Murray Oliver

Murray Oliver
Date of birth	November 14, 1937
place of birth	Hamilton , Ontario , Canada
date of death	23rd November 2014
Place of death	Edina , Minnesota , USA
size	178 cm
Weight	77 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1954-1958	Hamilton Tiger Cubs
1958-1959	Edmonton Flyers
1959-1961	Detroit Red Wings
1961-1967	Boston Bruins
1967-1970	Toronto Maple Leafs
1970-1975	Minnesota North Stars

Murray Oliver
Coaching stations
1978-1986	Minnesota North Stars (Assistant Coach)
1988-1998	Vancouver Canucks (Director Pro-Scouting)
1998-2000	Atlanta Thrashers (Scout)

Murray Clifford Oliver (born November 14, 1937 in Hamilton , Ontario , † November 23, 2014 in Edina , Minnesota , USA ) was a Canadian ice hockey player , coach and scout , who played 1162 games during his active career between 1954 and 1975 for the Detroit Red Wings , Boston Bruins , Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota North Stars in the National Hockey League on the position of the center . In addition, after his active career between 1978 and 2000, he worked, among other things, as the trainer of his ex-team Minnesota North Stars and scout of the Vancouver Canucks and Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL.

Career

Oliver spent from 1954 to 1958 a very successful junior time with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs in the Ontario Hockey Association that by winning the Red Tilson Trophy as 's most valuable player was crowned the league. In addition, he had collected 90 scorer points in 52 games in his last season .

Then the striker moved to the professional field, where he was committed by the Detroit Red Wings from the National Hockey League . However, since these were already very well occupied in the position of center forward with Norm Ullman and Alex Delvecchio , Oliver first spent the season 1958/59 with the Edmonton Flyers in the Western Hockey League . With the beginning of the 1959/60 season , the playmaker was in the Red Wings squad until January 1961, before he was transferred to the Boston Bruins with Gary Aldcorn and Tom McCarthy . In return, Vic Stasiuk and Leo Labine gave them to Detroit. In the jersey of the Bruins, Oliver made his breakthrough in the NHL and he played in a defensive striker role for the Bruins until May 1967. After an exchange deal with Eddie Shack , the attacker was active for the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next three years . As a player of the Leafs, he represented the team twice in the NHL All-Star Game , after he had already played three pieces as a player of the Bruins. In another transfer business, he was given in May 1970 to the Minnesota North Stars , for which he played until a contract dispute in the summer of 1975 and then ended his active career at the age of 37.

Following the end of his active career, the Canadian was committed to the 1978/79 season by his ex-teammate Lou Nanne as assistant coach of the Minnesota North Stars. There Oliver worked for the following five years under head coach Glen Sonmor , whom he replaced in the course of the 1982/83 season after his dismissal until the end of the season as the boss behind the gang. He then worked again as an assistant coach under Bill Mahoney , again with Glen Sonmor and Lorne Henning , until the summer of 1986 . Eventually, the management of the North Stars fired him and Oliver was hired in the summer of 1988 as a scout for the Vancouver Canucks . He filled the position of Director of Professional Scouting until the summer of 1998, before he was hired for the scouting department of the newly founded franchise of the Atlanta Thrashers . He worked there until the end of the 1999/2000 season .

Oliver died on November 23, 2014 shortly after his 77th birthday in Edina , Minnesota, of complications from a heart attack .

Achievements and Awards

1958 Red Tilson Trophy 1963 NHL All-Star Game 1964 NHL All-Star Game

1965 NHL All-Star Game 1967 NHL All-Star Game 1968 NHL All-Star Game

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1953/54	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA Jr.		2	0	2	2	0		5	1	0	1	0
1954/55	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA Jr.		39	5	13	18th	19th		3	2	0	2	0
1955/56	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA Jr.		5	1	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-
1956/57	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA Jr.		52	17th	42	59	20th		4th	3	1	4th	0
1957/58	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA Jr.		52	34	56	90	37		4th	2	5	7th	8th
1957/58	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		1	0	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-
1958/59	Edmonton Flyers	WHL		64	33	34	67	35		3	1	1	2	0
1959/60	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		54	20th	19th	39	16		6th	1	0	1	4th
1959/60	Edmonton Flyers	WHL		16	8th	12	20th	6th		-	-	-	-	-
1960/61	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		49	11	12	23	8th		-	-	-	-	-
1960/61	Boston Bruins	NHL		21st	6th	10	16	8th		-	-	-	-	-
1961/62	Boston Bruins	NHL		70	17th	29	46	21st		-	-	-	-	-
1962/63	Boston Bruins	NHL		65	22nd	40	62	38		-	-	-	-	-
1963/64	Boston Bruins	NHL		70	24	44	68	41		-	-	-	-	-
1964/65	Boston Bruins	NHL		65	20th	23	43	30th		-	-	-	-	-
1965/66	Boston Bruins	NHL		70	18th	42	60	30th		-	-	-	-	-
1966/67	Boston Bruins	NHL		65	9	26th	35	16		-	-	-	-	-
1967/68	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		74	16	21st	37	18th		-	-	-	-	-
1968/69	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		76	14th	36	50	16		4th	1	2	3	0
1969/70	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		76	14th	33	47	16		-	-	-	-	-
1970/71	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		61	9	23	32	8th		12	7th	4th	11	0
1971/72	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		77	27	29	56	16		7th	0	6th	6th	4th
1972/73	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		75	11	31	42	10		6th	0	4th	4th	2
1973/74	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		78	17th	20th	37	4th		-	-	-	-	-
1974/75	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		80	19th	15th	34	24		-	-	-	-	-
OHA Jr. total				150	57	114	171	78		16	8th	6th	14th	8th
WHL overall				80	41	46	87	41		3	1	1	2	0
NHL overall				1127	274	454	728	320		35	9	16	25th	10

( 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 )

NHL coaching statistics

			Regular season						Play-offs				Remarks
season	team		Sp	S.	N	U	Pt		Sp	S.	N	result
1982/83	Minnesota North Stars		37	18th	12	7th	(43)		9	4th	5	Loss in the division final	replaced Glen Sonmor later in the season
total			37	18th	12	7th	43		9	4th	5

( Legend for coach statistics: Sp or GC = total games; W or S = wins scored; L or N = losses scored; T or U = draws scored; OTL or OTN = losses scored after overtime or shootout ; Pts or Pkt = points scored ; Pts% or Pkt% = point rate; Win% = win rate; result = round reached in the play-offs )

Web links

• Murray Oliver at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Murray Oliver at eliteprospects.com (English)