Steve Kasper

Steve Kasper
Date of birth	September 28, 1961
place of birth	Montreal , Quebec , Canada
size	173 cm
Weight	79 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1980 , 4th lap, 81st position Boston Bruins
Career stations
1977-1980	Éperviers de Verdun / Sorel
1980-1989	Boston Bruins
1989-1991	Los Angeles Kings
1991-1992	Philadelphia Flyers
1992-1993	Tampa Bay Lightning

Stephen Neil "Steve" Kasper (born September 28, 1961 in Montreal , Québec ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and - scout as well as current - coach who played 915 games for the Boston Bruins , Los Angeles Kings , Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League on the position of the center has denied. In 1982 Kasper received the Frank J. Selke Trophy for best defensive striker in the NHL. Between 1995 and 1997 he was the head coach of the Boston Bruins.

Career

Player career

Kasper played during his junior years between 1977 and 1980 for the Éperviers de Verdun / Sorel in the Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec . Together with Chris Valentine he was among the top scorers and was selected in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins in the fourth round as 81st.

As early as the 1980/81 season he was able to prevail in the training camp against some other young players and earned a regular place with the Bruins. In his rookie season, he not only stood out because of his 21 goals and 56 points. For a young player, Kasper had an exceptionally confident demeanor. Together with Keith Crowder and veteran Wayne Cashman , he formed the Bruins' defensive storm line. In his nine years in Boston, he managed four times more than 20 goals. In his second year he won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as best defensive attacker. He was one of the absolute outnumbered specialists, where he was characterized above all by his goal danger. In a game for the Toronto Maple Leafs in January 1985, he managed the feat of scoring two hits for the Bruins while being outnumbered.

During the 1988/89 season he moved to the Los Angeles Kings for Bobby Carpenter . Behind the first two rows led by Wayne Gretzky and Bernie Nicholls , he was the center of the third, defensive storm row. For the 1991/92 season they wanted to put Jari Kurri at the side of Gretzky with the Kings . In exchange, Kasper was given to the Philadelphia Flyers together with Steve Duchesne . There he suffered a knee injury and could only play 16 games. Shortly after the start of the 1992/93 season , he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning . He still finished the season before ending his career.

Coaching career

Kasper returned to Boston, where he became Brian Sutter's assistant coach . The following year he coached the Bruins farm team, the Providence Bruins , in the American Hockey League . In the 1995/96 season he took over the Boston Bruins as head coach, but after two years with moderate success he was dismissed there. After a break of several years, he returned to the ice hockey sector as a scout at the end of the 2000s . He worked in this position for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2009 to 2012 before being promoted to Director of Professional Scouting . In 2015 he left the club.

He then left North America and supervised the selection of the People's Republic of China at the U18 World Junior Championship 2018 of Division IIB . In the course of the 2018/19 season he finally took on an assistant coaching position at Kunlun Red Star from the Continental Hockey League .

Achievements and Awards

• 1982 Frank J. Selke Trophy

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1977/78	Éperviers de Verdun	LHJMQ		63	26th	45	71	16		4th	2	4th	6th	0
1978/79	Éperviers de Verdun	LHJMQ		67	37	67	104	53		11	7th	6th	13	22nd
1979/80	Éperviers de Verdun / Sorel	LHJMQ		70	57	65	122	117		-	-	-	-	-
1980/81	Éperviers de Sorel	LHJMQ		2	5	2	7th	0		-	-	-	-	-
1980/81	Boston Bruins	NHL		76	21st	35	56	94		3	0	1	1	0
1981/82	Boston Bruins	NHL		73	20th	31	51	72		11	3	6th	9	22nd
1982/83	Boston Bruins	NHL		24	2	6th	8th	24		12	2	1	3	10
1983/84	Boston Bruins	NHL		27	3	11	14th	19th		3	0	0	0	7th
1984/85	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	16	24	40	33		5	1	0	1	9
1985/86	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	17th	23	40	73		3	1	0	1	4th
1986/87	Boston Bruins	NHL		79	20th	30th	50	51		3	0	2	2	0
1987/88	Boston Bruins	NHL		76	26th	44	70	35		23	7th	6th	13	10
1988/89	Boston Bruins	NHL		49	10	16	26th	49		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		29	9	15th	24	14th		11	1	5	6th	10
1989/90	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		77	17th	28	45	27		10	1	1	2	2
1990/91	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		67	9	19th	28	33		10	4th	6th	10	8th
1991/92	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		16	3	2	5	10		-	-	-	-	-
1992/93	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		21st	1	3	4th	2		-	-	-	-	-
1992/93	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		47	3	4th	7th	18th		-	-	-	-	-
LHJMQ total				202	125	179	304	205		15th	9	10	19th	22nd
NHL overall				821	177	291	468	554		94	20th	28	48	82

( 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							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	S.	N	U	Pt	space		Sp	S.	N	result
1995/96	Boston Bruins	NHL		82	40	31	11	91	2nd, Northeast		5	1	4th	Conference quarterfinals lost
1996/97	Boston Bruins	NHL		82	26th	47	9	61	6th, Northeast		-	-	-	not qualified
NHL overall				164	66	78	20th	152	0 division title		5	1	4th	0 Stanley Cups

( 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

• Steve Kasper at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Steve Kasper at eliteprospects.com (English)