Adam Oates

[Perennial]

Oates was a helluva lacrosse player in his youth...

Oates played five seasons with the Etobicoke Eclipse of the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) Junior A Lacrosse League. An offensive standout, Oates' total of 181 points in 19 games in 1981 was the 11th highest total in OLA junior history at the time. As the league's leading scorer, he won the Bobby Allan Award and in one game that season, set OLA Junior A single-game records of 19 assists and 29 points.

Adam Oates - Wikipedia

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Regarding your last point, Lidstrom gives Brad McCrimmon a lot of credit for his career success, not Paul Coffey. That was his first defense partner. The guy really showed young Lidstrom the ropes.

there was a lot of credit to go around. definitely, mccrimmon helped lidstrom out tremendously. but in the second half of his career coffey was really underrated as a vet who went out of his way to take young d under his wing.

i've read stories about how even after he was traded to detroit, he was would phone rob blake and check on his three young guys in LA, blake, zhitnik, and sydor. this isn't it, but

Then they trade Paul Coffey, who is not only a mentor-rabbi-Big Brother to the younger defensemen but the kind of player whose team wins Stanley Cups wherever he goes.

Fans Take Heart, Then Get It Broken​

i definitely remember reading about coffey showing lidstrom all sorts of stuff about the breakout and running a PP.

here are some fairly vague things i quickly pulled off google:

When Lidstrom entered the league in 1991, he had the benefit of a great defensive coach in Dave Lewis overseeing his development. His offensive game was there—60 points in 80 games—but Lidstrom still had a lot to learn as he adapted to the NHL.

In addition to Lewis, Lidstrom also studied under the tutelage of Paul Coffey, Mark Howe, and his first roommate, Brad McCrimmon.

https://thehockeywriters.com/detroit-red-wings-a-tribute-to-nicklas-lidstrom/


Nicklas Lidstroms first defence partner in Detroit was Paul Coffey, a Hall of Fame manoeuvre by Red Wings coach Bryan Murray, who was looking for a mentor for the young Swede. (Calgary Herald)

Breaking News and other stuff.: Nicklas lidstrom

Detroit Red Wings​

 

[Ducks in a row]

He was part of the Mighty Ducks 2003 run so I thank him for that.

 

[hacksaw7]

He was part of the Mighty Ducks 2003 run so I thank him for that.

I was amazed at how good a playmaker he was well into his late 30's and even aged 40. To be able to do that in the heat of the dead puck era. His goal scoring ability (never that great) totally dried up. But as a passer he was one of the best of all time

That Game 7 2003 I did sort of feel bad for him, as you sort of knew it would be his last chance

 

[Stephen]

As a Wings fan I don't see anything but it being a positive for the franchise if they didn't make that trade. Oates was on his way up even with Yzerman there. I don't think keeping him would have prevented them from drafting Fedorov. Oates was 26 and a late bloomer but he nearly got an assist per game before the trade and had a nice playoff run as well when Yzerman was out. I always feel like giving him credit for Probert's big playoff run in '88 but they also played on two different lines. John Chabot usually centred Probert then with Klima on the other side.

Having an Yzerman-Oates duo at centre and then having Fedorov arrive in town would probably be a "problem" the team could overcome somehow.

This is an interesting butterfly effect question. Assuming the Red Wings draft 3rd in 1990, do they still take Keith Primeau at C with Yzerman, Oates (and Fedorov) in the system, or do they look at Czechoslovak winger Jaromir Jagr a little more closely?

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Of the examples in the OP I don't think Oates played much with Bondra either, weirdly enough. I guess Caps fans can give better details on that than me, though. Bondra was a Bugs Bunny type of player who would roam up & down the wing, one of the fastest & most fluid skaters in the league, while Oates was more of a slow ass cerebral puck disher. Probably wasn't an optimal combo at even strength (?). Bondra had won a goal-scoring title already before Oates arrived, in 94–95 (playing with I think Joe Juneau), so the premise that Oates made Bondra a Rocket recipient isn't a particularly strong one either, to put it mildly.

Bondra's primary center during that time was Michal Pivonka.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

This is an interesting butterfly effect question. Assuming the Red Wings draft 3rd in 1990, do they still take Keith Primeau at C with Yzerman, Oates (and Fedorov) in the system, or do they look at Czechoslovak winger Jaromir Jagr a little more closely?

tbh, i don't think fedorov really would have made a difference in june of 1990.

at that point, there was no certainty that they would ever get him, at least within a reasonable timeframe. case in point: slava kozlov, a natural center that was as hyped as any soviet prospect of his generation and in a vacuum almost certainly good enough to go top six in that draft, fell to the third round.

now if fedorov had defected a few months earlier...

 

[Jim MacDonald]

He was part of the Mighty Ducks 2003 run so I thank him for that.

Without looking, and it would be a great nod of course, did Oates lead the playoffs and/or Ducks in postseason assists?

 

[The Panther]

Five rather interesting facts about Adam Oates. Which one doesn't seem to fit?:
1) Was not drafted
2) Didn't play an NHL game until he was 23
3) 2 points scored in his first nineteen NHL games
4) First time to break the 25-goal barrier at age 30
5) Scored 1420 NHL points

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Another fun fact about Oates - he's the only player in NHL history to lead five different franchises in playoff scoring in a single year.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Without looking, and it would be a great nod of course, did Oates lead the playoffs and/or Ducks in postseason assists?

Tied with Sykora and Leclerc for most assists for the Mighty Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks Stats | 2002-2003

 

[The Panther]

Another fun fact about Oates - he's the only player in NHL history to lead five different franchises in playoff scoring in a single year.

I didn't even know a player could play for five franchises in one playoff year!