Messier, Mark D.
Hockey
b. Jan. 18, 1961, Edmonton, ALB
A tough, scrapping center who can put on a surprising burst of speed when he needs to, the 6-foot-1, 202-pound Messier had a brief tryout with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association before joining the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA during the 1978-79 season. He had 58 penalty minutes but just 11 points in 47 games with Cincinnati.
Messier joined the NHL's Edmonton Oilers early in the 1979-80 season. He blossomed as a scorer with 50 goals and 38 assists for 88 points in 1981-82 and he had 106 and 101 points in the next two seasons. When the Oilers won the 1984 Stanley Cup, Messier won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs, scoring 26 points on 8 goals and 18 assists in 19 games.
Edmonton also won Stanley Cup championships in 1985, 1987, and 1988, with Wayne Gretzky in the chief starring role. After Gretzky was sent to the Los Angeles Kings, Messier took over as the team leader and captained them to a fifth Stanley Cup title in 1990, when he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
Because of a knee injury, Messier played in only 53 games in the 1990-91 season. He then held out for more money and was traded to the New York Rangers in October of 1991. Messier won the Hart Trophy for the second time in 1992 after scoring 107 points on 35 goals and 72 assists for the Rangers.
In 1994, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940 and Messier, the team's captain, was a major factor. When the team faced elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New Jersey Devils, Messier guaranteed victory and then scored three third-period goals to back up his guarantee. The Rangers went on to win Game 7 in the second overtime. New York had another seven-game series in the Stanley Cup finals against Vancouver. Messier scored the winning goal as the Rangers won the seventh game, 3-2. He was the first player in NHL history to captain two different Stanley Cup championship teams.
Messier joined Vancouver as a free agent in 1997. After three seasons there, he returned to the Rangers in 2001. He retired after the 2004-05 season was canceled by the NHL lockout of players. Messier ranks second to Gordie Howe in NHL games played with 1,756 and is second to Wayne Gretzky with 1,887 career points.
A first-team All-Star in 1982, 1983, 1990, and 1992, Messier holds the NHL record for most short-handed goals in the playoffs with 11.