Paul Gardner (ice hockey)

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Paul Gardner
Paul Gardner-Hamburg Freezers.jpg
Coach of the Hamburg Freezers, 2009
Born (1956-03-05) March 5, 1956 (age 65)
Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Colorado Rockies
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
Buffalo Sabres
NHL Draft 11th overall, 1976
Kansas City Scouts
WHA Draft 24th overall, 1976
Toronto Toros
Playing career 1976–1986

Paul Malone Gardner (born March 5, 1956) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and a former centre, who most recently coached at Löwen Frankfurt in Germany.

He is the son of former National Hockey League (NHL) player Cal Gardner and younger brother of Dave Gardner. Gardner was born in Fort Erie, Ontario, but grew up in Toronto, Ontario.

Playing career[edit]

As a youth, Gardner played in the 1968 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Leaside.[1]

Drafted in 1976 by the Kansas City Scouts of the National Hockey League, he would never get an opportunity to play for them - that same year, the Scouts franchise would move to Denver and be re-named the Colorado Rockies.

Colorado Rockies[edit]

Gardner, who had also been drafted by the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association, opted to pursue NHL opportunities and turned pro with the Rockies farm team the Rhode Island Reds. The bulk of his rookie pro season was spent in the National Hockey League, however, where he scored an impressive thirty goals and 59 points in sixty games. He finished second on the club in both goals and points and managed thirty more goals (in just 46 games) during his second year in the league. Despite the prolific start to his NHL career, Colorado traded him midway through his third season to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto Maple Leafs[edit]

Coming to Toronto meant Paul would suit up for the same team his father Cal had played four seasons with. Paul's brother, Dave, who also had a 350 game NHL career, spent two very productive years in Toronto himself, though in this case with the OHA's Toronto Marlboros. Paul, however, would not have as many good hockey memories in the city. He started well after the trade scoring 7-goals and 9-points in 11-games with the Leafs to finish the season. However the following year he struggled with just 11-goals in 45 games and ended up the lowly Leafs. After failing to make the roster to start the 1980-81 season, the Maple Leafs dealt Gardner, along with Dave Burrows to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Paul Marshall and Kim Davis.

Pittsburgh Penguins[edit]

In Pittsburgh Gardner rediscovered his scoring touch reeling off seasons of 34, 36 and 28 goals as one of the club's top scoring threats. His fourth year with the Penguins saw him suddenly struggle with no goals in 16 games which led to him being assigned to the Penguins minor league affiliate in Baltimore. Gardner would lead the AHL team in scoring with 32-goals and 81-points in just 54 games.

Washington Capitals[edit]

His solid play in the American League earned him another chance to find his game at the NHL level when the Washington Capitals offered him a contract for the 1984-85 season. Gardner managed just 2-goals and 6-points in 12 games with Washington but had an explosive season for their farm club. Gardner led the AHL in scoring with 51-goals and 130-points in just 64-games. Despite his lofty production, the Capitals opted not to bring him back for a second year.

Buffalo Sabres[edit]

The Buffalo Sabres inked Gardner to a free agent deal but he appeared in just two games with them spending the rest of the season dominating the American Hockey League again en route to his second-straight league leading performance. He potted 61-goals and 112-points for Rochester Americans then retired from professional hockey at years end.

Eleven years after retiring, while serving as the assistant coach for the Washington Capitals AHL affiliate the Portalnd Pirates Gardner was pressed into action when the team was short on players due to injury. Gardner managed to pick up an assist in the game. This assist extended an impressive accomplishment for Gardner: During his pro career he suited up with seven different American Hockey League teams and he produced at a point-a-game or better for every one of them.

Coaching career[edit]

Shortly after his playing career ended, Gardner jumped into the coaching profession, becoming head coach of the Newmarket Saints of the American Hockey League for four seasons. He would later become an assistant coach for the Baltimore Skipjacks (later Portland Pirates after their relocation) under coach Barry Trotz. Both Trotz and Gardner would later be promoted to the NHL level when they moved to Nashville to work for the expansion Predators. Gardner would be assistant coach through the 2002–03 season and then worked as a pro scout for the organization.[2]

In January 2007, he was named head coach of the Russian KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.[3] He guided the team to a nine-game winning streak and made the playoffs, but was released in February 2008.[4] In the summer of 2008, he was named head coach of Dynamo Minsk in Belarus and assistant coach of the Belarus national team.[5] In late July 2008, his contract was cancelled due to personal reasons.[6]

On December 18, 2008, he became the coach of the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and guided the Freezers to the playoff-quarterfinals that season. In Gardner's second season at the helm, Hamburg did not qualify for the playoffs.[7] His contract expired at the end of the 2009-10 season.

