Toronto Maple Leafs: Andreychuk Joining The Hall of Fame
Junior Hockey
Dave Andreychuk’s career began with the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals. In his first season in Oshawa, he had a solid season. He tallied 22 goals and 22 assists.
At the end of the 1980-81 season, the Generals had a coaching change. Paul Theriault took over the reins from Bill LaForge. The coaching change was truly pivotal for Andreychuk’s career as Theriault developed him into a strong offensive demon.
With teammates Mitch Lamoureaux and Tony Tanti at his side, he put up a stellar offensive season as he posted 58 goals and 43 assists in the 1981-82 campaign. However, his stellar offensive season cut short as the Generals lost in round three of their Memorial Cup run.
Drafted By Buffalo
The Buffalo Sabres selected Andreychuk in the first round in the 1982 NHL Draft. He was part of the draft class that included other notable former NHLers such as Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, Ray Ferraro, Ron Hextall and Doug Gilmour.
Scotty Bowman, then head coach of the Sabres, was very impressed with offensive skill-set. Bowman brought Andreychuk to Buffalo after Andreychuk posted 8 goals and 24 assists in 14 games for the Generals in the 1982-83 season.
Buffalo Sabres
Andreychuk joined the Sabres in the 82-83 season and helped electrify the Sabres offense.
In his first season in the NHL, he scored 14 goals and had 23 assists in 43 games. The Sabres had a decent playoff run. But, their playoff run cut short when they lost to the Boston Bruins in the division finals.
In Andreychuk’s 1983-84 campaign, he really became an offensive superstar. He totaled 38 goals and 42 assists. Andreychuk and his teammates, Housley, Gilbert Perreault, Mike Foligno and Ruff made a major impact for the Sabres and helped the Sabres get second place in the Adams Division.
Over the course of the next few seasons, Buffalo had a difficult time getting far into the playoffs. They were matched up against the Quebec Nordiques back to back years and the Nordiques had their number consistently.
Sabres’ Downfall
In the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons, Andreychuk consistently put up solid offensive numbers as he had a combined 61 goals and 99 assists. But, Buffalo couldn’t find their groove and finished fifth in the Adams division back-to-back seasons.
Their problems can be accredited to mid-season coaching changes. Bowman was fired in the midst of the 86-87 season and replaced by Ted Sator as head coach. In addition, Sabres’ net-minder, Tom Barrasso’s shaky play in net tarnished the Sabres’ chances.
In 1998, the Sabres won the draft lottery for the 1988 NHL Entry Draft and selected Pierre Turgeon with their number one selection. With Turgeon joining the Sabres, they were able to get back to the playoffs. Unfortunately, Andreychuk and the Sabres still had trouble getting far into the playoffs. Their playoffs were cut short as the Bruins out-played them in the playoffs.
From 1998 to 1993, the Sabres’ Stanley Cup drought continued and they decided to move on from Andreychuk. The Sabres traded Andreychuk with Daren Puppa and first round pick in the 1993 draft in exchange for Grant Fuhr and a conditional fifth round pick in the 1995 draft.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs’ head coach at the time, Pat Burns wanted to add another offensive specialist into their lineup.
Andreychuk joined former Sabre teammate, Foligno and helped lead the Leafs to third place in the Norris Division. Andreychuk, Foligno, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, Nikolai Borschevsky combined had 121 goals and 175 assists helping the Leafs secure the third spot in the Norris Division. Unfortunately, the Leafs fell to the Los Angeles Kings in the conference finals.
The following season, 1993-94, Gilmour, Clark and Andreychuk were dominant once again. They combined for 126 goals and 160 assists to help lock a second place finish in the Central Division. But, it wasn’t enough as Pavel Bure, Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden and the rest of the Vancouver Canucks had their number. The Canucks dominated the Leafs in the conference finals and won the series 4-1.
Dark Days In Toronto
The NHL lockout cut Andreychuk’s 1994-95 season short as the Leafs played a shortened season of 48 games. Additionally, the Leafs dealt one of Andreychuk’s best buddies, Clark to the Nordiques and in exchange the Leafs added Mats Sundin.
Sundin, Gilmour and Andreychuk were the leading scorers on the Leafs and the Leafs secured fourth place in the Central.
However, yet again, Andreychuk wasn’t headed to the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks and the star studded offense including Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte shattered Andreychuk’s dreams of hoisting the Stanley Cup as a Leaf.
The following season, Andreychuk’s tenure as a Maple Leaf was over. The Leafs sent Andreychuk to the Garden State in a deal with the New Jersey Devils. The Devils sent a 1996 2nd round pick and a 1999 3rd round pick back to Toronto.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils’ coach, Jacques Lemaire was looking for a left winger at the deadline and snatched Andreychuk. Unfortunately, the deadline trade for Andreychuk didn’t secure a playoff spot in the 1995-96 season as the Devils finished 6th in the Atlantic Division.
