(Oshawa, ON) -- The Oshawa Generals Hockey Club is excited to announce on Friday, October 6th, Dave Andreychuk’s #9 will take its rightful place in the rafters of the Tribute Communities Centre.
Roly Thompson joins Dave Andreychuk at his jersey retirement in Oshawa. Photo Credit (Right): Oshawa Generals
Photo Credit: Oshawa Generals
Andreychuk was the one of the first clients of Maloney & Thompson founder Roly Thompson over forty years ago.
The Hamilton, ON native will become the seventh player to have his number retired in Oshawa Generals’ history. He joins Albert ‘Red’ Tilson, Bobby Orr, Eric Lindros, John Tavares, Marc Savard and Tony Tanti.
“It makes perfect sense as an organization to continue the tradition of honouring Generals alumni that went on the achieve some of the highest honours the game has to offer,” said Vice President Roger Hunt.
Drafted in the 5th round (62nd overall) by the Generals in the 1980 OHL Priority Selection from the Hamilton Huskies (OMHA), Andreychuk played parts of three seasons in Oshawa. In 148 regular season games, he scored 87 goals and added 89 assists for 176 points. Andreyuchuk added another 10 points over 13 OHL playoff games.
During the 1981-1982 season, Andreychuk had his breakout year. In 67 games, the winger scored 57 goals and added 43 points for his first-ever 100-point season.
In 1982, Andreychuk was drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres with the 16th overall pick.
While gunning for an eventual OHL Championship run in the 1982-1983 season, Andreychuk was called up to the Sabres after just 14 games in Oshawa.
A well-travelled season continued for Andreychuk – also earning an invitation to Team Canada for the 1983 World Junior Championship. In seven games, he lit up the tournament for Canada by way of six goals and five assists. His 11 points led the team in scoring and was good for fifth in overall tournament scoring. Team Canada finished with a record of 4-2-1 to win the Bronze medal.
The rookie impressed Sabres brass enough to stick around the rest of the NHL season – officially beginning his illustrious NHL career. In 43 games, he scored 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points.
Andreychuk would go on to have a 23-season-long NHL career with stops in Buffalo, Toronto, New Jersey, Boston and Colorado. Through 1,639 NHL games played, Andreychuk recorded 640 goals and 698 assists, good for 1338 points. In 162 postseason games, Andreychuk added another 43 goals and 54 assists for 97 points.
Following his four successful seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Andreychuk eventually signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin the 2001-2002 season. It was then that he committed to bring a Stanley Cup Championship to the lightening. Named captain during the 2002-2003 season, Andreychuk led the Lightning to their first playoff berth in seven seasons. The very next season, Andreychuk achieved his third straight 20-goal campaign with the club. The Lightning would make the playoffs for the second time in a row.
Andreychuk captained the Lightning to a seven-game series victory over the Calgary Flames for his first Stanley Cup Championship.
His other NHL accolades include being a two-time All-Star in 1990 with the Sabres and again in 1994 as a Maple Leaf. Andreychuk also currently sits 10th in all-time NHL games played with 1639. Behind only Alexander Ovechkin, he also scored the second-most power play goals in NHL history with 274.
Internationally, Andreychuk also took part in the 1986 IIHF World Hockey Championships with Team Canada. In 10 games, he scored three goals and two assists to help Canada win a Bronze medal.
After his career with the Lightning came to an end in the 2005-2006 season, he joined Tampa’s front-office staff as Community Representative. Today, Andreychuk is still with the Lightning as their Vice President of Corporate and Community Affairs.
On June 26th, 2017, Andreychuk received one of the highest hockey honours, earning an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is one of five Generals to be inducted, alongside Alex Delvecchio, Eric Lindros, Ted Lindsay and Bobby Orr.
“Honouring Dave on October 6th can conclude the playing honours, and putting the Andreychuk name and number 9 into the rafters with the other Gens legends is a fitting way to honour Dave Andreychuk,” said Hunt.
Single-game tickets for this special night, and all 34 regular season games, will go on sale tomorrow morning at 10:00 am. You can purchase them at the Tribute Communities Centre box office in person or online by clicking here.
Andreychuk will take in this special night in Oshawa alongside his family.
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