Mark Napier (ice hockey player)

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CanadaCanada  Mark Napier Ice hockey player
Date of birth January 28, 1957
place of birth Toronto , Ontario , Canada
size 178 cm
Weight 84 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1977 , 1st lap, 10th position
Canadiens de Montréal
Career stations
1973-1974 Toronto Marlboros
1975-1976 Toronto Toros
1976-1988 Birmingham Bulls
1978-1983 Canadiens de Montréal
1983-1985 Minnesota North Stars
1985-1987 Edmonton Oilers
1987-1989 Buffalo Sabers
1989-1990 HC Bolzano
1990-1991 HC Varese
1991 HC Lugano
1991-1993 HC Devils Milano

Mark Robert Napier (* 28. January 1957 in Toronto , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player , - coach , and - functionary . The right winger completed, among other things, over 800 games for the Canadiens de Montréal , Minnesota North Stars , Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League , where he won a Stanley Cup each with Montréal and Edmonton .

Career

Youth and WHA

Mark Napier played in his youth for the Wexford Raiders , among others , before moving to the Toronto Marlboros in the Ontario Hockey Association , the highest-ranking junior league in his home province, for the 1973/74 season . In his second year, he made his breakthrough in the now renamed Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) by scoring 130 points in 61 games and as a result was awarded the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the best-in-point right winger in the league and was awarded the OMJHL First All -Star team was chosen. In addition, the Canadian with 48 playoff points played a key role in the fact that the Marlboros won the playoffs for the J. Ross Robertson Cup and the subsequent Memorial Cup . Napier then left the OMJHL at the age of 18 and joined the Toronto Toros from the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1975 , where he also established himself as a regular scorer and after his debut season in 1975/76 with the Lou Kaplan Trophy was awarded as the best rookie by the WHA. He followed the team when it was relocated to Birmingham after just one year and traded there as Birmingham Bulls , and with 60 goals placed third in the league-wide scorers list. As a result, the National Hockey League (NHL) became aware of the attacker, so that he was selected in the NHL Amateur Draft 1977 in tenth position by the Canadiens de Montréal , but initially spent another season with the Bulls.

NHL

Napier moved to the 1978/79 season to the Canadiens de Montréal, which at that time were the measure of all things in the NHL. With him they won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row in the following playoffs in 1979 , while Napier was allowed to celebrate his first championship as an NHL rookie. With the beginning of the 1980s, the domination of Montreal in the NHL ended, while a generation change took place in the team and Napier was given more responsibility in the offensive area beginning with the 1980/81 season. As a result, the winger reached the mark of 40 goals in the 1981/82 and 1982/83 seasons and also achieved his personal career best in 1981/82 with 81 points. In addition, his services earned him a call to the Canadian national team , with which he won the bronze medal at the 1982 World Cup .

In October 1983 Napier and Keith Acton and a third-round vote for the NHL Entry Draft 1984 were given to the Minnesota North Stars , who in return sent Bobby Smith to Montréal. In Minnesota, however, he could hardly build on his previous achievements and was transferred to the Edmonton Oilers after a little over a year in January 1985 , while the North Stars Gordon Sherven and Terry Martin received. With the Oilers, the reigning champions and new top of the league, Napier won his second Stanley Cup at the end of the season and missed another success the following year by losing in the division final to the Calgary Flames . 1987 and thus another season later Edmonton was to win the Stanley Cup again, but Napier and Lee Fogolin junior had already given them to the Buffalo Sabers in March 1987 and Normand Lacombe and Wayne Van Dorp received in return ; In addition, the teams exchanged their four-round voting rights in the NHL Entry Draft in 1987 .

In Buffalo, Napier was active for two more seasons before his contract was not extended after the 1988/89 season. Instead of playing for a new contract at the Sabers training camp, the Canadian decided to end his career in Italy instead. In total, he had scored 253 goals and 583 points in 849 NHL games.

Italy and end of career

With the beginning of the 1989/90 season Napier ran in Serie A1 for HC Bozen , was the top scorer and top scorer (68) in the league with an outstanding 140 points in just 36 games and celebrated the Italian championship with the team at the end of the season . He spent the 1990/91 season at HC Varese , where he again led the league in goals and points, as well as in five playoff games at HC Lugano in the Swiss National League A , before moving to HC Devils Milano and with the team Won the championship two more times in 1992 and 1993. In 1993 Napier finally declared his active career over.

