Mark Messier

**Mark Messier** (born Mark John Douglas Messier on January 18, 1961 in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the NHL for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks.

Messier was drafted 48th overall by Edmonton in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

## Playing Career

### Early Playing Career

In 1976, Mark tried out for the junior Spruce Grove Mets of the Alberta Junior Hockey League where his father, Doug was coaching. As he was only 15 years old (the age limit for the league was 20), Doug didn't expect Mark to make the team, though he surprised and he was added to the roster.

He recorded 66 points in 57 games with the Mets in the 1976–77 season. The team (which relocated to St. Albert the following season and renamed the St. Albert Saints), named Mark the team captain for the 1977–78 season, scoring 74 points in 54 games.

At the end of the season, Mark joined the Portland Winterhawks of the major junior Western Hockey League (not the same league Doug played in) for the playoffs, appearing in 7 games and scoring 5 points.

### Professional

Prior to the start of the 1978–79 season, Mark was looking for alternatives to another season with the Saints, as he felt he was too good for the AJHL. He was not interested in playing in the WHL, so he initially tried out for the Canadian Olympic team, which was preparing for the 1980 Winter Olympics.

At the same time, Doug contacted his former junior teammate Pat Stapleton (who was then coaching of the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association), who needed someone to replace another young player they had just traded: Wayne Gretzky.

Doug called him and got Mark a contract to play hockey in Indianapolis for $30,000; However, Mark only took a five-game amateur tryout as it would allow him to return to junior hockey if need be.

Mark played in 13 games with the Saints to start the season, then joined the Racers on November 5th for his professional debut against the Winnipeg Jets. He played four games with the Racers, followed by a further two more with the Saints before his final game with Indianapolis on November 28.

Offered a longer contract, he held off on signing it, which proved fortuitous as the team folded on December 15; his only cheque from them bounced. Returning to the Saints, he played his final two games of junior hockey for them before he was signed by the Cincinnati Stingers, also of the WHA.

Mark signed a contract for $35,000 to play the rest of the season with the Stingers. He scored his first professional goal on March 20, 1979 against Pat Riggin of the Birmingham Bulls. In total, he played in 47 games for the Stingers tallying one goal and ten assists.

The WHA folded after the conclusion of the 1978–79 season, and four of the six remaining teams were admitted into the NHL; both the Stingers and the Bulls were not included in the merger and instead joined the minor Central Hockey League.

The players were dispersed to teams that had already owned their NHL rights, or allowed to enter the 1979 NHL Entry Draft; being under 20-years-old, Mark was eligible for the draft, and was selected in the third round, 48th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers.

Mark refused the Oilers' initial contract offers, a four-year two-way contract or one-year at $20,000 plus an option for a second year, instead wanting four-years at $50,000 per year, but ultimately signed what the Oilers offered.[24]

During his first year in the NHL, Mark had several discipline issues; at the end of October, he missed a team flight and was subsequently re-assigned to their CHL affiliate, the Houston Apollos, for four games. On returning to Edmonton, he moved back in with his parents, living at their St. Albert home.

He was a fierce, tough competitor whose intense leadership in the dressing room was as important as the goals he scored on the ice. He was not initially known as a scorer, but his offensive numbers increased steadily over his first few years with the Oilers.

In 1981–82, Mark registered his only 50-goal season. For most of his tenure with the Oilers, he played on a line with Glenn Anderson. Initially a left winger (he was named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1982–83 on left wing), he switched to centre in the 1984 playoffs, and the results were spectacular.

In Game 3 of the 1984 Finals, for example, with his Oilers trailing the four-time defending champion New York Islanders by a goal, it was Mark's goal on a brilliant end-to-end rush that sparked a comeback by the Oilers. By the end of the series the Oilers had won their first Stanley Cup and Mark had earned the Conn Smythe Trophy (awarded to the most valuable player of the playoffs).

In 1984, Mark was suspended for ten games for cracking Jamie Macoun's cheekbone with a sucker punch from behind during a game against the Calgary Flames on December 26. He was retaliating for having been boarded by Macoun earlier in the game, but the NHL ruled that he had instigated the fight.

On September 6, 1985, he lost control of his Porsche and totaled it by hitting three parked cars. He was later charged with hit & run and careless driving, for which he paid a fine.

Mark won four more Cups with the Oilers (in 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990, the last which he captained the Oilers to a five-game victory over the Boston Bruins). Even though the Oilers had been a 1980s powerhouse, the 1990 victory (which came two years after Wayne Gretzky was traded away) surprised many.

