Adam Oates

Adam Oates
Born	August 27, 1962 (1962-08-27) Weston, ON, CAN
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Right
Played for	Detroit Red Wings St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins Washington Capitals Philadelphia Flyers Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Edmonton Oilers
NHL Draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1985–2004

Adam Oates (born August 27, 1962) is a retired professional ice hockey and lacrosse player and is currently an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.

Playing career

Oates' break came when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute offered him a scholarship. He played three seasons (1982 to 1985), where he majored in management and was the leading scorer on RPI's 1985 NCAA Division I championship team. Oates eventually graduated with a management degree from RPI in 1991. As of the end of the 2004–05 season, Oates still held school records for most assists in a season (60, 1984–85), most points in a season (91, 1984–85), and most career assists (150). He is third on the school's all-time list for most assists per game (1.53) and tied for third all-time in career points (216).

After Rensselaer's NCAA championship season, Oates signed as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, with the richest rookie contract up to this time at $1 million over four years. Although the team's second centreman behind Steve Yzerman, Oates solidified his reputation as an elite NHL playmaker with the Red Wings, and by his last season with the club 1988–89 he was scoring at an almost assist-per-game pace. Oates was traded to the St. Louis Blues after the season, along with Paul MacLean, for Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney.

In St. Louis, Oates teamed up with Brett Hull and became part of the "Hull 'n' Oates" tandem, a reference to the musical duo of Hall & Oates. Hull had three consecutive seasons with at least 70 goals, including the 1990–91 season when Hull scored 86 (a record for right wingers) and won the Hart Trophy. Oates had 90 assists and 115 points in 61 games, earning him an NHL Second Team All-Star. Oates held out for much of the next season, until he was traded to the Boston Bruins in return for Craig Janney and Stéphane Quintal.

Oates had perhaps his best season yet in 1992–93, as he scored a career-high 45 goals, 97 assists and 142 points to finish third overall in regular season scoring behind Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine. The next season, Oates again finished third with 32 goals, 80 assists, and 112 points, behind Wayne Gretzky and Sergei Fedorov.

Oates played with Boston until the 1996–97 NHL season, when he was traded on March 1, 1997 to the Washington Capitals with Bill Ranford and Rick Tocchet for Jim Carey, Anson Carter, Jason Allison and Washington's third-round choice (Lee Goren) in the 1997 Entry Draft, near the trading deadline. As a Capital, he changed his jersey number to 77 (which he would wear for the remainder of his career), in homage to former Boston Bruins teammate and friend, Ray Bourque. Oates helped lead the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals the next season, but failed to win as the Capitals lost to the Red Wings, Oates' first NHL team. Oates had a few more productive seasons with the Caps, leading the league in assists in 2000–01 and 2001–02, both of which were accomplished in the two seasons leading up to his fortieth birthday which also made him the oldest player to do so. On January 14, 2002, Oates became only the eighth player in NHL history to earn at least 1,000 career assists.

In 2002–03, Oates made his second trip to the Stanley Cup finals, this time with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, but again his team was beaten out, this time in seven games by the New Jersey Devils. His career looked to be over after the season, but on November 17, 2003, the Edmonton Oilers, in need of a center, and signed Oates to a contract. However, the season was a disappointment as he scored only 2 goals and 18 points in 60 games, and told the Oilers owners that they didn't have to pay him his contract for the season, although they of course did anyway. The Oilers stayed in the playoff hunt until the end of the season. Oates announced his retirement on April 3, 2004 after his team was narrowly eliminated from the postseason.

Legacy

Oates is considered one of the more creative and effective playmakers in the modern NHL era, as he had more assists than any other player during the 1990s except for Wayne Gretzky. Brett Hull and Oates united to form a high-scoring tandem for three years, with Oates supplying the playmaking for Hull, who was a natural sniper. During those three years, Hull's goal totals were 72–86–70. Outside of the three seasons, when Hull was not centered by Oates, he never surmounted the 60-goal mark.

Despite his skillful playmaking, strong face-off win percentage, and impressive scoring statistics, Oates never won the Stanley Cup in his career, though he played in the 1998 and 2003 finals.

He was also well known as a clean player, being a six time finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy but losing to Wayne Gretzky, Pierre Turgeon, Ron Francis, and Joe Sakic.

He finished third in regular season scoring three times (1990–1991, 1992–1993, and 1993–1994), but only made the postseason All-Star Second Team in 1991. The other two seasons near the top, Oates missed out because players that finished ahead of him in the scoring place also played centre. Considering the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons combined, Oates scored the most points, with Doug Gilmour coming in second. (Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine, who finished first and second during 1992-93 in scoring, respectively, saw their numbers drop off significantly in the following season due to injury. The 1993-94 season saw Wayne Gretzky return to his scoring form and the breakout of Sergei Federov, after neither player finished among the top ten scorers in the prior season, which relegated Oates to third in scoring.) Oates's lack of such honours meant that he was often overlooked compared to his peers.

Oates was considered by many hockey experts to be a favorite for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007, 2008, and 2009, but was not selected. Oates has the most career points of all retired players that are eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame but are not currently enshrined. Oates holds the distinction of most career points of any collegian to go onto to play in the National Hockey League.

Awards

• ECAC Second All-Star Team (1984)
• NCAA East First All-American Team (1984, 1985)
• ECAC First All-Star Team (1985)
• NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (1985)
• NHL Second All-Star Team (1991)
• Played in NHL All-Star Game (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997)

Records

• Oldest player to lead the NHL in assists in a single season (64 in 2001–02, at the age of 39)
• Player who has accumulated the most career playoffs points without winning the Stanley Cup
• Sixth all-time in assists

Coaching career

On October 2, 2009, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced the naming of Oates an assistant coach. He had worked with the Tampa Bay coaching staff during 2009 training camp, focusing on offensive strategies with the forwards. Under his direction, the team's power play ranked fourth in the NHL in the preseason.

On June 29, 2010, the New Jersey Devils announced Oates would become the second assistant coach behind the bench. He will work alongside Larry Robinson and under head coach John MacLean.

Box lacrosse

Oates played five years of Junior "A" lacrosse for the Etobicoke Eclipse, in which he scored 735 points (regular season & playoffs) in just 130 games. In total, Oates averaged 5.5 points per game during his junior career. He would win three straight league M.V.P awards from 1981 to 1983. Oates also played for the Brampton Excelsiors of Major Series Lacrosse (Senior "A"), in which he scored 94 points in his rookie season. He would retire from professional lacrosse after the 1984 season to pursue his professional hockey career. He still holds the Ontario junior lacrosse record for assists (19), and points (29) in a game.

Personal life

Adam Oates is a good friend of PGA Tour golfer Mike Weir. One time, Weir laced up skates to practice with the Washington Capitals while Oates captained the team. In 2003, Weir won the Masters Major, the same year that Oates would reach the Stanley Cup final with Anaheim.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1982–83	R.P.I Engineers	ECAC		22	9	33	42	8		—	—	—	—	—
1983–84	R.P.I Engineers	ECAC		38	26	57	83	15		—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	R.P.I Engineers	ECAC		38	31	60	91	29		—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Adirondack Red Wings	AHL		34	18	28	46	4		17	7	14	21	4
1985–86	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		38	9	11	20	10		—	—	—	—	—
1986–87	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		76	15	32	47	21		16	4	7	11	6
1987–88	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		63	14	40	54	20		16	8	12	20	6
1988–89	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		69	16	62	78	14		6	0	8	8	2
1989–90	St. Louis Blues	NHL		80	23	79	102	30		12	2	12	14	4
1990–91	St. Louis Blues	NHL		61	25	90	115	29		13	7	13	20	10
1991–92	St. Louis Blues	NHL		54	10	59	69	12		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	Boston Bruins	NHL		26	10	20	30	10		15	5	14	19	4
1992–93	Boston Bruins	NHL		84	45	97	142	32		4	0	9	9	4
1993–94	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	32	80	112	45		13	3	9	12	8
1994–95	Boston Bruins	NHL		48	12	41	53	8		5	1	0	1	2
1995–96	Boston Bruins	NHL		70	25	67	92	18		5	2	5	7	2
1996–97	Boston Bruins	NHL		63	18	52	70	10		—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	Washington Capitals	NHL		17	4	8	12	4		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	Washington Capitals	NHL		82	18	58	76	36		21	6	11	17	8
1998–99	Washington Capitals	NHL		59	12	42	54	22		—	—	—	—	—
1999–00	Washington Capitals	NHL		82	15	56	71	14		5	0	3	3	4
2000–01	Washington Capitals	NHL		81	13	69	82	28		6	0	0	0	0
2001–02	Washington Capitals	NHL		66	11	57	68	22		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		14	3	7	10	6		5	0	2	2	0
2002–03	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		67	9	36	45	16		21	4	9	13	6
2003–04	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		60	2	16	18	8		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				1337	341	1079	1420	415		163	42	114	156	66

See also

• Captain (ice hockey)
• List of NHL players with 1000 points
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• List of NHL statistical leaders

External links

• Adam Oates's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Adam Oates's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Adam Oates's NHL player profile
• RPI Magazine profile
• NHL Commercial featuring Adam Oates

Preceded by Dale Hunter

Washington Capitals captain 1999–2001

Succeeded by Steve Konowalchuk Brendan Witt