Curt Fraser

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Flags of Canada and the United States.svg  Curt Fraser Ice hockey player
Date of birth January 12, 1958
place of birth Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
size 183 cm
Weight 91 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1978 , 2nd round, 22nd position
Vancouver Canucks
Career stations
1973-1974 Kelowna Buckaroos
1974-1988 Victoria Cougars
1978-1983 Vancouver Canucks
1983-1988 Chicago Blackhawks
1988-1990 Minnesota North Stars

Curtis Martin Fraser (born January 12, 1958 in Cincinnati , Ohio ) is a former American - Canadian ice hockey player and current - coach . From 2012 to 2018 he was assistant coach for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League .

Career as a player

Curt Fraser began his career in 1973 with the Kelowna Buckaroos in the second-class junior league BCJHL , before moving to the Victoria Cougars in 1974 in the high-class Canadian junior league WCHL . In his debut season in Victoria he impressed with 17 goals and 32 assists , but was able to improve significantly in the second year and played the best season of his career with the juniors with 43 goals and 64 assists in 71 games.

From the 1976/77 season he led the Cougars as team captain on the ice, but compared to the previous season showed weaker performances with 75 points scorer in 60 games. But he found his way back to his old form the following year and scored 48 goals in his last season with the Cougars and prepared 44 more. He also won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships with a Canadian youth team . Fraser, who appeared because of his skills as a scorer and his physically tough game in the role of power forward , was selected after the end of the season in the NHL Amateur Draft 1978 by the Vancouver Canucks in the second round at position 22.

In the 1978/79 season Fraser made his NHL debut and sat directly in the Canucks squad through. After three solid first years, he developed into one of the leading players in the team in the 1981/82 season with 67 points scorer in 79 games. In addition, the Canucks reached the final of the Stanley Cup , where they were subject to the New York Islanders .

The following season he played half in Vancouver before he was transferred to the Chicago Blackhawks in January 1983 in exchange for Tony Tanti . In the same year he was diagnosed with diabetes , but this did not prevent him from practicing the sport. In the 1983/84 season he also tore a ligament in his knee, which is why he missed over 50 games. Largely injury-free, Fraser was able to play through the following season and was able to build on his old performance with 25 goals and 25 assists. In the playoffs , the Blackhawks moved into the final of the Campbell Conference , but failed at the eventual Stanley Cup winner Edmonton Oilers .

1985/86 Fraser had to take a long break due to injury and missed 19 games of the season. Nevertheless, he completed the best season of his career with 68 points scorer. He could not repeat this result the following year and had 50 points in 75 games. At the Canada Cup 1987 he played for the US national team , which occupies fifth place. After he had played 27 games with the Blackhawks in the 1987/88 season , he was transferred to the Minnesota North Stars in January 1988 . However, he was only used ten times for his new team in the course of the season, as he was sick with Pfeiffer's glandular fever .

In the following season he was absent for a long time due to injuries and only made 35 appearances and ten points scorer. After Fraser had suffered a shoulder injury at the beginning of the 1989/90 season that had to be treated surgically and he had been suffering from back problems for a long time, he ended his career.

Career as a coach

In the fall of 1990, Fraser returned as an assistant coach to the Milwaukee Admirals from the IHL in the ice hockey business and worked the following two years under Mike Murphy and Jack McIlhargey , before he became the team's head coach in 1992. Under Fraser, the Admirals established themselves among the best teams in the league, but never got past the first round of the playoffs. In the summer of 1994 he moved to the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch , where he again took over the post as assistant to coach Jack McIlhargey.

After only a year he returned to the IHL and was coach of the newly founded Orlando Solar Bears . With 52 wins in 82 games, the Solar Bears were the third-best team of the regular season in their first year and only failed in the playoffs in the final. In the following year they were even able to increase the season result by another win. In the 1997/98 season they were weaker in the regular season than in previous years, but moved to the semi-finals of the playoffs. A year later they reached the finals for the second time in their four-year history, but they failed again.

Fraser then left the Solar Bears and was appointed coach of the Atlanta Thrashers , who were about to begin their first NHL season. The 1999/2000 debut season was, as expected, bad and the Thrashers finished last in the league with only 14 wins from 82 games. In the second season they were able to improve a little and left with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders two teams behind. But in the 2001/02 season , the Thrashers, who were meanwhile strengthened by the young stars Dany Heatley and Ilja Kowaltschuk , were again in last place. When no improvement was in sight in the following season and the Thrashers had only played eight of 33 games victoriously, Fraser was dismissed on December 26, 2002.

For the 2003/04 season , the New York Islanders hired him as assistant coach to Steve Stirling , where he was active until the failure of the 2004/05 season because of the lockout . In 2005 Fraser went to the St. Louis Blues and assisted Mike Kitchen there for one year .

