Paul Coffey

Paul Coffey
Hockey Hall of Fame, 2004
Born (1961-06-01) June 1, 1961
Weston, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Edmonton Oilers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Los Angeles Kings
Detroit Red Wings
Hartford Whalers
Philadelphia Flyers
Chicago Blackhawks
Carolina Hurricanes
Boston Bruins
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 6th overall, 1980
Edmonton Oilers
Playing career 19802001
Website http://paulcoffey.ca/

Paul Douglas Coffey (born June 1, 1961) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played for nine teams in the National Hockey League. Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among NHL defencemen in career goals, assists, and points, behind Ray Bourque. Coffey was born in Weston, Ontario, but grew up in Malton, Ontario. The City of Mississauga renamed Malton Arena to Paul Coffey Arena and renamed Wildwood Park to Paul Coffey Park in a ceremony on September 23, 2016. [1]

Playing career

Coffey was drafted 6th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. He blossomed in the 1981–82 season, scoring 89 points and was named a Second-Team NHL All-Star. In the Oilers' first Stanley Cup-winning season, 1983–84, he became only the second defenceman in NHL history to score 40 goals in a season. He won his first James Norris Trophy in 1984–85 while posting 121 points. On December 26, 1984 in a game against the Calgary Flames, Coffey became the last defenceman in the 20th century to score four goals in one game.[2] Coffey went on to post a historic post-season in the 1985 Playoffs, setting records for most goals (12), assists (25), and points (37) in one playoff year by a defenceman on the way to another Stanley Cup. He won the Norris Trophy again in 1985–86, while breaking Bobby Orr's record for goals in a season by a defenceman, scoring 48. His 138 points that year was second only to Orr (139 in 1970–71) among defencemen.[3]

Coffey helped Edmonton to a third Cup in 1986–87, but the deciding Game Seven that year against Philadelphia would be his last in an Oilers' uniform. After a monetary dispute with Head Coach and General Manager Glen Sather, Coffey was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987. When he was traded to the Penguins, he changed his uniform number from #7 to #77, which he would wear the rest of his career (save for his final season in Boston, where he wore 74).

Coffey played four and a half seasons with Pittsburgh. On December 22, 1990, Coffey became the second defenceman ever to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games. Coffey won a fourth Stanley Cup in 1990–91 with Pittsburgh. During the 1992 season Coffey passed Denis Potvin to become the career leader in goals, assist, and points by a defenceman. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Kings where he was reunited with former Oilers teammates Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri for parts of two seasons.[4]

After his brief stint with L.A., he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings where he played for 3 1/2 seasons. In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 NHL season, Coffey led his team in scoring for the only time in his entire career, and was awarded the Norris Trophy for the third time. In the 1994-95 NHL Playoffs, he led all defenceman in shorthanded goals (2) while helping Detroit to the Stanley Cup Final. However, the favored Red Wings were swept by the New Jersey Devils in 4 games.

After a falling out with Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, Coffey was traded to the Hartford Whalers at the start of the 1996–97 season. Coffey only played 20 games for the Whalers before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for Philadelphia for a season and a half, reaching the 1997 Stanley Cup Final, his seventh, against his former team, Detroit. Coffey's Final series was not successful, being on ice for six of Detroit's goals and was in the penalty box for a seventh when the Flyers conceded a power-play goal, ending up with no points and being minus-2 and minus-3 in the first two games, and a hit from Darren McCarty in game two left Coffey sidelined for the rest of the series with a concussion.[5]

Coffey in 2009.
Coffey (right) and Larry Murphy are introduced during a pregame ceremony honoring the final regular season game at Mellon Arena, April 8, 2010.

After a very brief stint (10 games) with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he played one and a half seasons. He would play his final season in 2000–01, with the Boston Bruins.

