Jeffrey K. Reese (born March 24, 1966) 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 h ...
goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...
who played eleven seasons 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 ...
(NHL) for the
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 ...
,
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...
,
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...
,
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...
and
New Jersey Devils. He has been the
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...
' goaltending coach since 2015
and was the goaltending coach for the Lightning from 2001 to 2009 and for the
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...
from 2009 to March 2015.
Playing career
The
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 ...
drafted Reese in the fourth round, 67th overall, of the
1984 NHL Entry Draft
The 1984 NHL Entry Draft was the 22nd NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 9, 1984, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec.
The 1984 Entry Draft is noted for the unusually high number of future Hall of Famers picked, particularly in lowe ...
from the
London Knights
The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League. The Knights started out in 1965 as the London Nationals but changed to their cu ...
. He spent four seasons with the Knights before turning pro with the Maple Leafs'
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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
farm team, the
Newmarket Saints
The Newmarket Saints were a minor league hockey team in Newmarket, Ontario. It played in the American Hockey League from 1986 to 1991 as the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Ray Twinney Complex.
After the 1985–86 season, the Tor ...
, in 1986.
Toronto Maple Leafs
During his second season as a pro he made his NHL debut when he was called up to Toronto and appeared in five games. The following year he doubled his totals playing ten games with the Leafs and 37 more with Newmarket. In 1989–90 he logged 21 games with the Maple Leafs sharing duties with
Allan Bester
Allan Bester (born March 26, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and Dallas Stars between 1984 and 1996.
Playing career
Bester ...
and
Mark Laforest. The following season he upped his totals to 30 games backing up rookie
Peter Ing
Peter A. Ing (born April 28, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 74 games in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, and Detroit Red Wings between 1989 and 1993.
Biography
I ...
who won the starting job in Toronto. A year later, the Maple Leafs made a blockbuster trade to bring in Hall of Famer
Grant Fuhr
Grant Scott Fuhr (born September 28, 1962) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League and former goaltending coach for the Arizona Coyotes, who is best remembered for a decade of stellar play for the Edmonton Oilers i ...
to handle the goaltending duties (with Ing part of the package leaving town) allowing Reese to apprentice in the crease behind Fuhr but it was a short lived arrangement because Reese himself was soon part of an enormous trade. On January 2, 1992, Reese was included in a ten-player trade that also sent
Craig Berube
Craig Berube (; born December 17, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the head coach for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Chief", Berube played 17 seasons in the NHL for ...
,
Alexander Godynyuk,
Gary Leeman
Gary Spencer Leeman (born February 19, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the NHL. In 1990, he became the second Toronto Maple Leaf player ever to score 50 goals or more in a single NHL season, after Rick Vaive did it in ...
and
Michel Petit
Michel Petit (born February 12, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from the 1982–83 NHL season to the 1998–99 NHL season. Upon his retirement Petit had played for a then- ...
to the Calgary Flames in exchange for
Doug Gilmour
Douglas Robert Gilmour (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for seven different teams. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the St. ...
,
Jamie Macoun,
Kent Manderville,
Ric Nattress and
Rick Wamsley
Richard James Wamsley (born May 25, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was the goaltending ...
.
Calgary Flames
With the Flames, Reese became the backup to incumbent
Mike Vernon and parts of three seasons in Calgary and played 26 games in 1992-93 posting an impressive 14-4-1 record. The highlight of his time in Calgary came on February 10, 1993, when he entered the NHL record book by posting three assists in a 13-1 Flames victory. With the emergence of first round draft pick
Trevor Kidd
Trevor Rodney Kidd (born March 29, 1972) is a Canadian former Ice hockey goaltender who last played for the Hannover Scorpions in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Throughout his 12-year National Hockey League career, Kidd played for the Calgary Flames ...
in the Flames net, Reese was out of a job and found himself on the move early in the 1993–94 season when Calgary traded him to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for defenseman
Dan Keczmer
Daniel Leonard Keczmer (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for five teams between 1990 and 2000. Internationally he played for the American national team at two W ...
