William Anthony Derlago (born August 25, 1958) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player. He played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

from

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

with the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

and

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

. Derlago was born in

Birtle, Manitoba Birtle is an unincorporated urban community in the Prairie View Municipality within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to 1 January 2015. It is located at the junction of Highways 83 and 42. History Originall ...

, but grew up in Beulah, Manitoba.

Career

Growing up, Derlago excelled at multiple sports, including

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, and hockey. He achieved best success with ice hockey, playing with the

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. They are members of the Western Hockey League (WHL) since joining the league in the 1967–68 season. Previously, they played in the Manitoba Junior Hoc ...

and setting a number of WCJHL records. He was selected fourth overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft. As a rookie with the Canucks in 1978–79, Derlago badly injured his knee and was limited to just nine games, though he did score eight points. Though he played well in Vancouver, he was unable to live up to team expectations, and was traded to Toronto along with

Rick Vaive Richard Claude "Rick" Vaive (; born May 14, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA), before playing the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NH ...

for

Tiger Williams David James "Tiger" Williams (born February 3, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from the 1974–75 NHL season to the 1987–88 NHL season. He is the NHL's career leader in ...

and

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the Rhythm and blues, R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

on February 18, 1980. In Toronto, Derlago, raised to a star status, worked particularly well with Vaive. Though successful on the ice, it was speculated that Derlago could have achieved more. On October 11, 1985, Derlago was traded to the Boston Bruins for Tom Fergus. In Boston, he played as a defensive forward on the third and fourth line. After only 39 games in Boston he was again traded, this time to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Wade Campbell. In the later stages of his career Derlago was sent to the Quebec Nordiques in 1987. Finally, Derlago was relegated to the Fredericton Express of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

. Derlago spent one additional season in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

before announcing his retirement in 1988. Derlago currently resides in

Concord, Ontario Concord is a suburban industrial district in the City of Vaughan in York Region, located north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. According to the 2001 Census, Concord has 8,255 residents. It is accessed by two provincial highways: Highway 407 a ...

, and operates a

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

dealership.

Career statistics

Awards and achievements

* 1977: WCHL Scoring Champion *1977: WCHL First All-Star Team *1977: WCHL Goals Leader *

: WCHL Goals Leader *1978: WCHL Second All-Star Team *"Honoured Member" of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named an ...

References

External links

*
Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derlago, Bill 1958 births Living people Boston Bruins players Brandon Travellers players Brandon Wheat Kings players Canadian ice hockey centres Dallas Black Hawks players Fredericton Express players HC Ambrì-Piotta players Ice hockey people from Manitoba National Hockey League first-round draft picks Quebec Nordiques players Toronto Maple Leafs players Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vancouver Canucks players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players