Greg Stefan

Greg Stefan
Born February 11, 1961 (1961-02-11) (age 51)
Brantford, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Adirondack Red Wings (AHL)
Detroit Red Wings (NHL)
NHL Draft 128th overall, 1981
Detroit Red Wings
Playing career 1981–1990

Gregory Steven Stefan (born February 11, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario) was a professional ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League.

Drafted in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Greg Stefan became known for using his stick to clear skaters in front of the net, many times receiving penalties, and sometimes suspensions. He is also known for having played Pee Wee level hockey on the same team as Wayne Gretzky. He played in 299 games, winning 115 of them, before suffering an eventual career-ending knee injury in a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

Stefan began his coaching career in 1993 with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey League in 1993, and contributed to the team's first OHL championship in 1995. He remained with the club, which had relocated from Detroit to Plymouth, Michigan, and became the Plymouth Whalers, until 1998, before taking a job with the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. After moving around the Hurricanes system as a scout, and even as an assistant coach, Stefan returned to Plymouth in December 2007 to become the head coach of the club, taking over for Mike Vellucci, who would solely focus on his general manager duties.

The Whalers posted a record of 16–20–3 under Stefan, after starting the season with a 18–8–3 record under Vellucci, however, the team would make the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. In the first round of the post-season, the Whalers were quickly eliminated by the Kitchener Rangers in four games. Stefan came back to Plymouth for a second season in 2008–09, however, after a start of 6–11–2, he resigned from the position to return to the Carolina Hurricanes organization as a scout. In 2006, Stefan won the Stanley Cup as Goalie Coach/Scout with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Contents

Career statistics

Regular season

   
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1978–79 Oshawa Generals OMJHL 33 1635 133 0 4.88
1979–80 Oshawa Generals OMJHL 17 8 6 0 897 58 0 3.88
1980–81 Oshawa Generals OHL 46 23 14 3 2407 174 0 4.34
1981–82 Detroit Red Wings NHL 2 0 2 0 120 10 0 5.00
1981–82 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 29 11 13 3 1571 99 2 3.78
1982–83 Detroit Red Wings NHL 35 6 16 9 1847 139 0 4.52 .853
1983–84 Detroit Red Wings NHL 50 19 22 2 2600 152 2 3.51 .876
1984–85 Detroit Red Wings NHL 46 21 19 3 2635 190 0 4.33 .860
1985–86 Detroit Red Wings NHL 37 10 20 5 2068 155 1 4.50 .856
1986–87 Detroit Red Wings NHL 43 20 17 3 2351 135 1 3.45 .875
1987–88 Detroit Red Wings NHL 33 17 9 5 1854 96 1 3.11 .896
1988–89 Detroit Red Wings NHL 46 21 17 3 2499 167 0 4.01 .871
1989–90 Detroit Red Wings NHL 7 1 5 0 359 24 0 4.01 .837
1989–90 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 3 1 0 1 128 7 0 3.28 .887
1990–91 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 2 0 1 0 66 7 0 6.36 .759
NHL Totals 299 115 127 30 16333 1068 5 3.92

Post season

   
Season Team League GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1980–81 Oshawa Generals OMJHL 6 2 3 298 20 0 4.02
1981–82 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 1 0 0 20 0 0 0.00
1983–84 Detroit Red Wings NHL 3 1 2 210 8 0 2.29 .907
1984–85 Detroit Red Wings NHL 3 0 3 138 17 0 7.39 .754
1986–87 Detroit Red Wings NHL 9 4 5 508 24 0 2.83 .905
1987–88 Detroit Red Wings NHL 10 5 4 531 32 1 3.62 .864
1988–89 Detroit Red Wings NHL 5 2 3 294 18 0 3.67 .881
NHL Totals 30 12 17 1681 99 1 3.53 .875

Coaching record

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
PLY 2007–08 39 16 20 – 3 74 5th in West Lost in First Round
PLY 2008–09 19 6 11 – 2 14 5th in West Resigned
Preceded by
Mike Vellucci		 Head coaches of the Plymouth Whalers
2007–2009		 Succeeded by
Mike Vellucci

External links