Adam Robert Oates (born August 27, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, former co-head coach for the New Jersey Devils and former head coach for the Washington Capitals. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Edmonton Oilers from 1985 to 2004. Known as an elite playmaker, Oates's career total of 1,079 assists was the fifth-highest total in NHL history at the time of his 2004 retirement. He has the second highest number of games played and points scored among undrafted NHL players (behind Wayne Gretzky) with 1,337 and 1,420, respectively.
After retiring as a player, Oates served as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning and New Jersey Devils before joining the Capitals as their head coach for two seasons, from 2012 to 2014. In 2017, Oates was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
As a college player, Oates was a standout forward for the RPI Engineers. He set single-season school records for assists and points. He was named an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) all-star and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American in both 1984 and 1985. Oates was named a tournament all-star in helping RPI win the 1985 national championship, and in 1990–91, the NHL included him in its second All-Star team; he played in five All-Star Games. He holds the record for most points all-time of any NHL player who also played NCAA Hockey.
Oates was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 12, 2012.
Early life Oates was born on August 27, 1962, in Weston, a neighbourhood in Toronto. As a youth, he played both hockey and box lacrosse, favouring the latter sport. He played in the 1975 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Toronto.
Oates played five seasons with the Etobicoke Eclipse of the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) Junior A Lacrosse League. An offensive standout, Oates' total of 181 points in 19 games in 1981 was the 11th highest total in OLA junior history at the time. As the league's leading scorer, he won the Bobby Allan Award and in one game that season, set OLA Junior A single-game records of 19 assists and 29 points. Oates played one season of Senior A with the Brampton Excelsiors of Major Series Lacrosse but left the game in 1984 to focus on his hockey career.
Describing his younger self as a "punk", Oates said he partied frequently. He dropped out of high school to focus on hockey and ended up working as a gas station attendant at age 19. Oates played two full seasons and parts of a third with the Junior A Markham Waxers of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (OPJAHL). He scored 89 points in 43 games during 1980–81 and 159 points – including 105 assists – in 1981–82. He went unselected in the NHL entry draft, however, as scouts considered him too slow to play in the NHL. He returned to high school to complete his diploma when he was recruited to play for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Playing career
College RPI's assistant coach Paul Allen noticed Oates during a 1982 OPJAHL game while scouting a different player and offered him a position on the school's team. Consequently, Oates played three seasons with the RPI Engineers, leading the team in assists each year. After scoring 42 points in 22 games in his freshman season of 1982–83, he spent the summer working with a skating instructor to improve his foot speed. In 1983–84, he set school records in points with 83 and assists with 57. He was named to the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) second all-star team. He became the first RPI hockey player to earn a berth on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American team since 1965.
In 1984–85, Oates broke his own school records by recording 60 assists and 91 points. His career total of 150 assists remains a school record. Again named an NCAA All-American, he was voted to the ECAC first all-star team and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top hockey player in the NCAA. After helping RPI win the 1985 national championship, he was included in the all-tournament team. In his three years with RPI, the Engineers recorded an record and won the ECAC championships in 1984 and 1985. Oates was voted to the ECAC's all-decade team of the 1980s. He was inducted into RPI's Athletics Hall of Fame and was named the inaugural member of the hockey team's Ring of Honor in 2004.
Detroit and St. Louis
NHL teams took an interest in Oates following his junior season; at least five teams attempted to sign him. Choosing to forgo his final year of college eligibility, Oates signed a four-year, $1.1 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings that made him the highest paid rookie in the NHL in 1985–86. He made his NHL debut on October 10, 1985, against the Minnesota North Stars, scoring his first goal that night on goaltender Don Beaupre and added an assist. After this, Oates struggled offensively and was pointless in his following 16 games; the team subsequently demoted him to the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League (AHL). Oates split the remainder of the season between Detroit and Adirondack, finishing his first NHL season with 38 games played, 9 goals and 11 assists. He scored 18 goals and 28 assists in 34 games in the AHL. Having finished the NHL season in Detroit, he was returned to Adirondack for the AHL playoffs, which the team won to take the Calder Cup championship.
Oates became a fulltime NHLer in 1986–87, scoring 47 points in 76 games. He improved to 54 points in 63 games the following year despite missing a month due to a groin injury, and finished third in team scoring with 78 points in 1988–89. However, Detroit made changes following a first round loss in the playoffs; Oates, along with Paul MacLean, was traded to the St. Louis Blues on June 15, 1989, in exchange for veterans Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney. The deal, which is now considered one of the worst in Red Wings' history, left Oates "heartbroken" to leave his first NHL club.
