Joe Nieuwendyk

Joseph "Joe" Nieuwendyk (born September 10, 1966) is the general manager of the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL) and a retired Canadian player. He won the Stanley Cup three times, in three different decades, on three different teams, and is considered to be one of the best face-off men in NHL history. He announced his retirement from professional hockey due to chronic back problems on December 6, 2006. He was hired by the Florida Panthers as a special consultant to the general manager and later became special assistant to the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Joe Nieuwendyk is a nephew of former NHL player Ed Kea and a cousin of former NHL player Jeff Beukeboom.

Playing career
Prior to coming to the NHL in the 1986–87 season, Nieuwendyk attended Cornell University and while there, he played for their hockey team for three seasons. In 1986 and 1987 he was named to the ECAC's All-Star First Team and was selected as an All-American. In 1987 Joe was also nominated as a Hobey Baker finalist, along with other future NHL stars like Brian Leetch, Craig Janney and Tony Granato. However, the trophy was awarded to Tony Hrkac of the University of North Dakota. As fate would have it the two of them would win a Stanley Cup together while playing on the 1998–99 Dallas Stars team. After his third season at Cornell, Nieuwendyk played briefly for the Canadian national team.

Joe Nieuwendyk's first season in the NHL was a short one, only playing 9 regular-season games. Because he played fewer than 25 games, his second season (1987–88) in the NHL was considered his rookie year. His rookie season saw him set a career high in goals with 51 and become one of only a handful of players to score more than 50 goals in their first NHL season. (Mike Bossy (53), Wayne Gretzky (51), Teemu Selänne (76) Alexander Ovechkin (52).) He won the Calder Trophy as best rookie and was also named to the NHL All-Rookie Team.

Nieuwendyk played on five different teams in his career, and won Stanley Cups with three of them. The Calgary Flames drafted him in the second round (27th overall) in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft and he played for Calgary from 1986–87 to 1994–95. While in Calgary, he won a Stanley Cup in 1989 and set career highs with 51 goals (twice), 50 assists, and 95 points. He served as Captain from 1991 to 1994. In 1995 he was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for best exemplifing leadership qualities.

On December 19, 1995, after a protracted holdout, Joe was traded to the Dallas Stars (in exchange for prospect Jarome Iginla) where he won another Stanley Cup and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. During that run he would tie a then record six game-winning goals (previously set by Joe Sakic). He played in Dallas from 1995–96 to 2001–02. During the 2001–02 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils where he won his third Stanley Cup with his third different team. After playing just over a season in New Jersey (94 games), he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2003–04 NHL season.

Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he didn't play during the 2004–05 NHL season and he became an unrestricted free agent prior to the start of the 2005–06 NHL season. Mike Keenan, General manager of the Florida Panthers, signed both Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts to contracts worth $4.5 million each. The Leafs, under the new cap system, couldn't match that offer to keep Nieuwendyk and Roberts as the Leafs had only $9 million left to spend under the cap and still needed to sign at least 7 other players. Interestingly enough, this was the third time that these childhood friends, Roberts and Nieuwendyk, played on the same team at the same time. They started their career together in Calgary and played together in Toronto and then in Florida.

On December 6, 2006, Nieuwendyk decided to retire from the game due to chronic back problems, ending a career that lasted 20 NHL seasons. He finished his career with 564 goals and 562 assists for a total of 1,126 points. At the time of his retirement, he was tied for 48th place in NHL history in points with Mike Bossy, who also was forced to retire due to back problems.He was inducted into the Hockey Halll of Fame in 2011.

Awards

 * ECAC's First All-Star Team - 1986, 1987
 * All-American - 1986, 1987
 * Calder Trophy - 1988
 * NHL All-Rookie Team - 1988
 * King Clancy Memorial Trophy - 1995
 * Conn Smythe Trophy - 1999
 * NHL All-Star Game - 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994
 * Winter Olympics Gold Medal Hockey Men's - 2002
 * Stanley Cup - 1989(Calgary Flames), 1999(Dallas Stars), 2003(New Jersey Devils)

Career statistics
Played for Canada in:


 * 1986–87 National team
 * 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (Silver medal)
 * 1990 World Ice Hockey Championships
 * 1998 Winter Olympics
 * 2002 Winter Olympics (Gold medal)