Clark Gillies

Clark Gillies
Hockey Hall of Fame , 2002
Date of birth	April 7, 1954
place of birth	Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , Canada
Nickname	Jethro
size	191 cm
Weight	95 kg
position	Left wing
Shot hand	Left
Draft
WHA Secret Amateur Draft	1974 , 1st lap, 7th position Edmonton Oilers
NHL Amateur Draft	1974 , 1st round, 4th position New York Islanders
Career stations
1971-1974	Regina Pats
1974-1986	New York Islanders
1986-1988	Buffalo Sabers

Clark Gillies (born April 7, 1954 in Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player (left winger) who played for the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League from 1974 to 1988 .

Career

As a junior he played with the Regina Pats in the Western Hockey League . With the team he won the Memorial Cup in 1974 . In the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft , the New York Islanders selected him in the first round as fourth overall. His teammate Greg Joly was the top pick that year. The World Hockey Association also had an eye on him. The Edmonton Oilers selected him in the 1974 WHA Secret Amateur Draft in the first round as seventh overall.

He immediately made his breakthrough in the NHL in the 1974/75 season . With his robust style of play, he created space for his teammates. Billy Harris and Bryan Trottier initially benefited from this in the Long Island Lightning Company . From the 1977/78 season , Billy Harris was replaced by Mike Bossy . The new series was called Trio Grande . By then, Gillies had worked hard to gain the respect of his teammates and so they urged the 23-year-old to be the Islanders' team captain from 1977 . After the 1978/79 season , in which he was among the ten best scorers in the NHL with 91 points, he passed the captaincy to Denis Potvin . At the Challenge Cup in 1979 he was in the squad of the NHL team that lost the series against the Soviet Union. In the only win of his team, he also scored a goal. The successful years of the Islanders followed, winning the Stanley Cup four times in a row from 1980 to 1983 . When the Islanders fought for the fifth title in the 1984 finals, he threw everything into the pan again against the Edmonton Oilers. 19 points was his best in the playoffs, but four Oilers players landed ahead of him and brought the Stanley Cup to Canada in five games.

He wasn't usually a top scorer with the Islanders, but he scored a lot when it was important. Especially in the majority he was feared of the opposing goal. He scored almost a third of his goals in power play.

In the 1986 Waiver Draft , the Buffalo Sabers took their chance and signed Gillies. He stayed in Buffalo for two more seasons before retiring.

Since 1997 his shirt number 9 has not been awarded by the Islanders. In 2002 he was honored with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame .

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	14th	958	319	378	697	1,023
Playoffs	13	164	47	47	94	287

Sporting successes

• Memorial Cup : 1974
• Stanley Cup : 1980 , 1981 , 1982 and 1983

Personal awards

• First All-Star Team : 1978 and 1979

Web links

• Clark Gillies in the database of the Hockey Hall of Fame (English)
• Clark Gillies at hockeydb.com (English)