Playing career

Coffey was drafted 6th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. He blossomed in the 1981-82 season, scoring 89 points and was named a Second-Team NHL All-Star. In the Oilers' first Stanley Cup-winning season, 1983-84, he became only the second defenceman in NHL history to score 40 goals in a season. He won his first James Norris Trophy in 1984-85 while posting 121 points. On December 26, 1984 in a game against the Calgary Flames, Coffey became the last defenceman in the 20th century to score four goals in one game. Coffey went on to post a historic post-season in the 1985 Playoffs, setting records for most goals (12), assists (25), and points (37) in one playoff year by a defenceman on the way to another Stanley Cup. He won the Norris Trophy again in 1985-86, while breaking Bobby Orr's record for goals in a season by a defenceman, scoring 48. His 138 points that year was second only to Orr (139 in 1970-71) among defencemen.

Coffey helped Edmonton to a third Cup in 1986-87, but the deciding Game Seven that year against Philadelphia would be his last in an Oilers' uniform. After a monetary dispute with Head Coach and General Manager Glen Sather, Coffey was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987. When he was traded to the Penguins, he changed his uniform number from #7 to #77, which he would wear the rest of his career (save for his final season in Boston, where he wore 74).

Coffey played four and a half seasons with Pittsburgh. On December 22, 1990, Coffey became the second defenceman ever to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games. Coffey won a fourth Stanley Cup in 1990-91 with Pittsburgh. During the 1992 season Coffey passed Denis Potvin to become the career leader in goals, assist, and points by a defenceman. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Kings where he was reunited with former Oilers teammates Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri for parts of two seasons.

After his brief stint with L.A., he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings where he played for 3 1/2 seasons. In the lockout-shortened 1994-95 NHL season, Coffey led his team in scoring for the only time in his entire career, and was awarded the Norris Trophy for the third time. In the 1994-95 NHL Playoffs, he led all defenceman in shorthanded goals (2) while helping Detroit to the Stanley Cup Final. However, the favored Red Wings were swept by the New Jersey Devils in 4 games.

After a falling out with Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman, Coffey was traded to the Hartford Whalers at the start of the 1996-97 season. Coffey only played 20 games for the Whalers before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for Philadelphia for a season and a half, reaching the 1997 Stanley Cup Final, his seventh, against his former team, Detroit. Coffey's Final series was not successful, being on ice for six of Detroit's goals and was in the penalty box for a seventh when the Flyers conceded a power-play goal, ending up with no points and being minus-2 and minus-3 in the first two games, and a hit from Darren McCarty in game two left Coffey sidelined for the rest of the series with a concussion.

After a very brief stint (10 games) with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he played one and a half seasons. He would play his final season in 2000-01, with the Boston Bruins.

During Coffey's last NHL season, Ray Bourque passed his career goals, assist and points records. Bourque and Coffey both retired after 2000-01 season. Paul Coffey finished with 396 goals, 1135 assists, and 1531 points. He is still second only to Ray Bourque in all-time career scoring by a defenceman. Coffey, however, averaged more points per game than did Bourque, having played 203 fewer games but lagging by only 48 points.

Paul Coffey was voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Edmonton Oilers retired his uniform number 7 in 2005.

Post-playing career

While coaching a game for the Toronto Marlboros midget ‘AAA’ team in February 2014, Coffey was assessed a gross misconduct penalty for a discriminatory slur. The Greater Toronto Hockey League investigated the misconduct penalty and Coffey was handed a three-game suspension. Coffey is a co-owner of the OJHL's Pickering Panthers.

Awards

• Named to the OHA Second All-Star Team — 1979-80
• Won the James Norris Memorial Trophy — 1984-85, 1985-86, 1994-95
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team — 1984-85, 1985-86, 1988-89, 1994-95
• Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team — 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1989-90
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game — 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
• 4-time Stanley Cup champion — 1984, 1985, 1987 (with Edmonton), 1991 (with Pittsburgh)
• Won Canada Cup — 1984, 1987, 1991 (with Team Canada)
• Named to the Canada Cup All-Star Team — 1984
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004
• In 1998, he was ranked number 28 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
• Currently 13th all-time in career points (was 9th when he retired in 2000, but was passed by Mario Lemieux later in the 2000-01 season, Joe Sakic on January 1, 2007, Jaromir Jagr on October 12, 2007, and Mark Recchi on March 29, 2011
• Was inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame on November 15, 2007

Records

• NHL record for most goals in one season by a defenceman — 48 in 1985-86
• NHL record for most shorthanded goals in one season by a defenceman — 9 in 1985-86
• NHL record for most points in one game by a defenceman — 8 on March 14, 1986 (2G, 6A, shared with Tom Bladon 4G, 4A)
• Most assists by a defenceman, one game — 6 (tied with 4 others) March 14, 1986
• Longest point-scoring streak by a defenceman — 28 games in 1985-86
• Most goals by a defenceman, one playoff year — 12 in 1985
• Most assists by a defenceman, one playoff year — 25 in 1985
• Most points by a defenceman, one playoff year — 37 in 1985
• Most shorthanded goals by a defenceman, one playoff year — 2 in 1983 and in 1996
• Most different teams played on by a 1,000 point scorer — 9 (Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, Hartford, Philadelphia, Chicago, Carolina and Boston)
• Most PIM by a 1000-point defenceman

Career statistics

Figures in boldface italics are NHL records for defencemen.

