Al MacInnis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Position Defence
Shot Right
Height
Weight
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
200 lb (91 kg/14 st 4 lb)
Pro clubs CHL
 Colorado Flames
NHL
 Calgary Flames
 St. Louis Blues
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born July 11, 1963 (1963-07-11) (age 44),
Port Hood, NS, CAN
NHL Draft 15th overall, 1981
Calgary Flames
Pro career 1981 – 2004
Hall of Fame, 2007

Allan "Al" MacInnis (born July 11, 1963) is a Hall of Fame Hockey defenceman who played 23 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues. He was born in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada.[1]

MacInnis grew up in a small fishing village on the west coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. He spent his teen years in Kitchener, Ontario playing junior hockey and attended Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School.

In November 2006, he was appointed Vice President of Hockey Operations by Blues President John Davidson.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

A star defenceman known for the power of his slapshot, Al MacInnis was drafted 15th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. He started playing for Calgary in 1981, winning the Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989. In that year he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. During that postseason he racked up 7 goals and 24 assists in 22 games. He recorded 26 of those 31 points during a 17-game scoring streak. It was the second-longest such run in the playoffs and MacInnis' streak was the longest by a rearguard. MacInnis was the first blueliner to record more playoff points in one playoff than anyone else.

MacInnis's slapshot became almost legendary. Early in his career with Calgary, he blasted a shot that shattered the goalie mask of St. Louis Blues' goalie Mike Liut. After the game Liut said that there were "two kinds of hard [shots]" in the League. "There's hard, and then there's MacInnis hard."

On July 4, 1994, the Flames, traded MacInnis (an upcoming free-agent), and a 4th round selection (Didier Tremblay) in 1997 to the St. Louis Blues for Phil Housley, a 2nd round selection (Steve Begin) in 1996 and a 2nd round selection (John Tripp) in 1997. He re-signed as an unrestricted free agent with St. Louis for the start of the 1994–95 season.

One of the few defencemen to record over 1000 career points, MacInnis retired from the NHL on September 9, 2005 after missing close to two seasons due to a combination of injuries and the 2004–05 NHL lockout which cancelled the entire season but the factor that was most responsible was his eye injury. His last game was in October 2003, just three games into the season, facing off against the Predators in Nashville when he realized he was having vision problems again. It turned out that he had suffered a detached retina to the same eye that was injured by a wayward stick in January of 2001. The previous injury had left him with a permanent blind spot and a need to wear a special contact lens. His jersey #2 was retired by the St. Louis Blues during a pre-game ceremony on Sunday, April 9, 2006 before the Blues faced off against the Edmonton Oilers.

Throughout his career, MacInnis was known most for his extremely powerful slapshot. In the 1999–00 NHL Skills Competition he captured "Hardest Shot" honors for the fourth consecutive year and, overall, has seven such honors to his credit. MacInnis, one of the few NHLers to resist the new composite fiber sticks that came out during 2002–03, amazed everyone during NHL All-Star Week that season by firing a 98.9-miles per hour screamer with a Sher-Wood brand wooden stick. In characteristic Canadian style, MacInnis said: "So much for technology, eh?"[citation needed]

MacInnis has the distinction of playing in two of the three games featuring the largest third-period comeback in NHL history. On January 26, 1987, the Calgary Flames came back from a 5–0 deficit in the third period to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6–5 in overtime. MacInnis scored a hat trick in the third period. Nearly 14 years later, on November 29, 2000, the St. Louis Blues came back from a 5–0 deficit to defeat the Leafs 6–5 in overtime again; MacInnis played another key role by recording a power-play goal in the third period.

On November 12th, 2007, Al was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with Mark Messier, Ron Francis, and Scott Stevens.

[edit] Awards & achievements

[edit] Records

  • Tied for 28th place in all-time NHL scoring with 1,274 points.
  • 12th on the all-time NHL assists with 934.
  • 17th on the all-time NHL games played list with 1,416.
  • 3rd among all-time NHL defensemen in points.
  • 3rd among all-time NHL defensemen in assists.
  • 3rd among all-time NHL defensemen in goals with 340 goals.
  • Seven-time winner of the hardest-shot competition at the NHL All-Star Game.

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1980–81 Kitchener Rangers OHL 47 11 28 39 59 -- -- -- -- --
1981–82 Kitchener Rangers OHL 59 25 50 75 145 15 5 10 15 44
1981–82 Calgary Flames NHL 2 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1982–83 Kitchener Rangers OHL 51 38 46 84 67 8 3 8 11 9
1982–83 Calgary Flames NHL 14 1 3 4 9 -- -- -- -- --
1983–84 Colorado Flames CHL 19 5 14 19 22 -- -- -- -- --
1983–84 Calgary Flames NHL 51 11 34 45 42 11 2 12 14 13
1984–85 Calgary Flames NHL 67 14 52 66 75 4 1 2 3 8
1985–86 Calgary Flames NHL 77 11 57 68 76 21 4 15 19 30
1986–87 Calgary Flames NHL 79 20 56 76 97 4 1 0 1 0
1987–88 Calgary Flames NHL 80 25 58 83 114 7 3 6 9 18
1988–89 Calgary Flames NHL 79 16 58 74 126 22 7 24 31 46
1989–90 Calgary Flames NHL 79 28 62 90 82 6 2 3 5 8
1990–91 Calgary Flames NHL 78 28 75 103 90 7 2 3 5 8
1991–92 Calgary Flames NHL 72 20 57 77 83 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Calgary Flames NHL 50 11 43 54 61 6 1 6 7 10
1993–94 Calgary Flames NHL 75 28 54 82 95 7 2 6 8 12
1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 32 8 20 28 43 7 1 5 6 10
1995–96 St. Louis Blues NHL 82 17 44 61 88 13 3 4 7 20
1996–97 St. Louis Blues NHL 72 13 30 43 65 6 1 2 3 4
1997–98 St. Louis Blues NHL 71 19 30 49 80 8 2 6 8 12
1998–99 St. Louis Blues NHL 82 20 42 62 70 13 4 8 12 20
1999–00 St. Louis Blues NHL 61 11 28 39 34 7 1 3 4 14
2000–01 St. Louis Blues NHL 59 12 42 54 52 15 2 8 10 18
2001–02 St. Louis Blues NHL 71 11 35 46 52 10 0 7 7 4
2002–03 St. Louis Blues NHL 80 16 52 68 61 3 0 1 1 0
2003–04 St. Louis Blues NHL 3 0 2 2 6 -- -- -- -- --
NHL Totals 1416 340 934 1274 1501 177 39 121 160 255

[edit] International play

Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Gold 2002 Salt Lake City Team

Played for Canada in:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Wayne Gretzky
Winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy
1989
Succeeded by
Bill Ranford
Preceded by
Rob Blake
Winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy
1999
Succeeded by
Chris Pronger
Preceded by
Chris Pronger
St. Louis Blues Captains
2003–04
Succeeded by
Dallas Drake