Tom Webster (ice hockey)

Thomas Ronald Webster ( born October 4, 1948 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player (defender) and current coach, who from 1968 to 1979 for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League as well as the New England Whalers played in the World Hockey Association.

Career

Webster grew up as one of eight children and played during his junior time together with Derek Sanderson, Jean Pronovost and Rick Ley at the Niagara Falls Flyers in the Ontario Hockey Association, which were then supported by the Boston Bruins. The Bruins finally chose him even when NHL Amateur Draft in 1966 in the fourth round of the 19 players. At the end of an excellent 1967/68 season he won with his team the Memorial Cup.

In the 1968/69 season he came to his debut in the NHL, but the cadres of the Bruins was heavily occupied at this time with Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Only eleven missions, he came with the Bruins in two seasons, and he usually was used in the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League. When NHL Expansion Draft 1970 it chose the Buffalo Sabres, but even on the same day they traded him to the Detroit Red Wings, for Roger Crozier sent to the Sabres. In the 1970/71 season he became an instant best scorer in Detroit. Surprisingly, the Red Wings gave him shortly after the start of the following season for Ron Stackhouse from the California Golden Seals. A back injury ended for him soon this season.

For the 1972/73 season he followed, like many others the call of the newly formed World Hockey Association and signed a contract with the New England Whalers. There he met again on Rick Ley, with whom he had played as a teenager. The first season he finished as the fourth- best scorer in the league. Also successful were the playoffs. He was the second best scorer and won with his team the Avco World Trophy. At the Summit Series in 1974, he represented Canada against Team of the Soviet Union. In the following years, he was a mainstay of the Whalers. In the 1975/76 season he once again trumped in the playoffs and was by far the best scorer among the players who did not reach the final. Although he missed due to injury last season in the history of the WHA, he was with 220 hits seventh- leading scorer in the history of the WHA.

Once again he tried to jump into the NHL and signed as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings for the 1979/80 season. Only one game he played for Detroit yet, but for the Adirondack Red Wings farm team in the American Hockey League, he played not only some games, but was promoted during the season to coach the team. After engagements at the Springfield Indians in the AHL, the Tulsa Oilers in the CHL and the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the International Hockey League, he became the junior team the Windsor Compuware Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League. During this time he took over in the 1986/87 season for 14 games, the New York Rangers.

In the season 1989/90 he took his first long-term coach position at an NHL team. The Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Gretzky here were a big challenge. Three seasons, he oversaw the Kings before 1992, the Detroit Junior Red Wings in the OHL took over. In 1994 he returned to the NHL. As an assistant coach, he worked two years with the Philadelphia Flyers, before he moved in the same position to the Hartford Whalers. He moved with the Whalers and stayed for two years at the new location at the Carolina Hurricanes. From 1999 to 2003, he returned to the Windsor Spitfires.

Statistics

Sporting successes

  • Memorial Cup: 1968
  • Avco World Trophy: 1973

Personal Awards

Team Records

  • 220 goals for the New England Whalers
  • 425 points (220 goals 205 assists) for the New England Whalers
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