Gardner signed with the Mississippi RiverKings of the Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 2010-11 campaign. On July 29, 2011, Gardner was informed by the team that was relieved of his duties for the following season.[8]

In September 13, 2011 Gardner was named head coach of fellow CHL team Bloomington Blaze. On January 18, 2013 Gardner was appointed head coach of the Braehead Clan of the Elite Ice Hockey League. He guided the Scottish club to the EIHL Gardiner Conference Championship and a playoff-quarterfinal appearance, but did not have his contract renewed at the end of the 2012-13 season.[9]

In Mai 2013, Gardner was named head coach of Dutch Eredivisie side Tilburg Trappers, signing a two-year deal with the team.[10] Under his guidance, the Trappers won back-to-back Dutch championship titles and Dutch cup titles.

On January 1, 2016, German second-division club Lausitzer Füchse hired Gardner as their new head coach.[11] He stayed on the job through the end of the 2015-16 season.[12] On June 29, 2016, Gardner took over the coaching job at fellow DEL2 side Löwen Frankfurt, working alongside sporting director Rich Chernomaz.[13] He guided the Frankfurt team to the 2017 DEL2 title in his first year in charge.[14] Gardner was sacked on March 17, 2018, during the playoff quarterfinal series against Kassel, in which the Frankfurt team had lost the first two games.[15]

In 2019, Gardner was inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame.[16]

Career statistics[edit]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1973–74 St. Michael's Buzzers MetJHL 44 87 44 131 — — — — — —
1974–75 Oshawa Generals OMJHL 64 27 36 63 54 5 0 0 0 9
1975–76 Oshawa Generals OMJHL 65 69 75 144 75 4 2 3 5 2
1976–77 Rhode Island Reds AHL 14 10 4 14 12 — — — — —
1976–77 Colorado Rockies NHL 60 30 29 59 25 — — — — —
1977–78 Colorado Rockies NHL 46 30 22 52 29 — — — — —
1978–79 Colorado Rockies NHL 64 23 26 49 32 — — — — —
1978–79 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 11 7 2 9 0 6 0 1 1 4
1979–80 New Brunswick Hawks AHL 20 11 16 27 14 15 10 5 15 5
1979–80 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 45 11 13 24 10 — — — — —
1980–81 Springfield Indians AHL 14 9 12 21 6 — — — — —
1980–81 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 62 34 40 74 59 5 1 0 1 8
1981–82 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 59 36 33 69 28 5 1 5 6 2
1982–83 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 70 28 27 55 12 — — — — —
1983–84 Baltimore Skipjacks AHL 54 32 49 81 14 10 12 10 22 0
1983–84 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 16 0 5 5 6 — — — — —
1984–85 Binghamton Whalers AHL 64 51 79 130 10 5 3 9 12 0
1984–85 Washington Capitals NHL 12 2 4 6 6 — — — — —
1985–86 Rochester Americans AHL 71 61 51 112 16 — — — — —
1985–86 Buffalo Sabres NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1996–97 Portland Pirates AHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
NHL totals 447 201 201 402 207 16 2 6 8 14
AHL totals 238 174 212 386 72 30 25 24 49 5

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  2. ^ "Paul Gardner | LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  3. ^ "Russian club hires Gardner as coach". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  4. ^ alan-parker. "Chasing Pucks and Dreams in Europe". Nosey Parker. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  5. ^ "NEWS SINGLEVIEW". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  6. ^ Branchu, Marc. "Paul Gardner quitte Minsk | Russie | Hockey sur glace | Hockey Archives". www.passionhockey.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  7. ^ "Paul Gardner verlässt die Freezers". Hockeyweb. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  8. ^ "RiverKings Dismiss Coach Paul Gardner | SPHL Southern Professional Hockey League - Pointstreak Sites". thesphl.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  9. ^ Behan, Paul (2013-04-10). "Coach Gardner exits Braehead Clan". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  10. ^ "Oud-NHL-speler Paul Gardner nieuwe hoofdcoach Tilburg Trappers". omroepbrabant.nl. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  11. ^ "Paul Gardner wird neuer Füchse-Coach". Lausitzer Füchse. 2016-01-01. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  12. ^ DNN-Online. "Eishockey – Lausitzer Füchse präsentieren Hannu Järvenpää als neuen Trainer / Regionalsport / Sport - DNN - Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten". www.dnn.de. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  13. ^ Frankfurt, Löwen. "Erfahrung pur: Paul Gardner coacht die Löwen Frankfurt - Löwen Frankfurt". www.loewen-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  14. ^ "Löwen Frankfurt feiern Zweitliga-Meisterschaft". op-online.de (in German). 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  15. ^ Frankfurt, Löwen. "Coach Paul Gardner freigestellt, Franz-David Fritzmeier springt ein" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  16. ^ Sc, Susan; iffio (2019-11-01). "Leaside Sports Hall of Fame celebrates inductees". Leaside Life. Retrieved 2020-04-19.

External links[edit]

Preceded by
 Kansas City Scouts first round draft pick
1976 		Succeeded by
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