Wendel Clark

Wendel Clark
Date of birth	October 25, 1966
place of birth	Kelvington , Saskatchewan , Canada
size	180 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	Left wing
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1985 , 1st round, 1st position Toronto Maple Leafs
Career stations
1983-1985	Saskatoon Blades
1985-1994	Toronto Maple Leafs
1994-1995	Nordiques de Québec
1995-1996	New York Islanders
1996-1998	Toronto Maple Leafs
1998-1999	Tampa Bay Lightning
1999	Detroit Red Wings Chicago Blackhawks
1999-2000	Toronto Maple Leafs

Wendel L. Clark (born October 25, 1966 in Kelvington , Saskatchewan ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played 888 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs , Nordiques de Québec , New York Islanders , Tampa between 1985 and 2000 Bay Lightning , Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks played in the National Hockey League on the left winger position . Clark, who was selected as the overall first in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft , took part in the NHL All-Star Game twice during his career and was named to the All-Rookie Team in his first NHL game year . The Toronto Maple Leafs, where he spent most of his career, banned his jersey number 17 in 2016.

Career

Clark in the jersey of the Toronto Maple Leafs (1994)

Wendel Clark played during his junior years between 1983 and 1985 in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Saskatoon Blades . In the 1985 NHL Entry Draft he was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs as the overall first selected.

He broke through in season one, and with 34 goals in his first regular season, he narrowly missed the Calder Memorial Trophy , which went to Gary Suter that season . In a game against the Chicago Blackhawks in 1987, he was promoted with a cross-check into the goal and sustained a serious back injury. He was only able to get back on the ice at the end of the following season. He played in Toronto for nine years, the last three as team captain , before moving to Québec in exchange for Mats Sundin . After the end of the season , which was due to a strike only briefly, he moved to the New York Islanders . At the end of the season he returned to the Maple Leafs. After two full seasons, Clark left Toronto again. A year and a half and three teams later, he was back in Toronto.

Wendel Clark took part in the NHL All-Star Game twice. At the age of 13, he holds the record for the longest break between two participations.

On November 22, 2008, the Toronto Maple Leafs honored him by including his number 17 in the "honored numbers". A banner with his number and a picture of him hangs in the Air Canada Arena. Unlike other teams, the number is still assigned.

Achievements and Awards

1985 WHL East First All-Star Team 1985 Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy 1986 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 1986 NHL All-Rookie Team

1999 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 2011 Induction into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame 2016 jersey number 17 blocked by the Toronto Maple Leafs

International

• 1985 gold medal at the Junior World Championship

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1983/84	Saskatoon Blades	WHL		72	23	45	68	225		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	Saskatoon Blades	WHL		64	32	55	87	253		3	3	3	6th	7th
1985/86	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	34	11	45	227		10	5	1	6th	47
1986/87	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		80	37	23	60	271		13	6th	5	11	38
1987/88	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		28	12	11	23	80		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		15th	7th	4th	11	66		-	-	-	-	-
1989/90	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		38	18th	8th	26th	116		5	1	1	2	19th
1990/91	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		63	18th	16	34	152		-	-	-	-	-
1991/92	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		43	19th	21st	40	123		-	-	-	-	-
1992/93	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	17th	22nd	39	193		21st	10	10	20th	51
1993/94	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		64	46	30th	76	115		18th	9	7th	16	24
1994/95	Nordiques de Québec	NHL		37	12	18th	30th	45		6th	1	2	3	6th
1995/96	New York Islanders	NHL		58	24	19th	43	60		-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		13	8th	7th	15th	16		6th	2	2	4th	2
1996/97	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		65	30th	19th	49	75		-	-	-	-	-
1997/98	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		47	12	7th	19th	80		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		65	28	14th	42	35		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		12	4th	2	6th	2		10	2	3	5	10
1999/00	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		13	2	0	2	13		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		20th	2	2	4th	21st		6th	1	1	2	4th
WHL overall				136	55	100	155	478		3	3	3	6th	7th
NHL overall				793	330	234	564	1690		95	37	32	69	201

International

Represented Canada to:

• Junior World Championship 1985

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1985	Canada	June World Cup			7th	3	2	5	10
Juniors overall					7th	3	2	5	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 )

Web links

Commons : Wendel Clark  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Wendel Clark at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Wendel Clark at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Wendel Clark at hockeydb.com (English)