Born	June 1, 1961 (1961-06-01) (age 48), Weston, Ontario, CAN
Height Weight	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Pro clubs	Edmonton Oilers (1980–1987) Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–1992) Los Angeles Kings (1992–1993) Detroit Red Wings (1993–1996) Hartford Whalers (1996) Philadelphia Flyers (1996–1998) Chicago Blackhawks (1998) Carolina Hurricanes (1998–2000) Boston Bruins (2000)
Ntl. team	Canada
NHL Draft	6th overall, 1980 Edmonton Oilers
Pro career	1980 – 2000
Hall of Fame, 2004

Paul Douglas Coffey (born June 1, 1961) is a Canadian retired professional Hall of Fame ice hockey defenceman 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.

[edit] 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, 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 October 26, 1984, Coffey would be the last defenceman in the 20th century to score four goals in one game. It occurred in a game versus the Detroit Red Wings. ^[1] 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 defensemen.^[2]

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 & General Manager Glen Sather, Coffey was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987.

Coffey played four and a half seasons with Pittsburgh. On Dec 22, 1990 Paul Coffey became the second defenseman ever to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games. Paul 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 defenseman. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Kings where he was re-united with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri for parts of two seasons. ^[3]

After his brief stint with L.A., he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings where he played for four and a half seasons and enjoyed moderate success. In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 NHL season, Coffey led his team in scoring, the only time in his entire career he would accomplish that feat, while picking up his third Norris Trophy. In the 1994-95 NHL Playoffs, he led all defenceman in shorthanded goals (2) while helping Detroit to Stanley Cup Finals. However, the Red Wings were shocked by the New Jersey Devils in 4 games.

After a falling out with Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, Coffey was then traded to the Hartford Whalers at the start of the 1996–97 season, a team expected to finish at the bottom of its division. But before he could get halfway into the season, he engineered a trade to the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for Philadelphia for a season and a half, most significantly helping the team to reach the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals against his former team, Detroit. Coffey's finals series was not successful (due to the tactics of Bowman in neutralizing him), 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.^[4] Coffey suffered a concussion in Game Two that ended his postseason prematurely and the Flyers went on to be swept by the Red Wings in four games.

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 Boston, with the Bruins.

During Coffey's last NHL season Ray Bourque passed his career goals, assist and points records. Bourque also retired after 2000–01 season. Paul Coffey retired in 2001 with 396 goals, 1135 assists, and 1531 points, and still second only to Ray Bourque in all-time career scoring by a defenceman. Coffey, however, averaged more points per game than did Bourque. In 2005, the Edmonton Oilers retired his uniform number 7.

[edit] Awards

Paul Coffey's plaque in the hockey hall of fame.

• Named to the OHA Second All-Star Team — 1979–80
• Won the James Norris Memorial Trophy — 1984–85, 1985–86, 1994–95
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team — 1984–85, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1994–95
• Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team — 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1989–90
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game — 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
• Stanley Cup Champion 1984, 1985, 1987 (with Edmonton), 1991 (with Pittsburgh)
• Lost in Finals 1983 (with Edmonton), 1995 (with Detroit), 1997 (with Philadelphia)
• 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 12th 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, and Jaromir Jagr on October 12, 2007 ^[5][6]
• Was inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame on November 15, 2007

[edit] Records

• NHL record for most goals in one season by a defenceman — 48 in 1985–86
• NHL record for most shorthanded goals in one season by a defenceman — 9 in 1985–86
• NHL record for most points in one game by a defenceman — 8 on March 14, 1986 (2G, 6A, shared with Tom Bladon)
• Most assists by a defenceman, one game — 6 (tied with 4 others) Mar. 14, 1986
• Longest point-scoring streak by a defenceman — 28 games in 1985–86
• Most goals by a defenceman, one playoff year — 12 in 1985
• Most assists by a defenceman, one playoff year — 25 in 1985
• Most points by a defenceman, one playoff year — 37 in 1985
• Most shorthanded goals by a defenceman, one playoff year — 2 in 1983 and in 1996
• The most different teams played on by a 1,000 point scorer — 8 (Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, Hartford/Carolina, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston)

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] International play

Played for Canada in:

• 1984 Canada Cup
• 1987 Canada Cup
• 1990 World Championships
• 1991 Canada Cup
• 1996 World Cup of Hockey

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2009)

• Coffey is the only player who played with the three great scorers and captains of his time: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman.
• Coffey preferred his skates to fit as tightly as possible, and wore two sizes smaller than his shoes. They were tied with two sets of laces, one laced from the bottom to half way up, and the other from the halfway point to the top. The skates were so tight that rather than untying them trainers cut the laces to remove his skates after every game. Also, he preferred to grind the blades of his skates to a very dull finish resulting in him "gliding" over the surface of the ice.
• He is currently the owner of a Toyota dealership named Paul Coffey's Bolton Toyota in Bolton, Ontario.
• He is the owner of Paul Coffey Nissan, located in Kitchener, Ontario.
• He lives with his wife and 3 children.
• He is one of three members of the Hockey Hall of Fame to have switched from jersey number 7 to 77 during his career; Phil Esposito and Ray Bourque are the other two. Coffey made the switch when he was traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh; he continued to wear 77 for the rest of his career until his last stop, Boston, where he wore #74 (Ray Bourque's #77 had been unofficially retired at the time). ^[7]

[edit] See also

• Hockey Hall of Fame
• James Norris Memorial Trophy
• List of NHL statistical leaders
• List of NHL players with 1000 points
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Paul Coffey's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Paul Coffey's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Hockey-Fans profile