After playing a season with the WHA’s Birmingham Bulls, Rick Vaive was selected fifth overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1979. He only played half of a season on the West Coast before moving to the Maple Leafs. Although the 80s weren’t kind to Toronto, Vaive gave the Leafs Nation something to cheer about: he became the first Leaf to score 50 goals in a season and then continued to do so for the next three seasons in a row. He was the captain of the Leafs until he was traded to Chicago in 1987. Vaive spent a season and a half there before moving to Buffalo for three seasons. He retired from the NHL in 1992 and has served as a head coach in the OHL and AHL, as well as director of hockey operations for the ECHL. Vaive currently hosts a charity hockey event in Kitchener called the Rick Vaive Celebrity Classic in support of Easter Seals, helping kids with physical disabilities.
