Adam Graves

**Adam Graves** (born Adam Scott Graves on April 12, 1968 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and the San Jose Sharks.

Graves was drafted 22nd overall by Detroit in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft.

## Playing Career

As a youth, Adam played in the 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Wexford, Toronto. He began playing Junior B hockey with King City, Ontario, north of his birthplace in Toronto.

He then joined the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League in 1985–86 and averaged over one point per game as a rookie in the OHL. The 1986–87 season was his breakout year, when he scored 45 goals for the Spitfires. He led his team to the OHL championship, the Memorial Cup tournament.

In the 1987–88 season, Adam played primarily for the Spitfires, but was called up to play nine games with Detroit. The 1988–89 season would be his first season in the NHL. He played in 56 games for the Red Wings while splitting time with the Adirondack minor league club, but was only able to score seven goals.

During his brief tenure with the Red Wings, he amassed 60 penalty minutes in the 1988–89 season and 13 in the 1989–90 season.

On November 2, 1989, Adam was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers. Along with Adam, the Oilers received Petr Klima, Joe Murphy & Jeff Sharples in exchange for Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and Edmonton's fifth-round draft pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft.

The trade was lamented at the time in Edmonton; the high-scoring Klima had run-ins with the law and a history of substance abuse, Sharples was coming off a shoulder injury; Murphy & Adam were considered to be underachievers due to their high draft status.

Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano was reluctant to part with Adam, but felt that obtaining Detroit-area native Carson was worth it. The trade paid immediate dividends for the Oiler; Klima finished with 30 goals while Adam and Murphy provided depth.

Adam would go on to score 11 points in the playoffs, en route to defeating the Boston Bruins for the Edmonton Oilers' fifth Stanley Cup. He played two seasons for the Oilers before becoming a free agent at the end of the 1990–91 campaign.

He then signed an offer sheet for five years and $2.44 million with the New York Rangers, where he was soon joined by other former Edmonton Oilers teammates Mark Messier and Jeff Beukeboom.

In his first season with the Rangers, Adam scored 26 goals, helping the team to a 105-point, Presidents' Trophy-winning season. He finished fifth in the voting for the Frank J. Selke Trophy for best defensive forward.

However, Adam's skilled performance in the 1991–92 campaign was marred when in the Patrick Division finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he viciously chopped Mario Lemieux's left hand with his stick. Lemieux suffered a fractured bone in his hand and would miss the Penguins' next five games.

Lemieux complained afterward that Adam and Rangers head coach Roger Neilson had "engineered a hit" on him. Adam was ultimately suspended for what turned out to be the Rangers' final three playoff games before being eliminated by the Penguins.

Although Adam continued to improve in the 1992–93 season, tallying 36 goals and 65 points, the Rangers were unable to make the playoffs.

During the 1993–94 season, he scored 52 goals, setting a New York Rangers' franchise record for most goals in a season. (Jaromír Jagr would later score 54 in 2005–06). In the spring of 1994, He helped the Rangers win their first Stanley Cup since the 1939–40 season.

He was awarded a roster spot on the NHL's second All-Star Team at the position of left wing and was the recipient of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in recognition of his continuing work with charitable causes.

Adam remained productive during his tenure with the Rangers, being a consistent 20 to 30 goal scorer until the 1999–2000 campaign. Although the Rangers would not return to the hey-day of their 1993–94 campaign, he remained one of the team's most popular players.

After winning the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2001, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Gosselin. He played with the Sharks organization for two years, totalling 49 total points, before announcing his retirement in April 2004.

## Post-Playing Career

These days, Adam is currently a New York Rangers special assistant with Prospect Development and Community Relations.

## Accolades

* Member of two Stanley Cup winning teams: 1990 with the Edmonton Oilers and 1994 with the New York Rangers
* Selected to one NHL All-Star Game: 1994
* Named to the Second All-Star Team: 1993–94
* Winner of the 1994 King Clancy Memorial Trophy
* Winner of the 2001 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
* New York Rangers retired his jersey number 9 in 2009

## Personal Life

Adam grew up in Toronto (North York) with his parents, Henry (a police officer stationed in Cabbagetown, Toronto) and Lynda Graves.

He has two older sisters: Richenda & Lynette, as well as a younger adopted brother, Mark. The Graves family also took in as many as 40 foster children.

Adam and his wife, Violet, are the parents of four children; they family lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.