Murray Oliver

Murray Clifford Oliver (November 14, 1937 – November 23, 2014) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre, coach, and scout.[1] Murray also played Minor League Baseball for the Batavia Indians, then an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.[2]

Murray Oliver
Born (1937-11-14)November 14, 1937
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Died November 23, 2014(2014-11-23) (aged 77)
Edina, Minnesota, United States
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Boston Bruins
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota North Stars
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 19581975

Playing career

Oliver grew up in Hamilton and played junior hockey with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs of the Ontario Hockey Association. After scoring 90 points in 52 games as a 20-year-old, he signed a professional contract and was assigned to the Edmonton Flyers, an affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). As an NHL rookie during the 1959-60 season, he scored 20 goals. However, Detroit was loaded at the centre position, which made Oliver expendable. He was traded to the Boston Bruins partway through the next season.[3]

Oliver played for the Bruins until 1967. While in Boston, Oliver centred the B.O.W. line with wingers Johnny Bucyk and Tommy Williams, where he starred as a crafty stickhandler and patient playmaker. He put up a NHL career-high 68 points in 1964, despite knee surgery the prior season. He was traded in 1967 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he centred a line for three years with Bob Pulford and Ron Ellis.[4]

Oliver was traded on May 22, 1970 (announced May 26) to the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Terry O'Malley, the rights to Brian Conacher and cash. Previously, the Maple Leafs had attempted to trade Oliver to the St. Louis Blues for goaltender Jacques Plante, but an excess of centres for St. Louis prevented the deal.[5] Similarly, the Chicago Black Hawks were involved in a possible trade, but Chicago's price of Oliver and Bob Pulford in exchange for Jim Pappin was too high for the Maple Leafs, prompting the trade to Minnesota.[5] Oliver played five seasons with the North Stars. He scored a NHL career-high 27 goals in 1971-72. In 1975, after a bitter contract dispute with Stars management, he retired.

In 18 seasons, Oliver played 1127 regular season games and scored 274 goals with 454 assists for a total of 728 points. He played in the NHL All-Star Game five times. After retiring he was hired by former teammate Lou Nanne as Minnesota's assistant coach. He worked with the club until the 1985–86 NHL season, with 37 games as head coach. He was as a scout with the Vancouver Canucks and later took over as the club's director of pro scouting.[4] On November 23, 2014 he died of a heart attack at the age of 77.[6]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
1953–54 Burlington Mohawks CJHL
1953–54 Hamilton Tiger Cubs OHA 20220 51010
1954–55 Hamilton Tiger Cubs OHA 395131819 32020
1955–56 Hamilton Tiger Cubs OHA 51122
1956–57 Hamilton Tiger Cubs OHA 5217425920 43140
1957–58 Hamilton Tiger Cubs OHA 5234569037 42578
1957–58 Detroit Red Wings NHL 10110
1958–59 Edmonton Flyers WHL 6433346735 31120
1959–60 Detroit Red Wings NHL 5420193916 61014
1959–60 Edmonton Flyers WHL 16812206
1960–61 Detroit Red Wings NHL 491112238
1960–61 Boston Bruins NHL 21610168
1961–62 Boston Bruins NHL 7017294621
1962–63 Boston Bruins NHL 6522406238
1963–64 Boston Bruins NHL 7024446841
1964–65 Boston Bruins NHL 6520234330
1965–66 Boston Bruins NHL 7018426030
1966–67 Boston Bruins NHL 659263516
1967–68 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 7416213718
1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 7614365016 41230
1969–70 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 7614334716
1970–71 Minnesota North Stars NHL 61923328 1274110
1971–72 Minnesota North Stars NHL 7727295616 70664
1972–73 Minnesota North Stars NHL 7511314210 60442
1973–74 Minnesota North Stars NHL 781720374
1974–75 Minnesota North Stars NHL 8019153424
NHL totals 1127274454728320 359162510

NHL Coaching record

TeamYearRegular seasonPost season
GWLTPtsFinishResult
Minnesota North Stars1982–83 3718127(96)2nd in NorrisLost in Division Finals

Minor League Baseball

On June 25, 1958 Murray was assigned to play for the Batavia Indians, where scouts hailed him as "one of the greatest athletes we've ever seen". In his debut, which was delayed because of a broken arm he suffered during the hockey season, he went hitless in three at-bats and committed one error. Over only 8 more games, mostly at third base, he batted .185 and committed an error per game, and was released by the Indians.[2]

See also

  • List of NHL players with 1000 games played

References

  1. Cole, Stephen (2006). The Canadian Hockey Atlas. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66093-8.
  2. Dougherty, Bill (2014). Batavia: A View From The Bleachers. Doughtrey US. ISBN 978-1-312-14129-2.
  3. Murray Oliver career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
  4. Murray Oliver biography at Legends of Hockey. Retrieved January 15, 2008.
  5. Oliver, Greg. Written in Blue & White. ECW Press. p. 148.
  6. "Ex-North Star Murray Oliver dies at 77".
Preceded by
Glen Sonmor
Head coach of the Minnesota North Stars
1983
Succeeded by
Bill Mahoney
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