.
Hartford Whalers
In Hartford, he was acquired to back up
Sean Burke
Sean Burke (born January 29, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and the current director of goaltending for the Vegas Golden Knights. He played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, H ...
. When Burke struggled with back issues, Reese and goaltender
Frank Pietrangelo
Frank Pietrangelo (born December 17, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.
Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Pietrangelo started his National Hockey League career with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1988, winning the Stanley C ...
each logged 19 games in the Hartford crease. Much like in Calgary before, the emergence of a younger netminder - this time
Jason Muzzatti - pushed him out and led to a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay had a solid starting goalie in
Daren Puppa
Daren James Puppa (born March 23, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender in the NHL. During his career, he played for the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. He won the 1985 NCAA Championship ...
but his backup,
Jean-Claude Bergeron was struggling for the Lightning so the veteran Reese took over the duties and acquitted himself well with a 7-7-1 record in 19 appearances. During the off-season, he was on the move again when he was sent to New Jersey in a swap for goaltender
Corey Schwab.
New Jersey Devils
With the Devils, Reese was slotted behind
Martin Brodeur but quickly lost his backup job to rookie
Mike Dunham
Michael Francis Dunham (born June 1, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. Dunham is the Boston Bruins goalie development coach, and the former head goaltending coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey Leag ...
and instead spent the majority of the 1996–97 season with the
Detroit Vipers
The Detroit Vipers were an International Hockey League team. The team was founded in 1994, and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Their mascot was a polar bear named Vipe-bear.
History
Beginning
The Vipers were originally formed as the S ...
of the
International Hockey League, splitting time with starting goaltender
Rich Parent. The duo combined to win the
James Norris Memorial Trophy
The James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top " defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". It is named after Ja ...
, allowing the fewest goals in the league. The Vipers went on to win the 1997
Turner Cup
The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...
. Reese was the starting goaltender for the Vipers during the 1997–98 season. He was named to the All-IHL Second Team in both 1997 and 1998.
Return to the Toronto Maple Leafs
As an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 1998, Reese's career went full-circle when he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. The Maple Leafs signed goaltender
Curtis Joseph
Curtis Shayne Joseph (né Munro; born April 29, 1967) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional player. Nicknamed "Cujo", Joseph was immediately recognizable on the ice for his masks featuring a snarling dog, drawing inspiration fro ...
that summer as well and had planned to deal incumbent
Felix Potvin away, but when that trade did not transpire, that started the season with both Joseph and Potvin on the roster pushing Reese down to the minors. He would play his final two NHL games with the Maple Leafs while also playing 27 games with the
St. John's Maple Leafs
The St. John's Maple Leafs were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at Memorial Stadium from 1991 to 2001, and at Mile One Stadium from 2001 to 2005. The team was ...
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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
. He was traded back to Tampa Bay in the off-season so they would have a veteran goalie to expose in the 1999 NHL Expansion Draft. He was not selected by the
Atlanta Thrashers and retired that summer.
Coaching career
After retiring Reese worked as a goalie coach with the Lightning organization and won a Stanley Cup with them in 2004.
On June 25, 2009, he was hired by the
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...
as their goalie coach, replacing
Réjean Lemelin
Réjean M. "Reggie" Lemelin (born November 19, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and coach. Lemelin played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. After his playing ...
. On March 6, 2015, Reese and the Flyers management mutually agreed to part ways. On June 15, 2015, he joined the
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...
as their goaltending coach.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Jeff
1966 births
Calgary Flames players
Canadian ice hockey goaltenders
Dallas Stars coaches
Detroit Vipers players
Hartford Whalers players
Living people
London Knights players
New Jersey Devils players
Newmarket Saints players
Philadelphia Flyers coaches
St. John's Maple Leafs players
Ice hockey people from Brantford
Stanley Cup champions
Tampa Bay Lightning coaches
Tampa Bay Lightning players
Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks
Toronto Maple Leafs players
Canadian ice hockey coaches