Born in Roubaix, France, Roussel began his childhood athletic career playing rugby, but when he was let go by his hometown club team for repeatedly leaving the field to escape the heat during summer practices, his mother enrolled him in a hockey league. Roussel has been playing hockey like a rugby player ever since.
A gritty wing who worked his way onto the Chicoutimi roster in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after his family moved to Canada when he was 16, Roussel ranked in the top three on the Dallas Stars in hits in each of his first three full NHL seasons and led the team in penalty minutes all three seasons.
Born in Roubaix, France, Roussel began his childhood athletic career playing rugby, but when he was let go by his hometown club team for repeatedly leaving the field to escape the heat during summer practices, his mother enrolled him in a hockey league. Roussel has been playing hockey like a rugby player ever since.
A gritty wing who worked his way onto the Chicoutimi roster in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after his family moved to Canada when he was 16, Roussel ranked in the top three on the Dallas Stars in hits in each of his first three full NHL seasons and led the team in penalty minutes all three seasons.
But Roussel is more than just a grinder. He's quite capable of producing in the offensive end of the ice as well. He scored 13 or more goals and produced 25 or more points in each of his first three seasons in the League, and tied for second on the Stars in game-winning goals with six during the 2015-16 season.
Roussel has carved out a solid career since going undrafted out of the junior ranks. The snub forced Roussel to pave his own path to the NHL, and that began by signing as a free agent with Providence of the American Hockey League for the 2010-11 season.
The next season Roussel took advantage of an invitation to attend a Vancouver Canucks prospect camp and earned a contract with Chicago, the Canucks' AHL affiliate, for the 2011-12 season.
Roussel jumped to the Stars the following summer, signing a free agent deal with Dallas on July 2, 2012. Seven months later, after spending the first half of the 2012-13 season with Texas in the AHL, Roussel made the leap to Dallas, where he made his NHL debut and scored his first NHL goal on Feb. 1, 2013 in a shootout victory against the Phoenix Coyotes.
Roussel became a checking-line regular with the Stars a year later, scoring 14 goals, 29 points and accumulating 209 penalty minutes in 81 regular-season games during the 2013-14 season. He played 80 games in both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons and combined for 26 goals, 54 points and 271 penalty minutes.
Internationally, Roussel played for France in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 World Championships. His 11 points in 2014 earned him a berth on the tournament's Media All-Star Team.
