Lac La Biche County welcomed a special guest over the weekend, as hockey legend Paul Coffey was in the region for the annual Sports and Education Dinner.
Lac La Biche County welcomed a special guest over the weekend, as hockey legend Paul Coffey was in the region for the annual Sports and Education Dinner.
The 21-year veteran defenseman, who now calls Toronto home, finished his NHL career second all-time in points by a defenseman, driving home 396 goals andracking up 1135 helpers. He won four Stanley Cups (one with Pittsburgh and three with the 1980s Edmonton Oilers), setting 11 league records along the way. Over the course of his career, he played with and against some of the best players the world has ever seen, like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
He's recognized as one of the greatest defensemen to ever play the game, and hours ahead of his appearance at the Sports and Education Dinner, he sat down for an interview with the Lac La Biche POST.
Are you excited to be in Lac La Biche, back in Alberta?
Lac La Biche is one of those places that I’ d never been to. I’ d heard about it a lot from some former Oilers that come up here and do different stuff or work or whatever - I’ d heard good things about it. It’ s been good.
You’ re back in Oil Country, you see all the kids here wearing Oilers stuff, and people are really excited to see you because you were part of the team during the dynasty years. What was it like to play with that team during those years, during such an exciting time when the city became known as the City of Champions?
Anytime you win is always good. As a kid from Ontario, the furthest west I ever got was Windsor - I was never out west at all. Getting drafted by the Oilers was a thrill for me. Coming out here was not better, not different, just a different culture - a little more relaxed in Edmonton and I loved it. We had a great team, we had young players that all seemed to gel at the same time and it was good. It’ s a city I’ m always willing and able to go back to - I spent a lot of good years there.
To have had that kind of impact when you were there - all these years later people still talk about those days. They pine and want to go back to that. What’ s the feeling like that people still will come up to you and be in complete awe?
We all were and still are quite proud of what we accomplished. We’ re proud that we made the city proud of us, but as former guys, we know it’ s a strong, strong brand as you can see across Canada, forget just Alberta. With the current guys and the current management, get the team back to respectability and back to the championship ways - that’ s what we’ re all hoping for.
Throughout your career, you played for eight teams. How much can hockey culture change from one city to another when you move around?
Some live and die with it a little more, but the game is always still the same. If you’ re playing and you’ re an athlete you take pride in what you do - it doesn’ t matter where you’ re playing. Whether you’ re playing Carolina, or Detroit, or Pittsburgh, or Edmonton, it’ s all about holding yourself accountable. That’ s what I was lucky enough to learn here in Edmonton by some great players.
You're known as an offensive defenseman yourself, so what do you think of the current crop of those types of players? Doughty, Karlsson, Subban?
I'm a huge Drew Doughty fan, but he's not an offensive defenseman because he doesn't put any points up. Why he doesn't, I have no idea with the amount of ice time he gets, but like I said, I'm a huge fan. Karlsson, I like. He skates, he's risky, he moves the puck and he does what he does best on the ice. Subban had a good year a couple of years ago, but the last couple of years maybe he tried to do a little too much on the ice. It's a part of the game - part of players that teams need. There's some good defensemen out there. You've got Letang stepping up now in Pittsburgh too - it's nice to see.
The local hockey team here, the Portage College Voyageurs, had a real bounce-back season this year after the year before. It looks like they might have a decent crop of returning players. What would your advice be to those guys who want to keep that roll going? What do they need to do in the off-season?
The first thing you need to do is always trust and listen to your coach. The second thing you need to do is worry about yourself - get yourself in top physical shape, and make sure you’ re mentally ready to do anything you can to make the team win. Thirdly... There’ s a lot of pride up here and you need to have pride in where you’ re playing. Just continually work hard to get better and be a good teammate.
What Canadian team has the best chance of being back in the playoffs next season?
Who do I hope? I mean, the Oilers finished in 28th or 30th or whatever it is. Can they get top-16? I don’ t know. Can Calgary get top-16? I don’ t know. Toronto is in a re-build - that’ s not going to happen overnight. Montreal made it last year and this year they didn’ t. Winnipeg made it last year and this year they didn’ t. Vancouver seems to be, unfortunately, on a little bit of a decline. They’ ve got old rather quickly. I hope all seven of them make it, but it doesn’ t look that way for a while.
What are your playoff predictions for this year?
The only thing I know about the playoffs is that Toronto isn’ t going to win it, and neither is Edmonton. It’ s tough. I like Washington, I like that Pittsburgh has re-asserted itself the last couple of months - they’ re really tough to play. Anybody can come out of the west. Nashville is unreal, Anaheim’ s got them tied up. San Jose seems like maybe they can finally get over the hump that they’ ve been unable to get over. Dallas is playing well. Unfortunately between Chicago and St. Louis, one of those teams is going to lose, and those are good teams. Out of the east, who knows?
