Greg Stefan

Greg Stefan
Born (1961-02-11) February 11, 1961 (age 63)
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
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) is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League and currently serves as the goaltending coach for the Flint Firebirds in the Ontario Hockey League.

Greg Stefan was a goaltender who shared netminding duties with Glen Hanlon during the 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 seasons, when the Detroit Red Wings reached the Stanley Cup conference finals in back-to-back campaigns.  Stefan was a left-handed catching goalie.[1][2]

Biography

As a youth, Stefan played in the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Brantford which included Wayne Gretzky and Len Hachborn.[3]

Drafted in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, 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 an 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 and scout with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L 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 — 6 2 3 298 20 0 4.02 —
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 — 1 0 0 20 0 0 0.00 —
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 3 1 2 210 8 0 2.29 .907
1984–85 Detroit Red Wings NHL 46 21 19 3 2635 190 0 4.33 .860 3 0 3 138 17 0 7.39 .754
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 9 4 5 508 24 0 2.83 .905
1987–88 Detroit Red Wings NHL 33 17 9 5 1854 96 1 3.11 .896 10 5 4 531 32 1 3.62 .864
1988–89 Detroit Red Wings NHL 46 21 17 3 2499 167 0 4.01 .871 5 2 3 294 18 0 3.67 .881
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 .868 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

References

  1. ^ Duff, Bob (2023-12-29). "Hutchinson Rare Right Choice Among Red Wings Netminders". Detroit Hockey Now. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  2. ^ Pemberton, Dave (2011-07-12). "Former Red Wings goalie Stefan stays competitive with golf". The Oakland Press. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  3. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
Preceded by Head coaches of the Plymouth Whalers
2007–2009 		Succeeded by