The Canadian then appeared briefly as a coach by coaching the Toronto St. Michael's Majors from the Ontario Hockey League from 1997 to 1998 . He also took part in the 2003 NHL Heritage Classic . He later served as director of the NHL Alumni Association for twelve years before stepping down from that position in late 2016. Most recently, he was criticized in this role because the alumni did not see themselves adequately represented in connection with the possible class action lawsuit relating to the consequences of concussions ( post-commotional syndrome ).

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt +/- SM Sp T V Pt +/- SM
1973/74 Toronto Marlboros OHA 70 47 46 93 63 - - - - - -
1974/75 Toronto Marlboros OMJHL 61 66 64 130 106 23 24 24 48 13
1975 Toronto Marlboros Memorial Cup 4th 4th 4th 8th 4th
1975/76 Toronto Toros WHA 78 43 50 93 ± 0 20th - - - - - -
1976/77 Birmingham Bulls WHA 80 60 36 96 +16 24 - - - - - -
1977/78 Birmingham Bulls WHA 79 33 32 65 –11 90 5 0 2 2 +2 14th
1978/79 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 54 11 20th 31 +17 11 12 3 2 5 +2 2
1979/80 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 76 16 33 49 +11 7th 10 2 6th 8th -2 0
1980/81 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 79 35 36 71 +34 24 3 0 0 0 -3 2
1981/82 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 80 40 41 81 +49 14th 5 3 2 5 +1 0
1982/83 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 73 40 27 67 +20 6th 3 0 0 0 -2 0
1983/84 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 5 3 2 5 ± 0 0 - - - - - -
1983/84 Minnesota North Stars NHL 58 13 28 41 +2 17th 12 3 2 5 -4 0
1984/85 Minnesota North Stars NHL 39 10 18th 28 –6 2 - - - - - -
1984/85 Edmonton Oilers NHL 33 9 26th 35 +12 19th 18th 5 5 10 +8 7th
1985/86 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 24 32 56 +13 14th 10 1 4th 5 +6 0
1986/87 Edmonton Oilers NHL 62 8th 13 21st +3 2 - - - - - -
1986/87 Buffalo Sabers NHL 15th 5 5 10 -5 0 - - - - - -
1987/88 Buffalo Sabers NHL 47 10 8th 18th -3 8th 6th 0 3 3 -3 0
1988/89 Buffalo Sabers NHL 66 11 17th 28 -3 33 3 1 0 1 ± 0 0
1989/90 HC Bolzano Series A1 36 68 72 140 6th 6th 8th 6th 14th 2
1990/91 HC Varese Series A1 36 45 73 118 4th 10 8th 18th 26th 0
1990/91 HC Lugano NLA - - - - - - 5 4th 2 6th 0
1991/92 HC Devils Milano Alpine League 20th 29 13 42 4th reg. Season and playoffs not separated
1991/92 HC Devils Milano Series A1 11 11 14th 25th 0 12 15th 13 28 0
1992/93 HC Devils Milano Alpine League 27 19th 19th 38 4th reg. Season and playoffs not separated
1992/93 HC Devils Milano Series A1 16 13 23 36 2 11 6th 9 15th 0
OHA / OMJHL total 131 113 110 223 169 23 24 24 48 13
Series A1 overall 99 137 182 319 12 39 37 46 83 2
Alpine league overall 47 48 32 80 8th
WHA total 237 136 118 254 +5 134 5 0 2 2 +2 0
NHL overall 767 235 306 541 +144 157 82 18th 24 42 +3 11

International

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1982 Canada WM Bronze medal 9 3 1 4th 0
Men overall 9 3 1 4th 0

( 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 )

Personal

His brother-in-law Pat Hughes was also an NHL professional, with whom he temporarily played together in Montréal and Edmonton and with whom he shared his two Stanley Cup successes.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Rick Westhead: Napier resigning from NHL Alumni Association. tsn.ca, August 8, 2016, accessed on November 21, 2017 (English).
  2. ^ Adam Kilgore: Players who joined lawsuit say they 'basically got frozen out' by alumni association. washingtonpost.com, May 25, 2016, accessed November 21, 2017 .