At the deadline of the 1996-97 season, the Devils brought Andreychuk’s buddy, Gilmour to northern New Jersey. Lemaire wanted to secure a stellar playmaker and pulling the trigger to bring Gilmour to East Rutherford. Unfortunately Gilmour and Andreychuk didn’t give the Devils enough offensive fire power as they fell to the New York Rangers in the conference semi-finals. To be honest, the Rangers were the much stronger team on paper and the Devils had no chance of winning the series. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier out-matched the Devils defense.
Garden State Blues
After the Rangers beat the Devils in the conference semi-finals, it ultimately shattered Andreychuk’s offensive production. In the last two seasons for him in New Jersey, he just seemed sluggish and not himself. He tallied only 29 goals in 127 games.
But, the Devils proved that didn’t really need Andreychuk to be as dominant as he was as they still made it to the conference quarter finals back-to-back seasons. However, the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins wouldn’t let them advance further into the playoffs.
Short Stints
After Andreychuk’s tenure in East Rutherford, he signed with the Bruins. Burns was the coach of the Bruins at the time and wanted to bring a familiar face to Beantown. He wanted a veteran presence on the Bruins’ young squad and Andreychuk fit the bill.
However at the trade deadline, Burns got an offer that he couldn’t refuse. So, he sent Andreychuk and Ray Bourque to the Colorado Avalanche for Brian Rolston, Martin Greiner, Samuel Pahlsson and a 2000 1st round pick.
The Avalanche were looking to add some more fire power in order to make a deep run into the playoffs. The Avs already had an over-loaded lineup with Joe Sakic, Greg de Vries, Adam Deadmarsh, Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk, Adam Foote, Sandis Ozolinsh, Patrick Roy and Alex Tanguay. But, Bob Hartley, the head coach of the Avs at the time figured it couldn’t hurt to add Bourque and Andreychuk. Unfortunately, the trade didn’t work out the way that Hartley had hoped. The Avs ended up losing to the Dallas Stars in the conference finals.
After the Avs’ playoff run, Hartley decided not to bring back Andreychuk. Instead, Andreychuk made his way back up to western New York to join former teammates, Gilmour and Lindy Ruff.
This time around, Ruff was the coach of the Sabres and thought perhaps Andreychuk back in Buffalo would hopefully revive his offensive skill-set. Except Ruff was dead wrong. Andreychuk had the second worst season of his career. The sights and sounds of Buffalo didn’t bring him back to the glory days as he posted 20 goals and 13 assists.
Yet again, Andreychuk became a free agent and decided to take his talents to the sunshine state.
Tampa Bay Lightning
John Tortorella, head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning at the time recruited Andreychuk to Tampa. Hockey fans questioned why Andreychuk decided to sign with Tampa as the Lightning weren’t considered to be contenders. They were fairly young and had a lot of talented prospects including Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Pavel Kubina, Vinny Prospal and Dan Boyle. Tortorella, similar to Burns, thought that the presence of Andreychuk would be good for his group of prospects.
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It turned out to be a great acquisition for Tampa and Andreychuk. Tortorella named Andreychuk captain, as he was a great mentor for Lecavalier and St. Louis. Andreychuk’s mentorship helped spark the Lightning and led to a Stanley Cup win in the 2003-04 season.
Sadly, the NHL lockout in the 2004-05 season shortened his career. The lack of playing time ultimately deflated Andreychuk’s offensive skill-set and he didn’t have much left in the tank.
It was extremely evident in the 2005-06 season that he wasn’t as dominant anymore. In 42 games for the Lightning, he had 6 goals and 12 assists. Both, goals and assists numbers were a career low.
In early January, the Lightning decided to waive Andreychuk and he chose to retire from hockey.
Post-Career
Since Andreychuk’s retirement, he was named the Vice President of Corporate and Community Affairs for the Lightning.
In November of 2008, the Sabres honored his tenure in Buffalo by inducting him into their hall of fame.
Personally, I particularly I enjoyed learning that Andreychuk has created his own foundation as a way of giving back to the community and supporting youth sports.
Recap
Andreychuk is one of the best left wingers of all-time and it’s sad that he only walked away with one Stanley Cup. But, he left hockey fans with great memories.
Currently, Andreychuk is the 14th on the all-time goal list with 640 goals and is tied with Denis Savard for 28th in league history in all-time career points.
Next: Brian Burke Deserves Credit for Helping to Build Leafs Current Roster
If you’d like to watch Andreychuk’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the induction will take place at 7:30 pm EST on TSN2 in Canada and on the NHL Network in the States.
Research for this article was conducted from hockey-reference.com, wikipedia.com and NHL.com