- Source: Paul Coffey
Paul Patrick Coffey (born June 1, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played for nine teams over 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among NHL defencemen in goals, assists, and points, behind only Ray Bourque. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman three times and was voted to eight end-of-season All-Star teams (four first-team and four second-team). He holds the record for the most goals by a defenceman in one season, 48 in 1985–86, and is the only defenceman to have scored 40 goals more than once, also doing it in 1983–84. He is also one of only two defencemen to score 100 points in a season more than one time, as he did it five times; Bobby Orr did it six times. Coffey holds or shares 33 NHL records in the regular season and playoffs.
During his NHL career, he played for the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup champion, winning three times with Edmonton and a fourth with Pittsburgh.
Coffey was born in Weston, Ontario, and grew up in Malton, Ontario. The city of Mississauga renamed Malton Arena to Paul Coffey Arena and Wildwood Park to Paul Coffey Park in a ceremony on September 23, 2016. In 2017, Coffey was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Playing career
In his youth, Coffey played in the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Mississauga.
Coffey was drafted sixth 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 and added 86 assists to finish second in point scoring. He won his first James Norris Memorial Trophy in 1984–85 while posting 37 goals and 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. 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.
Coffey helped Edmonton to a third Cup in 1986–87, but the deciding Game 7 of that year's Stanley Cup Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers would be his last in an Oiler uniform. Coffey had two years remaining on a contract that paid him a reported $320,000 a year, but held out at the beginning of the 1987–88 season, wanting the contract renegotiated to pay him $800,000 a year. Team owner Peter Pocklington refused to do so, and offended Coffey by suggesting he lacked courage when playing; Coffey vowed never to put on an Edmonton uniform again and demanded a trade. On November 24, 1987, the Oilers traded Coffey, along with Dave Hunter and Wayne Van Dorp, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha, and Chris Joseph.
As the Penguins' Rod Buskas was already wearing uniform number 7, Coffey agreed to change his uniform number from 7 to 77. He would wear it for most of the rest of his career until 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 to record 1,000 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, assists, 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.
After his brief stint with Los Angeles, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings where he played for three and a half seasons. In the lock-out 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 1995 playoffs, he led all defencemen in scoring while helping Detroit to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, the favoured Red Wings were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four games. Coffey would then help the Red Wings to an astounding 62 regular season wins the following year, though the team would ultimately get eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. During Game 1 of that series, Coffey scored two goals but also accidentally scored on his own net after Colorado's Stephane Yelle attempted to pass the puck into the slot but it instead ended up on Coffey's stick.
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 as part of a package to acquire Brendan Shanahan – a move that Coffey was unhappy with.
Coffey only played 20 games for the Whalers before being traded to the Flyers. He played for Philadelphia for a season and a half, reaching the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, his seventh, against his former team, Detroit. Coffey's Final series was not successful, being on the 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.
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 played his final season in 2000–01 with the Boston Bruins.
During Coffey's last NHL season, Ray Bourque passed his career goal, assist, and point records, and Bourque and Coffey both retired after the 2000–01 season. Coffey finished with 396 goals, 1135 assists, and 1531 points, and remains second only to 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, his first year of eligibility, and the Edmonton Oilers retired his uniform number 7 in 2005.
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. Coffey is a co-owner of the OJHL's Pickering Panthers.
On November 12, 2023, Coffey returned to the Edmonton Oilers as the assistant coach.
Awards
Named to the OHA second All-Star team — 1980
Won the James Norris Memorial Trophy — 1985, 1986, 1995
Named to the NHL first All-Star team — 1985, 1986, 1989, 1995
Named to the NHL second All-Star team — 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990
Played in the NHL All-Star Game — 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
4-time Stanley Cup champion — 1984, 1985, 1987 (with Edmonton), 1991 (with Pittsburgh)
Won Canada Cup — 1984, 1987, 1991 (with Team Canada)
Named to the Canada Cup All-Star team — 1984
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004
In 1998, he was ranked number 28 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
Currently 14th all-time in career points (was 9th when he retired in 2000, but was passed by Mario Lemieux later in the 2000–01 season, Joe Sakic on January 1, 2007, Jaromir Jagr on October 12, 2007, Mark Recchi on March 29, 2011, and Joe Thornton)
Was inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame on November 15, 2007
Was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame — 2015
He is one of the 2016 inductees into Legends Row: Mississauga Walk of Fame.
NHL records
Most goals by a defenceman regular season and playoffs combined — 455
= Regular season
=Most goals in one season by a defenceman — 48 in 1985–86
Most shorthanded goals in one season by a defenceman — 9 in 1985–86
Most assists in one game by a defenceman: (6) on March 14, 1986
Most points in one game by a defenceman: (8) on March 14, 1986 (2G, 6A, shared with Tom Bladon 4G, 4A)
Most seasons leading the league in scoring by a defenceman (8)
Fastest defenceman in NHL history to score 1000 points: (770 Games)
Fastest defenceman to score 100 points (59 Games) in a single season (Shared with Bobby Orr)
Longest point-scoring streak by a defenceman: (28 Games) in 1985-86, (Point Totals during streak "16-39-55")
Most 40-goal seasons by a defenceman career: (2)
Most 50-assist seasons by a defenceman career: (14)
Most 60-assist seasons by a defenceman career: (11)
Most 70-assist seasons by a defenceman career: (6) (Shares record with Bobby Orr)
Most 80-point seasons by a defenceman career: (8)
Highest goals per game average by a defenceman in one season: (0.608)
Highest career assist per game average by a defenceman: (0.806) - "Minimum 750 Games"
Highest career points per game average by a defenceman: (1.087) - "Minimum 750 Games"
Only defenceman in NHL history to be selected first-team All-Star playing for three different teams
Most PIM by a 1000-Point defenceman
Most different teams played on by a 1000-point scorer - 9 (tied with Jaromir Jagr)
= Playoffs
=Most career goals by a defenceman in NHL playoff history: (59)
Most career points by a defenceman in NHL playoff history: (196)
Most goals by a defenceman, one playoff year — (12) in 1985
Most assists by a defenceman, one playoff year — (25) in 1985 - Since broken by Evan Bouchard
Most points by a defenceman, one playoff year — (37) in 1985
Most points by a defenceman, one playoff series: (11) in 1985
Most assists by a defenceman, five game series: (8) in 1985
Most assists in one period: (3) in 1985
Most career short-handed goals by a defenceman in NHL playoff history: (6)
Most short-handed goals by a defenceman, one playoff year (2) in (1983) and (1996)
Highest Plus/Minus by a defenceman, one playoff year: +26 in 1985
Highest goals per game average in one playoff year by a defenceman: (0.667) in 1985 - "Minimum 10 Playoff Games"
Highest assists per game average in one playoff year by a defenceman: (1.389) in 1985 - "Minimum 5 Playoff Games"
Highest points per game average in one playoff year by a defenceman: (2.056) in 1985
Highest career goals per game average in playoffs by a defenceman: (0.304) - "Minimum 75 Games"
Highest career assists per game average in playoffs by a defenceman: (0.706) - "Minimum 100 Games"
Highest career points per game average in playoffs by a defenceman: (1.010) - "Minimum 100 Games"
Career statistics
= Regular season and playoffs
=Figures in boldface italics are NHL records for defencemen.
= International
=Personal life
Coffey was the owner of a car dealership in Bolton, Ontario. Coffey and his wife have three children.
See also
Hockey Hall of Fame
James Norris Memorial Trophy
List of NHL statistical leaders
List of NHL players with 1,000 points
List of NHL players with 1,000 games played
References
External links
Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
Official website
Hockey-Fans profile
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