Sheldon Souray (Born July 13, 1976 in Elk Point, Alberta) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who plays defense for the Montreal Canadiens. He was drafted in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft in the third round (71st overall) by the New Jersey Devils where he played from 1997 to 1999 before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens on March 1, 2000 for Vladimir Malakhov. Souray is one of the few aboriginal players in the NHL (he is a Métis).
After suffering a serious wrist injury which kept him out of the entire 2002-2003 season, Souray returned to play for the Canadiens and had a milestone season, amassing the largest goal total of his career and participating in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game. During the 2004-05 season, he played for Färjestads BK of the Swedish Elitserien during the NHL labor dispute.
His return to the Canadiens for the 2005-06 season was initially marred by personal issues involving his relationship with his wife, former Baywatch actress Angelica Bridges. During a dispute, Souray was accused of physically abusing Bridges, but no charges were filed, and Souray has since been cleared from any wrongdoing. This incident, coupled with the defenceman's slow start adapting to the new post-lockout NHL regulations, fuelled trade rumors in the hockey press, but these never materialized. Since, his play has improved drastically and he now is once again one of the team's leading defenceman, setting a personal point record for the season, and logging an average of over 20 minutes of ice time a game.
Sheldon Souray is known as a two-way defenseman. His imposing frame (227lbs. for 6'4) gives him an important physical edge over most of his opponents and sets him as a player with great defensive talent. Moreover, his numerous technical assets such as a good vision and an intelligent understanding of the game, coupled with a breath-taking shot, make him quite influential offensively, particularly on the power-play.
On the low side though, he does take some bad penalties at certain times, but can nonetheless raise up the Bell Centre's crowd by putting up an occasional fight.
He is regarded by Montreal Canadiens' fans as one of the top two defensemen on the team, with Andrei Markov. He is considered to have a great potential and is expected to reach the all-star level consistently in the future, provided that he puts his personal problems completely aside.
On the international side, Souray represented Canada at the 2005 World Hockey Championships in Austria. He was also on the Canadian Olympic team's shortlist for the 2006 Turin Games but did not make the cut, partly due to his slow start at the beginning of the 2005-2006 season.
Souray has one daughter, Valentina Raine, with Bridges.
His favourite band is Pearl Jam.
