Don Lever

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| position = Left wing

| image = Don Lever.jpg

| image_size = 230 px

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 11

| weight_lb = 185

| played_for = Vancouver Canucks
Atlanta Flames
Calgary Flames
Colorado Rockies
New Jersey Devils
Buffalo Sabres

| league = NHL

| ntl_team = CAN

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|11|14}}

| birth_place = South Porcupine, Ontario, Canada

| draft = 3rd overall

| draft_year = 1972

| draft_team = Vancouver Canucks

| career_start = 1972

| career_end = 1987

}}

File:Don Lever Panini 1979.jpg in 1979]]

Donald Richard Lever (born November 14, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1972–73 until 1986–87. He notably helped the Calgary Flames reach the NHL playoff semifinals for the first time in club history in 1981.

Playing career

Lever was drafted 3rd overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft. The forward reached the 20-goal mark six times in Vancouver and played for Canada at the 1978 World Championships. Lever was traded to the Atlanta Flames alongside Brad Smith in exchange for Ivan Boldirev and Darcy Rota on February 8, 1980. He was later the first captain of the New Jersey Devils. Lever scored the first goal in Devils' history. He was recognized for both his penalty killing and powerplay abilities. Lever played 1020 career NHL games, scoring 313 goals and 367 assists for 680 points.http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=13385 Legends of Hockey/HHOF. Retrieved January 4, 2007. On March 9, 2009, Lever was named an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens by Bob Gainey after the firing of Guy Carbonneau.{{cite news|title=Canadiens fire Carbonneau, Gainey takes over as coach|url=https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=270525&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_nhl|publisher=The Sports Network|date=2009-03-09|access-date=2009-03-09}} His contract was not renewed, and he was named head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the AHL on October 21, 2009.

Awards and achievements

1972: OHA First All-Star Team
1972: Red Tilson Trophy (OHA MVP)
1982: Played in NHL All-Star Game
1990–91: Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award
2006–07: Head coached the Hamilton Bulldogs to their first franchise Calder Cup, AHL championship

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Regular season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Playoffs
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM
1969–70 \| Niagara Falls Flyers \| OHA-Jr. \| 2	0	1	1	4 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1970–71 \| Niagara Falls Flyers \| OHA-Jr. \| 59	35	36	71	112 \| —	—	—	—	—
1971–72 \| Niagara Falls Flyers \| OHA-Jr. \| 69	61	65	126	69 \| 6	3	1	4	45
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1972–73 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 78	12	26	38	49 \| —	—	—	—	—
1973–74 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 78	23	25	48	28 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1974–75 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 80	38	30	68	49 \| 5	0	1	1	4
1975–76 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 80	25	40	65	93 \| 2	0	0	0	0
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1976–77 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 80	27	30	57	28 \| —	—	—	—	—
1977–78 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 75	17	32	49	58 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1978–79 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 71	23	21	44	17 \| 3	2	1	3	2
1979–80 \| Vancouver Canucks \| NHL \| 51	21	17	38	32 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1979–80 \| Atlanta Flames \| NHL \| 28	14	16	30	4 \| 4	1	1	2	0
1980–81 \| Calgary Flames \| NHL \| 62	26	31	57	56 \| 16	4	7	11	20
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1981–82 \| Calgary Flames \| NHL \| 23	8	11	19	6 \| —	—	—	—	—
1981–82 \| Colorado Rockies \| NHL \| 59	22	28	50	20 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1982–83 \| New Jersey Devils \| NHL \| 79	23	30	53	68 \| —	—	—	—	—
1983–84 \| New Jersey Devils \| NHL \| 70	14	19	33	44 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1984–85 \| New Jersey Devils \| NHL \| 67	10	8	18	31 \| —	—	—	—	—
1985–86 \| Rochester Americans \| AHL \| 29	6	11	17	16 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1985–86 \| Buffalo Sabres \| NHL \| 29	7	1	8	6 \| —	—	—	—	—
1986–87 \| Rochester Americans \| AHL \| 57	29	25	54	69 \| 18	4	3	7	14
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1986–87 \| Buffalo Sabres \| NHL \| 10	3	2	5	4 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" \| NHL totals ! 1,020 !! 313 !! 367 !! 680 !! 593 ! 30 !! 7 !! 10 !! 17 !! 26

=International=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:50em"

ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

1978

| Canada

| WC

| 10

| 4

| 3

| 7

| 4

Coaching statistics

Season Team Lge Type GP W L T OTL Pct Result

1987-88 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1988-89 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1990-91 Rochester Americans AHL Head coach 80 45 26 9 0 0.619 Lost in finals

1991-92 Rochester Americans AHL Head coach 80 37 31 12 0 0.537 Lost in round 3

1992-93 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1993-94 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1994-95 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1995-96 Buffalo Sabres NHL Associate coach

1996-97 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

1997-98 Buffalo Sabres NHL Associate coach

1998-99 Buffalo Sabres NHL Associate coach

1999-00 Buffalo Sabres NHL Associate coach

2000-01 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

2001-02 Buffalo Sabres NHL Assistant coach

2002-03 St. Louis Blues NHL Assistant coach

2003-04 St. Louis Blues NHL Assistant coach

2005-06 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL Head coach 80 35 41 0 4 0.463 Out of playoffs

2006-07 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL Head coach 80 43 28 0 9 0.594 Won championship

2007-08 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL Head coach 80 36 34 0 10 0.512 Out of playoffs

2008-09 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL Head coach 65 39 24 0 2 0.615

2008-09 Montreal Canadiens NHL Assistant coach

Personal life

Lever and his wife Karen have three children, Michael, Sarah, and Caitlin.{{cite web |url=http://www.softball.ca/profile.asp?pID=309 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-08-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706203551/http://www.softball.ca/profile.asp?pID=309 |archive-date=2011-07-06 }}