The Blues made Oates their first-line centre and played him alongside Brett Hull. The pair, dubbed "Hull and Oates" as a play on the band Hall and Oates, put up prolific offensive numbers. In 1989–90, Oates topped the 100-point mark for the first time in his career with 102 points. He improved to 115 in 1990–91. He helped Hull score 72 and 86 goals those seasons, the latter the third highest in single-season total in NHL history. Oates was named to the second all-star team following the season and played in the 1991 All-Star Game.
Oates signed a four-year, $3 million contract extension with the Blues prior to the 1991–92 season, but after the team signed Brendan Shanahan, Garth Butcher and Ron Sutter to significant deals, felt he was underpaid. After playing in his second career All-Star Game, he threatened to walk off the team following the All-Star break if the Blues did not renegotiate his contract, prompting a negative reaction from St. Louis fans, who booed him loudly. The conflict was resolved on February 7, 1992, when the team traded him to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Craig Janney and Stéphane Quintal.
Boston and Washington Oates' best individual season came in his first full year in Boston. He led the league with 97 assists in 1992–93 and finished third in overall scoring with 142 points. At the 1993 All-Star Game, Oates set a record by recording four assists in one period as part of a 16–6 victory for the Wales Conference. He played in his fourth consecutive All-Star Game in 1994 and again finished third in league scoring with 112 points in 1993–94. In a five-year period between 1989 and 1994, Oates was the second-highest point producer in the NHL. His average of 114 points per season over that time was second to Wayne Gretzky's 124.
A finger injury suffered during the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs hampered Oates throughout the 1994–95 season and required surgery at the season's conclusion. Despite the injury, Oates finished fourth in the NHL with 41 assists in a season disrupted by a work stoppage. In game five of the conference quarter-final series against the New Jersey Devils, Oates scored the final goal in the history of the Boston Garden in a 3–2 loss. The Bruins signed him to a five-year, $10 million contract extension late in that season, but Oates once again became frustrated with his salary relative to the rest of the league by 1997. With the Bruins struggling on the ice and out of playoff contention late in 1996–97 season, Oates publicly berated team management, saying, "You go on a [road] trip and everyone says it's a big trip. For what? So we can win five games because we're lousy and we get in the eighth spot and lose four straight and get embarrassed and then get shelled all summer? It's upstairs, baby. That's their job, not ours. ... Are we rebuilding? What are we doing? What direction are we going in?"
Less than two weeks after his tirade, on March 1, 1997, Oates was traded to the Washington Capitals. In the trade, Oates, Bill Ranford and Rick Tocchet went to Washington in exchange for Jim Carey, Anson Carter, Jason Allison and two draft picks, 3rd Round 1997 (Lee Goren) & Conditional 2nd Round 1998 (Bobby Allen) Oates initially refused to report to Washington, demanding his contract be renegotiated, but chose to join the team after a four-day holdout. He continued to demand a new contract in the off-season, while his agent claimed Oates would retire before playing for the Capitals again. After several months of contentious negotiations, the two sides agreed to a three-year contract worth around $2.9 million per season with an option on a fourth year.
Oates became the 47th player in NHL history, and the 15th fastest, to score his 1,000th career point on October 7, 1997, against the New York Islanders. He reached the milestone by scoring a hat-trick and adding two assists for the sixth five-point game of his career. He finished the 1997–98 season as the team leader with 56 assists, and second to Peter Bondra in team scoring with 78 points. The Capitals reached the 1998 Stanley Cup Final, which they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in a four-game sweep; their first finals appearance in franchise history.
The Capitals named Oates the ninth captain in franchise history prior to the 1999–2000 season, following the departure of his predecessor, Dale Hunter. He led the team in scoring with 71 points and played his 1,000th NHL game on December 22, 1999, against the Vancouver Canucks. He led the league in assists the following two seasons, at the ages of 38 and 39, with 69 in 2000–01 and 64 in 2001–02. On January 14, 2002, Oates became the eighth player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career assists when he set up Dainus Zubrus' overtime winning goal in a 1–0 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Philadelphia, Anaheim and Edmonton With Washington out of playoff contention late in the 2001–02 season and with his contract expiring following the season, the Capitals traded Oates to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 19, 2002, in exchange for goaltender Maxime Ouellet and the Flyers' first, second and third round selections in the 2002 NHL entry draft. The Flyers hoped that bringing Oates in would solidify their playoff chances. The move did not work, as the Flyers were defeated in the first round by the lower ranked Ottawa Senators, losing the series in five games. The team scored only one goal in regulation time and were shut-out three times by Ottawa's Patrick Lalime.