Wayne Gretzky

Brantford, Ontario used to be best known as the place where inventor Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. However that began to change on January 26, 1961 as Wayne Douglas Gretzky was born. Brantford would soon become known as the birthplace of hockey's greatest player.

Two years after birth, Wayne took his first steps to hockey stardom. Walter Gretzky, Canada's most famous hockey dad, took the youngster down to the local rink and began teaching him how to skate. It wasn't much longer after that before novice league coaches realized that the kid was a Good One, although they had no idea he was the Great One in the making. Soon enough a young Gretzky was playing in leagues with kids 3 or 4 years older than he was.

The first major article about Gretzky found its way into the Toronto Telegram on October 28, 1971, when reporter John Iaboni was sent to cover the Nadrofsky Steelers' blossoming star.

At the end of the game an eight-year old spectator approached Iaboni and asked, "'Are you going to write a book on Wayne Gretzky? He's good you know.'"

While the book idea was a little farther off, his greatness was already shining through. Gretzky finished that season with 378 goals in 68 games.

By the age of 17, he was tearing up the Ontario Hockey League, scoring 182 points in 64 regular season games for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhouds.

For most of his childhood, Gretzky had worn Howe's No. 9, in honor of his hero, Gordie Howe, then the NHL's all time scoring leader. It was Greyhounds GM "Muzz" McPherson who convinced Wayne Gretzky to wear the unconventional number 99 on his jersey, since No. 9 was unavailable.

A year before he would have been eligible for the NHL draft, 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky signed up with the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA in 1978 for an unprecedented $825,000. After just 8 games, however, the hotshot prospect found himself traded to Edmonton, along with Peter Driscoll and Eddie Mio, in exchange for cash. The Racers were in deep financial trouble, and the move had to be made.

In the WHA's last season Gretzky led the Oilers to the championship finals, where they lost to the Winnipeg Jets. Gretzky finished third in league scoring with 110 points. Remember, most kids his age are in high school, and this guy was challenging for the scoring race!

Edmonton was one of four WHA franchises that were absorbed into the NHL in 1979. And in his first season in the National Hockey League, Gretzky became the youngest player ever to crack the 50-goal barrier. He equaled Marcel Dionne's 137 points. While he was deemed ineligible for the Calder trophy because of his affiliation with the WHA, Gretzky locked up the Hart trophy for the most valuable player.

In the 1981-82 campaign, Gretzky obliterated the record for goals in a season with an unthinkable 92 and points in a season with 212. No one else had ever broken the 200-point barrier, or even come close, but Gretzky would do it three more times. Even more impressive was his breach of hockey's mythical 50-goals-in-50-games barrier. Only two other players had ever achieved that milestone — Rocket Richard and Mike Bossy — and it took both the full 50 games to do it; Gretzky scored number 50 in the 39th game of the season.

Teaming up Gretzky with the Finnish finisher, Jari Kurri, on the first line and Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson on the second, combined with offensively-gifted defenseman Paul Coffey, coach Glen Sather could send waves of offense at opposing teams the likes of which the NHL had never seen. Propelled by four 100-point scorers, Edmonton tallied an unprecedented 424 goals in the 1982-83 season.

The high flying Oilers made it all the way to the 1983 Stanley Cup finals where they faced the 3 time defending Cup champs, the New York Islanders. The Oilers were about to be taught a lesson - losing in 4 straight games as the Isles made it 4 straight Cup victories.



In the next year's rematch, however, the Oilers defeated the Islanders in five games, ending one dynasty and starting one of their own. The momentum spilled over into the 1984-85 season when they demolished Philadelphia in just five games to take their second Stanley Cup.

It seemed like no one in the league could defeat Gretzky's Oilers of the mid-80s, except themselves. A wayward pass by Edmonton defenseman Steve Smith into his own net sent the team home early during the 1986 playoffs, interrupting what should have been a five-year championship dynasty, as the Oilers would redeem themselves with the 1987 and 1988 championships.



And throughout the Oilers' glory years, Gretzky kept re-writing the record books. During the 1985-86 season, Gretzky set the current mark with 215 points, including a record-shattering 163 assists. In fact, Gretzky won the Art Ross trophy as scoring leader every year between 1981 and 1987 and two more times after that.


