Jim Playfair

Jim Playfair
Date of birth	May 22, 1964
place of birth	Fort St. James , British Columbia , Canada
size	191 cm
Weight	84 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1982 , 1st lap, 20th position Edmonton Oilers
Career stations
1981-1983	Portland Winter Hawks
1983-1984	Calgary Wranglers
1984-1987	Nova Scotia Oilers
1987-1989	Saginaw Hawks
1989-1992	Indianapolis Ice

Jim Playfair (born May 22, 1964 in Fort St. James , British Columbia ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current coach . From 2011 to 2017 he worked as an assistant coach for the Phoenix / Arizona Coyotes in the National Hockey League . He has been working for Edmonton Oilers in the same position since the 2019/20 season . His older brother Larry was also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Jim Playfair began his career as a hockey player in the Canadian Junior Western Hockey League , in which he was active from 1981 to 1984 for the Portland Winter Hawks and Calgary Wranglers . During this period he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft 1982 in the first round as a total of 20th player by the Edmonton Oilers . For this, the defender made his debut in the National Hockey League towards the end of the 1983/84 season , scoring a goal and preparing one in two games. The left-handed shooter could not prevail in the team from Alberta , which is why he was used exclusively for their farm team , the Nova Scotia Oilers from the American Hockey League , in the following three seasons . On July 31, 1987 Playfair signed a contract as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks , for which he played another 19 games in the NHL in the following two seasons, in which he scored one goal and gave three assists. Mainly he ran on, however, in the International Hockey League for their farm team Saginaw Hawks . From 1989 to 1992 the Canadian was under contract with Indianapolis Ice , with whom he won the Turner Cup in the 1989/90 season.

Following his playing career, Playfair took over the post as head coach of the Dayton Bombers from the East Coast Hockey League , which he oversaw from 1993 to 1996. This was followed by two seasons as an assistant coach at the Michigan K-Wings from the IHL, before he was head coach at the Saint John Flames from the AHL from 2000 to 2003 . With the farm team of the Calgary Flames from the NHL, he won the Calder Cup in the 2000/01 season . During the 2002/03 season, he rose to assistant coach of the Calgary Flames after their head coach Al MacNeil had been sacked. During the 2006/07 season Playfair was responsible for the Flames' NHL team, but had to make way for Mike Keenan after the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs . Nevertheless, he stayed for Calgary for another two years in the extended coaching staff before he was appointed head coach of Calgary's newly formed AHL farm team Abbotsford Heat for the 2009/10 season . Playfair was particularly noticeable in the 4-0 defeat of his team against the Hamilton Bulldogs on March 27, 2010, when he overreacted after the expulsion of JD Watt , insulted the referee, and also smashed two of his team's ice hockey sticks on the boards and still his Jacket ripped off. At the beginning of April 2011, the media reported that Playfair's contract with Abbotsford Heat would expire at the end of the season. In June 2011 he was hired by the Phoenix Coyotes as an assistant coach.

Playfair spent six years in Arizona before leaving the team in June 2017 with head coach Dave Tippett . He was hired in the same position by the Edmonton Oilers for the 2019/20 season .

Achievements and Awards

• 1990 Turner Cup win with Indianapolis Ice
• 1995 ECHL Coach of the Year (as trainer)
• 2001 Calder Cup win with the Saint John Flames (as coach)

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1981/82	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		70	4th	13	17th	121		15th	1	2	3	21st
1982/83	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		63	8th	27	35	218		14th	0	5	5	16
1983/84	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		2	1	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL		16	5	6th	11	38		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Calgary Wranglers	WHL		46	6th	9	15th	96		4th	0	1	1	2
1984/85	Nova Scotia Oilers	AHL		41	0	4th	4th	107		-	-	-	-	-
1985/86	Nova Scotia Oilers	AHL		73	2	12	14th	160		-	-	-	-	-
1986/87	Nova Scotia Oilers	AHL		60	1	21st	22nd	82		-	-	-	-	-
1987/88	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		12	1	3	4th	21st		-	-	-	-	-
1987/88	Saginaw Hawks	IHL		50	5	21st	26th	133		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		7th	0	0	0	28		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	Saginaw Hawks	IHL		23	3	6th	9	73		6th	0	2	2	20th
1989/90	Indianapolis Ice	IHL		67	7th	24	31	137		14th	1	5	6th	24
1990/91	Indianapolis Ice	IHL		23	3	4th	7th	31		-	-	-	-	-
1991/92	Indianapolis Ice	IHL		23	1	1	2	53		-	-	-	-	-
WHL overall				195	23	55	78	473		33	1	8th	9	39
IHL total				186	19th	56	75	427		20th	1	7th	8th	44
AHL total				174	3	37	40	349		-	-	-	-	-
NHL overall				21st	2	4th	6th	51		-	-	-	-	-

( 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

• Jim Playfair at hockeydb.com (English)
• Jim Playfair at legendsofhockey.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ nhl.com, Playfair eager to begin Chapter 2 as AHL head coach
2. ↑ Video from Playfair's outburst , accessed April 17, 2011
3. ↑ BC hockey coach's tantrum an internet hit. In: cbc.ca. March 29, 2010, accessed December 7, 2017 . 
4. ↑ The Flames and Jim Playfair's Expiring Contract , accessed April 17, 2011