Jim Dowd

Jim Dowd
Position	Center
Shot	Right
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg)
Teams	New Jersey Devils Vancouver Canucks New York Islanders Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers Minnesota Wild Montreal Canadiens Chicago Blackhawks Colorado Avalanche Philadelphia Flyers
Nationality	American
Born	(1968-12-25)December 25, 1968, Brick, NJ
NHL Draft	149th overall, 1987 New Jersey Devils
Pro Career	1991 – 2008

James Thomas "Jim" Dowd (born December 25, 1968, in Brick Township, New Jersey) is a retired professional hockey player for the NHL. He played for 10 different NHL teams. His high school hockey success and his 1995 Stanley Cup victory with the state's NHL team has made him a local hero in his home state amongst younger hockey players. Throughout an extensive NHL career, he has proven his ability to be a role player on teams with more skilled players. He is also a frequent guest on NHL Live.

Early life, high school and college

As a junior, Dowd helped Brick Township High School capture the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association ice hockey title for the 1985–1986 season. The only New Jersey native on the Devils, Dowd was drafted in the seventh round in 1987 out of Brick High School, but he went to Lake Superior State University, where he scored 91 goals and led the team to the national title in the 1987–88 season. In his senior year, he broke the national scholastic scoring record, finishing with a four year tally of 375 points: 189 Goals, 186 Assists. He was also named the CCHA's Player of the Year in 1991.

Post-college and professional hockey

New Jersey Devils and the Stanley Cup

After college, Jim Dowd joined the now-defunct Utica Devils (New Jersey's minor league affiliate) of the American Hockey League (AHL). He became the first New Jersey native to play for the New Jersey Devils when he made his NHL debut during the 1991–1992 season. He spent the 1991–92 season and the 1992–1993 season in the AHL, with single-game NHL appearances in both seasons. As a top scorer with the AHL's Albany River Rats (the Devils' new affiliate) in the 1993–1994 season, Dowd made impressive appearances with the Devils, collecting 5 goals and 10 assists in 15 regular season games, and 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games during their playoff run. The labor dispute shortened the 1994–95 NHL season, which was further shortened for Dowd when a shoulder injury and surgery caused him to miss 35 games. However, the highlight of Dowd's career with the Devils came in Game Two of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. With 1:24 left in regulation, he notched the game-winning goal, giving the Devils a 2–0 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings to take back home to New Jersey. The Devils completed the sweep at home for their first Stanley Cup Championship, earning Dowd a treasured spot on the Stanley Cup.

Late 1990s

Less than six months after helping the Devils capture the Cup, Jim Dowd was traded with a 2nd round 1997 draft pick to the Hartford Whalers on December 19, 1995, for Jocelyn Lemieux and a 2nd round 1998 draft pick. Later that same day, Hartford traded Dowd with Frantisek Kucera and the 2nd round 1997 draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Jeff Brown and a 5th round 1998 draft pick. Dowd would only play 38 regular season games and one playoff game for the Canucks. On September 30, 1996, the New York Islanders claimed Dowd from the Canucks in the NHL Waiver Draft. He only played in three games for New York, spending the rest of the 1996–1997 season with the International Hockey League's (IHL) Utah Grizzlies and AHL's Saint John Flames. Dowd signed with the Calgary Flames on July 10, 1997, as a free agent. In the 1997–1998 season, he played in 48 games with the NHL Flames and another 35 regular season (and 19 playoff) games with the AHL Flames.

On June 27, 1998, Dowd was traded by Calgary to the expansion Nashville Predators for future considerations. For the second time in his career, he was traded before playing a single game, this time to the Edmonton Oilers with Mikhail Shtalenkov on October 1, 1998, for Éric Fichaud, Drake Berehowsky, and Greg de Vries. Dowd appeared in one game with the Oilers during the 1998–1999 season, spending the rest of the season with their AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. As a group two free agent, he re-signed with Edmonton on September 7, 1999, and played the 1999–2000 season with the Oilers appearing in an NHL career high 69 games.

Recent NHL career

The next chapter in Jim Dowd's career began on June 23, 2000, when the Minnesota Wild selected him during the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. A couple of weeks later, Jim's wife Lisa gave birth to their first child: James Thomas Dowd Jr., 8 lb. 10 oz., 21". After nearly four seasons with the Minnesota Wild, Dowd was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on March 4, 2004 for a 4th round 2004 draft pick. After the season, Dowd became an unrestricted free agent and signed with Germany's Hamburg Freezers during the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Dowd was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks on August 5, 2005.