Gretzky of course was no stranger to international hockey competition either. Representing Canada in 4 Canada Cup tournaments, the 1978 World Junior championships, the 1996 World Cup and the 1998 Olympics, but his greatest performance on any stage came in the 1987 Canada Cup.

Gretzky captained Team Canada against the mighty Soviet Union - led by the vaunted KLM line — featuring Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov. Gretzky led all scorers with 18 points while playing what he himself admitted was the best hockey of his career.

August 9, 1988 is considered by many Canadians to be the lowest day in the country's history. On that date, the Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky, along with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first round picks and cash.

The major reason for the trade was the cash. Struggling financially, Oilers' owner Peter Pocklington jumped at the $15 million that Kings owner Bruce McNall showed him.

As Canada mourned, Los Angeles partied. Gretzky - and Hockey -had gone Hollywood. By the end of Gretzky's 7 1/2 season tenure with the Kings, the Great One had brought enough popularity to hockey in Southern California to blaze the trail for two more teams, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In reality Gretzky brought the game to such a high level in the American sunbelt that the NHL also saw teams in Dallas, Miami, Tampa Bay and countless minor league teams throughout the USA.

Gretzky's greatest moment as a King came in 1993 when he carried the Kings to the 1993 Finals. That playoffs also saw Gretzky play what he called his greatest game in NHL competition. In Game 7 of the conference finals, Gretzky scored a hat trick, including the game winner, in a 5-4 victory over the heavily favored Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the Kings couldn't continue their magic in the Finals, falling to the Montreal Canadiens.

While Gretzky never got his named etched on the Cup as a member of the Kings, he did continue to rewrite the record book. On October 15, 1989, Gretzky surpassed Gordie Howe's NHL-record 1,851 points. It took Howe 26 years to accomplish that. It took Gretzky less than 11. Fittingly the record was surpassed in Edmonton. Even Howe's record 801 goals weren't safe: Gretzky scored number 802 against the Canucks on March 23, 1994.



By the middle of the 1995-96 season, it was obvious that the Kings didn't have the talent to make the playoffs, let alone contend. Gretzky asked to be traded and received his wish. He found himself playing alongside good friend Brett Hull, on the St. Louis Blues.

Gretzky was also initially happy to be reunited with Mike Keenan, with whom he had great success in the Canada Cup tournaments. However by this time the tyrannical Keenan had gone over the edge in his drive more power, and soon turned Gretzky, like Hull and many more, against him. During one playoff game, Keenan embarrassed Gretzky in front of his teammates in between periods. Gretzky went on to tally five assists the next game, but the Blues were still eliminated from the playoffs.

Gretzky left St. Louis, largely because of Mike Keenan, as a free agent. He took his greatness to the New York Rangers, where he was reunited with his old buddy Mark Messier.

The much celebrated reunion was short lived. After just one season, Messier left for bigger bucks in Vancouver. Gretzky however stayed in New York, quietly signing an extension with the team for less than market value.

Although it wasn't a storybook script, Gretzky fulfilled a lifelong dream in 1998 when he represented Canada in the 1998 Olympics. However Gretzky was not the Gretzky of old by this point. In fact Gretzky wasn't even named as team captain. Canada ran into the best goalie in the world, the Czech Republic's Dominik Hasek, in the semifinal game. Canada finished without a medal; Gretzky finished without a goal.

During these otherwise unspectacular Ranger seasons, Gretzky hit two more major milestones. On October 26, 1997, Gretzky recorded two assists in Anaheim to raise his career total 1,851, more than Gordie Howe — the second highest total in NHL history — had points. Then in March of 1999 he scored his 1,072nd goal as a pro, surpassing yet another Gordie Howe record. Suddenly there weren't any records left to shoot for.

The man who once scored 92 goals during the 1981-82 season, however, could only manage nine during the 1998-89 campaign. And when Gretzky was sidelined by a painful neck injury, the Rangers went 6-3-3 and temporarily moved back into the playoff race. Fans bombarded call-in shows suggesting that the Great One should retire. For the first time in a career built on proving naysayers wrong, Gretzky started to listen to his detractors.

