September 24, 2011, exactly a year after his last reassignment from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre. A week later, Veilleux injured his knee after taking a check from Hershey Bears' defenseman Dustin Stevenson in a preseason game on September 30, 2011. Veilleux did not return to the game. It was later discovered that Veilleux suffered a knee injury that would require season-ending surgery that would put him out of action for six months.

Despite missing the majority of two out of a possible three seasons on his entry-level contract and playing only 75 of a possible 240 games, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed Veilleux to a one-year, two-way contract worth $525,000 on July 11, 2012. Veilleux has spent the majority of the 2012-13 season splitting time between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Wheeling Nailers. While with the Nailers, Veilleux was involved with an incident with South Carolina Stingrays Scooter Vaughan, where both Veilleux and Vaughan fought twice in a game on January 13, 2013. After being placed in the penalty box after his second fight of the third period, Veilleux called Vaughan "a racial slur". Veilleux was suspended indefinitely by the Wheeling owners for the incident, pending a league investigation. After a completed investigation and a meeting between ownership and Veilleux, the suspension was set at ten games. Nailers' alternate-governor Tim Roberts spoke to Vaughan after the incident, who said the comment wasn't "first time and it won't be the last (time that he heard it), but it was the worst." After speaking with Veilleux and hearing remorse from his earlier comments, Roberts determined that Veilleux deserved another chance with the team.

On September 15, 2013, after attending the Phoenix Coyotes pre-season training camp, Veilleux was assigned to the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League. Veilleux appeared in 16 games with the Pirates for 3 points before he was assigned to the ECHL.

Midway through the 2013-14 season on February 15, 2014, Veilluex left the ECHL for HC ’05 Banska Bystrica of the Slovak Extraliga for the remainder of the season.

2014-15 season. Keven played the whole season in the LNAH with the Thetford Mines Isothermic, the LNAH is not known for its skill level. Its teams employ many enforcers and has a rather infamous reputation for on-ice antics, primarily fisticuffs. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligue_Nord-Am%C3%A9ricaine_de_Hockey).

Awards and Accomplishments