Adam Graves

At 56 years old, Adam Graves has this physical status:

Adam Scott Graves (born April 12, 1968) is a Canadian former professional hockey player.

He is best known for his ten-year tenure with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He also played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks, and is a two-time Stanley cup winner.

He finished his career with 329 goals and 287 assists and is currently a New York Rangers special assistant with Prospect Development and Community Relations.

Personal life

Graves grew up in Toronto (North York) with his parents Henry (a police officer stationed in Cabbagetown, Toronto) and Lynda Graves. Graves has two older sisters, Richenda and Lynette, as well as a younger adopted brother, Mark. The Graves family also took in as many as 40 foster children. He and his wife, Violet, are the parents of four children. They reside in Oakville, Ontario.

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Playing career

Graves competed in the 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a youth team from Wexford, Toronto.

Graves began playing Junior B hockey in King City, Ontario, north of Toronto's birthplace. Graves played for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in 1985-1986 and averaged over one point per game as a rookie in the OHL. In the 1986 NHL Entry Draft, he was drafted 22nd overall by the Detroit Red Wings.

The 1986–87 season was his breakout year for the Spitfires, with him scoring 45 goals. In the Memorial Cup tournament, he led his team to the OHL championship. Graves appeared mainly for the Spitfires during the 1987–88 season, but was called up to nine games with Detroit.

Graves' first season as an NHL regular will be in 1988-89. He appeared in 56 games for the Red Wings while splitting time with the Adirondack minor league club, but he only managed to score seven goals. Graves earned the reputation as an activist who fought on the edge and often went against it during his brief tenure with the Red Wings, with whom he amassed 60 penalty minutes in 1988–89 and 1989–90. He appeared in 52 fights during his NHL career, according to Hockeyfights.com.

Graves was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers on November 2 of 1989-90. Petr Klima, Joe Murphy, and Jeff Sharples were given by the Oilers in exchange for Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland, and Edmonton's fifth-round draft pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, along with Graves. The trade was criticized at a time in Edmonton — the high-scoring climate had run-ins with the legislation and a history of heroin use, Sharples was recovering from a shoulder injury, and Murphy and Graves were considered to be underachieving prospects due to their high draft status. Jim Devellano, the Red Wings' general manager, was reluctant to work with Graves but felt it was well worth it to acquire native Carson from Detroit. The trade paid immediate dividends for the Oilers, as Klima finished with 30 goals, while Graves and Murphy added depth up front. Graves would go on to score 11 points in the playoffs en route to defeating the Boston Bruins for their fifth Stanley Cup victory.

Graves recalled his brief time with the Oilers, "It was such a positive team atmosphere." "We were in the league together as any group of guys." Everyone believed they were part of the team; no one was left out. And if you had a small part in the team, you were content. You were so excited to give whatever little you could to the team. You did everything you could. In the two years with the Oilers, I have had many wonderful memories. "I loved my time with the team."

Graves, on the other hand, spent only two seasons with the Oilers before he allowed him to leave as a free agent at the 1990-91 season. With the New York Rangers, he has been on a five-year contract and $2.44 million, where he will meet former Edmonton Oilers teammates Mark Messier and Jeff Beukeboom. Neil Smith, the Rangers' general manager, was familiar with Graves because he had previously worked as the Red Wings' chief of scouting. Graves' first season with the Rangers in 1991-92, he scored 26 goals, leading the team to a 105-point playoff victory. In the poll for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the league, Graves ranked fifth.

Graves' play was marred by an ugly game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the Patrick Division finals, where he fractured superstar Mario Lemieux's left wrist with a brutal two-handed swing of his stick. Lemieux denied that Rangers head coach Roger Neilson had "engineered a disaster" that had sidelined him for five games.

"It was deliberate, no doubt about it," Lemieux said of the incident during the Stanley Cup finals that season. "I've never been hit so hard in my life." I'm not saying Roger Neilson told Graves to go after me, but he told his players to go after me."

Graves was given only a minor penalty on the play and was allowed to play in Game 3, in which he scored the first goal of a 6-5 overtime victory. The Penguins returned to victory the next three games and the series as a result of their suspension for the remainder of the season.

Although the Graves continued to improve in the 1992–93 season, tallying 36 goals and 65 points, the Rangers lost out on the playoffs.

Graves scored 52 goals in the 1993-1994 season, beating a New York Rangers' franchise record for most goals in a season. (Jaromr Jágr would later score 54 in 2005-06). Graves was a contributor to the Rangers' first Stanley Cup win since the 1939–40 season in 1994. Graves was given a spot on the NHL's second All-Star squad, as well as the winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for his continuing service with charitable causes. Graves was one of the seven alumni of the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup with the 1993–94 New York Rangers, as well as Jeff Beukeboom, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, Mark Messier, and Esa Tikkanen.

Graves remained prolific during his time with the Rangers, scoring consistently 20 to 30 goals from 1999-2000. Despite the fact that the Rangers did not return to the hey-days of their 1993-94 season, Graves remained one of the team's most popular players. He was traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Gosselin after winning the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2001. Graves played with the Sharks for two years, totaling 49 points, before he announced his retirement in April 2004.

Graves is currently an instructor at the New York Rangers' youth hockey camp.

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Awards and achievements

• Member of two Stanley Cup winning teams: 1990 with the Edmonton Oilers and 1994 with the New York Rangers
• Selected to one NHL All-Star Game: 1994
• Named to the second All-Star team: 1993–94
• Winner of the 1994 King Clancy Memorial Trophy
• Winner of the 2001 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
• New York Rangers retired his jersey number 9 on February 3, 2009