George Ferguson (ice hockey player, 1952)
Date of birth | 22nd August 1952 |
place of birth | Trenton , Ontario , Canada |
date of death | 16th December 2019 |
Nickname | Chief |
size | 183 cm |
Weight | 88 kg |
position | center |
Shot hand | Right |
Draft | |
NHL Amateur Draft |
1972 , 1st round, 11th position Toronto Maple Leafs |
Career stations | |
1969-1970 | Oshawa Generals |
1970-1972 | Toronto Marlboros |
1972-1988 | Toronto Maple Leafs |
1978-1982 | Pittsburgh Penguins |
1982-1984 | Minnesota North Stars |
George Stephen "Chief" Ferguson (born August 22, 1952 in Trenton , Ontario ; † December 16, 2019 ) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 883 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs , Pittsburgh Penguins during his playing career between 1969 and 1984 and Minnesota North Stars in the National Hockey League on the position of the center .
Career
Ferguson played until 1969 in his hometown Trenton in the Canadian province of Ontario , before he moved to the higher class junior league Ontario Hockey Association . There the striker was active between the beginning of the 1969/70 and 1970/71 seasons for the Oshawa Generals before he was transferred to league rivals Toronto Marlboros . He played for the Marlboros until the summer of 1972 and reached 92 points in his second year there . After he was selected in the first round in the NHL Amateur Draft in 1972 in eleventh overall position by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the National Hockey League , the 20-year-old immediately switched to the professional field. He left the OHA after 191 completed games in which he had achieved a total of 180 scorer points.
The attacker moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs squad, although he also had a more lucrative offer from the Ottawa Nationals from the World Hockey Association , which competes with the NHL . At the Maple Leafs, Ferguson made the leap into the regular squad right away, as the team had left many players in the direction of the WHA. After he had spent his rookie season completely in the NHL, he was mainly in the squad of the Oklahoma City Blazers from the Central Hockey League the following year . At the beginning of the 1974/75 season , Ferguson was again an integral part of the Maple Leafs and completed the following four years of play until the summer of 1978.
In June 1978 the Canadian's time on the Toronto team ended when he was transferred to the Pittsburgh Penguins together with Randy Carlyle . These in turn gave Dave Burrows to the Maple Leafs. In Pittsburgh, Ferguson was given a far more offensive role than with the Maple Leafs. In the four seasons, the center forward always scored over 20 goals and twice exceeded the 50 point mark. At the beginning of his fifth season with the Penguins, the right-shooter was sent to the Minnesota North Stars in October 1982 along with Pittsburgh's first-round suffrage in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft , while Ron Meighan , Anders Håkansson and Minnesota's first-round suffrage of the same draft were given to Pittsburgh. Ferguson spent two more seasons in Minnesota, ending his playing career at the age of 31 in the summer of 1984 after reaching the 1984 Stanley Cup playoff final with the North Stars but losing.
Ferguson passed away on December 16, 2019 at the age of 67.
Career statistics
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
season | team | league | Sp | T | V | Pt | SM | Sp | T | V | Pt | SM | ||
1969/70 | Oshawa Generals | OHA | 49 | 19th | 21st | 40 | 20th | 6th | 2 | 2 | 4th | 2 | ||
1970/71 | Oshawa Generals | OHA | 8th | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19th | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1970/71 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 43 | 12 | 15th | 27 | 83 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 4th | 26th | ||
1971/72 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 62 | 36 | 56 | 92 | 104 | 10 | 3 | 8th | 11 | 22nd | ||
1972/73 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 72 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 34 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1973/74 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 16 | 0 | 4th | 4th | 4th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
1973/74 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CHL | 35 | 16 | 33 | 49 | 21st | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1974/75 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 69 | 19th | 30th | 49 | 61 | 7th | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7th | ||
1975/76 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 79 | 12 | 32 | 44 | 76 | 10 | 2 | 4th | 6th | 2 | ||
1976/77 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 50 | 9 | 15th | 24 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7th | ||
1977/78 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 73 | 7th | 16 | 23 | 37 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 6th | 7th | ||
1978/79 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 80 | 21st | 29 | 50 | 37 | 7th | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
1979/80 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 73 | 21st | 28 | 49 | 36 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4th | ||
1980/81 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 79 | 25th | 18th | 43 | 42 | 5 | 2 | 6th | 8th | 9 | ||
1981/82 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 71 | 22nd | 31 | 53 | 45 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
1982/83 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 7th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1982/83 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 65 | 8th | 12 | 20th | 14th | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4th | ||
1983/84 | Minnesota North Stars | NHL | 63 | 6th | 10 | 16 | 19th | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
OHA total | 162 | 69 | 92 | 161 | 226 | 29 | 6th | 13 | 19th | 50 | ||||
NHL overall | 797 | 160 | 238 | 398 | 431 | 86 | 14th | 23 | 37 | 44 |
( 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
- George Ferguson at legendsofhockey.net (English)
- George Ferguson at eliteprospects.com (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Ferguson, George |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ferguson, George Stephen (full name); Ferguson, Chief (nickname) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian ice hockey player |
DATE OF BIRTH | 22nd August 1952 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Trenton , Ontario |
DATE OF DEATH | 16th December 2019 |