Gretzky was clearly but a shadow of his former self, yet he was still better than most. He showed moments of greatness that no one else could. In the 1999 All Star game Gretzky recorded a goal and two assists and was named as the game's MVP. In his first and only game in Nashville he showed a rare sellout crowd the wonders of Gretzky by scoring 5 assists.

No. 99 left the game after 20 seasons, taking 61 NHL records with him. Among them: 92 goals in a single season, 163 assists in a single season, 215 points in a single season, a 51-game points streak that's every bit as impressive as Joe DiMaggio's 56-game mark in baseball, 2857 career points, and 1, 072 professional goals. He won every Hart Trophy from 1980 to 1987 (and another in 1989) as the league's MVP and took home ten Art Ross Trophies as the league's scoring leader. While captaining the Oilers to four Stanley Cups, Gretzky also took home two Conn Smythe trophies as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Until Wayne came along, we didn't know how great great could be. #99 redefined greatness. But is Wayne Gretzky the greatest athlete of the 20th century?

Needless to say, hockey fans think so! No athlete in any sport has dominated the way Gretzky has. Need proof? Then consider this:

Gretzky's 92 goals in 1981-82 topped Phil Esposito's previous record by 16, and his 212 points that season eclipsed Esposito's old mark by 60. Gretzky's 163 assists in 1985-86 surpassed Bobby Orr's standard by 61.

The Elias Sports Bureau has determined his 212 points in 1981-82 are the equivalent of 85 home runs -- 24 more than Roger Maris hit in 1961 or 14 more than Mark McGuire in 1998; a 2,941-yard NFL rushing season (Eric Dickerson holds the record with 2,105 in 1984) or 67 touchdown passes by a quarterback (Dan Marino holds the standard at 48, also in '84). Wilt Chamberlain dwarfed previous NBA scoring leaders, but arguments raged during his day as to whether he or Bill Russell was the more dominant player.

A case can be made that no one ever has done in any sport what Gretzky has accomplished in hockey. And when you consider the wider impact of one player's career upon a sport, only Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan rank with Gretzky.

In hitting 59 home runs with a livelier ball in 1921 and raising the record by a staggering 25, Ruth also drastically elevated standards of excellence and excitement. The Babe, too, was the object of a blockbuster transaction: The Red Sox sold him to the Yankees for $100,000 and a $300,000 loan. His magnetism helped baseball recover from a betting scandal and inspired the building of a stadium twice the size of others in that era. He was the dominant player on baseball's dominant team, winning four World Series and seven American League pennants.

Michael Jordan is universally hailed as the greatest athlete of the 20th century, but realistically he doesn't deserve to be on the same level as Wayne. Yes, Michael was perhaps the most gifted and talented athlete of our time, but you could easily say he wasn't the greatest basketball player let alone athlete. Wilt Chamberlain's hoop exploits dwarf that of Jordan's.

Picture Hank Aaron as not only baseball's all-time home run leader, but its single-season homer king and all-time hits leader as well. That's Gretzky's place in hockey.

When it comes to debating who is the best hockey player of all time, it generally boils down to one of three players: Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe.

Orr revolutionized the way defense could be played and established significantly higher statistical standards for excellence at that position. It can be argued that Orr carried the puck more than Gretzky and broke up a lot of rushes, making him a more effective all-around player than The Great One. But Orr's career, cut drastically short by knee injuries, produced just 915 points.

Unquestionably, Howe played the majority of his career in a much tighter checking era. But the fact that jobs were more competitive in the six-team league doesn't necessarily mean the level of play was, too. Bigger, faster, and better athletes, and the influx of European- and American-born players, and equipment advances make today's NHL just as competitive -- but higher scoring -- than the pre-expansion league.

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Mark Messier

Old time fans will unequivocally insist the greatest player of all time is Gordie Howe. Not Gretzky. Not Lemieux. Not Bobby Orr. The problem for several recent eras of fans is we never saw "Mr. Hockey." The primitive video that is archived is from late in his career. We never got to see the man who could do it all - score, pass, skate, hit, and fight. With the puck he could be as beautiful as any player from any generation. Without the puck he could be as robust and as happily nasty.

No, modern fans did not get to see that. But we were blessed to see the closest incarnation since: Mark Messier.

