Donald Richard Lever (born November 14, 1952) 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 ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played 15 seasons in the

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

from 1972–73 until 1986–87.

Playing career

Lever was drafted 3rd overall by 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 ...

in the

1972 NHL Amateur Draft The 1972 NHL Amateur Draft was the 10th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Richard Brodeur, who played his last NHL game in the 1987– ...

. 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 The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

alongside

Brad Smith Brad or Bradley Smith may refer to: Sportspeople * Bradley Smith (cricketer) (born 1969), English former cricketer * Brad Smith (footballer, born 1948), Australian rules footballer and premiership coach of East Fremantle * Brad Smith (ice hockey) ...

in exchange for

Ivan Boldirev Ivan Boldirev (Serbian Cyrillic: Иван Болдирев; born August 15, 1949) is a Serbian Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Boldirev played fifteen seasons and over 1000 games in the NHL from 1970 through 1985. Boldirev was not ...

and

Darcy Rota Darcy Irwin Rota (born February 16, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent eleven seasons in the National Hockey League. Playing career Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Darcy's formative years including Bantam ...

on February 8, 1980. He was later the first captain of the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The club was founded as the Kan ...

. 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. On March 9, 2009, Lever was named an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens by

Bob Gainey Robert Michael Gainey (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive wit ...

after the firing of

Guy Carbonneau Joseph Harry Guy Carbonneau (born March 18, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive in the National Hockey League. He was also the president of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Chicoutimi Saguenéens. ...

. His contract was not renewed, and he was named head coach of the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

of the AHL on October 21, 2009.

Awards and achievements

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

: OHA First All-Star Team *1972:

Red Tilson Trophy The Red Tilson Trophy is awarded annually by the Ontario Hockey League to the most outstanding player (MVP) as voted by OHL writers and broadcasters. It was donated by ''The Globe and Mail,'' and first awarded in the 1944–45 OHA season by the O ...

(OHA MVP) *

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

: Played in

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

*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

International

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 Caitlin () is a female given name of Irish origin. Historically, the Irish name Caitlín was anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s, however, non-Irish speakers began pronouncing the name according to English spelling rules as , whic ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lever, Don 1952 births Living people Atlanta Flames players Buffalo Sabres coaches Buffalo Sabres players Calgary Flames players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Chicago Blackhawks scouts Chicago Wolves coaches Colorado Rockies (NHL) players Ice hockey people from Ontario Montreal Canadiens coaches National Hockey League first-round draft picks New Jersey Devils players Niagara Falls Flyers players Rochester Americans players St. Louis Blues coaches Sportspeople from Timmins Vancouver Canucks captains Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vancouver Canucks players Canadian ice hockey coaches