Max Comtois

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| name = Max Comtois

| image = Adam Larsson and Max Comtois.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Comtois (right) with the Anaheim Ducks in 2023

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1999|1|8}}

| birth_place = Longueuil, Quebec, Canada

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lbs = 209

| position = Left wing

| shoots = Left

| league = KHL

| team = Dynamo Moscow

| prospect_team =

| prospect_league =

| former_teams = Anaheim Ducks
Carolina Hurricanes

| ntl_team = CAN

| draft = 50th overall

| draft_year = 2017

| draft_team = Anaheim Ducks

| career_start = 2018

| career_end =

}}

Maxime Comtois (born January 8, 1999) is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger for HC Dynamo Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes.

Playing career

Comtois was drafted by the Victoriaville Tigres third overall in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft.{{cite web |title=Le plus beau jour de ma vie! |url=http://tigresvictoriaville.com/le-plus-beau-jour-de-ma-vie |website=tigresvictoriaville.com |access-date=October 10, 2018 |language=French |date=June 10, 2015}} On June 24, 2017, Comtois was selected in the second round, 50th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Ducks on March 3, 2018.{{cite web |title=Ducks Sign Comtois to Entry-Level Contract |url=https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/ducks-sign-comtois-to-entry-level-contract/c-296589912 |website=NHL.com |access-date=October 10, 2018 |date=March 3, 2018}}

Comtois made the Ducks' 2018 opening night roster out of training camp.{{cite web |title=Ducks Open 25th Anniversary Season Tomorrow in San Jose |url=https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/ducks-open-25th-anniversary-season-tomorrow-in-san-jose/c-300574036 |website=NHL.com |access-date=October 3, 2018 |date=October 3, 2018}} On October 3, 2018, he made his professional debut in the Ducks' 2018–19 season opener in San Jose and scored his first professional goal in the first minute of the game, on his first shot attempt at goaltender Martin Jones.{{cite web |title=Max Comtois first NHL goal gives Ducks quick lead over Sharks |url=https://www.nbcsports.com/video/max-comtois-scores-first-nhl-goal-gives-ducks-early-lead-over-sharks |website=NBCSports.com |access-date=October 3, 2018 |date=October 3, 2018 |archive-date=October 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004104152/https://www.nbcsports.com/video/max-comtois-scores-first-nhl-goal-gives-ducks-early-lead-over-sharks |url-status=dead }} The Ducks went on to win the game 5–2. Comtois contributed to be amongst the Ducks scoring leaders to start the season, scoring 7 points in his first 10 games before suffering an injury. On his return he was assigned to AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, before he was returned to his junior club, the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) on November 24, 2018.{{cite web| url = https://twitter.com/Voltigeurs_DRU/status/1066424566627663873 | title = Maxime Comtois to join the Voltigeurs! | publisher = Drummondville Voltigeurs | date = 2018-11-24 | access-date = 2018-11-24}}

Following his fifth season within the Ducks organization, as a pending restricted free agent Comtois was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Ducks and was released as a free agent on July 1, 2023.{{cite web| url = https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/ducks-extend-qualifying-offers-to-five-restricted-free-agents/c-345148924 | title = Ducks extend qualifying offers to five restricted free agents | publisher = Anaheim Ducks | date = July 1, 2023 | access-date = July 1, 2023}} Several months later, on September 12, Comtois signed a professional tryout agreement with the Vegas Golden Knights;{{Cite web |title=Vegas Golden Knights Sign Forward Maxime Comtois to Professional Tryout Agreement |url=https://www.nhl.com/goldenknights/news/comtois |website=nhl.com |date=September 12, 2023 |access-date=September 12, 2023}} he was subsequently released on October 9, after the conclusion of the preseason.{{Cite tweet |last=Granger |first=Jesse |user=JesseGranger_ |number=1711815880932557198 |date=October 10, 2023 |title=Bruce Cassidy said Max Comtois was released from his PTO yesterday without a contract. He said they were very happy with how Cotter and Dorofeyev performed in camp and preseason and "there are only so many spots." |language=en-US |access-date=October 10, 2023}}

On October 16, 2023, without a NHL contract to begin the 2023–24 season, Comtois opted to continue his career in the AHL by signing a one-year contract with independent club, the Chicago Wolves.{{cite web| url = https://twitter.com/Chicago_Wolves/status/1713966903146717521 | title = Wolves have signed Max Comtois to an AHL contract | publisher = Twitter | date = October 16, 2023 | accessdate = October 16, 2023}} Contributing offensively with the Wolves, Comtois was signed to a one-year, two-way contract with the Carolina Hurricanes for the remainder of the season on March 4, 2024.{{cite web| url = https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/canes-sign-comtois-to-one-year-deal | title = Canes sign Comtois to one-year, two-way deal | publisher = Carolina Hurricanes | date = March 4, 2024 | accessdate = March 12, 2024}} He featured in one regular season game, providing an assist, and one playoff game with the Hurricanes.

