Martin St. Louis took the hard road to the highest honor in the game.

A native of Laval, Quebec, St. Louis carved out an NHL career that spanned 16 seasons from 1998-2015 despite being labeled as too small as a 5-foot-8 forward, which caused him not to be drafted or signed to an NHL contract after amassing 267 points (91 goals, 176 assists) 139 games over four seasons at the University of Vermont.

St. Louis eventually signed with Cleveland of the International Hockey League in 1997 and played well enough (50 points in 56 games) that the Calgary Flames gave him his first NHL contract in February 1998.

He spent the next two seasons toggling between Saint John of the American Hockey League and the Flames' fourth line.

Calgary picked up the one-year option on St. Louis' contract after the 1999-2000 season, but St. Louis was left exposed in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. He wasn't selected by either the Columbus Blue Jackets or Minnesota Wild, and the Flames bought out the remainder of his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.

St. Louis signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 31, 2000. He scored 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 78 games the following season, proving he could be an everyday NHL player.

Although a broken leg cut short his 2001-02 season, St. Louis had 70 points (33 goals, 37 assists) in 2002-03 and shot up to 94 points (38 goals, 56 assists) in 2003-04, when he won the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Trophy and helped lead the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup championship, scoring the game-winning goal in double overtime of Game 6 against the Flames to tie the series 3-3.

Only seven other players in NHL history have won the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

St. Louis had an NHL career-high 102 points (43 goals, 59 assists) in 2006-07. He had 94 points (29 goals, 65 assists) in 2009-10, and 99 points (31 goals, 68 assists) in 2010-11.

He was eventually traded to the New York Rangers on March 5, 2014, and he helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final before losing in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.

During New Yorkís run in the 2014 playoffs, his mother, France, passed away of a heart attack. Two days after she died, St. Louis scored a goal on Motherís Day to help the Rangers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.

It was the most emotional goal St. Louis scored in his career.

"When you accomplish things that nobody expects you to accomplish, I think they feel twice as good when you do accomplish them," St. Louis said. "For me, that was what drove me. You think I can't. I'll show you. That's what made me as a player, I'll show you."

St. Louis finished his career with 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists) in 1,134 games, won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004, a gold medal with Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Hart Trophy once, the Art Ross Trophy twice and the Lady Byng Trophy three times.