1981-82 O-Pee-Chee 111 Paul Coffey Hockey Card (Front)
1981-82 O-Pee-Chee 111 Paul Coffey Hockey Card (Back)
1981-82 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
Card Notes
Accorded a “can’t miss” label by hockey scouts, Paul was the finest skating defenseman in the Ontario Junior League during the 1979-80 season. For the Kitchener Rangers he tallied 29 goals and 73 assists for 102 total points in 75 contests.
Paul was named to the OPJHL’s Second Team All-Star Team with the Kitchener Rangers in 1979-80.
Details
ERROR! It’s small but the Kitchener Rangers and Paul Coffey did not play in the tier II OPJHL, they were in the OMJHL. 1979-80 was the last year of the OMJHL before it was renamed the current Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
What is not an error is the part about Coffey playing 75 regular season games in 1979-80. He started out the season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, appearing in 23 games with that club before shifting to Kitchener. The imbalance in the schedule allowed Paul to play seven more games than the standard 68 games.
The 102 points Coffey put up with the Rangers in his final year of junior was the second best among blue liners. Doug Crossman of the Ottawa 67’s had the highest total with 116 fueled by an amazing 96 assists. Crossman took First Team All-Star honours.
The “can’t miss” label was an understatement. Paul Coffey went on to win the Norris Trophy three times, was named a First Team All-Star four times and a Second Team All-Star four times. He won four Stanley Cup championships, three with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Paul holds the NHL record for defenseman with 48 goals during the 1985-86 season (breaking Bobby Orr‘s mark of 46 goals set in 1974-75). Coffey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
Paul played 1,409 regular season and 194 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1980-81 and 2000-01 with the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins.