Adam Graves

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

He played 10 seasons with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

As a youth, Graves played in the 1981 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Wexford, Toronto.

Graves started playing Junior B hockey with King City, Ontario, north of his birthplace in Toronto.

Graves then joined the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in 1985–86 and averaged over one point per game as a rookie in the OHL.

He was drafted 22nd overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft.

The 1986–87 season was his breakout year, when he scored 45 goals for the Spitfires.

He led his team to the OHL championship in the Memorial Cup tournament.

He also played for the Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks in a career that spanned from 1987 to 2003.

He finished his career with 329 goals, 287 assists and 1,224 penalty minutes.

He is currently a New York Rangers special assistant with Prospect Development and Community Relations.

Graves was born in Tecumseh and grew up in Toronto.

In the 1987–88 season, Graves played primarily for the Spitfires, but was called up to play nine games with Detroit.

The 1988–89 season would be Graves' first season as an NHL regular.

He played in 56 games for the Red Wings while splitting time with the Adirondack minor league club, but was only able to score seven goals.

During his brief tenure with the Red Wings, with whom he amassed 60 penalty minutes in 1988–89 and 13 in 1989–90, Graves earned the reputation as an agitator who played on the edge and often went over it.

According to Hockeyfights.com, he took part in 52 fights in his NHL career.

On November 2 of the 1989-90 campaign, Graves was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers.

But Graves spent only two seasons with the Oilers before they allowed him to leave as a free agent at the conclusion of the 1990–91 campaign.

He signed an offer sheet for five years and $2.44 million with the New York Rangers, where he would join former Edmonton Oilers teammates Mark Messier and Jeff Beukeboom.

Neil Smith, the general manager of the Rangers, was familiar with Graves, having earlier served as the Red Wings' director of scouting.

Along with Graves, the Oilers received Petr Klima, Joe Murphy and Jeff Sharples in exchange for Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and Edmonton's fifth-round draft pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft.

The trade was lamented at the time in Edmonton —- the high-scoring Klima had run-ins with the law and a history of substance abuse, Sharples was coming off a shoulder injury, and Murphy and Graves were considered to be underachievers given their high draft status.

Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano was reluctant to part with Graves, but felt that obtaining Detroit-area native Carson was worth it.

The trade paid immediate dividends for the Oilers, as Klima finished with 30 goals, while Graves and Murphy provided depth up front.

Graves would go on to score 11 points in the playoffs, en route to defeating the Boston Bruins for the Edmonton Oilers' fifth Stanley Cup.

"It was such an excellent team atmosphere," said Graves of his brief stint with the Oilers.

"We were together as any group of guys in the league. Everyone felt that they were a part of the team- no one felt left out. Because of that, even if you had a small role on the team, you were happy. You were glad to be able to give whatever little you could to the team. You did everything you could. I have many wonderful memories in my two years with the Oilers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the team."

In 1991-92, Graves' first season with the Rangers, he scored 26 goals, helping the team to a 105-point, Presidents' Trophy-winning regular season that was punctuated by a major disappointment in the playoffs.

Graves finished fifth in the voting for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the league.

Graves performance was marred by an ugly incident in Game 2 of the Patrick Division finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, when he fractured the left wrist of superstar Mario Lemieux with a vicious two-handed swing of his stick.

Lemieux was adamant that Rangers head coach Roger Neilson had "engineered a hit" that sidelined him for five games.

"It was intentional, no question about it," Lemieux said of the incident during the Stanley Cup finals that season.

"I've never been hit that 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 assessed only a minor penalty on the play and allowed to take part in Game 3, in which he scored the first goal of a 6-5 overtime victory.

After he was suspended for the remainder of the series, the Penguins rallied to win the next three games and the series on the way to the Stanley Cup championship.

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

During the 1993–94 season, Graves scored 52 goals, setting a New York Rangers' franchise record for most goals in a season.

In the spring of 1994, Graves helped the Rangers win their first Stanley Cup since the 1939–40 season.

(Jaromír Jágr would later score 54 in 2005–06).