Glen Wesley

Glen Wesley
Born (1968-10-02) October 2, 1968
Red Deer, AB, CAN
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 207 lb (94 kg; 14 st 11 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Boston Bruins
Hartford Whalers
Carolina Hurricanes
Toronto Maple Leafs
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 3rd overall, 1987
Boston Bruins
Playing career 1987–2008

Glen Edwin Wesley (born October 2, 1968) is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played 13 seasons for the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He began his career with the Boston Bruins, and briefly played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wesley played in four Stanley Cup Finals, winning it once in 2006. He is currently the Hurricanes' director of development for defensemen.

Playing career

Wesley was drafted 3rd overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft from the Portland Winter Hawks, appearing in 202 regular season games over 3+ seasons, scoring 49 goals and 175 assists for 224 points.

Wesley began his NHL career with the Boston Bruins, whom he played for from 1987 to 1994. He earned a berth on the 1988 All-Rookie team. He reached the Stanley Cup Finals twice with the Bruins, in 1988 and 1990, though the Bruins lost both series to the Edmonton Oilers. As a rookie in the 1988 Finals, Wesley scored two goals in Game Four, a contest which would eventually be suspended due to power failure at Boston Garden.[1] His dramatic last-minute goal in Game Five of the 1990 playoffs against Montreal would help the Bruins reach the Finals for the second time in three years.[2]

Prior to the start of the 1994-95 season, Wesley was traded to the Hartford Whalers for their first-round draft picks in 1995, 1996, and 1997. With the picks, the Bruins drafted Kyle McLaren (1995), Johnathan Aitken (1996) and Sergei Samsonov (1997), the latter of whom was Wesley's teammate in his final year in the NHL.[3]

Wesley moved with the Whalers to Carolina in 1997 and quickly became a leader. In 2002, he reached the Stanley Cup Finals for a third time. In March 2003, nearing the trade deadline, he was traded from Carolina to Toronto, joining the Maple Leafs for the rest of the 2002–2003 season in an effort for both teams to make the Stanley Cup playoffs. He re-signed with the Hurricanes at the end of the season. He got his fourth trip to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. This would be Wesley's third time playing against the Oilers. Wesley won his first Stanley Cup on June 19, 2006 with the Hurricanes, defeating Edmonton in seven games, which is his childhood favorite team. When he won this, he ended one of the longest streaks for active players who had not yet won a Stanley Cup. Wesley played two more seasons with the Hurricanes before retiring, leaving him as the only player to have played in each of the Hurricanes' first 10 seasons since the team relocated to North Carolina.[4]

On June 5, 2008 Wesley announced his retirement after his 20th NHL season, and his 10th with the Carolina Hurricanes.[4] He remains in the Hurricanes organization as Director of Defensemen Development. The Hurricanes retired Wesley's No. 2 jersey February 17, 2009, while hosting the Boston Bruins at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC. Wesley was the only player to don #2 with the Hurricanes, as the number was previously retired by the Hartford Whalers, in honor of Rick Ley. When the franchise relocated, Wesley changed his number from #20 to #2, marking the distinction of the number being retired by the same franchise for two different players in two different cities.

Wesley, a resident of the United States since he was in his early 20s, is now an American citizen. He took the Stanley Cup to Camp Lejeune, to the beach, and to his churches for his day with the Cup. He visited with family and topped it off with a giant sundae from the Cup.

Personal life

Wesley and his wife, Barb, have 3 children, Amanda, Josh and Matthew. His older brother Blake is also a retired NHL defenseman.[5] As of February 2014, his son Josh, was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, was playing with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League and was listed as #79 on the North American skater prospects list for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.[6]

Wesley lived in Danvers, Massachusetts in the early 1990s while a member of the Bruins and Avon, Connecticut from 1994 until 1997 when the Whalers relocated to North Carolina. The Wesley family now resides in Cary, North Carolina.

Awards and achievements

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1983–84 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 3 1 2 3 0 — — — — —
1984–85 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 67 16 52 68 76 6 1 6 7 8
1985–86 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 69 16 75 91 96 15 3 11 14 29
1986–87 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 63 16 46 62 72 20 8 18 26 27
1987–88 Boston Bruins NHL 79 7 30 37 69 23 6 8 14 22
1988–89 Boston Bruins NHL 77 19 35 54 61 10 0 2 2 4
1989–90 Boston Bruins NHL 78 9 27 36 48 21 2 6 8 36
1990–91 Boston Bruins NHL 80 11 32 43 78 19 2 9 11 19
1991–92 Boston Bruins NHL 78 9 37 46 54 15 2 4 6 15
1992–93 Boston Bruins NHL 64 8 25 33 47 4 0 0 0 0
1993–94 Boston Bruins NHL 81 14 44 58 64 13 3 3 6 12
1994–95 Hartford Whalers NHL 48 2 14 16 50 — — — — —
1995–96 Hartford Whalers NHL 68 8 16 24 88 — — — — —
1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 68 8 26 32 40 — — — — —
1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 82 6 19 25 36 — — — — —
1998–99 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 74 7 17 24 44 6 0 1 1 2
1999–00 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 78 7 15 22 38 — — — — —
2000–01 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 71 5 16 21 42 6 0 0 0 0
2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 77 5 13 18 56 22 0 2 2 12
2002–03 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 63 1 7 8 40 — — — — —
2002–03 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 7 0 3 3 4 5 0 1 1 2
2003–04 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 74 0 6 6 32 — — — — —
2005–06 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 64 2 8 10 46 25 0 2 2 16
2006–07 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 68 1 12 13 56 — — — — —
2007–08 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 78 1 7 8 52 — — — — —
NHL totals (20 Seasons) 1457 128 409 537 1045 169 15 38 53 141
WHL totals (4 Seasons) 202 49 175 224 244 41 12 35 47 64

See also

References

  1. ↑ K.P. Wee (October 2015). The End of the Montreal Jinx: Boston's Short-Lived Glory in the Historic Bruins-Canadiens Rivalry, 1988-1994. p. 46. ISBN 978-1517362911.
  2. ↑ K.P. Wee (October 2015). The End of the Montreal Jinx: Boston's Short-Lived Glory in the Historic Bruins-Canadiens Rivalry, 1988-1994. p. 84. ISBN 978-1517362911.
  3. ↑
  4. 1 2
  5. ↑ "Legends of Hockey -- NHL Player Search -- Player -- Glen Wesley". Retrieved 2008-08-04. Brother of Blake
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Associated Press (2009). "Hurricanes honor Wesley, retire No. 2". NHL.com. Retrieved 2009-02-17.

External links

Preceded by
Craig Janney		 Boston Bruins first round draft pick
1987 		Succeeded by
Stephane Quintal
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