Mark Messier

NHL Hall of Famer, Mark Messier is considered to be one of the greatest hockey players ever to don a pair of skates. His strong personality, both on the ice and off, made him a fan favorite. He was considered a stand-up guy and his leadership abilities was inspiring to all of his teammates.

He grew up playing the game in Edmonton, AB. where his father took him to his own minor-league practices. His career with the Spruce Grove Mets in the Alberta junior leagues, actually began when he was 11 years old as a stick boy. He joined the team in the 1976-77 season and played 57 games, scored 27 goals, and had 39 assists.http://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/html/ind07Messier.htm

Messier played with the Edmonton Oilers, from 1979 until 1991. During this time, The Oilers won 5 Stanley Cup Championships, in 1983-84, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88, and 1989-90. Messier and The Great One, Wayne Gretzky were teammates for the Oilers from 1979 until 1988 when Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. The win in the 1990 Stanley Cup Championship came as a surprise to those who believed that with Gretzky gone, the Oilers had lost their edge. But with Messier as captain, they took the cup.

After being traded to the New York Rangers, Messier won his sixth Stanley Cup Championship in the 1993-94 season, the first time in 54 years for the Rangers, making him the first player to be the captain of two different winning teams of the Stanley Cup. Messier stayed with the Rangers until July of 1997 when he signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks. As he was leaving the Rangers, Gretzky was arriving. Gretzky played with the Rangers until his retirement in 1999.http://www.hockey-fans.com/players/gretzky.php

As Gretzky left the Rangers, Messier returned in 2000 where he stayed until his retirement prior to the 2005 season. His number 11 was raised to the rafters in January, 2006 in [[Madison Square Gardens as a tribute from the New York Rangers.

Messier was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2007 as a six time Stanley Cup Champion and a 15 time All-Star.http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=3688

Messier's first twelve seasons, from 1979-1991, in the NHL was with the Edmonton OIlers. Messier was 18 when joined, and spent all of his 20's there. The Oilers dominated hockey during this time, having put the brakes on the New York Islanders, who were enjoying their own reign with 4 championship years. The Oilers won the Stanley Cup five times from the '84-'85 season to the '90-91season.

By the time he left Edmonton in 1991, he played 851 games, and accumulated 1034 points. In the '89-90 season alone, he scored 129 points, earning him the league's MVP award, the Hart Memorial.

In his first year, the '79-80 season, as an NHL apprentice, he played 75 games, had 12 goals, and 21 assists (33 points). His second year, 1980-81, he played 72 games, had 23 goals, and 40 assists (63 points). He became a NHL journeyman in the '81-82 season when he played 78 games, with 50 goals and 38 assists (88 points). In these 3 seasons he also spent a total of 341 minutes in the penalty box as he was refining his strong, tough playing style.

Mark Messier, Edmonton Oiler

• 1981-82 Scored over 50 goals
• 1982-83 Accumulated 106 points
• 1983-84 Accumulated 101 points
• 1983-84 NHL Conn Smythe Trophy

(73 games, 37 goals, 64 assists, 101 points, and 165 penalty minutes)

• 19 Playoff games, with 8 goals, 18 assists
• Suspended one game by NHL during 1983-84 season for receiving three game-misconduct penalties during course of season.

In 1984, Messier received a 10 game suspension when Jamie Macoun's cheekbone was cracked during a fight.

In 1987, Messier was suspended from play for "failure to report to the team" during contract negotions. He was fined $250.00 per day and the suspension lasted three weeks.

• 1989-90 NHL Hart Memorial Trophy
• 1989-90 NHL Lester B. Pearson Trophy
• Regular season: 79 games, 45 goals, 84 assists (129 points) 79 penalty minutes

• Playoffs
• 22 games, 9 goals, 22 assists (31points)http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=3688

And during this time, he participated in three Canada Cups and in a World Championship.http://www.oilersheritage.com/history/big_players_markmessier.html

The New York Rangers had their sites on Messier since 1986, and finally, 5 years later, on [October 4]], 1991, Messier was traded to the Rangers]]. The Rangers were desperate to find a solid hockey player as well as a leader to guide their team to an end of a 51 year exile from the Stanley Cup Winners list. The Rangers' 1990-91 season record was 36–31–13. Enter Mark Messier. The 1991-92 season record was 50–25–5 and Messier was taking charge. He had closed-door meetings with the team regularly. But a meeting in November, after a 6-1 thrashing of the New York Rangers and Messier by the L.A. Kings and Wayne Gretzke, was extra long. Messier was apparently very disappointed by the Rangers' performance.

