Adrian Aucoin's rise in the hockey world has been steady but ever progressive, beginning with his days in the Ontario junior A and a scholarship to Boston University for 1991-92. After that year, he was drafted by Vancouver, but rather than return to BU he opted to play for Canada's National team, with an eye to the 1994 Olympics. Aucoin first played for Canada at the 1993 World Juniors on a gold-medal team and fulfilled his dream a year later. He stayed with the National program, and then played at the Lillehammer Olympics, joining Vancouver's AHL affiliate to close out the season and focusing on a career in the NHL.



As a member of Vancouver, he scored a goal in his first NHL game on May 3, 1995 against San Jose. In the next two years he slowly moved up the team's depth chart, and by 1996-97 he was an important part of the team's defence. Two years later, he made greater strides to eminence by scoring 23 goals from the blueline after making a full recovery from the previous year when he missed half a season with a serious ankle and groin injuries. Some 18 of those 23 scores were on the power play, tying a league record for defencemen held by Denis Potvin. A member of Canada's World Championship team in 2000, Aucoin scoring dipped in 2000-01 and he was subsequently traded to Tampa Bay in the latter stages of the season. After only 26 games with Tampa, Aucoin was dealt to the New York Islanders prior to the 2001-02 season. Upon his arrival with the Islanders, the hard-shooting Aucoin was an offensive leader on the back end, establishing a career high 44 points (13-31-44) during the 2003-04 season. Following the 2004-05 NHL lock out, Aucoin found himself on the move yet again, this time landing in the Windy City as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.