Then Fraser succeeded Glen Hanlon as coach of the Belarusian national team in the summer of 2006 . At the 2007 World Cup , the national team celebrated only one win in six games and finished eleventh in the tournament. The result improved somewhat at the men's ice hockey world championship in 2008 when they finished ninth and thus qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics. In addition, they achieved respectable success, as they could only be defeated in the second round in the games against the favored teams from Russia and the Czech Republic in the penalty shoot-out.

After the second tournament as national coach of Belarus, Fraser returned to North America, where he was head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins , which play as the farm team of the Detroit Red Wings in the AHL. In June 2012, Fraser left the team and was hired as assistant coach for the Dallas Stars , with whom he subsequently worked until the end of the 2017/18 season.

During the 2018/19 season , in January 2019, he took over the post of head coach at Kunlun Red Star from the Continental Hockey League (KHL). He worked there until the end of the 2019/20 season .

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

As a player

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1973-74 Kelowna Buckaroos BCJHL 52 32 32 64 85
1974-75 Victoria Cougars WCHL 68 17th 32 49 105 12 3 2 5 22nd
1975-76 Victoria Cougars WCHL 71 43 64 107 167 15th 3 8th 11 38
1976-77 Victoria Cougars WCHL 60 34 41 75 82 4th 4th 2 6th 4th
1977-78 Victoria Cougars WCHL 66 48 44 92 256 13 10 7th 17th 28
1978-79 Vancouver Canucks NHL 78 16 19th 35 116 3 0 2 2 6th
1979-80 Vancouver Canucks NHL 78 17th 25th 42 143 4th 0 0 0 2
1980-81 Vancouver Canucks NHL 77 25th 24 49 118 3 1 0 1 2
1981-82 Vancouver Canucks NHL 79 28 39 67 175 17th 3 7th 10 98
1982-83 Vancouver Canucks NHL 36 6th 7th 13 99 - - - - -
Chicago Blackhawks NHL 38 6th 13 19th 77 13 4th 4th 8th 18th
1983-84 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 29 5 12 17th 28 5 0 0 0 14th
1984-85 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 73 25th 25th 50 109 15th 6th 3 9 36
1985-86 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 61 29 39 68 84 3 0 1 1 12
1986-87 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 75 25th 25th 50 182 2 1 1 2 10
1987-88 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 27 4th 6th 10 57 - - - - -
Minnesota North Stars NHL 10 1 1 2 20th - - - - -
1988-89 Minnesota North Stars NHL 35 5 5 10 76 - - - - -
1989-90 Minnesota North Stars NHL 8th 1 0 1 22nd - - - - -
BCJHL total 52 32 32 64 85
WCHL overall 265 142 181 323 610 44 20th 19th 39 92
NHL overall 704 193 240 433 1306 65 15th 18th 33 198

International

Represented Canada to:

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1978 Canada U20 World Cup 3rd place, bronze 5 0 2 2 0
1987 United States Canada Cup 5th place 5 0 1 1 4th
Juniors overall 5 0 2 2 0
Men overall 5 0 1 1 4th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

As a trainer

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp S. N U OTN Pt Victory-% Sp S. N result
1990-91 Milwaukee Admirals IHL Assistant coach under Mike Murphy
1991-92 Milwaukee Admirals IHL Assistant coach under Jack McIlhargey
1992-93 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 82 49 23 - 10 108 .659 6th 2 4th 1 round
1993-94 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 81 40 24 - 17th 97 .599 4th 0 4th 1 round
1994-95 Syracuse crunch AHL Assistant coach under Jack McIlhargey
1995-96 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 82 52 24 - 5 110 0.671 23 11 12 Turner Cup Final
1996-97 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 82 53 24 - 5 111 0.677 10 4th 6th 2nd round
1997-98 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 82 42 30th - 10 94 0.573 17th 9 8th Semifinals
1998-99 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 82 45 33 - 4th 94 0.573 17th 10 7th Turner Cup Final
1999-00 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 14th 57 7th 4th 39 0.238 - - - -
2000-01 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 23 45 12 2 60 0.366 - - - -
2001-02 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 19th 47 11 5 54 0.329 - - - -
2002-03 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 33 8th 20th 1 4th 21st 0.318 - - - -
2003-04 New York Islanders NHL Assistant coach under Steve Stirling
2004-05 without a team due to lockout - - - - - - - - - - -
2005-06 St. Louis Blues NHL Assistant coach under Mike Kitchen
2006-07 Belarus Int'l
2007-08 Belarus Int'l
2008-09 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 80 45 23 - 12 98 .613 10 4th 6th Division finals
IHL total 491 281 158 - 52 614 .625 77 36 41 6 participations
NHL overall 279 64 169 31 15th 174 .311 0 0 0 0 participations
AHL total 80 45 23 - 12 98 .613 10 4th 6th 1 participation

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fraser, Curt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fraser, Curtis Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Canadian ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio