Brad Park

Brad Park
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1988
Born	(1948-07-06) July 6, 1948 Toronto, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Defence
Played for	New York Rangers Boston Bruins Detroit Red Wings
National team	Canada
NHL draft	2nd overall, 1966 New York Rangers
Playing career	1968–1985

Douglas Bradford (Brad) Park (born July 6, 1948 in Toronto, Ontario) is a retired ice hockey defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL) and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He played for the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings.

Playing career

Park was drafted by the New York Rangers in the first round (2nd overall) in the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft and, after a brief stint with the minor-league Buffalo Bisons of the AHL, began playing for the Rangers in 1968.

New York Rangers

Park quickly became the Rangers' best defenceman and drew comparisons with the great Bobby Orr, as both were credited with revolutionizing the "offensive" defenceman. Park's offensive skill, stickhandling and pugnacity attracted much attention from fans. Park and Orr occasionally fought each other on ice, and fans and sportswriters fueled the rivalry by making frequent comparisons, not least as the Rangers and Boston Bruins were bitter opponents. Years afterward, Park remarked "I saw no reason to be upset because I was rated second to Bobby Orr. After all, Orr not only was the top defenseman in the game but he was considered the best player ever to put on a pair of skates. There was nothing insulting about being rated number two to such a super superstar."

Park was made the alternate captain of the Rangers and briefly served as their captain. In 1972, despite the loss of leading team scorer Jean Ratelle with a broken ankle, Park led his team to defeat the defending champions Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals where they lost to Orr and the Boston Bruins, and Park finished runner-up for the Norris Trophy. When the upstart World Hockey Association tried to lure Park away, the Rangers re-signed him to a $200,000-a-year contract that made him, briefly, the highest-paid player in the NHL.

In the 1972 Summit Series, with Orr unable to play due to injury, Park emerged as a key contributor to Team Canada's series over the Soviets, being named the MVP of the deciding Game Eight and named Best Defenceman of the series.

In 1975–76, the Rangers got off to their worst start in ten years and the team began getting rid of their high-priced veterans. On November 7, 1975, one of the biggest trades of the era was made. Park, star centre Jean Ratelle and minor-leaguer Joe Zanussi were traded to Boston for superstar scoring champion Phil Esposito and defenceman Carol Vadnais. The New York press and public had felt that Park, 27 at the time, was overweight, overpaid, and over the hill, as he was facing comparisons to the New York Islanders' Denis Potvin.

Boston Bruins

While Esposito and Vadnais remained effective players for the Rangers, that team remained mirred at the bottom of the division after the trade, and Rangers general manager Emile Francis was eventually fired. Contrary to expectations that the Rangers had gotten the better end of the trade, the struggling Bruins were instantly rejuvenated and soon again became one of the NHL's best teams, despite the departures of Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr.

Taking over the mantle of leadership from Orr, whose career was threatened by injury and who would soon leave the team, Park continued his great success under coach Don Cherry. Park had previously been an end-to-end rushing player attempting to imitate Orr, but with the Bruins he was told by Cherry to concentrate on defence. Getting over his unpopularity in Boston when he was a member of the arch-rival Rangers, Park settled in well with the Bruins, even hitch-hiking a ride from two teenagers at 1 am in the morning after his car ran out of gas, and Park later rewarded them with free tickets to the next Boston home game.

From 1977-79, Cherry's "lunch-pail gang" captured three division titles for the Bruins. Park earned two First All-Star Team selections, while coming in second in the Norris Trophy race twice in a Bruins' uniform, with 1977-78 being considered one of his finest seasons. In 1977 and 1978, Park was a key contributor to Boston's back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens both times. His last hurrah with Boston was in the 1983 playoffs, when he scored a long-remembered overtime goal to beat the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh game of their playoff series.

Detroit Red Wings

The following season Park signed with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent and won the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance that same year, having set a record for assists by a Red Wings' defenceman. After the 1985 season, still an effective player but hobbled by repeated knee injuries, he announced his retirement. The next year he briefly served as Detroit's coach.

Retirement and Personal Life

In 1988 Park was elected in his first year of eligibility to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his hometown of Toronto.

Park has resided on the North Shore of Massachusetts for almost 30 years, with his wife Gerry. He has five children and four grandchildren.

Honors and achievements

• Named to the First All-Star Team in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978.
• Named to the Second All-Star Team in 1971 and 1973.
• Runner up in Norris Trophy voting in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978
• Received both the most First Team All-Star nominations (other than Earl Seibert, who retired before the trophy was awarded) and was runner-up for the Norris more times without winning the Norris than any other defenceman in NHL history.
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978.
• Retired as the leading defence scorer in Rangers' history and the second leading defence scorer in Bruins' (and NHL) history to Bobby Orr.
• At the time of his retirement, had played the most seasons in league history for a player never missing the playoffs.
• Currently 13th all-time in NHL history in defence scoring.
• Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, in this first year of eligibility.
• Along with Butch Goring, one of the last two active players who had played in the 1960s.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 49 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• Ranked No. 11 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1968–69	New York Rangers	NHL		54	3	23	26	70		4	0	2	2	7
1969–70	New York Rangers	NHL		60	11	26	37	98		5	1	2	3	11
1970–71	New York Rangers	NHL		68	7	37	44	114		13	0	4	4	42
1971–72	New York Rangers	NHL		75	24	49	73	130		16	4	7	11	21
1972–73	New York Rangers	NHL		52	10	43	53	51		10	2	5	7	8
1973–74	New York Rangers	NHL		78	25	57	82	148		13	4	8	12	38
1974–75	New York Rangers	NHL		65	13	44	57	104		3	1	4	5	2
1975–76	New York Rangers	NHL		13	2	4	6	23		—	—	—	—	—
1975–76	Boston Bruins	NHL		43	16	37	53	95		11	3	8	11	14
1976–77	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	12	55	67	67		14	2	10	12	4
1977–78	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	22	57	79	79		15	9	11	20	14
1978–79	Boston Bruins	NHL		40	7	32	39	10		11	1	4	5	8
1979–80	Boston Bruins	NHL		32	5	16	21	27		10	3	6	9	4
1980–81	Boston Bruins	NHL		78	14	52	66	111		3	1	3	4	11
1981–82	Boston Bruins	NHL		75	14	42	56	82		11	1	4	5	4
1982–83	Boston Bruins	NHL		76	10	26	36	82		16	3	9	12	18
1983–84	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	5	53	58	85		3	0	3	3	0
1984–85	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		67	13	30	43	53		3	0	0	0	11
18 seasons	NHL total			1113	213	683	896	1429		161	35	90	125	217

See also

• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• Captain (ice hockey)

References

• Brad Park biography at Legends of Hockey
• Brad Park career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database