John Richard Peverley (born July 8, 1982) 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 rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player. He spent four years with the St. Lawrence University hockey team before turning professional, then playing three years for several teams in both the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). Th ...

and

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 ...

(AHL). In 2007, he signed a contract with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

of the NHL, playing for the team for parts of three seasons before the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

claimed him off waivers in 2009. Peverley first played internationally for

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

at the 2010 World Championships. He retired after the 2013–14 season because of a heart ailment.

Playing career

Peverley was born in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

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 ...

but moved to

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...

at age eight, playing most of his minor hockey for the Guelph Reps (now Jr. Storm) of the OMHA South Central AAA League. In his Midget year, he played one season with the Toronto Young Nats of the MTHL before moving back to his home area to play for the Kitchener Dutchmen Jr.B. club of the OHA Midwestern league. After his Jr.B. season with the Dutchmen, Peverley was selected by Don Cherry and the Mississauga IceDogs in the sixth round, 124th overall, of the 1999 OHL Draft. Peverley chose to maintain his

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

eligibility, however, and instead signed for the 1999–2000 season with the Milton Merchants of the OHA's Provincial Jr.A. League. He later accepted an NCAA scholarship at the end of the season. Prior to beginning his professional career, Peverley played collegiate hockey for the St. Lawrence University Skating Saints, where he led the Skating Saints in points in three of his four seasons. Undrafted, Peverley made his professional debut in the 2004–05 season in the

with the South Carolina Stingrays before playing a solitary game with the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

in the

(AHL). After leading the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

in points midway in the 2006–07 season, his second season with the team, Peverley was signed by the team's parent club, the

, on January 17, 2007, appearing in 13 NHL games by season's end. Peverley split the 2007–08 season with the Predators and the Admirals, appearing in all six games for the Predators in the

Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs (french: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner ...

against the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. On January 10, 2009, Peverley was claimed off waivers by the

after accumulating nine points in 27 games. The switch to Atlanta rejuvenated his career, as he collected 35 points in 39 games for the remainder of the 2008–09 season and earned a two-year, $2.6 million contract with the Thrashers in the process. On February 18, 2011, Peverley was traded by the Thrashers, along with Boris Valábik, to the

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 (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The ...

in exchange for

Blake Wheeler Blake James Wheeler (born August 31, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey player for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry D ...

and Mark Stuart. He won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins on June 15, 2011. As a result of the

2012–13 NHL lock-out 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Peverley signed a contract with JYP of the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. On July 4, 2013, Peverley was traded, along with Tyler Seguin and

Ryan Button Ryan Button (born March 26, 1991) is a Canadian-German professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently a playing with Grizzlys Wolfsburg of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Button was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 3rd round (86th ove ...

, 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 (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

in exchange for

Loui Eriksson Loui William Eriksson (born 17 July 1985) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Eriksson was selected by the Dallas Stars in the second round, 33rd overall, at th ...

, Joe Morrow,

Reilly Smith Reilly Smith (born April 1, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger and alternate captain for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up in Toronto, Smith played junior hockey with St. Michael' ...

and Matt Fraser.

In-game cardiac incident

In September 2013, before the start of the Stars'

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training camp, Peverley underwent a surgical procedure to help with an irregular heartbeat. Six months later, Peverley collapsed on the team bench during a game against the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

, due to the cardiac issue. Subsequent surgery corrected the irregular heartbeat, and Peverley spent the 2014–2015 season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Stars' AHL affiliate, the

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the te ...

. He formally announced his retirement in September 2015, remaining with the Stars in the front office as the team's Player Development Coordinator.

International play

Peverley made his international debut in 2010, when he was named to the Canadian national team for the 2010 World Championship. He played all seven games for Canada, who finished seventh, and had one goal and three assists; his one goal was scored in a game against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peverley, Rich 1982 births Atlanta Thrashers players Boston Bruins players Canadian ice hockey centres Dallas Stars coaches Dallas Stars players Ice hockey people from Ontario JYP Jyväskylä players Living people Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players Portland Pirates players Reading Royals players St. Lawrence Saints men's ice hockey players South Carolina Stingrays players Sportspeople from Guelph Sportspeople from Kingston, Ontario Stanley Cup champions Undrafted National Hockey League players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian ice hockey coaches