Messier played the game in Howe's image. Both embodied hockey in its most passionate form -- competing hard, winning at all costs and exhibiting a mean streak that only added to effectiveness. But that passion and the physical prowess never overshadowed the raw skill sets of either - the explosive speed, the uncanny creativity, the constant threat to score. Messier was very much Gordie Howe 2.0 - with Rocket Richard's piercing eyes thrown in.

While the NHL game has changed significantly on a few occasions in the league's storied history, the definition of the "ideal" hockey player never has. Gordie Howe embodied that description for the longest time. Mark Messier is the closest player to join "Mr. Hockey" as an equal in hockey's grand history.

What makes it all the more amazing is the fact that Messier was very much a long shot to accomplish anything in the NHL.

Messier was the definition of a "coach's project" when he started out. He had a few things going for him though. He was as strong as an ox and wasn't afraid to show it; he had blazing speed; and he had Glen Sather's guidance.

Mark was only 17 when he turned pro with Indianapolis of the World Hockey Association. He split 52 games between Indianapolis and Cincinnati in his rookie year, and was far from sensational. In fact he only scored one goal. There was little to suggest he would go on to become the only man named to the NHL's first all star team at two different positions, become the only man to captain two franchises to Stanley Cup championships, or become the man heralded as the greatest leader in not only hockey but in all of professional sports.

When the WHA merged with NHL, Messier was still eligible for the entry draft, and that's when Edmonton Oiler GM Glen Sather drafted the hometown boy in the second round (1979). Under Sather's guidance and confidence, Messier became a monster.

He scored a respectable 33 points as an 18 year old in his first year in the NHL, and followed that up by a 63 point campaign. But it was in 1981-82, Messier blossomed into a 50 goal scorer and the Oilers exploded into an NHL powerhouse.

Messier played under the shadow of Wayne Gretzky for many years, but one can argue that the Oilers didn't reach the top until Messier put them there. With Gretzky's wizardry and offensive firepower and Messier's physical dominance and leadership, the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup final in 1983. However Messier's shoulder was quickly injured limiting his effectiveness. The Oilers were soon blown away by the dynasty New York Islanders.

The next year the Oilers returned to the finals, and again faced the Isles. This time Messier was healthy, and the Oilers gained their first Stanley Cup and at the same time ended the Isle's four year reign as champions. In the pivotal game 3 of the series, it was Messier's spectacular goal that sparked to Oilers and they never looked back. Messier was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoffs most valuable player.

Gretzky and Messier and the Oilers would enjoy their own dynasty, winning 3 more Cups. After Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles in 1988, Messier was named Oilers captain. He enjoyed his most productive season in 1989-90, scoring 129 points, and winning the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP. He would then lead the Oilers to a somewhat surprising 5th Stanley Cup in 7 years. Surprising only because Gretzky had left only 2 years earlier.

However, Messier's days in Edmonton were numbered, just like Gretzky ahead of him. Changing economics forced the Oilers to dismantle perhaps the greatest team of all time. At the start of the 1991-92 season Messier became known as "the Messiah" as he was traded to the New York Rangers. His leadership qualities and all around play inspired the Rangers to acquire him to fulfill a mission: to bring the Stanley Cup back to Manhattan for the first time since 1940. In doing so he became Manhattan's favorite son. Remembered as much as a Ranger as he was an Oiler, he is immortalized in sporting history like very few hockey players before him.

Even though Messier's career, and the fortunes of the Canucks, who he joined in 1997 and the Rangers, who he rejoined in 2000, would slide into decline, his legendary status would only grow with Howe-like longevity.

His stellar career that featured 694 goals, 1,193 assists and 1,887 points in 1,756 games. He surpassed Gordie Howe's once untouchable career scoring feats, ending his career as the NHL's second highest scorer all time behind his buddy Wayne Gretzky. Thanks in large part to the NHL lockout of 2004-05, Messier fell one season shy of equaling Howe's record of 26 seasons played, and finished just 11 games behind on the games played list.

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Glenn Anderson

With blazing speed Glenn Anderson became a dangerous clutch goal scorer playing on Mark Messier's right wing with the Edmonton Oilers and later the New York Rangers. He also played with the Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues.

