Early career

After playing minor hockey for the S.S. Marie Legion program in his hometown, Turco was undrafted by the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He signed as a 17-year-old with the Cambridge Winterhawks Jr. B. team in 1992 and played two seasons with the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) team before accepting an NCAA scholarship to play college hockey for the University of Michigan, a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). At Michigan, Turco won two NCAA championships.

Turco was drafted in the fifth round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Dallas Stars and went on to play for Michigan that fall. Turco earned many awards in his four years at Michigan, including Rookie of the Year in 1995, Tournament MVP in 1998 and nominations to the first All-Star team in 1997, the second All-Star team in 1998 and the All-Tournament Team in 1996 and 1998. After graduating, Turco went to play for Dallas' International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the Michigan K-Wings. In 1999, he was named IHL Rookie of the Year.

Dallas Stars

After two years playing for the K-Wings, Turco was given the opportunity to be a backup for Ed Belfour in Dallas. He spent the next two years with the Stars gaining experience as the team's backup. After the 2001–02 season, Dallas decided to make Turco the starting goaltender, allowing Belfour to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In his first year as the starting goaltender, 2002–03, Turco's goals against average (GAA) of 1.72 set a modern NHL record. (Miikka Kiprusoff broke Turco's record the next season with a 1.69 GAA.) Turco played in the NHL All-Star Game during the season and was named to the second All-Star team following the season, finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting as well, behind Martin Brodeur, for the NHL's top regular season goaltender. His .932 save percentage was also best in the NHL that year. However, he was unable to lead the Stars past the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs.

During the 2003–04 season, Turco continued to give the Stars quality goaltending, again playing (and starting) in the All-Star Game. The Stars lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2004 playoffs.

In the 2005–06 season, Turco won a career-best 41 games, eight of them in shootouts. Turco's experience in the 2006 playoffs was similar to the prior season, again losing in five games to the Avalanche.

On April 13, 2007, in the Stars' first and only playoff series of the 2006–07 season, Turco recorded his first ever playoff shutout against the Vancouver Canucks to tie the series 1–1. After the game, he said, "We know we can beat these guys here [Vancouver], or at home, or anywhere."^[2]

Turco went on to lose against the Canucks at home in Game 3, dropping a 2–1 overtime victory, when Taylor Pyatt got a quick one-time shot off a feed from Bryan Smolinski. In Game 4, once again the Stars could not put up a win, losing to the Canucks 2–1 off of goals from Mattias Öhlund, then the game winner from Trevor Linden. The Stars then went on to win Game 5 in the series with 1–0 overtime win. Brenden Morrow scored the game's only goal 6:22 into the first overtime period, allowing Turco to earn his second career playoff shutout. Turco followed this up with his third shutout of the series in a 2–0 win. The series ended on April 23, 2007, with a score of 4–1 in favor of Vancouver, with Trevor Linden again scoring the eventual game-winner in the second period.

The three shutouts posted by Turco in that series represent a record amount of shutouts in a single playoff series, a mark that has been tied by the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur, Anaheim's Jean-Sébastien Giguère and the Philadelphia Flyers' Michael Leighton.

Turco recorded 32 wins in the 2007–08 season and helped the Stars to playoff wins over the defending Stanley Cup champions Anaheim and the San Jose Sharks, before losing in six games to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals.

On January 15, 2009, Turco recorded his 421st game for the Stars, becoming the franchise's all-time leader in games played by a goaltender, surpassing Cesare Maniago's near 33-year^[3] old record of 420. He would also pass Maniago later that month in total minutes played, on January 29, while also winning his first regular season game at Joe Louis Arena in 11 tries against the Detroit Red Wings. On February 9, he again broke yet another of Maniago's records by starting in his 24th consecutive game in goal. However, the Stars failed to qualify for the playoffs. On April 13, 2010, it was reported Turco would not be re-signed by Dallas, ending his nine years with the Stars.^[4]

Chicago Blackhawks

On August 2, 2010, Turco signed a one-year contract as a free agent with the reigning Stanley Cup champion, the Chicago Blackhawks, replacing Antti Niemi as their starting goaltender. The Blackhawks had previously beaten the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. His first win with Chicago came on October 15, a 5–2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. As the 2010–11 season went on, Corey Crawford would take over as the starting goaltender. Turco ultimately saw action in 29 games, compiling an 11–11–3 record.

EC Red Bull Salzburg

In December 2011, Turco signed a contract with EC Red Bull Salzburg of the Austrian Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). It was a short-term contract and Turco was only expected to play December 16 and 18 in the European Trophy Finals/Red Bull Salute.^[5] However, the following month, he signed a subsequent contract with EC Salzburg lasting through the end of the EBEL season, including an "NHL-out" clause that lasted until the NHL trade deadline, which occurred on February 27.^[6]

Boston Bruins

On March 5, 2012, Turco signed a contract with the Boston Bruins. He cleared waivers on March 7 and joined the Bruins. He was signed after it was learned that the Bruins' back-up goaltender, Tuukka Rask, would be out four-to-six weeks with a lower abdominal strain. Because he was signed after the NHL trade deadline, Turco was not eligible to participate in the 2012 playoffs.

Regular season and playoffs

International

Records