Mike Peluso (born 1965)

**Mike Peluso** (born Michael David Peluso on November 8, 1965 in Pengilly, Minnesota) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues and the Calgary Flames.

Peluso was drafted 190th overall by New Jersey in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.

## Playing Career

Mike played for the University of Alaska Anchorage until 1989 instead of signing a professional contract with the New Jersey Devils. He signed as a free agent for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1989 and began his NHL career in 1990.

Upon joining the Hawks, he was switched to forward and was encouraged to fight in order to stay in the lineup. He fought Basil McRae of the Minnesota North Stars in his first NHL game and recorded 728 penalty minutes in his first two years in Chicago.

With 408 of these coming in 63 games during the 1991–92 NHL season, Mike became one of only 4 players in NHL history, and the most recent, to have accumulated 400 PIM or more in a single season.

Mike spent parts of three years in Chicago before going to the new Ottawa Senators as the 21st pick in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft. During his only season in Ottawa, he set the club record for penalty minutes (318), but he was allowed to play a more offensive role, scoring 15 goals along with 10 assists.

On June 26, 1993, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils to complete an earlier transaction that sent Craig Billington, Troy Mallette and Cosmo Dupaul, New Jersey's 4th round choice in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft to Ottawa.

As in Ottawa, Mike's gritty, hard-nosed and intimidating style made him something of a cult hero in New Jersey.

He was an integral part of the infamous "Crash Line" with Randy McKay and Bobby Holik, a fourth-line combination whose energy and timely goal-scoring helped the Devils win their first of three Stanley Cups in 1995. He then played for the St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames.

Mike's career came to an end after suffering a spinal cord injury in 1997. He retired from professional hockey after the 1997–1998 season.

## Injury & lawsuit

On December 18, 1993, while playing for the New Jersey Devils in a game against the Quebec Nordiques, Mike was injured in a fight against Tony Twist. He was diagnosed with a concussion and sat out the next two games before returning to action five days later.

Despite his continuing to play, Mike suffered a seizure and Dr. Marvin Ruderman allegedly wrote in January 1994 that he "...should not sustain any further trauma to his head or he will suffer additional seizures and long-lasting brain damage...."

Because his role with the team was as an enforcer Peluso was expected to both sustain and dole out punishment, or as his lawsuit states: "...he was on the ice to fight."

Mike remained on the roster and continued to play for the Devils for much of the next three years, including winning the 1995 Stanley Cup, but recalls overhearing then-trainer Teddy Schuch wonder as to Mike's health only to be overruled by team doctor Barry Fisher.

He was later traded to the St. Louis Blues during the 1996–97 NHL season before finishing his professional career with the Calgary Flames the following year.

In 2012, after years of suffering from seizures, dementia, memory loss, anxiety and depression, Mike filed for workers' compensation in California, naming the last four teams he had played for in his NHL career (he suited up for the Ottawa Senators prior to sustaining the concussion) as defendants.

In the filing, he alleged that he spent tens of thousands of dollars on medical procedures and medication to alleviate his ailments. After several years of litigation he was offered a $325,000 settlement, but he rejected the offer in August 2017. Several months passed with no resolution in the matter.

In January 2019, Mike sued the New Jersey Devils, former general manager Lou Lamoriello and doctors Marvin Ruderman, Len Jaffe and Barry Fisher. The suit alleges that Mike's medical issues resulted from the injury he sustained in 1993, that team owners knew about the damage and hid the severity of the injury from him and the two teams that signed him subsequently.