Anderson was a big part of the Oilers dynasty during the 1980’s, collecting five Stanley Cup rings. He picked up a 6th ring while playing with Messier and the New York Rangers in 1994. Glenn scored a career total of 498 goals, just falling shy of the magical 500 mark. "Andy" also added 601 career assists for 1099 points in 1129 games. Included in his totals were two 54 goal seasons and 3 100 point seasons.

Anderson was a skating contradiction. He played with reckless abandon, fearlessly crashing the net, doing whatever it took to score a goal. Yet at the same time there were periods of time where he was criticized for being lazy and uninterested. His mind would drift during regular season games, but he was all business come the playoffs. In addition to his 6 Cup rings, Anderson scored 93 career playoff goals (5th best in NHL history), 121 assists for 214 points (4th best in NHL history) in 225 playoff contests. Seventeen of his playoff goals were game winners.

Glenn briefly played Major Junior Hockey in the WHL, and spent a year with the University of Denver of the WCHA. But most of his pre-NHL training came with the Canadian National Team in 1979-80. Like most players on the national team the youngster with speed to burn was a little known prospect at that point. The team however did feature future NHL standouts Paul MacLean and Randy Gregg, as well as serviceable future pros Tim Watters, Jim Nill and Kevin Primeau.

Long before NHLers participated in the Olympics, the national team of prospects represented Canada's hopes against the "amateur" powers such as the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Canada played well in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, and with a little more puck luck could have staged their own Miracle on Ice. Unfortunately the record book's 6th place finish does not adequately reflect that. Anderson scored 2 goals and 4 points in thattourney.

Anderson made his NHL debut the following season and instantly drew two comparisons to big name celebrities. One was Guy Lafleur. A early newspaper report had a Oilers scout quoted as comparing Anderson to the most electrifying player in hockey at that time, although the Oilers management was quick to dismiss the comments as they didn't want to place extra pressure on the youngster. They insisted the comment referred to his skating ability.

Anderson also had an uncanny resemblance to popular Hollywood comedian Robin Williams. His teammates called him 'Mork' after the famous Williams TV character. However Anderson hated that nickname and grew a beard to shed himself of the resemblance.

Number Nine let his play do the speaking as his rookie season rolled on. He excelled and finished the year scoring 30 goals in just 58 games. The Hockey News named him as the player of the week late in the season, and his teammates stopped calling him Mork and just called him Andy.

Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette became a big fan of Anderson's and even published an article comparing him to Rocket Richard. As if Guy Lafleur skating comparisons weren't tough enough, even being mentioned in the same breath of Rocket Richard is quite numbing.

While no one has or likely ever will come close to being what Rocket Richard was, the comparison had good merit in that Anderson would be a poor man's Richard. Anderson was a great player from the blueline in. He had a flare for scoring exciting and big goals and was at his best in big games, especially the playoffs. He played a similarly reckless style - yet no one can be compared to Richard.

Glenn took his fine rookie season to the next level in the following years. He scored a career high 105 points (38 goals and 67 assists) in 1981-82. He nearly equaled that in 1982-83 when scored 48 times and had 104 points. He also was a strong part of the Oilers fantastic first run at the Stanley Cup - scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 18 games while falling just short to the New York Islanders.

Glenn just missed the 100 point level in 1983-84 when he scored 99 points but he did set a career high with 54 goals. That spring the Oilers captured their first Stanley Cup. Anderson played a nice role in that victory - scoring 6 goals and 17 points in 19 games.

After a strong showing in the 1984 Canada Cup, Anderson got off to a slow start in the 1984-85 season. He finished the season strong but by season's end his scoring totals slipped to 81 points (including 42 goals) in 80 games. He had perhaps his strongest playoff in the spring of 1985 - scoring 10 goals, 16 assists and 26 points in 18 games as the Oilers repeated as Stanley Cup champions.

Anderson, who was best known as Mark Messier's right winger although he spent a lot of time in his early career on the left side as well, missed 8 games in the 1985-86 but he equaled his career high 54 goals and added 48 assists for 102 points. However his Oilers stumbled in the playoffs and were out in just 10 games. Andy had 8 goals in those 10 contests!

Anderson scored 35 and 38 goals in the following two years, both of which saw the Oilers win the Cup. However in 1988-89 - the first year without Wayne Gretzky - Anderson fell to just 16 goals and 64 points. It was an unusual blip for Anderson, who continued to play with his usual linemate Mark Messier.