As a free agent in the following off-season, Comtois signed a one-year contract with HC Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, on July 18, 2024.{{citeweb| url = https://www.dynamo.ru/news/230599-maksim_komtua_stal_igrokom_moskovskogo___dinamo__ | title = Maxime Comtois becomes a player of Dynamo Moscow | publisher = HC Dynamo Moscow | language = Russian | date = July 18, 2024 | accessdate = July 18, 2024 }}

International play

{{MedalCountry|{{CAN}}}}

On December 25, 2018, Comtois was named captain for Canada national junior team while they competed at the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.{{cite web |title=Ducks prospect Comtois named captain for Canada at World Juniors |url=https://www.nhl.com/news/max-comtois-named-canada-captain-for-world-junior-championship/c-303257050 |website=NHL.com |access-date=December 25, 2018 |date=December 25, 2018}} He is the only player to return from the 2018 gold medal-winning team.{{cite web |last1=Karstens-Smith |first1=Gemma |title='We're all leaders,' says captain Comtois of Canadian junior hockey squad |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/we-re-all-leaders-says-captain-comtois-of-canadian-junior-hockey-squad-1.4232031 |website=CTV News |access-date=December 27, 2018 |date=December 27, 2018}} On December 26, Comtois scored four goals in a 14–0 win over Denmark national junior team in the first game of the tournament.{{cite web |last1=Cuthbert |first1=Justin |title=Max Comtois scores 4 as Canada thumps Denmark at world juniors |url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/follow-live-canadas-juniors-begin-title-defence-vs-denmark-013655620.html |website=sports.yahoo.com |access-date=December 26, 2018 |date=December 26, 2018}} Comtois became the fifth player from Team Canada to score four goals in a World Juniors game, with the last being Taylor Raddysh in 2017.{{cite tweet|user=TSN_Sports|number=1078133159575908352|date=December 26, 2018|title=Maxime Comtois (@comtois20) becomes the 5th player in Canadian Juniors history to score 4 goals in one game! He joins Taylor Raddysh (2017), Brayden Schenn (2011), Simon Gagne (1999) & Mario Lemieux (1983).}} After Canada was eliminated from the tournament, Comtois revealed he had been playing with a separated shoulder.{{cite web |title=Comtois played with shoulder injury for Canada at WJC |url=https://www.nhl.com/news/ducks-prospect-maxime-comtois-played-world-juniors-with-injury/c-303592780 |website=NHL.com |access-date=January 5, 2019 |date=January 5, 2019}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Regular season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Playoffs
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season !! Team !! League ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM
2015–16	Victoriaville Tigres	QMJHL \| 64	26	34	60	68 \| 5	1	5	6	4
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2016–17	Victoriaville Tigres	QMJHL \| 64	22	29	51	88 \| 4	1	0	1	8
2017–18	Victoriaville Tigres	QMJHL \| 54	44	41	85	79 \| 13	4	8	12	16
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2018–19	Anaheim Ducks	NHL \| 10	2	5	7	7 \| —	—	—	—	—
2018–19	San Diego Gulls	AHL \| 4	1	0	1	2 \| 12	5	4	9	4
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2018–19	Drummondville Voltigeurs	QMJHL \| 25	31	17	48	32 \| 16	11	4	15	24
2019–20	San Diego Gulls	AHL \| 31	9	15	24	53 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2019–20	Anaheim Ducks	NHL \| 29	5	6	11	24 \| —	—	—	—	—
2020–21	Anaheim Ducks	NHL \| 55	16	17	33	40 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2021–22	Anaheim Ducks	NHL \| 52	6	10	16	46 \| —	—	—	—	—
2022–23	Anaheim Ducks	NHL \| 64	9	10	19	76 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2023–24	Chicago Wolves	AHL \| 65	19	25	44	109 \| —	—	—	—	—
2023–24	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL \| 1	0	1	1	0 \| 1	0	0	0	0
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 2024–25 \| Dynamo Moscow \| KHL \| 62	21	29	50	99 \| 15	7	6	13	26
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" \| NHL totals ! 211 !! 38 !! 49 !! 87 !! 193 ! 1 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" \| KHL totals ! 62 !! 21 !! 29 !! 50 !! 99 ! 15 !! 7 !! 6 !! 13 !! 26