				Regular season							Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
1977-78	North York Rangers	OPJHL		50	14	33	47	—	64		—	—	—	—	—	—
1977-78	Kingston Canadians	OMJHL		8	2	2	4	—	11		—	—	—	—	—	—
1978-79	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OMJHL		68	17	72	89	—	103		—	—	—	—	—	—
1979-80	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OMJHL		23	10	21	31	—	63		—	—	—	—	—	—
1979-80	Kitchener Rangers	OMJHL		52	19	52	71	—	130		—	—	—	—	—	—
1980-81	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		74	9	23	32	+4	130		9	4	3	7	+5	22
1981-82	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		80	29	60	89	+35	106		5	1	1	2	-4	6
1982-83	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		80	29	67	96	+52	87		16	7	7	14	+15	14
1983-84	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		80	40	86	126	+52	104		19	8	14	22	+19	21
1984-85	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		80	37	84	121	+55	97		18	12	25	37	+26	44
1985-86	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		79	48	90	138	+61	120		10	1	9	10	0	30
1986-87	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		59	17	50	67	+12	49		17	3	8	11	+7	30
1987-88	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		46	15	52	67	-1	93		—	—	—	—	—	—
1988-89	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		75	30	83	113	-10	195		11	2	13	15	-7	31
1989-90	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		80	29	74	103	-25	95		—	—	—	—	—	—
1990-91	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		76	24	69	93	-18	128		12	2	9	11	-1	6
1991-92	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		54	10	54	64	+4	62		—	—	—	—	—	—
1991-92	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		10	1	4	5	-3	25		6	4	3	7	-5	2
1992-93	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		50	8	49	57	+9	50		—	—	—	—	—	—
1992-93	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		30	4	26	30	+7	27		7	2	9	11	-3	2
1993-94	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		80	14	63	77	+28	106		7	1	6	7	+6	8
1994-95	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		45	14	44	58	+18	72		18	6	12	18	+4	10
1995-96	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		76	14	60	74	+19	90		17	5	9	14	-3	30
1996-97	Hartford Whalers	NHL		20	3	5	8	0	18		—	—	—	—	—	—
1996-97	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		37	6	20	26	+11	20		17	1	8	9	-3	6
1997-98	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		57	2	27	29	+3	30		—	—	—	—	—	—
1998-99	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		10	0	4	4	-6	0		—	—	—	—	—	—
1998-99	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		44	2	8	10	-1	25		5	0	1	1	0	2
1999-00	Carolina Hurricanes	NHL		69	11	29	40	-6	40		—	—	—	—	—	—
2000-01	Boston Bruins	NHL		18	0	4	4	-6	30		—	—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				1409	396	1135	1531	+294	1802		194	59	137	196	+56	264

Transactions

• November 24, 1987: Traded to Pittsburgh by Edmonton with Dave Hunter and Wayne Van Dorp for Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha and Chris Joseph
• February 19, 1992: Traded to Los Angeles by Pittsburgh for Brian Benning, Jeff Chychrun and Los Angeles' 1st round choice (later traded to Philadelphia - Philadelphia selected Jason Bowen) in 1992 Entry Draft
• January 29, 1993: Traded to Detroit by Los Angeles with Sylvain Couturier and Jim Hiller for Jimmy Carson, Marc Potvin and Gary Shuchuk
• October 9, 1996: Traded to Hartford by Detroit with Keith Primeau and Detroit's 1st round choice (Nikos Tselios) in 1997 Entry Draft for Brendan Shanahan and Brian Glynn
• December 15, 1996: Traded to Philadelphia by Hartford with Hartford's 3rd round choice (Kris Mallette) in 1997 Entry Draft for Kevin Haller, Philadelphia's 1st round choice (later traded to San Jose - San Jose selected Scott Hannan) in 1997 Entry Draft and Hartford's 7th round choice (previously acquired, Carolina selected Andrew Merrick) in 1997 Entry Draft
• June 27, 1998: Traded to Chicago by Philadelphia for NY Islanders' 5th round choice (previously acquired, Philadelphia selected Francis Belanger) in 1998 Entry Draft
• December 29, 1998: Traded to Carolina by Chicago for Nelson Emerson
• July 13, 2000: Signed as a free agent by Boston

International play

Medal record
Representing Canada
Ice hockey
Canada Cup
	1991 Canada
	1987 Canada
	1984 Canada
World Cup
	1996 Canada

Played for Canada in:

• 1984 Canada Cup
• 1987 Canada Cup
• 1990 World Championships
• 1991 Canada Cup
• 1996 World Cup of Hockey

Personal life

• He is currently the owner of a Kia dealership named Paul Coffey's Bolton Kia in Bolton, Ontario.
• He lives with his wife and 3 children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]