Anderson returned to his usual form in 1989-90 - scoring 34 times and collecting 72 points. The Oilers went on a bit of an unexpected playoff run and won the Stanley Cup for the 5th time in 7 years. Anderson played a big role - scoring 10 goals and 22 points in the 22 post season games.

Anderson spent 12 years for the Oilers before he was traded with star goaltender Grant Fuhr (and Craig Berube) to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Vinnie Damphousse, Peter Ing, Scott Thornton, Luke Richardson and cash. The Oilers were being forced to dismantle as economic woes hit them hard. Toronto's new GM Cliff Fletcher wanted Anderson for his veteran leadership and playoff savvy.

Anderson's scoring tailed off once he left Edmonton. He only cracked the 20 goal level once and often spent more time in Europe or with the Canadian National Team than in the NHL. Late in 1994 he was traded to the New York for Mike Gartner. Andy played thirty-five games as a Ranger and went on to win a Stanley Cup with them. After playing with the Canadian Nats and teams in Germany and Finland, Glenn spent a brief time in St. Louis in 1995, before he left to play in Germany. He wanted to finish his career with the Vancouver Canucks, who were a strong contender and also Glenn's hometown. The Canucks signed him but first he had to pass through waivers. Glen Sather upset Canucks boss Pat Quinn by taking Anderson. Rumors persisted that Sather was returning a jab at Quinn who earlier in the decade snapped up the Oiler's Randy Gregg from waivers. Anderson reluctantly returned where he played 17 games in his second Oiler stint where he was then put back on waivers and claimed by the St Louis Blues.

Anderson had always expressed an interest in playing hockey in Europe, which is where he returned to in 1996-97 for one final season of hockey. Anderson's speed was a big asset for various Team Canada squads in International events. Anderson participated in the 1980 Olympics before joining the NHL. He also participated in 2 Canada Cup tournaments, 2 World Championships, and Rendez Vous '87. He had once stated he would like to have played in the Soviet Elite Leagues.

Glenn Anderson was a very nice player on a very strong team. In some ways that helped his status in the hockey world, but in other ways it kept him in the shadows and from greater individual acclaim.

After waiting several seasons, Anderson was finally rightfully inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008, although his former Oilers co-horts couldn't understand why he was not inducted earlier.

"I don't even think there should be a debate about him," said Glen Sather, the Oilers architect.

"I was there for most of his accomplishments and he's achieved many more huge results than guys that are in the Hall. It kind of astounds me that every time I've seen his name mentioned that he hasn't been one of the guys who have been elected automatically."

"He was the kind of player who, the bigger the game, the better he performed. Just based on his credentials in the playoffs alone I think he's a guy who really qualifies."

Former teammate Kevin Lowe was also critical that Anderson did not sharea place in the hallowed hall along side Wayne Gretzky, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier much sooner.

"Those five guys, to a man, would say it's ridiculous that Anderson is not in the Hall because they all view him on the same level as themselves," said Lowe. " When I sat in that dressing room with all those great players, when I looked around the room and we were in a big game, the one guy I thought would score the big goal was Anderson, and to his credit he did.

"Maybe, to his fault, a lot of the lesser games were less important to him. He would have scored 600 goals had they been. But anyone who has won championships recognized that Anderson was one of those big-game players. He has all the stats to support it."

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Paul Coffey

The first thing everyone thinks about when the name Paul Coffey is mentioned is his skating ability. Wearing skates several sizes too small, this guy was simply amazing. In a couple of strides he was able to glide through the neutral and offensive zones faster than those dogged checkers chasing him. He was every bit as silky smooth as he was lightning quick.

Scoring exploits are also always remembered. He retired as the 10th highest scorer in NHL history, even though he was a defenseman. Coffey tallied 396 goals and 1,135 assists for 1,531 points in 1,409 regular-season games. He added 196 points, on 59 goals and 137 assists, in 194 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He eclipsed the 100-point mark five times in his career, and set the single-season goal-scoring record for defenseman with 48 goals in 1986.

Given the green light to play offensively from the blue line while skatinging alongside the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Steve Yzerman allowed him to attain such lofty career numbers. The three time Norris trophy winner and eight time All Star was a brilliant passer, often triggering transition offense with amazing and instinctive breakout passes. While everyone will remember him for his skating and his puck rushing, Coffey may have been the best first-pass defender in league history.

