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Wendel Clark
Wendellclark
Position Left Winger
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
Teams Toronto Maple Leafs (19851994)
Quebec Nordiques (1994–1995)
New York Islanders (1995–1996)
Toronto Maple Leafs (19961998)
Tampa Bay Lightning (1998–1999)
Detroit Red Wings (1999)
Chicago Blackhawks (1999–2000)
Toronto Maple Leafs (2000)
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born (1966-10-25)October 25, 1966,
Kelvington , Saskatchewan, CAN
NHL Draft 1st Overall, 1985
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pro Career 1985 – 2000

Wendel L. Clark (born October 25, 1966 in Kelvington, Saskatchewan) is a retired Canadian professional player. He is perhaps best known for being a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL), captaining the team from 1991 to 1994. During this time, he was often referred to as "Captain Crunch," as he played a very physical and intense style of hockey.

Early years[]

A star junior hockey defenceman with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, Clark was a member of Canada's gold medal winning team at the 1985 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Clark was converted to forward after he was selected first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. His professional career lasted from 1985 until 2000, during which time he played for the Maple Leafs (during three separate stretches), Quebec Nordiques, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks.

Clark was known for his emotional, physical play, combined with scoring prowess. After his rookie season, he was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team and finished third in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy. The serious back injury that Clark suffered during a game against the Chicago Blackhawks in 1987, when he was cross-checked into the crossbar of his own goal, hindered his progress as an elite NHL player. Nonetheless, he was a crowd favourite at Maple Leaf Gardens and won a place in the hearts of Leaf fans as he provided a spark during the latter part of the Harold Ballard era, considered the darkest period in the storied franchise's history. He was named captain of the team for the 1991–92 season.

During the 1992–93 season, Clark's second year captaining the team, the Leafs set team records in wins (44) and points (99) and also made the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Leafs had a memorable run to the Campbell Conference Finals, but after leading the best-of-seven series three games to two, they lost to the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings, who were coached by Clark's cousin, Barry Melrose. Two career defining moments happened in this series for Clark: his defense of Dougie Gilmour, resulting in a bruised and battered Marty McSorley, and his hat-trick in game 6 of the 7 game series.

"That series was probably the most excitement I saw around here," proclaimed Clark, who had 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists) in his 21 games during the '93 playoffs. "It was the furthest the Leafs had advanced in a long time, the team was coming together at the right time and everybody was doing their jobs."

While Clark was known for grit and physical play (amassing 1,690 career penalty minutes), frequent injuries meant that he never played a full 82-game season. Nonetheless, he did manage an impressive 46 goals in 64 games for the Leafs during the 1993–94 season, playing on a line with Dave Andreychuk and Doug Gilmour. In the playoffs, the Leafs made a second consecutive trip to the Conference Finals, but fell 4–1 to the Vancouver Canucks, who were coached by future Leafs coach Pat Quinn.

Reputation[]

Clark came into the league swinging, and refused to back down to the league's toughest players, racking up 227 PIM during his rookie year. Clark quickly gained a reputation for hard-nosed hockey, showing little regard for his opponents or himself. His most famous check is perhaps his hit on unsuspecting St. Louis' defenseman Bruce Bell. Coming from opposite corners, Clark caught Bell with his head down, and the devastating hit left Bell unconscious. Many legendary hits followed during his career, leading to his famous nickname, Captain Crunch.

Early in his career, Clark fought all the league's toughest players, quickly gaining a reputation as a feared pugilist. Despite his relative small size, Clark more than held his own against much larger opponents, showing a ferocity seldom matched throughout the league. Clark's list of opponents is a relative who's who of his era's NHL tough-guys: Craig Berube, Bob Probert, Cam Neely, Rick Tocchet, Mark Tinordi, Garth Butcher, Marty McSorley, Mike Peluso, John Kordic.

Due to age, reputation and injuries, Clark's fights became less frequent during latter part of his career. But despite the numerous injuries, Clark's ability to change a game with a single bodycheck continued right up to his eventual retirement.

Trades[]

In June 1994, with his value at an all-time high, Clark was traded to the Quebec Nordiques in a multi-player deal which notably involved a young Mats Sundin. He was succeeded as Maple Leafs captain by Gilmour. Clark played the lockout-shortened 1994–95 NHL season in Quebec.

After the Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche, Clark became embroiled in a contract dispute with the team. As a result, shortly before the beginning of the 1995–96 campaign, he was sent to the New York Islanders in a three-way trade that brought Claude Lemieux to Colorado and Steve Thomas to the New Jersey Devils. Clark played 58 games with the Islanders, but finished the season back in Toronto.

Later career[]

In 1998 Clark signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but was dealt at the trade deadline to the Detroit Red Wings, where he finished the 1998–99 season. Clark signed with the Chicago Blackhawks later in 1999, but only appeared in 13 games with the team.

Upon returning to the Leafs in 2000, after being benched by the Blackhawks, Clark was not particularly effective for the remainder of the regular season, but he found his form for the Leafs' playoff run. The love that Leaf fans had for their former captain could be seen when they gave a 1:30 standing ovation after Clark barreled into the New Jersey zone and hit the post in Game 1. During Game 4, Clark assisted on the game-winning goal that gave the Leafs a 2–1 victory and tied the series with the Devils.

Post-retirement[]

Wendel is now employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club as a community ambassador and public relations. He can be seen at virtually all Leaf home games, usually with his wife Denise and children. The Toronto Maple Leafs honoured the former captain by raising his legendary number 17 to the rafters on November 22, 2008 at the Air Canada Centre. He owns a restaurant, Wendel Clark's Classic Grill and Sports Lounge, in Vaughan, Ontario,

He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.

Career statistics[]

Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1983–84 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 23 45 68 225 -- -- -- -- --
1984–85 Saskatoon Blades WHL 64 32 55 87 253 3 3 3 6 7
1985–86 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 66 34 11 45 227 10 5 1 6 47
1986–87 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 80 37 23 60 271 13 6 5 11 38
1987–88 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 28 12 11 23 80 -- -- -- -- --
1988–89 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 15 7 4 11 66 -- -- -- -- --
1989–90 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 38 18 8 26 116 5 1 1 2 19
1990–91 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 18 16 34 152 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 43 19 21 40 123 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 66 17 22 39 193 21 10 10 20 51
1993–94 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 64 46 30 76 115 18 9 7 16 24
1994–95 Quebec Nordiques NHL 37 12 18 30 45 6 1 2 3 6
1995–96 NY Islanders/Toronto NHL 71 32 26 58 76 6 2 2 4 2
1996–97 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 65 30 19 49 75 -- -- -- -- --
1997–98 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 47 12 7 19 80 -- -- -- -- --
1998–99 Tampa Bay/Detroit NHL 77 32 16 48 37 10 2 3 5 10
1999–00 Chicago/Toronto NHL 33 4 2 6 34 6 1 1 2 4
WHL totals 136 55 100 155 478 3 3 3 6 7
NHL totals 793 330 234 564 1690 95 37 32 69 201


External links[]


Preceded by
Mario Lemieux
NHL First Overall Draft Pick
1985
Succeeded by
Joe Murphy
Preceded by
Rob Ramage
Toronto Maple Leafs captains
199194
Succeeded by
Doug Gilmour
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Wendel Clark. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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