NHL's Most Traveled Journeymen: Paul Coffey

One of the greatest defensemen of all time played for nine teams throughout his career.

We thought you'd enjoy this premium piece from our Hockey History Substack contributor Matthew Zator.

Not all journeymen are depth players and fringe NHLers. Some are superstars - like Paul Coffey. The generational talent surprisingly spent time with nine teams throughout his career, starting in Edmonton and ending in Boston, finishing with a sublime 1,531 points in 1,409 games. He has gone down as arguably the best offensive defenseman hockey has ever seen, and nine fanbases got to see his greatness live.

The Journey Begins: Coffey Gets Drafted 6th Overall By the Oilers

After splitting his draft year between the Soo Greyhounds and the Kitchener Rangers in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) - now the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) - where he put up 29 goals and 103 points in 75 games, the Edmonton Oilers drafted Coffey sixth overall in the 1980 Draft. Looking back now, he probably should have been selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens as Doug Wickenheiser only had 276 points in his career.

Paul Coffey, Edmonton Oilers (NHL.com)

While Larry Murphy (4th overall; 1,216 points) and Denis Savard (3rd overall; 1,338 points) were worthy of being in the top five, Coffey outpaced all of them by the time his career was over. In fact, he finished with the most points in his draft class by a wide margin - 193 more than second-place Savard.

Edmonton Oilers

Coffey was beyond prolific with the Oilers. He spearheaded the attack from the back end, joining forces with another generational talent in Wayne Gretzky and fellow stars - and future Hall-of-Famers - Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, and Glenn Anderson to create a juggernaut that won three Stanley Cups in four years. All before he was 25.

If you didn’t know any better, you would think Coffey was a forward. His numbers were staggering throughout his time with the Oilers. He was a bit ordinary in his rookie season with only nine goals and 32 points, but exploded after that with five straight seasons of 80 or more points. He even hit the century mark three times in a row (1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86), culminating in a career-high 48 goals and 138 points. To this day, he still holds the record for goals in a season and is one off of Bobby Orr’s 139 points that he put up in 1970-71.