Dave Andreychuk Elected to HHOF

Retired NHL left winger Dave Andreychuk, who played parts of four seasons with the Devils, will be joining the enshrined immortals in the Hockey Hall of Fame this November.

Andreychuk will be going in with six others: former NHLers Teemu Selanne, Mark Recchi and Paul Kariya, female player Danielle Goyette, Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and college coach Clare Drake.

Andreychuk, 53 and a native of Hamilton, Ontario, was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 16th overall in the first round of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. He played parts of 11 seasons in his first stint in Buffalo until he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1992-93 season. He would spend about four years there before being dealt to the Devils on March 13, 1996 for New Jersey’s 2nd round pick in the 1996 Draft and their 3rd round pick in 1999. Toronto ended up taking Marek Posmyk with the 1996 pick and trading the 1999 pick back to the Devils (they selected Andre Lakos with it).

His biggest moment as a Devil undoubtedly came on March 15, 1997 against the Washington Capitals when he scored his 500th NHL goal. The goal came on the power play with 10:57 left in the first period against goaltender Bill Ranford. Andreychuk buried a Bill Guerin rebound while driving to the front of the net – not an uncommon sight for the lanky, 6-foot, 4-inch, 220-pound player. He would finish his NHL career with a total of 640 goals, 698 assists for 1,338 points in 1,639 games played.

He would round out his career skating for Boston (for whom he left the Devils as a free agent in 1999), Colorado, a second stint in Buffalo and, finally, the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he would captain the team to their lone Stanley Cup in 2004. He retired in 2006.

In the end, he would make two All-Star Game appearances (1990 and 1994) and finished ranked 14th in career NHL goals and first in career power play goals (with 274). As a Devil, he played 224 games, scored 64 goals and 86 assists for 150 points, had a plus-60 plus/minus rating (the best of any team he play on in his career – he finished with a plus-38 rating) and had 104 penalty minutes. He scored 49 of those goals with the Devils on the power play, scored once shorthanded for New Jersey and had seven game winners while in a Devils uniform.

The Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Monday, November 13. Congratulations to Dave Andreychuk and the other honorees.

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