George Ferguson (ice hockey player, 1952)

George Ferguson
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)