Marc Habscheid's road to the NHL began on a farm in Saskatchewan when his father gave him a pair of secondhand skates for Christmas. After a few seasons with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1981. He attended training camp and studied the work ethic of his idol, Wayne Gretzky, and finished the exhibition season as the second leading scorer on the team. However, he was sent back to the minors to work on the defensive aspects of his game, and played for a total of six different teams during the season.
The next year, he was back at the Oilers training camp, but although he spent most of his season practicing with the team, but watching from the stands during the actual games. Between 1981 and 1985, he played a total of 74 games for the Oilers. In 1985 he was still splitting his time between Edmonton and their minor league affiliates, and was eventually suspended by the team for refusing to report to the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the AHL.
He was traded to the Minnesota North Stars in December of 1985, along with Don Barber and Emanuel Viveiros for Gord Sherven and Don Biggs. He played 113 games with the North Stars, recording his best season in 1988-89, when he had 23 goals and 31 assists in 76 games. Signed as a free agent by Detroit in 1989, Habscheid played for the Red Wings until 1991 when he was traded to Calgary in exchange for Brian MacLellan. After spending the next four seasons between the IHL and various teams in Europe, he retired at the end of the 1995-1996 season.
In 1997, Habscheid turned to coaching, joining the WHL's Kamloops Blazers and then the Kelowna Rockets. Following successful seasons with Kamloops and Kelowna, Habscheid was appointed head coach of Canada's World Junior Team in 2003 and led Canada to a Silver Medal.
