Paul Patrick Coffey (born June 1, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockeydefenceman who played for nine teams over 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among NHL defencemen in goals, assists, and points, behind only Ray Bourque. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman three times and was voted to eight end-of-season All-Star teams (four first-team and four second-team). He holds the record for the most goals by a defenceman in one season, 48 in 1985–86, and is the only defenceman to have scored 40 goals more than once, also doing it in 1983–84. He is also one of only two defencemen to score 100 points in a season more than once, as he did it five times; Bobby Orr did it six times. Coffey holds or shares 33 NHL records in the regular season and playoffs.
Coffey was born in Weston, Ontario, and grew up in Malton, Ontario. The city of Mississauga renamed Malton Arena to Paul Coffey Arena and Wildwood Park to Paul Coffey Park in a ceremony on September 23, 2016.[1] In 2017, Coffey was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.[2]
Coffey was drafted sixth 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 and added 86 assists to finish second in point scoring. He won his first James Norris Memorial Trophy in 1984–85 while posting 37 goals and 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.[4] 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.[5]
Coffey helped Edmonton to a third Cup in 1986–87, but the deciding Game 7 of that year's Stanley Cup Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers would be his last in an Oiler uniform. Coffey had two years remaining on a contract that paid him a reported $320,000 a year, but held out at the beginning of the 1987–88 season, wanting the contract renegotiated to pay him $800,000 a year. Team owner Peter Pocklington refused to do so, and offended Coffey by suggesting he lacked courage when playing; Coffey vowed never to put on an Edmonton uniform again and demanded a trade.[6] On November 24, 1987, the Oilers traded Coffey, along with Dave Hunter and Wayne Van Dorp, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Craig Simpson, Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha, and Chris Joseph.[7]
As the Penguins' Rod Buskas was already wearing uniform number 7, Coffey agreed to change his uniform number from 7 to 77. He would wear it for most of the rest of his career until 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 to record 1,000 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, assists, 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.[8]
After his brief stint with Los Angeles, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings where he played for three and a half seasons. In the lock-out 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 1995 playoffs, he led all defencemen in scoring while helping Detroit to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, the favoured Red Wings were swept by the New Jersey Devils in four games. Coffey would then help the Red Wings to an astounding 62 regular season wins the following year, though the team would ultimately get eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. During Game 1 of that series, Coffey scored two goals but also accidentally scored on his own net after Colorado's Stephane Yelle attempted to pass the puck into the slot but it instead ended up on Coffey's stick.
After a falling-out with Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman, Coffey was traded to the Hartford Whalers at the start of the 1996–97 season as part of a package to acquire Brendan Shanahan – a move that Coffey was unhappy with since the Whalers were a non-contending team.[9] Coffey only played 20 games for the Whalers before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. He played for the Flyers for a season and a half. In the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs, Coffey's experience helped the Flyers get past the Pittsburgh Penguins (his old team led by Mario Lemieux) and New York Rangers (featuring former Oilers teammates Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier) to reach 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, which was also Coffey's seventh appearance in the Finals. In the Finals series against his former team, Detroit, Coffey did not play well, being on the 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. Bowman had directed Detroit's players to specifically go after Coffey; a hit from Darren McCarty in game two left Coffey sidelined for the rest of the series with a concussion.[10]
Coffey in 2009.Coffey (right) and Larry Murphy are introduced during a pregame ceremony honouring the final regular season game at Mellon Arena, April 8, 2010.
After a very brief stint (10 games) with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes (the relocated Whalers), where he played one and a half seasons. He had a slow start in the 1999-2000 season but finished strong with one of his best seasons in years.[11]
As a free agent, Coffey signed a two-year $4 million contract with the Boston Bruins for the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, intending to fill the void left by longtime star Ray Bourque who had been traded away to the Colorado Avalanche in spring 2000. This was also the last free agent acquisition by Harry Sinden, who relinquished his title as Bruins general manager early in the 2000-01 season. While Coffey wore number 77 since leaving the Edmonton Oilers, he wore 74 since Bourque had long worn 77 with the Bruins. Coffey missed 9 games due to injury and only appeared in 18 games, where he failed to make defensive stops without being penalized while also not improving the Bruins' dismal powerplay, before being waived by the Bruins in December 2000. That season, Bourque passed his career goal, assist, and point records, and Bourque and Coffey both retired after the 2000–01 season.[12][13]
Coffey finished with 396 goals, 1135 assists, and 1531 points, and remains second only to 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, his first year of eligibility, and the Edmonton Oilers retired his uniform number 7 in 2005.
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".[14] The Greater Toronto Hockey League investigated the misconduct penalty and Coffey was handed a three-game suspension.[14]
On November 12, 2023, Coffey returned to the Edmonton Oilers as the assistant coach. For the next two seasons, the Oilers would make the Stanley Cup Final, losing both times to the Florida Panthers. Prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 season, the Oilers announced that Coffey would be stepping back from coaching to resume his duties as an adviser for the team. However, Coffey would return to his coaching job in February of 2026 during the Olympic break, following continued struggles by the team.[16]
Personal life
Coffey was the owner of a car dealership in Bolton, Ontario. Coffey and his wife have three children.[17]
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