Rick Vaive

Rick Vaive Born May 14, 1959 Position: RW Height: 6-1 Weight: 190 Shoots: Right Drafted 5th Overall 1979

"Squid" was a power forward who corralled plenty of points and penalty minutes. Vaive used his booming slapshot to become the first Leaf in franchise history to score 50 goals in one season. He got 54 in 1981-82 followed by seasons of 51 and then 52. Rick Vaive may have been one of the most under-rated players to play in NHL. For ten consecutive seasons he scored more than 30 goals per season. He scored more than 50 goals three consecutive seasons and was the first Maple Leaf to reach and pass the 50 goal barrier. He was a Toronto Maple Leaf Captain, an honored bestowed on very few. To be a Toronto Maple Leaf Captain you hold the most prestigious captaincy in the NHL
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"Vaive is an excellent skater, strong in stride and balanced, attributes that serve his physical style of play well....excellent anticipation and instincts around the net....good wrist shot and excellent slap shot, a threat to score from anywhere in the offensive zone....excellent along the boards or in the corners, muscling the opposition off the puck...very difficult to control in front of the net because of his strength....an emotional player who takes pride in his achievements....leads by example during games."-Hockey Scouting Report 1987-88
Vaive was a gritty player who would fight quite a bit early in his career.Vaive had a deadly shot and was one of the leagues top power forwards before the term was popular. His three 50 goal seasons are particularly impressive when you consider he never had a top playmaker as a linemate in Toronto. His one offensive weakness was that he would often shoot instead of passing to a teammate in a better scoring position. That's just the instinct of a natural goalscorer. Defensively, while never a Selke contender, Vaive was more defensively responsible than most 50 goal scoers of the 80s. His reputation as the hardest worker on the Leafs was well earned.
Interesting question: I wonder how differently Vaive's career would be judged if he had those exact same 50 goal seasons in the 80s as a member of the Islanders or Oilers instead of the hapless Leafs
I'd like to know though, why Vaive declined in play and retired so abruptly when he wasn't that old and was still putting up good numbers.He battled serious neck injuries in the late-80's.I remember him wearing one of those Linebacker-style Jack Lambert collars when he was with the Sabres at the end of his career.I also recall seeing him wearing those collars as a Leaf as well.I liked Vaive alot when he was in the old Black n' Blue Chuck Norris Division with the Leafs and Blackhawks, not so much when he came over to the Sabres and the Adams and scored a boatload of goals against the Bruins.
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Rick Vaive was born on May 14 1959, in Ottawa Ontario. In 1978
Rick cut his fine junior career short to jump to pro hockey as an underage free agent. Vaive played with the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA. The Vancouver Canucks drafted Vaive first round, #5 overall in the 1979 NHL entry draft. He played part of his rookie season with Vancouver before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with Bill Derlago for Jerry Butler and Dave "Tiger" Williams. By 1980, the right winger had begun to show the rare combination of scoring prowess and toughness. In 1980-81 he scored 33 goals, 29 assits for 62 points and racked up 229 penalty minutes.
As a leaf rick developed into one of the league’s most dangerous forwards with his booming slap shot. Many nights he was the Toronto offense.He set Maple Leaf history as he became the first player in Toronto’s storied history to score 50 goals.Between 1981 and 1984, Rick Vaive had three consecutive 50+ goal seasons. During this period of time, Toronto's captain scored more goals than everyone in the NHL except Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy He scored 299 goals in just over seven years with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Vaive's character and scoring statistics should be considered one of the greatest Maple Leafs of all time. In addition to all of the 50 goal seasons, Vaive was a tremendous battler, willing to absorb punishment in the corners and in front of the net in order to score goals, especially while on the power play. He, not unlike the overly popular Wendel Clark, was passionate and emotional, dropping the gloves on more than a few occasions and earning the respect of opponents.

In 1987 Rick Vaive, Bob McGill and Steve Thomas were traded to the to Blackhawks for Ed Olczyk and Al Secord. Vaive continued to have success in Chicago but was traded halfway into the 1988-89 season to the Buffalo Sabres for Adam Creighton. He retired from professional hockey in 1993 and made a brief comeback in 2002 with the Dundas Real McCoys of the Ontario Hockey Association's senior league. Rick Vaive also has coached in the ECHL, AHL and the OHL

Vaive played in three All-Star Games (1982, 1983, 1984) over his 13-year NHL career. He had nine consecutive 30-goal seasons and he managed to reach the 20-goal mark in every NHL campaign with the exception of his final one.
WHA Totals 75 26 33 59 248 NHL Totals 876 441 347 788 1445 Playoff Totals 54 27 16 43 111