Today In NHL History - Paul Coffey

On June 1st in 1961, Paul Douglas Coffey was born in Toronto, Ontario. Selected 6th overall by Edmonton in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, the slick skating blueliner spent seven seasons with the Oilers before suiting up for eight others (PIT, LAK, DET, HAR, PHI, CHI, CAR, BOS).

During his 21 year career, Coffey posted five 100+ point campaigns (1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990), two 40+ goal seasons (1984, 1986), and four 80+ assist (1984, 1985, 1986, 1989) efforts. The three time Norris winner (1985, 1986, 1995) also made seven trips to the Stanley Cup Final, winning four times (1984, 1985, 1987, 1991) and losing thrice (1983, 1995, 1997). With 1531 points (396G/1135A) in 1409 games, Coffey sits 13th in points (behind Ray Bourque) and 28th in points per game (behind Bobby Orr), and still holds defense records for goals in a season (48 goals in 1986), points in a playoff (37 points in 1985), and points in a game (8 points on March 14, 1986).When he wasn't putting up points Coffey amassed penalty minutes, sharing the distinction with Bobby Orr of being the only two defensemen in NHL history to collect 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in the same NHL season three different times (1984, 1986, 1989).

Coffey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004 and had his number 7 retired in Edmonton the following year in 2005. That's today in NHL history.