Mark also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP that season, edging out the Bruins' Ray Bourque by just two votes, the narrowest margin in the award's history.

Even though he was actually under contract to the Oilers until 1993, Mark's agent and father unsuccessfully pressed Oilers President and GM Glen Sather for a new deal in the summer of 1990.

After the 1990–91 season, Mark was upset that the Oilers were willing to let Adam Graves leave the team. He issued a public trade demand during the Canada Cup tournament saying that he wanted out if the Oilers were not willing to do what was necessary to keep important players.

On October 4, 1991, in one of many cost-cutting moves by Edmonton management, Mark was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for Louie DeBrusk, Bernie Nicholls and Steven Rice.

In his first season with the Rangers, Mark won his second Hart Trophy and guided the Rangers to the best record in the NHL; however, they were ousted in six games in the second round of the playoffs by the eventual champions Pittsburgh Penguins.

In 1992–93, the Rangers missed the playoffs and was the first time in Mark's career that he did not play in the post-season. After the season, Mike Keenan was hired as head coach.

In the 1993–94 NHL season, the Rangers rebounded to once again finish first overall, and this time were expected to win the Cup. After easily ousting the Islanders and Capitals in the first two rounds, the Rangers' road to the Cup would get a lot harder.

Down 3–2 in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the rival New Jersey Devils, Mark confronted the New York media and publicly guaranteed a Game 6 victory.

With fans and players on both sides reading the news headline, it then became a feat comparable to Babe Ruth's called shot and Joe Namath's Super Bowl III guarantee, and he backed it up by scoring a natural hat trick in the third period on an empty net goal with ESPN commentator Gary Thorne boasting, "Do you believe it?! Do you believe it?! He said we will win game six and he has just picked up the hat trick!"

It helped the Rangers erase a two-goal deficit. The Rangers went on to win the series in a thrilling seventh game double overtime nail biter.

Then, in the Stanley Cup Finals, Mark scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, giving the Rangers their first Stanley Cup in 54 years. He became the first (and to this date, the only) player to captain two teams to the Stanley Cup, something his former teammate Wayne Gretzky could not do the year before, and provided two of the most memorable images of that Stanley Cup Finals.

First, when the buzzer sounded, Mark was jumping up and down with overwhelming emotion as ticker tape fell; fireworks burst and fans and teammates celebrated. The other, which would become an iconic image to the Rangers and their fans (taken by George Kalinsky, photographer at Madison Square Garden), showing incredible emotion as he accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Finally, during the ticker-tape parade celebrating the Rangers' win, Rudy Giuliani, witnessing his first New York sports team championship victory just five months after becoming mayor, dubbed Mark "Mr. June," (conjuring Reggie Jackson's "Mr. October" nickname).

In 1995–96, Mark came as close as he had since 1991–92 to breaking the 100-point plateau when at the age of 35, he recorded a 99-point season. In 1996–97, former Oilers teammate Wayne Gretzky joined the Rangers, while he retained the captaincy and had a respectable 84-point regular season.

The two of them led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals where they were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in five games, as the Rangers could not match the size and strength of Eric Lindros and his "Legion of Doom" linemates.

However, Mark left the club at the end of the season, ending the brief reunion of him and Gretzky being together again on the same team after just one season; it would also turn out to be both players' final playoff appearances.

Mark had wanted to finish his career with the Rangers but Dave Checketts, the president of Madison Square Garden, said the team did not think he was worth $20 million USD for the next three years, although he maintained that he would have signed a one-year contract extension for under $6 million per season.

Although public sentiment sided with Mark as he led the team to two first-place regular season finishes and the Stanley Cup, General Manager Neil Smith was content having Gretzky and Pat LaFontaine as top centremen, and he came close to landing Joe Sakic from the Colorado Avalanche when he signed him to an offer sheet in the summer of 1997. At 36 years old, he signed with the Vancouver Canucks to a high-priced free agent contract.

Mark's return to Canada after six years with the Rangers was an emotional and high-profile event, but the bliss was brief. Before the season started, captain Trevor Linden relinquished the captaincy to him (a move that did not go over well with Canucks supporters).

Amidst a turbulent season, in which president and general manager Pat Quinn and head coach Tom Renney were fired, Linden was eventually traded by new coach and acting general manager Mike Keenan to the New York Islanders, where he became their captain, replacing Bryan McCabe (for whom Linden was traded along with Todd Bertuzzi.

