Geoff Courtnall

Geoffrey Lawton Courtnall (born August 18, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 2000. He was the head coach of the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL as well as the University of Victoria Vikes of the BCIHL.

Geoff Courtnall was signed by the Boston Bruins of the NHL as an undrafted free agent on July 6, 1983. He played for the Bruins from the 1983–84 NHL season to March 8, 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 Adams. 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 on five NHL and two AHL clubs, the Hershey Bears and Moncton Golden Flames.

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 that would lead the Canucks on their run to the Stanley Cup Finals 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. Courtnall, in his second tour with the Blues, would score almost 80 goals over five seasons, but only played 30 games over his final two as the result of several concussions, but reached the 1,000 game mark during the 1997-98 season in which he scored 31 goals in his last full season. After sitting out the last half of the 1998–99 season with a concussion he returned to the lineup the next season. But only a few games in he went down again with yet another concussion, forcing Courtnall's retirement shortly after that hit during the 1999–2000 season as a result of post-concussion syndrome.

Courtnall was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and raised in Duncan, British Columbia. He is the brother of another former NHL player, Russ Courtnall. Geoff's son, Justin, was drafted 210th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

• 1987–88 - NHL - Stanley Cup champion (Edmonton)