Rick Vaive

Rick Vaive
Date of birth	May 14, 1959
place of birth	Ottawa , Ontario , Canada
size	183 cm
Weight	82 kg
position	wing
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1979 , 1st round, 5th position Vancouver Canucks
Career stations
1976-1988	Sherbrooke Castors
1978-1979	Birmingham Bulls
1979-1980	Vancouver Canucks
1980-1987	Toronto Maple Leafs
1987-1988	Chicago Blackhawks
1988-1992	Buffalo Sabers
1992-1993	Hamilton Canucks
1993-1998	South Carolina Stingrays
1998-2000	Saint John Flames
2001-2003	Dundas Real McCoys

Richard Claude "Rick" Vaive (* 14. May 1959 in Ottawa , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player (Right Wing) and - trainer , who from 1979 to 1992 for the Vancouver Canucks , Toronto Maple Leafs , Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League as well as played for the Birmingham Bulls in the World Hockey Association .

Career

While Rick Vaive was growing up in Ottawa, his dream was one day to play for one of the Canadian teams in the National Hockey League and win the Stanley Cup . With the Sherbrooke Castors in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League , he spent his time in the junior classes. After participating in the Junior World Championship in 1978 , he signed a contract with the Birmingham Bulls . The team from the World Hockey Association could not afford an expensive player and so relied on young, hopeful talents.

In the 1979 NHL Entry Draft , the Vancouver Canucks were so impressed by his physical and offensive style of play that they selected him in fifth place in the first round. After half a season in which he had collected 21 points and 111 penalty minutes, the enthusiasm was gone and they handed him over to the Toronto Maple Leafs together with Bill Derlago . In return, the Canucks got Tiger Williams, the player who collected the most penalty minutes in the NHL, and Jerry Buttler .

In Toronto he became one of the stars on the team. He was in his second full season in 1980/81 in Toronto, the first Maple Leafs player to score over 50 goals in one season. He was able to surpass this mark for three years in a row. The team was one of the weakest in the league at the time. Since the Maple Leafs often missed the playoffs, he was able to compete for the Canadian team at the World Cup in 1982 and 1985 . After a very successful 1986/87 season , Toronto tried again to rebuild its squad and this time the team captain was also affected. Along with Steve Thomas and Bob McGill , he was transferred to the Chicago Blackhawks to sign Al Secord and Ed Olczyk .

Rick Vaive (left) and Darryl Sittler (right) at an autograph session, 2005

He played in Chicago for a year and a half and scored 55 goals in his 106 games for the Blackhawks. In December 1988 he moved to the Buffalo Sabers for Adam Creighton . There he played for a few years, but was often sent to the farm team , to the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League , during the 1991/92 season . After the end of the season, his contract ran out and he signed again with the Vancouver Canucks. However, he only came to appearances in the AHL with the Hamilton Canucks, where he ended his active career after this season.

Vaive coached the South Carolina Stingrays in the East Coast Hockey League for several years before moving to the AHL as head coach of the Saint John Flames . In the summer of 2002 he moved to the Mississauga IceDogs to look after the junior team in the Ontario Hockey League .

statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
NHL Regular Season	14th	876	441	347	788	1445
NHL playoffs	9	54	27	16	43	111
WHA regular season	1	75	26th	33	59	248

Sporting successes

• 1978 bronze medal at the Junior World Championship
• 1982 bronze medal at the world championship
• Kelly Cup : 1997 (as coach)

Personal awards

• LHJMQ Recrue de l'année : 1977
• Participation in the NHL All-Star Game : 1982 , 1983 and 1984

Web links

• Rick Vaive at hockeydb.com (English)
• Rick Vaive at legendsofhockey.net (English)