Mark's demand to receive the number No. 11, which he had worn throughout his career with the Oilers and Rangers, but which the Canucks had unofficially retired after Wayne Maki's unexpected death in 1974, hurt his image as well.

In Mark's first game back on Broadway, MSG provided a video for him which was displayed on the big screen at the Garden. It was very emotional as some fans as well as he shed tears. He went on to score a goal in that game against his former team where he received applause after doing so even though he wore a different uniform. One fan displayed a sign which read, "You will always be our captain Mess."

Sixty points in 1997–98 was his worst mark in a full year since Mark's first NHL season; his next two seasons were shortened by injury and finished with 158 points over three years, considered below expectations compared to other star centremen earning around $6 million US a season like Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic.

He was still expected to be named to the Canadian men's hockey team for the 1998 Olympics, in which the NHL allowed its best players to participate for the first time; however, he was surprisingly omitted by General Manager Bobby Clarke.

Keenan was fired from his post as Canucks' coach midway in the 1998–99 season, as the club missed the playoffs during Mark's three years. The team made no attempt to re-sign him and he became a free agent after the 1999–2000 season.

After his tenure with the Canucks, Mark returned to New York and joined the Rangers, (who were now run by former Oilers President and GM Sather). The Rangers held a press conference where they symbolically buried a hatchet, and Mark made an ill-fated "guarantee" of a playoff berth. He was also given back the team captaincy upon his return to the Rangers, handed over to him personally by Brian Leetch.

Mark's 67-point season as a 40-year-old in 2000–01 was a mark better than any he established in his Vancouver years, showing that he could still be a valuable presence, but the Rangers missed the playoffs for the fourth year running. After missing half of the 2001–02 season due to an arm injury, he recorded only 23 points, and finished up next year with a 40-point season.

On June 30, 2003, Mark's rights were traded to the San Jose Sharks for a fourth round draft pick; however, this draft pick ended up being used to select Rochester, NY native and future Rangers captain Ryan Callahan. The Sharks held his rights for just a few hours as he would eventually go on to re-sign with the Rangers as a free agent.

On November 4, 2003 in a game against the Dallas Stars, Mark scored a pair of goals to vault past Gordie Howe into second on the all-time point scoring list with 1,851 points, second-most in League history trailing only Wayne Gretzky.

Eleven days later, he was the only active player to play in the Legends Game at Edmonton's Heritage Classic, suiting up with the Oiler alumni and making many light-hearted comments about being Edmonton's "ringer."

During his last game at Madison Square Garden (A 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on March 31, 2004), Mark received applause every time he touched the puck and, after the game, received a standing ovation while he skated around the Garden and bowed to every section of the stands.

At the age of 43, most media outlets believed that Mark had decided to quit. The 2004–05 NHL lockout eliminated the next season. All speculation ended on September 12, 2005, when he announced his retirement on ESPN radio.

Mark retired eleven games behind Howe's NHL record 1,767 regular season games played. He holds the record for most NHL regular season and playoff season games played at 1,992. He is one of a handful of players to have played 25 NHL seasons, doing so over four decades.

## Post-Playing Career

On January 12, 2006, during a very emotional ceremony that featured most of the 1994 Stanley Cup team and the Stanley Cup itself, the New York Rangers retired his number 11 in a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

During the game, the Rangers defeated the Oilers. Mark is the 4th number retired by the Rangers. His number was retired by the Edmonton Oilers on February 27, 2007, against the Phoenix Coyotes, then coached by former teammate Wayne Gretzky.

In February 2007, Mark publicly expressed interest in returning to the NHL as general manager for the Rangers; however, the then current GM Glen Sather responded by saying he had no plans of stepping down from his position.

With the departure of Assistant GM Don Maloney from the Rangers organization in May 2007, his name had been attached to possible replacements; however, in July 2007, Jim Schoenfeld was announced as Maloney's replacement. On November 12, 2007, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the players category.

In late 2010, he coached Canada during two European tournaments: the Deutschland Cup and the Spengler Cup. He also awards the NHL's Mark Messier Leadership Award, given to a player that exemplified on-ice leadership, and leadership within their communities.

Mark also remains active in the City of New York, with Messier playing for the New York Rangers at the 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game in Philadelphia between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers on December 31, 2011.

He had 1 assist during the game, which was won 3-1 by Philadelphia. He also ran in the New York City Marathon on November 6, 2011, finishing with a time of 4:14:21.

