Rick Middleton: Difference between revisions

| position = [[Winger (ice hockey)|Right Wingwing]]

| birth_place = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada

A right winger, Middleton was drafted in the first round, 14th overall, by the Rangers in the [[1973 NHL Amateur Draft]] after a glittering [[junior hockey|junior]] career with the [[Oshawa Generals]] in which he led his league in scoring his final year and was named to the league's Second All-Star Team. He spent the [[1973–74 NHL season|1973–74 season]] with the Rangers' farm team, the [[American Hockey League|AHL]] [[Providence Reds]], earning rookie of the year honors and being named to the AHL's First All-Star Team.

HeMiddleton made the big club during the [[1974–75 NHL season|1974–75 season]], and despite suffering injuries that restricted him to 47 games, scored 22 goals in that limited time. The following season was not as spectacular, as he scored 24 goals in 77 games while showing defensive deficiencies.

Middleton was traded to the Boston Bruins for [[Ken Hodge]] on May 26, 1976. Rangers head coach and general manager [[John Ferguson Sr.]] was confident that his team had enough young talent to justify making Middleton expendable. What the Bruins got was a player who was ten years younger and a swifter skater than Hodge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/27/archives/rangers-acquire-hodge-of-bruins-for-middleton-rangers-get-bruins.html|title=Rangers Acquire Hodge Of Bruins for Middleton|last=Eskenazi|first=Gerald|date=May 27, 1976|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref> The transaction became even more one-sided in favor of the Bruins when head coach [[Don Cherry (ice hockey)|Don Cherry]] developed Middleton's defensive skills to make him a solid two-way player.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/15/sports/rick-middleton-s-new-priority.html|title=Rick Middleton's New Priority|last=Moran|first=Malcolm|date=January 15, 1983|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> Hodge played only a single season more before his career ended, while Middleton became a great star in Boston, scoring a hat trick in his first game as a Bruin (October 7, 1976 versus Minnesota) and nearly nine hundred points in a Bruins uniform over the next twelve years. Generally paired with centre [[Barry Pederson]], Middleton had five straight seasons of at least forty goals and ninety points and led the Bruins to perennial glittering records. His leadership was apparent in being named [[captain (ice hockey)|co-captain]] (with [[Ray Bourque]]) to succeed [[Terry O'Reilly]] in 1985, a position he held until he retired, wearing the "C" during home games. RegardedMiddleton was regarded as one of the best one -on -one players of all time {{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} and currently ranks #2second all time in career shooting percentage (19.7) among players with 400+ goals.

His best season was the [[1981–82 NHL season|1981–82 season]], during which Middleton scored a career high 51 goals, won the [[Lady Byng Trophy]] for excellence and sportsmanship, and was named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team. The following season, heMiddleton led the Bruins to the league's best regular season record, and set unbroken records that year for the most points scored in the playoffs by a player not advancing to the finals (33) and for a single playoff series (19, in the quarterfinals against Buffalo). His 105 points in the [[1983–84 NHL season|1983–84 season]] tied Ken Hodge's team record for most points scored in a season by a right winger, and remains unbroken.

Middleton scored 25 shorthanded goals for Boston—a Bruins' team record that was equaled and later surpassed by [[Brad Marchand]] in 2018–19. Middleton had held the club record for more than 30 years since overtaking [[Derek Sanderson]]'s record of 24.

Middleton also starred in international play, being named to play for [[Canada men's national ice hockey team|Team Canada]] in the [[Canada Cup (ice hockey)|Canada Cup]] in [[1981 Canada Cup|1981]] and [[1984 Canada Cup|1984]]. Teamed on the top line with [[Wayne Gretzky]] and [[Michel Goulet]] in the 1984 series, he scored four goals and four assists in seven games. Further, Middleton played in the [[NHL All-Star Game]] in 1981, 1982 and 1984.

*Named to the [[NHL Second All-Star Team]] in [[1981–82 NHL season|1982]].

*His Jersey #'''16''' is[[Jersey number|Jersey]] was retired by the [[Boston Bruins]] on November 29, 2018.

* Most Pointspoints in one Playoffplayoff Seriesseries: (19)

* Highest Playoffplayoff Pointsassists per game average in one Postpost-Seasonseason by a right winger: (1.9429)

! 10051,005

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*[[List of NHL players with 10001,000 games played]]

[[Category:SportspeopleIce hockey people from Toronto]]

[[Category:National Hockey LeagueNHL first -round draft picks]]