Joe Nieuwendyk

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Lore & Background

An accomplished box lacrosse player, Nieuwendyk led the Whitby Warriors to the 1984 Minto Cup national junior championship before focusing exclusively on hockey. He played university hockey with the Cornell Big Red where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after becoming only the second first-year player to score 50 goals. He was a four-time All-Star, won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1995 for his leadership and humanitarian work, and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1999 as the most valuable player of the postseason. He played 1,257 games in his career, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points. Chronic back pain forced Nieuwendyk's retirement as a player in 2006. He then began a new career in management, acting first as a consultant to the general manager with the Panthers before moving onto the Maple Leafs where he was an assistant to the general manager. He was the general manager of the Dallas Stars between 2009 and 2013. He most recently worked as a pro scout and advisor for the Carolina Hurricanes, until resigning his contract on April 30, 2018.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the Olympic Saddledome is thick with tension during Game 6 of the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals. The Flames trail by one goal in the third period against Montreal. Joe Nieuwendyk, skating with a calm intensity that belies the stakes, receives a pass near the blue line. He dekes past a defender with a subtle shoulder drop, cuts hard to the slot, and fires a wrist shot that beats Patrick Roy glove-side. The arena erupts as the lead is reclaimed; it is not just a goal, but a statement of dominance from a player who had become the heart of Calgary hockey.

Reader's Guide

Nieuwendyk was born on September 10, 1966, in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family. His brother Gil was a box lacrosse player, while his uncle Ed Kea and cousin Jeff Beukeboom also played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up, his best friend was future NHL teammate Gary Roberts. He played both hockey and lacrosse growing up and the latter considered his better sport. At one point, Nieuwendyk was considered the top junior lacrosse player in Canada. He earned a spot with the Whitby Warriors junior A team at the age of 15, and was named the most valuable player of the Minto Cup tournament in 1984 where he led the Warriors to the national championship. The Ontario Lacrosse Association later named its junior A rookie of the year award after Nieuwendyk. Nieuwendyk went undrafted by any Ontario Hockey League team, so he played a season of junior B for the Pickering Panthers in 1983–84. Eligible for the 1984 NHL entry draft but unselected, he chose to attend Cornell University where he played hockey and lacrosse for the Big Red. He was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey rookie of the year in 1984–85 after scoring 39 points in 23 games. At the 1985 NHL entry draft, the Calgary Flames selected him in the second round, 27th overall. Returning to Cornell for the 1985–86 season, Nieuwendyk chose to give up lacrosse in order to focus on hockey. He was named an ECAC first team All-Star in 1985–86 and an NCAA All-American after scoring 42 points in 21 games. In his final season at Cornell, he was named the team's most valuable player and led the ECAC in scoring with 52 points. He was again named an ECAC All-Star and NCAA All-American, and a finalist for the 1987 Hobey Baker Award. Nieuwendyk chose to forgo his senior year in favour of turning professional. In 81 games with Cornell, Nieuwendyk scored 73 goals and 151 points, both among the highest totals in the school's history. His number 25 jersey was retired by Cornell in 2010, shared with Ken Dryden's number 1 as the first such numbers retired by the hockey team, and believed the first in any sport in the school's varsity sports history. In 2011, he was named one of the 50 greatest playe

Did You Know?

• Nieuwendyk was selected 27th overall in the second round of the 1985 NHL entry draft by the Calgary Flames.
• He is one of only 11 players in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three or more different teams.
• He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1988 after scoring 51 goals.
• His uniform number 25 was honoured by the Flames in 2014.