Mark (alongside Sarah Hughes) is also involved in the construction of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center, a $250 million USD, 795,000 square foot redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into a world's-largest indoor ice facility, containing nine ice rinks.

After his retirement, Mark appeared in a Versus television special in the United States highlighting his "Mark Messier Leadership Camp," which allowed New Yorkers to mix seminars in leadership and working with others with hockey games against former Rangers, including a scrimmage at Madison Square Garden.

He occasionally worked as a studio analyst on NHL on Versus, and served an in-game analyst for The NHL All-Star Game on Versus, and has been a guest commentator on NHL on NBC.

In 2014, Mark joined Rogers Communications as a spokesperson and occasional analyst for the company's national NHL coverage. He appeared on various Rogers NHL GameCentre Live advertisements including the Vancouver Canucks-themed ad which drew backlash towards their fanbase.

Mark was featured in a Lay's chips campaign that aired in Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The commercials originally featured him being challenged to a bet by a local hockey fan, who bets that he cannot eat just one potato chip, in reference to the Lay's slogan "bet you can't eat just one."

He loses the bet, and ends up playing in a local "beer league" hockey game (for a team called "The Pylons"), which he easily dominates. Later variations would have Messier himself making the same bet. He was also featured in Lay's ads in the United States where he asked neighbors to borrow ice, sugar or a hairdryer (playing on his bald head) to get chips.

## International Play

Mark only played with Canada once outside North America, winning the silver medal at the 1989 World Ice Hockey Championships in Sweden.

He also won three-straight Canada Cups and won silver at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, four tournaments which he described as "my real opportunity to play international hockey."

## Accolades

### Career achievements

* The only player to have captained two Stanley Cup championship teams, the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers
* In 1998, he was ranked number 12 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
* On November 13, 2006, the National Hockey League created the Mark Messier Leadership Award, given to an individual in the sport who leads by example on the ice, motivates his teammates and is dedicated to community activities and charitable causes.
* His 1,887 points in the regular season are third all-time to Jaromír Jagr and Wayne Gretzky's 2857 (alongside whom he played for 11 seasons). Despite this feat, Messier never won a scoring title, as his best finish was runner-up in 1989–90. His career-high for regular season goals was 50 which he accomplished just once in 1981–82.
* His 1,756 regular-season NHL games played are second all time to Gordie Howe, who played in 1,767 regular-season NHL games.
* He was the last active player to have played in the 1970s.
* He was the last active player to have played in the World Hockey Association.
* He was selected as an inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame in June 2007, in his first year of eligibility, with the ceremony taking place in November 2007.
* In the 2009 book, "100 Ranger Greats", he was ranked No. 4 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons
* In 2010, he was elected as an inaugural inductee into the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame in the "Legends of the Game" category
* Named to the Order of Hockey in Canada by Hockey Canada as part of its 2013 class.

## Personal Life

Mark is the second son of Mary-Jean and Doug Messier; he has three siblings: brother Paul and sisters Mary-Kay & Jennifer.

The Messiers moved to Portland, Oregon when Mark was young where Doug played for the Portland Buckaroos of the minor pro Western Hockey League. They returned to St. Albert in 1969 after Doug retired from hockey.

Mark attended St. Francis Xavier High School in Edmonton as he played junior hockey where Doug was his coach and mentor for his early years.

His brother, Paul was drafted by the Colorado Rockies 41st overall in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft, but he only played nine games with the club in 1978–79 before embarking on a long career in the German Eishockey-Bundesliga. Paul helps manage a hotel that Mark owns in Harbour Island, Bahamas.

His cousins Mitch and Joby also skated for NHL clubs; Joby was briefly Mark's teammate on the Rangers.

Mark has three children: sons Lyon (born in 1987) & Douglas Paul (born in 2003), and daughter Jacqueline Jean (born in 2005). His son, Lyon is a former defencemen who played in the ECHL for the Charlotte Checkers & the South Carolina Stingrays.

He owns the Runaway Hill Club on the pink sand beach on Harbour Island in the Bahamas and also regularly fishes for marlin on his boat Wani Kanati.

Mark is an advocate for preventative healthcare and spokesperson for Cold-fX. He is also involved in philanthropy, including the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund (for which he serves on the Board).

He is also known for his off-ice charity work, especially in his native Alberta. In Edmonton, a section of St. Albert Trail between St. Albert and the City of Edmonton, was renamed to Mark Messier Trail on February 26, 2007.