During Coffey's last NHL season, Ray Bourque passed his career goals, assist and points records. Bourque and Coffey both retired after 2000–01 season. Paul Coffey finished with 396 goals, 1135 assists, and 1531 points. He is still second only to Ray Bourque in all-time career scoring by a defenceman. Coffey, however, averaged more points per game than did Bourque, having played 203 fewer games but lagging by only 48 points.

Paul Coffey was voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Edmonton Oilers retired his uniform number 7 in 2005.

Coffey skated with former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Mario Lemieux in the NHL Legends Game, December 31, 2010.

Post-playing career

While coaching a game for the Toronto Marlboros midget ‘AAA’ team in February 2014, Coffey was assessed a gross misconduct penalty for a discriminatory slur. The Greater Toronto Hockey League investigated the misconduct penalty and Coffey was handed a three-game suspension.[6] Coffey is a co-owner of the OJHL's Pickering Panthers.[7]

Awards

He is one of the 2016 inductees into Legends Row: Mississauga Walk of Fame.

NHL Records

Career statistics

Figures in boldface italics are NHL records for defencemen.

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts +/- PIM GP G A Pts +/- PIM
1977–78 North York Rangers OPJHL 50 14 33 47 64
1977–78 Kingston Canadians OMJHL 8 2 2 4 11
1978–79 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OMJHL 68 17 72 89 103
1979–80 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OMJHL 23 10 21 31 63
1979–80 Kitchener Rangers OMJHL 52 19 52 71 130
1980–81 Edmonton Oilers NHL 74 9 23 32 +4 130 9 4 3 7 +5 22
1981–82 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 29 60 89 +35 106 5 1 1 2 -4 6
1982–83 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 29 67 96 +52 87 16 7 7 14 +15 14
1983–84 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 40 86 126 +52 104 19 8 14 22 +19 21
1984–85 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 37 84 121 +55 97 18 12 25 37 +26 44
1985–86 Edmonton Oilers NHL 79 48 90 138 +61 120 10 1 9 10 0 30
1986–87 Edmonton Oilers NHL 59 17 50 67 +12 49 17 3 8 11 +7 30
1987–88 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 46 15 52 67 -1 93
1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 75 30 83 113 -10 195 11 2 13 15 -7 31
1989–90 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 29 74 103 -25 95
1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 24 69 93 -18 128 12 2 9 11 -1 6
1991–92 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 54 10 54 64 +4 62
1991–92 Los Angeles Kings NHL 10 1 4 5 -3 25 6 4 3 7 -5 2
1992–93 Los Angeles Kings NHL 50 8 49 57 +9 50
1992–93 Detroit Red Wings NHL 30 4 26 30 +7 27 7 2 9 11 -3 2
1993–94 Detroit Red Wings NHL 80 14 63 77 +28 106 7 1 6 7 +6 8
1994–95 Detroit Red Wings NHL 45 14 44 58 +18 72 18 6 12 18 +4 10
1995–96 Detroit Red Wings NHL 76 14 60 74 +19 90 17 5 9 14 -3 30
1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 20 3 5 8 0 18
1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 37 6 20 26 +11 20 17 1 8 9 -3 6
1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 57 2 27 29 +3 30
1998–99 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 10 0 4 4 -6 0
1998–99 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 44 2 8 10 -1 25 5 0 1 1 0 2
1999–00 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 69 11 29 40 -6 40
2000–01 Boston Bruins NHL 18 0 4 4 -6 30
NHL totals 1409 396 1135 1531 +294 1802 194 59 137 196 +56 264

Transactions

[11]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
Canada Cup
1991 Canada
1987 Canada
1984 Canada
World Cup
1996 Canada

Played for Canada in:

Personal life

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Coffey.
Preceded by
Kevin Lowe
Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick
1980
Succeeded by
Grant Fuhr
Preceded by
Rod Langway
Winner of the Norris Trophy
1985, 1986
Succeeded by
Ray Bourque
Preceded by
Ray Bourque
Winner of the Norris Trophy
1995
Succeeded by
Chris Chelios
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