Wickenheiser was rated by The Hockey News as the top draft prospect in 1980 and was subsequently selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens.

Many Canadiens' fans, particularly French Canadian fans who desperately wanted the club to select francophone star Denis Savard, were unhappy with the selection (Savard would go on to play for the Canadiens after being traded to the team, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 1993), and Montreal media attention soon turned negative.

While Wickenheiser struggled to adjust to the NHL game, Savard (drafted third overall) would quickly become a superstar with the Chicago Blackhawks, further angering some Montreal fans.

In his fourth season with the Canadiens, the club lost patience with Wickenheiser's slow development and traded him to the St. Louis Blues.

In August 1994, Wickenheiser had an epithelioid sarcoma (a rare form of cancer),[11] which he had first noticed four years earlier, removed from his wrist.