Messier's multi-million dollar contract was signed in December. It was very obvious that New York wanted more that just a good player when they signed Messier. The contract included a number of monetary incentive for Messier based on how the team played. This was fodder to Messier's need to win.

The 1992-93 season was basically the battle of the alpha males, Messier, and Coach, Roger Neilson. Neilson lost, was demoted to scouting, and eventually left the team. The clash between them affected the entire team. Ron Smith was appointed as the new coach. The team didn't make it to the playoffs that year.

The Rangers' record for 1993-94 season was 52-24-8. NY won the division, the Conference Championship, and the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years. It's no wonder that the Ranger fans loved Messier. In the 6th game of the Conference Championship series, NY was losing to New Jersey. Messier scored a hat trick in the 3rd period which led to the deciding 7th game, which New York won. Messier also scored the winning goal that gave New York the long-awaited Championship Title.

Messier won the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1992 and the Hart Trophy in 1992.

He played with the Rangers for six seasons. On July 28, 1997, Messier signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks, where he played for three seasons. On July 13, 2000 he returned to the New York Rangers as a free agent and finished out his hockey career there.

Messier Totals:

• 1756 games, with 694 goals, 1193 assists, a total of 1887 points and 1910 penalty minutes.
• 236 playoff games with 109 goals, 186 assists, 295 points and 244 minutes in the box.http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11108

Messier scored his 694th goal on March 31, 2004 with the Rangers. However, the Rangers didn't make it into the playofffs. The 2004-05 season was cancelled due to the NHL lockout. Messier officially retired on Sept. 12, 2005. At that time, he ranked 2nd in the NHL's total regular season points, total playoff points, and in the number of career games played. He rated 3rd for all time number of assists.http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep200703.htmHe was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2007, his first year of eligibility.

In August, 2009, Messier returned to the NY Rangers as assistant to general manager, Glen Sather. As a player for the Rangers, Sather had been Messier's Coach and GM. Messier had been expressing interest in joining the Rangers' management staff for a few years. The Rangers are hoping that Messier will be able to positively influence the Rangers back into the Stanley Cup annuls.http://www.nj.com/rangers/index.ssf/2009/08/mark_messier_returns_to_ny_ran.html

In December, 2009, Messier was named as the General Manager of the 2010 Canadian World Championship Team. In the 2010 Championship, Team Canada lost the round-robin series in Mannheim, Germany to the Czech team. They went to Cologne, Germany and lost to the Russian Team and were eliminated from the competition. Since 2003, Canada was in the final competitions 6 times, winning 3 golds, and made it to the semi-finals for 8 straight years in a row.http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olyhockey/news/story?id=4727296

The IIHF communications director, Szymon Szemberg, issued a strong tongue-lashing against the North American and European team invitees who declined to play due to slight injuries, or they were too tired having just finished the 2009-10 season. Szemberg wrote: "How can a player who is 22 or 25 or 27, and who was just eliminated from the playoffs, be tired? Tired is a miner who works in a damp pit in Miktivka, in the Donetz Plateau in Ukraine, who never sees daylight and who provides living for a family of five in a modest two-room apartment. That is tired.

Tired is a divorced mother with two young kids who double shifts as a nurse assistant and cleaning lady to make ends meet."http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=3047560

An objection to the scathing remarks will be addressed at the next meeting between the IIHF and the Hockey Canada Team.http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=3047560

In his first year as assistant to the General Manager for the New York Rangers, the Rangers failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 5 years, finishing in 4th place behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division and 9th in the Eastern Conference.