Tiger Williams

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For other persons named Dave Williams, see Dave Williams (disambiguation).

David James "Tiger" Williams (born 3 February 1954 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a former professional ice hockey who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1974-75 to 1987-88.

Position: Left Wing
Shoots: Right
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight: 190 lb (86 kg)

1 NHL career
2 Records
- 2.1 Career highs
3 See also
4 References

[edit] NHL career

Williams was drafted in the second round (31st overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. He was also drafted by the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in the third round (33rd overall) in the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft. Despite being drafted by a WHA team, he never played in the WHA. He chose instead to play in the NHL.

Tiger was best known for his role as an enforcer, but he was also able to score goals. He played on five different NHL teams during his career. He was drafted by the Maple Leafs and played there from his NHL debut on 7 January against the New York Islanders in 1975 until he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks on 18 February, 1980 for Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago. While in Toronto, he broke many Maple Leaf and NHL penalty minute records and lead the league in penalty minutes twice with 338 in 1976-77 and 298 in 1978-79. While it seemed that he lived in the "sin bin", he was able to score his fair share of goals. During his best season in Toronto, he scored 22 goals in 55 games before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks part way through that season. He scored 8 more goals in 23 games that season with Vancouver for, at that time, a career best 30 goals.

The next season, 1980-81, in Vancouver, Tiger scored a career high of 35 goals and 62 points while amassing a league leading 343 penalty minutes in 77 games. The 343 penalty minutes would be the third highest of his career. Amazingly, those 35 goals were the most by any Canuck that year. That season, Williams earned a place in the midseason All-Star game, having scored 27 goals by the All-Star break. He would play an integral role in the team's surprise run to the Stanely Cup finals in 1982. Williams played in Vancouver until the end of the 1983-84 season.

After Vancouver, Tiger Williams played for the Detroit Red Wings for part of the 1984-85 NHL season before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings that same year. During his tenure in L.A., he would set his career high of 358 penalty minutes for one season. He would play in Los Angeles until he was traded to the Hartford Whalers during the 1987-88 NHL season. That would also be his last NHL season as Hartford placed him on waivers and he was released on February 12, 1988. He officially retired in 1988.

Williams was nicknamed "Tiger" as a 5-year-old by his minor hockey coach in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.