Career
He is best known for his pugilistic skills. Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1992 National Hockey League Entry Draft, 8th round, 173rd overall, VandenBussche spent his first seasons playing for various OHL and AHL teams. On August 22, 1995, he was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the New York Rangers.
After two seasons in the AHL with the Rangers" farm team, the Binghamton Rangers, VandenBussche finally made his National Hockey League debut for the 1996-1997 season playing 11 games.
The very next season, 1997-1998, VandenBussche was split between four different teams in three different leagues. He played three games for the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL, fifteen games for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL, sixteen games for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, and since the Rangers traded him for Ryan Risidore on March 29, 1998, four games for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. VandenBussche remained a Blackhawk until the Pittsburgh Penguins signed him as an unrestricted free agent on July 12, 2004.
On September 25, 2006, Jokerit of Master of Science-liiga signed the forward for a try-out, which was terminated on November 5. After his tryout, VandenBussche signed with the New Mexico Scorpions as a player/coach, but retired in January for medical reasons.
VandenBussche was not known as a goal scorer or play maker.
In 310 National Hockey League games, he scored 10 goals and 10 assists. VandenBussche"s role was as an enforcer. He has the distinction of being pound for pound one of the toughest enforcer"s at the National Hockey League level and the man who ended the career of Nick Kypreos in a pre-season game in 1997.
