Paul Edward "Wally" Cavallini (born October 13, 1965) 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

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 Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He is the younger brother of former player

Gino Cavallini Gino J. Cavallini (born November 24, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He is the brother of the NHL hockey player Paul Cavallini. Cavallini played one year for the St. Michael's Buzzers, a Junior hockey team in the ...

, who was his teammate for several years with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

. He is also the father of hockey prospect Cade Cavallini of the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies.

Background

Cavallini was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. A steady defenceman with some offensive abilities, Cavallini was selected by the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

in 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 ...

. He entered the NHL after a season at Providence College where the Friars lost in the National Championship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and future NHL star

Adam Oates Adam Robert Oates (born August 27, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, former co-head coach for the New Jersey Devils and former head coach for the Washington Capitals. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League ...

. After playing parts of two seasons with the Capitals, he was traded to the

where he would spend almost six seasons including his best campaign, the 1989–90 season. He played in the 1990 All-Star game and led the league in plus/minus rating that season. He then returned to the Capitals for a second tour during the 1992–93 NHL season in a trade that sent Kevin Miller to the Blues. Cavallini would once again be traded by the Capitals, this time to 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 ...

where he would play until his retirement a few weeks into the 1995–96 NHL season. In 564 NHL games, Cavallini scored 56 goals and 177 assists. Cavallini missed 13 games during the 1990–91 season with a bizarre left index finger injury, in which he lost the tip of the finger. He suffered the injury while blocking a Doug Wilson slapshot during St. Louis' December 22, 1990, game vs. Chicago. The force of Wilson's shot literally severed the tip of Cavallini's finger. Cavallini found the tip of the finger inside his glove. Doctors hoped they could re-attach the tip in surgery, but their efforts failed. The piece of the finger was removed and the exposed bone covered with grafted skin. Cavallini did not return to action until St. Louis' January 25, 1991, game at Detroit. He scored a goal in that game.

Awards and honors

Career statistics

References

External links

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Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallini, Paul 1965 births Living people Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Binghamton Whalers players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Dallas Stars players Ice hockey people from Toronto National Hockey League All-Stars St. Louis Blues players Washington Capitals draft picks Washington Capitals players