The Oilers drafted Coffey 6th overall in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. It took a little patience, but soon Coffey was a key member of hockey's last great dynasty.

"Joining the Oilers was a great opportunity for me to get a chance to play on a young team that had a lot of talent," Coffey said. "I was always a good skater, but I was not as offensively oriented as a junior as I was as a pro. That was the style Glen Sather wanted me to play. My first partner was Gary Lariviere and he gave me a lot of confidence. I had the green light every time I was on the ice. Then, working with Charlie Huddy, we took it to another level. He allowed me to play the way they wanted me to play. Charlie was a very good defenseman and we had a lot of fun playing together."

"It was exciting to be on the ice with him and watch the way he could skate," Huddy said. "The great thing was he would take a few strides and then he'd just glide most of the time. He would glide by people, which is fairly unusual. He was such a powerful skater that it was fun to watch. He could come out of our end and find guys in the middle of the ice and the pass would be right on the tape. There weren't very many times that it wasn't right on the tape.

"His ability to see the ice and make those kinds of plays was remarkable. You know, it was something different every game. You never knew what was going to happen. It was exciting for me to be part of it."

The Oilers exploits need no introduction. With Coffey on the blue line the Oilers won the Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985 and 1987. In 1985 he set playoff standards for all defensemen with 12 goals, 25 assists and 37 points in 18 playoff games.

Following a contract dispute, Coffey was traded to Pittsburgh after the Oilers were eliminated in the 1986 Playoffs. It was a blockbuster deal that gave Pittsburgh a top-notch offensive defenseman and Edmonton a good scorer in Craig Simpson.

"Going to Pittsburgh was a great opportunity and great challenge for me," Coffey said. "GM Eddie Johnston acquired me and that was awesome. I saw him play with the Bruins and the Maple Leafs and now I was getting a chance to play with a superstar in his own right in Mario Lemieux, but we didn't know how to win yet. I went from a team that was a perennial Stanley Cup champ to a last-place team, but one with all the right people in place. They didn't know quite how to get to first-rate status. My first week there I realized what a big challenge this was for me. I was thinking, 'What the heck have I done?' I kept my nose to the grindstone and management kept acquiring players until we had a team that could win."

Coffey would get a lot of credit in turning that franchise around, helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 1991. But a lot of people forget that Coffey was actually traded prior to the Penguins successful Stanley Cup defense in 1992. Late in that season Coffey was moved to Los Angeles where he would be reunited with his old Edmonton running mates Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri.

His stay in California was short, just 60 games spread over parts of 2 seasons. Before the Kings went on their magical march to the 1993 Stanley Cup finals, Coffey was traded to Detroit where he played strongly for four seasons.

Coffey became a vagabond player after that, playing in stints with Hartford and Philadelphia, Chicago and Carolina and finally in Boston in the 2000-01 season. Though he was a shadow of his former self, his experience and leadership undoubtedly proved to be valuable assets.

Coffey had his share of detractors - he did play with some awfully great players to help pad his stats, he wasn't the greatest defensive player, and outsiders labelled him as a difficult personality in dressing rooms. These suggestions may all have some merit to them, but at the same time I think are somewhat exaggerated. But for whatever reason, Coffey isn't quite considered with Doug Harvey or Ray Bourque or even Niklas Lidstrom as the best defenseman in NHL history not named Bobby Orr.

Watching Coffey speed through the neutral zone and penetrate the offensive zone and carry that puck to the net was a great treat. For me he will always be an Oiler, and I was glad to see he and the organization patched up their relationship and had his jersey #7 retired.

I will also always think of Paul Coffey as a legend of Team Canada. He starred in the 1984, 1987 and 1991 Canada Cups in particular, he was also part of the 1990 world championship entry and the 1996 World Cup team.

Most people will remember Coffey's magnificent 1984 blocked pass on a Soviet 2-0n-1 break and his subsequent transition on the offense to set up Mike Bossy for the overtime winning goal. It's funny how his defensive play was considered spotty in the NHL, but with his amazing speed he was a key defender for Canada against those powerful Soviet teams in the 1980s.

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