Don Saleski

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CanadaCanada  Don Saleski Ice hockey player
Date of birth November 10, 1949
place of birth Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , Canada
Nickname Big Bird
size 188 cm
Weight 84 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1969 , 6th lap, 64th position
Philadelphia Flyers
Career stations
1966-1970 Regina Pats
1970 Winnipeg Jets
Saskatoon Blades
1970-1971 As de Québec
1971-1972 Richmond Robins
1972-1979 Philadelphia Flyers
1979-1980 Colorado Rockies
1980 Fort Worth Texans

Donald Patrick "Don" Saleski (born November 10, 1949 in Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played 625 games for the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Rockies in the National Hockey League between 1966 and 1980 has contested on the position of the right winger . With the Philadelphia Flyers Saleski won the Stanley Cup twice in a row in 1974 and 1975 as part of the so-called "Broad Street Bullies" .

Career

Saleski spent his junior years between 1966 and 1970 with the Regina Pats . With these, the winger initially played one season each in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and Western Canada Hockey League , the two predecessor leagues of the Western Hockey League . The team then moved back to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for two seasons from 1968 . There the team won the Credential Cup with Saleski at the end of the 1968/69 season and subsequently also took part in the Memorial Cup . In parallel to his ice hockey obligations, he also studied at the University of Saskatchewan , which he later continued at Villanova University and Wharton Business School . In the summer of 1969, the attacker was selected in the sixth round in the sixth round in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers from the National Hockey League . This was followed by another year with the Regina Pats in the SJHL, where he also completed a handful of missions for the Winnipeg Jets and Saskatoon Blades in the WCHL. But he missed most of the season due to a disease of Pfeiffer's glandular fever .

In the summer of 1970, the Canadian then switched to the professional field. During his first two years there, the offensive player failed to make the leap into the Flyers' NHL squad. Instead, he was first used in the American Hockey League . He spent the first year with the As de Québec . The following game year, in which he also made his NHL debut for Philadelphia, he was on the roster of the Richmond Robins after the franchise moved in the summer of 1971. At the beginning of the 1972/73 season Saleski then received a regular place in the Flyers squad and formed the basic structure of the so-called "Broad Street Bullies" with Bob Kelly , Dave Schultz and André Dupont . With their physical style of play - paired with the playful class of Bobby Clarke , Rick MacLeish or Bill Barber  - the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup twice in a row in 1974 and 1975 . In the following years Saleski was an integral part of the successful team, in which he always scored around 20 goals and 40 scorer points despite his defensive role .

After a little more than six and a half years in the service of Philadelphia, the attacker was transferred to the Colorado Rockies in March 1979 , which later received a second-round vote in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft . Saleski had a hard time with his new team, as this was the complete opposite of the Flyers in terms of success. Likewise, there were always differences between him and head coach Don Cherry , so that he completed his last of only 67 games for the franchise in February 1980. Saleski finally finished the 1979/80 season with the Fort Worth Texans , the Colorado Rockies' farm team , in the Central Hockey League , before retiring from his active career at the age of 30 and then as an entrepreneur in various fields, including Aramark , was successful.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1966/67 Regina Pats CMJHL 38 3 2 5 6th 3 0 0 0 0
1967/68 Regina Pats WCHL 58 6th 9 15th 34 - - - - -
1968/69 Regina Pats SJHL 40 33 25th 58 117 - - - - -
1969 Regina Pats Memorial Cup 11 6th 6th 12 19th
1969/70 Regina Pats SJHL
1969/70 Winnipeg Jets WCHL 2 1 0 1 12 - - - - -
1969/70 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 3 0 1 1 4th - - - - -
1970/71 As de Québec AHL 72 9 7th 16 51 1 0 0 0 0
1971/72 Richmond Robins AHL 73 22nd 35 57 111 - - - - -
1971/72 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
1972/73 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 78 12 9 21st 205 11 1 2 3 4th
1973/74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 15th 25th 40 131 17th 2 7th 9 24
1974/75 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 63 10 18th 28 107 17th 2 3 5 25th
1975/76 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 78 21st 26th 47 68 16 6th 5 11 47
1976/77 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 22nd 16 38 33 10 0 0 0 12
1977/78 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 70 27 18th 45 44 11 2 0 2 19th
1978/79 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 35 11 5 16 14th - - - - -
1978/79 Colorado Rockies NHL 16 2 0 2 4th - - - - -
1979/80 Colorado Rockies NHL 51 8th 8th 16 23 - - - - -
1979/80 Fort Worth Texans CHL 19th 9 6th 15th 18th 14th 5 6th 11 20th
CMJHL / WCHL total 101 10 12 22nd 56 3 0 0 0 0
AHL total 145 31 42 73 162 1 0 0 0 0
NHL overall 543 128 125 253 629 82 13 17th 30th 131

( 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 )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joe Pelletier: Philadelphia Flyers Legends: Don Saleski. greatesthockeylegends.com, March 2007, accessed December 28, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Saleski, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saleski, Donald Patrick (full name); Big Bird (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan