Jim Wiley

{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player and coach (1950–2021)}}

{{Infobox ice hockey biography

| image =

| image_size =

| position = Centre

| played_for = Pittsburgh Penguins
Vancouver Canucks

| coached_for = San Jose Sharks

| career_start_coach = 1984

| career_end_coach = 2008

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lb = 200

| birth_date = {{birth date|1950|4|28|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|12|26|1950|4|28|mf=y}}

| career_start = 1972

| career_end = 1980

}}

Thomas James Wiley (April 28, 1950 – December 26, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey center and coach. He played 62 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1972 and 1977, split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks, with the bulk of his career being spent in the minor Central Hockey League. Wiley retired as a player in 1980, and in 1984 became a coach in the United States Hockey League, and later coached in several minor leagues. In 1995–96 Wiley coached the NHL's San Jose Sharks for the final 57 games of the season, before returning to the minors. His last season as a coach was in 2008.

Playing career

{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}

Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Wiley signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1972 following a fine collegiate career at Lake Superior State University, becoming the first Lakers alum to play in the NHL. He spent the majority of the next two seasons with the Hershey Bears, Pittsburgh's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, although he did appear in 26 games for the Penguins over that stretch, recording four assists.

Wiley was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1974 NHL Intra-League Draft, but continued to find himself toiling in minor pro. He earned a two-game callup in 1975–76, and had his longest NHL stint in 1976–77, when he recorded four goals and ten points in 34 games for the Canucks. He retired in 1980 without seeing any further NHL action.

Wiley appeared in 62 NHL games, recording four goals and ten assists for 14 points along with eight penalty minutes.

Coaching career

{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}

Following his retirement, Wiley moved into coaching. He was the long-time coach of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League before breaking into the pro ranks in 1993 as head coach of the Kansas City Blades, the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.

When the Sharks fired head coach Kevin Constantine after a dismal 3–18–4 start, Wiley was promoted to the head coaching position with the NHL club. While his 17–37–3 record was somewhat of an improvement over their start, it was not enough for Wiley to keep his job. Following the season, he was reassigned back to the Sharks' top farm team, then the Kentucky Thoroughblades, where he served until 1998.

After leaving the Sharks organization, Wiley made stops in the East Coast Hockey League, Central Hockey League, and United Hockey League.

Personal life and death

Wiley died on December 26, 2021, at the age of 71.{{cite news |last1=Pashelka |first1=Curtis |title=Former San Jose Sharks head coach dies at 71 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/12/27/former-san-jose-sharks-head-coach-dies-at-71/ |website=The Mercury News|access-date=28 December 2021 |date=27 December 2021 |ref=The Mercury News}}

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="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Regular season

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Playoffs

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

1966–67

| Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds

| NOJHL

| 25

13223513

| 12

117184
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1967–68

| Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds

| NOJHL

| 38

21315234

| 11

2356
1968–69

| Lake Superior State University

| ICHA

| 26

915244

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1969–70

| Lake Superior State University

| ICHA

| 25

21173811

| —

1970–71

| Lake Superior State University

| ICHA

| 25

18193713

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1971–72

| Lake Superior State University

| ICHA

| 28

22345624

| —

1972–73

| Hershey Bears

| AHL

| 71

30457530

| 7

1125
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1972–73

| Pittsburgh Penguins

| NHL

| 4

0110

| —

1973–74

| Hershey Bears

| AHL

| 47

21335426

| 14

5111615
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1973–74

| Pittsburgh Penguins

| NHL

| 22

0332

| —

1974–75

| Seattle Totems

| CHL

| 51

10253524

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1975–76

| Tulsa Oilers

| CHL

| 76

33639621

| 9

54938
1975–76

| Vancouver Canucks

| NHL

| 2

0000

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1976–77

| Tulsa Oilers

| CHL

| 29

17173427

| 9

4484
1976–77

| Vancouver Canucks

| NHL

| 34

46104

| —

bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1978–79

| Tulsa Oilers

| CHL

| 73

23456829

| —

1979–80

| Tulsa Oilers

| CHL

| 76

18365430

| 3

0220
bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3"| CHL totals

! 305 !! 101 !! 186 !! 287 !! 131

! 21 !! 9 !! 10 !! 19 !! 42

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3"| NHL totals

! 62 !! 4 !! 10 !! 14 !! 8

! — !! — !! — !! — !! —

=Coaching=

==NHL==

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
rowspan="2"|Teamrowspan="2"|Yearcolspan="6"|Regular seasoncolspan="1"|Post season
GWLTPtsFinishResult
SJ||1995-96

|57||17||37||3||(47)||7th in Pacific||Missed Playoffs

==Other leagues==

class="wikitable"

! Team !! Season !! W !! L !! OTL/T

Kansas City Blades1993–94403110
Kansas City Blades1994–9535406
Kansas City Blades1995–96210
Kentucky Thoroughblades1996–9736359
Kentucky Thoroughblades1997–98293912
Lexington Men O' War2002–0334317
Memphis RiverKings2003–0417140
Roanoke Valley Vipers2005–0612265
Amarillo Gorillas2006–0732284
Amarillo Gorillas2007–08223210

References

{{reflist}}