Gleason Fournier, last season’s Elite League Defenceman of the Year, is back for another season with the Cardiff Devils.
The 27-year-old joined the Devils midway through the 2015-16 season from ECHL side Alaska Aces. In 3 and a half years with the Devils, Gleason has played 248 games across all competitions and recorded an impressive 202 points (60+142).
Fournier led all defencemen in league scoring with 24 goals and 47 assists for 71 points during the 2018-19 season. He was the only defenceman to finish in the top 35 scorers across the EIHL, finishing 5thoverall, just 8 points shy of league top scorer Darcy Murphy.
He also led the league in plus/minus with an amazing +56. He was named the EIHL defenceman of the year as well as picking up Devil’s Defenceman of the year and the Player of the Year award at the Devils End of Season Awards.
Fournier saved his biggest goal for last, scoring the game winning goal in the Playoff final against the Belfast Giants to win his 8th trophy with the Devils and his 2nd playoff title in a row.
The Quebec native was a 3rd round NHL draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 and a member of the Calder Cup winning Grand Rapid Griffins of the AHL in 2013.
“Gleason is an exceptional talent and a huge piece of our team here in Cardiff. He is an elite skater at any level of hockey, and I think the entire league knows about his memorable end to end rushes,” said Devils head coach Andrew Lord.
“Speed is obviously a huge part of his game, but Gleason has improved many areas of his game the last few years and is a very well-rounded defenceman. He is solid defensively, plays hard at both ends of the rink and has a sneaky physical side to his game. His plus/minus last season is just one stat that shows how effective he was overall for us.
“He is also just a great person and teammate and we all love having him as part of the organisation. When you think of our team over the last 5 years, you think of guys like Bowns, Martin, Haddad as our original core group, but Gleason is now very much a part of that core group and a leader in his own right.
“I wasn’t sure if we’d be wishing Gleason good luck as I know teams were looking at him, but I believe this is another example of a player really enjoying his time in Cardiff and being able to keep him for another year speaks to what we’ve all achieved together in Cardiff.”