Craig Simpson

Craig Simpson
Date of birth	February 15, 1967
place of birth	London , Ontario , Canada
size	188 cm
Weight	88 kg
position	wing
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1985 , 1st lap, 2nd position Pittsburgh Penguins
Career stations
1983-1985	Michigan State University
1985-1987	Pittsburgh Penguins
1987-1993	Edmonton Oilers
1993-1995	Buffalo Sabers

Craig Andrew Simpson (born February 15, 1967 in London , Ontario ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current coach who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins , Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League from 1985 to 1995 . His son Dillon Simpson is also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

After two seasons at Michigan State University , Simpson was selected in the first round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft as runner-up by the Pittsburgh Penguins .

In the 1985/86 season he made his breakthrough. While everyone in the Penguins looked at Mario Lemieux , Simpson did well in his shadow. In his third season he started more than one point per game, but the Penguins prepared for bigger goals. With Paul Coffey , the Pens signed one of the most attacking defenders in the league. With him, among others, Dave Hunter came to Pittsburgh. In return, Simpson was handed over to the Edmonton Oilers along with Dave Hannan , Moe Mantha and Chris Joseph .

He was initially very unhappy about the move, but quickly found his place in the team led by Wayne Gretzky . He played in a row with Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson and immediately played the best season of his career. For both teams together he scored 56 goals and 90 points in the 1987/88 season . The climax, however, followed in the playoffs when he won the Stanley Cup with the Oilers . Even after Gretzky left, he remained successful. When the Oilers were able to win the Stanley Cup again in the 1989/90 season , he was the most successful scorer in the playoffs with 16 goals and 31 points, together with Mark Messier.

In the 1992/93 season his complaints began with his back. Thanks to an excellent hit rate of 26.4 percent, he took third place in the team's internal scorer rating. Despite missing 20 games, he was only two points behind the leader.

In exchange for Jozef Čierny and a draft right, he moved to the Buffalo Sabers . His back pain let him play only 46 games in the two following years before he had to end his active career in 1995.

After a few years as a TV commentator, he returned to the Edmonton Oilers as the assistant coach of his former teammate Craig MacTavish . From 2007 he worked again for television. With his partner commentator Jim Hughson , he commented on another game in Calgary that same evening after a game in Edmonton.

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	10	634	247	250	497	659
Playoffs	5	67	36	32	68	56

Sporting successes

• Stanley Cup : 1988 and 1990

Personal awards

• CCHA First All-Star Team: 1985
• NCAA West First All-American Team: 1985
• Top scorer of the playoffs in the 1989/90 season (31 points)
• Best hit rate in the 1992/93 season (26.4%)

Web links

• Craig Simpson at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Craig Simpson at hockeydb.com (English)