On March 9, 2006, Dowd was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fourth round draft pick. His brief tenure with the Avalanche ended after the 2005–06 season, with Dowd again becoming a free agent.

On November 2, 2006, after left winger Dan LaCouture cleared waivers, the Devils signed Dowd to a one-year contract. The contract paid Dowd the NHL minimum of $450,000. "It's great. You should see the smile on my face," Dowd said via phone. "I've tried to come back every time I became a free agent. I'd call New Jersey, but the timing was never right." [1] When Dowd returned to the Devils, he was forced to wear jersey #12, as John Madden wears #11.

He went on to score 4 goals as well as have his first career multi-goal game, which came against the Florida Panthers. After the season ended with a loss to the Senators in the Second Round of the Playoffs, questions arose about the futures of such Devil's veterans as Dowd and Rasmussen. Jim Dowd had been scratched several times in favor of Rod Pelley, so he probably knew he would not be as welcome the following year. On September 11, Dowd announced that GM Lou Lamoriello and the Devils were uninterested in offering him a contract. He then mentioned that he would attend the Philadelphia Flyers Training Camp to try and make the Flyers. He has become a solid PK and defensive center for the Flyers, scoring his first goal with the Flyers against the Devils. However, he was released after the last game of the Flyers' 2008-09 preseason, along with Bryan Berard, to allow rookie development. (notably Danny Syvret and Darroll Power).

He retired on October 8, 2008.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1987–88	Lake Superior State University	CCHA		45	18	27	45	16		-	-	-	-	-
1988–89	Lake Superior State University	CCHA		46	24	35	59	40		-	-	-	-	-
1989–90	Lake Superior State University	CCHA		46	25	67	92	30		-	-	-	-	-
1990–91	Lake Superior State University	CCHA		44	24	54	78	53		-	-	-	-	-
1991–92	Utica Devils	AHL		78	17	42	59	47		4	2	2	4	4
1991–92	New Jersey Devils	NHL		1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1992–93	Utica Devils	AHL		78	27	45	72	62		5	1	7	8	10
1992–93	New Jersey Devils	NHL		1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1993–94	Albany River Rats	AHL		58	26	37	63	76		-	-	-	-	-
1993–94	New Jersey Devils	NHL		15	5	10	15	0		19	2	6	8	8
1994–95	New Jersey Devils	NHL		10	1	4	5	0		11	2	1	3	8
1995–96	New Jersey Devils	NHL		28	4	9	13	17		-	-	-	-	-
1995–96	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		38	1	6	7	6		1	0	0	0	0
1996–97	Utah Grizzlies	IHL		48	10	21	31	27		-	-	-	-	-
1996–97	Saint John Flames	AHL		24	5	11	16	18		5	1	2	3	0
1996–97	New York Islanders	NHL		3	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1997–98	Saint John Flames	AHL		35	8	30	38	20		19	3	13	16	10
1997–98	Calgary Flames	NHL		48	6	8	14	12		-	-	-	-	-
1998–99	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1998–99	Hamilton Bulldogs	AHL		51	15	29	44	82		11	3	6	9	8
1999–2000	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		69	5	18	23	45		5	2	1	3	4
2000–01	Minnesota Wild	NHL		68	7	22	29	80		-	-	-	-	-
2001–02	Minnesota Wild	NHL		82	13	30	43	54		-	-	-	-	-
2002–03	Minnesota Wild	NHL		78	8	17	25	31		15	0	2	2	0
2003–04	Minnesota Wild	NHL		55	4	20	24	38		-	-	-	-	-
2003–04	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		14	3	2	5	6		11	0	2	2	2
2004–05	Hamburg Freezers	DEL		20	4	9	13	12		-	-	-	-	-
2005–06	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		60	3	12	15	38		-	-	-	-	-
2005–06	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		18	2	1	3	2		9	2	3	5	20
2006–07	New Jersey Devils	NHL		66	4	4	8	20		11	0	0	0	4
2007–08	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		73	5	5	10	41		17	1	2	3	4
NHL totals				728	71	168	239	390		99	9	17	26	50

External links

• Jim Dowd on NewJerseyDevils.com
• Jim Dowd on ESPN.com
• Jim Dowd on Yahoo! Sports
• Jim Dowd on NHLPA.com
• Jim Dowd's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Jim Dowd at databasehockey.com

Preceded by Darby Hendrickson	Minnesota Wild captains October 2001	Succeeded by Filip Kuba
Preceded by Brad Bombardir	Minnesota Wild captains February 2004	Succeeded by Andrew Brunette