Phil Housley

Amateur

Housley played centre throughout his youth hockey career before switching to defense in high school. As a 10-year-old Squirt-level player, he scored 108 goals in one season. He improved to 113 goals at the peewee level. Upon attending South St. Paul High School, Housley was moved to defense by coach Doug Woog. He also played quarterback for the high school football team and left fielder on their baseball team. As a defenseman, Housley helped South St. Paul reach back-to-back state tournaments, while also playing junior hockey for the St. Paul Vulcans. During his high school years, Housley gained the attention of Buffalo Sabres scout Rudy Migay and Sabres head coach Scotty Bowman. To ensure the Sabres drafted an elite defenseman, Bowman struck a deal with the Washington Capitals general manager to ensure the Sabres drafted either Scott Stevens or Housley in the 1982 NHL entry draft.

At the age of 18, Housley became the only high school student selected to compete for Team USA at the 1982 Ice Hockey World Championships. He was originally only intended to fill in on the roster until NHL players were available, but was able to remain on the team through the entire tournament. During the World Championships, Housley played as a centreman instead of defense and scored one goal while Team USA failed to medal. He also committed to play colleagiate hockey at the University of Minnesota (U of M), with the additional goal of competing for Team USA at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

As his family could not afford to attend the draft in Montreal, Housley made the trip alongside a local sportswriter. After the Capitals selected Stevens fifth overall, the Sabres drafted Housley. He was the first American-born player and first high school player to be selected in the draft. After rejecting the Sabres' original offer, his agent used his college eligibility as leverage during contract negotiations. He eventually signed a three-year $500,000 contract, which included a stipulation to pay for his education. While he was unable to play for U of M, Housley intended to take summer classes to earn his degree.

Professional

Housley was named to the opening night roster of the Buffalo Sabres for the 1982–83 season after attending their training camp. Although ankle injuries marred his start, Housley finished the season setting a Sabres rookie record with 47 assists. Based on his play during training camp and through exhibition games, media pundits began comparing him to Bobby Orr. While he had never suffered injuries in hockey before, his ankles began bothering him as the season began. He nearly sat out of the Sabres' season opener against the Quebec Nordiques on October 6 due to an ankle injury, but chose to compete. He recorded his first NHL point, an assist on Ric Seiling's goal, in his debut that night. Despite missing three games in October due to sore ankles, Housley recorded two goals and eight assists through his first seven games. Four of those points were collected in a single period on October 17 against the Edmonton Oilers. Although he started the season playing alongside Mike Ramsey, by November he was more often skating with fellow rookie Hannu Virta. However, in an effort to improve his confidence, Housley was switched from defense to centreman between Sean McKenna and Gilles Hamel in mid-November. In their first game together, Housley had two assists and McKenna tallied three assists. He played three games as a centerman before returning to defense. By the start of December, Housley had three goals and ranked second on the team with 15 assists. Housley was again moved to center after Bowman sent Dave Andreychuk back to juniors in mid-December. In his first game with Gil Perreault and Mike Foligno, they combined for three goals in a 5–4 win over the Quebec Nordiques. Through 18 games at the end of December and start of January, Housley scored five goals and 13 assists. On January 23, 1984, Housley scored his first career NHL hat-trick to lead the Sabres to a 5–2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. All three of his goals were scored on the Sabres' power play and brought his total goals to 11. By mid-February, Housley ranked fourth among all rookies in scoring with 49 points and first among all 1982 draft picks. On March 27, 1983, Housley set a franchise record for most goals scored by a Sabres defenseman in a single season. After tallying two assists a few games later, Housley became the third-highest scoring rookie defenseman in NHL history. Housley was named to the inaugural NHL All-Rookie Team and finished second in the Calder Trophy voting to Steve Larmer.

On March 18, 1984 (nine days after turning 20 years old), Housley became the youngest defencemen in NHL history to score 30 goals in a single season. In his eight seasons with Buffalo, he recorded 60-point seasons in each of them. On June 16, 1990, the day of the 1990 NHL entry draft, Housley was traded to the Winnipeg Jets in a four-player deal (which also saw draft pick swapping) that saw Dale Hawerchuk go to the Sabres while Housley, Scott Arniel, and Jeff Parker went to Winnipeg. In his three seasons with Winnipeg, he was named to the All-Star Game each time while seeing his point totals rise from 76 in his first season to his peak in his final year with 97 points (18 goals, 79 assists); the 1991–92 season saw him finish the highest for the James Norris Memorial Trophy at 3rd place for his defense and named to the NHL Second All-Star Team for the only time. Housley was tabbed as a "Group 2 Free Agent" in the summer and expressed no desire to re-sign with the team. On September 24, 1994, the Jets traded Housley to the St. Louis Blues for Nelson Emerson and Stephane Quintal.

As a Group 2 Free Agent, any team signing Housley would have been required to compensate the Jets with first round draft picks or a player of equal value. In 26 games for the Blues, he had seven goals and 15 assists while being limited due to a back injury. He was traded to the Calgary Flames for Al MacInnis (due to the restricted free agency at the time, two second round draft picks were sent the Flames in compensation In 43 games, he had 43 points (8 goals, 35 assists) in 43 games. He played most of the following 1995–96 season with Calgary; on February 26, 1996, he was traded by the Flames with Dan Keczmer to the New Jersey Devils for Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse and Jocelyn Lemieux. In 81 total games, he had his last 50-assist season with 51 to go along with 17 goals. After the season ended, he participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey for the American team, who won the championship. Housley signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals in the summer, which saw him record 40 points in his first season. The 1997–98 season saw a variety of accomplishments for Housley. On November 8, he scored his 1,000th point on an assist to a goal scored by Calle Johansson, doing so at home in Washington against the Edmonton Oilers. He was the 48th player to record 1,000 points, the second American-born player to reach the mark (first since Joe Mullen), and he was the fifth defenseman to ever reach the mark. The Capitals rolled all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. In his only Stanley Cup Final appearance, Housley recorded no points with one penalty as the Capitals were swept by the Detroit Red Wings. He was claimed off waivers by the Flames in the summer of 1998.

Housley recorded 50-point seasons in the next two seasons, and he was selected to the 2000 National Hockey League All-Star Game, his seventh and final All-Star selection. He closed out his tenure in Calgary with the 2000–01 season with four goals and 30 assists. The Chicago Blackhawks claimed him off waivers in September 2001. In his first season with Chicago, he had 15 goals and 24 assists. He was selected to play for the American team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He had four assists and a goal (scoring the third goal in an eventual 3-2 victory Russia in the Semifinals) as the Americans won the silver medal. The 2002–03 season saw him hobbled by an ankle injury and he was on crutches when the trade deadline neared. To his shock, he was traded by Chicago on March 11, 2003 to the Toronto Maple Leafs for two draft picks. On an injury timetable that saw him tabbed to possibly play in the postseason, he played one regular season game for the team and admitted that he was not 100%, stating, “I was trying to catch a moving train once I got into the playoffs." He played 40 combined minutes in the first two games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Philadelphia before playing 64 total seconds in Game 3. The Game 3 appearance ended up as his final appearance in the NHL as the Maple Leafs lost in seven games. Nursing a broken foot from February, Housley was a free agent after the year ended and did not get any offers close to his Minnesota home. On January 15, 2004, he announced his retirement.

With 338 goals and 894 assists for a total of 1,232 points, Housley retired as the all-time points leader for an American-born player until he was passed by Mike Modano in 2007. He still ranks as the all-time leader for American defenceman and he ranks fourth all-time in points for all primary defensemen.

Regular season and playoffs

International