James Anthony Neilson (November 28, 1941 – November 6, 2020) was a Canadian 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 ...

defenceman who 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 ...

(NHL) for the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

California Golden Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

, and

Cleveland Barons The name Cleveland Barons has been used by three professional hockey teams and one junior team. *Cleveland Barons (NHL), the National Hockey League team that played between 1976 and 1978 *Cleveland Barons (1937–1973), the original American Hockey ...

and completed his career with the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA).

Early life

Neilson was born in Big River, Saskatchewan in 1941. As a child his mother abandoned the family, so Neilson and his two sisters grew up in St. Patrick’s Orphanage in Prince Albert.

Career

Neilson played a total of 1,024 games in the NHL, with 69 goals and 299 assists. He played from 1962–63 season to 1977–78 season in the NHL and 1978–79 in the WHA. He was a four time all-star. In the 2009 book ''100 Ranger Greats'', the authors ranked Neilson at #42 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons. Neilson was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. Neilson died in Winnipeg on November 6, 2020.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links