Rick Vaive played in the NHL from 1979-1992 as a right-wing shooter and is best remembered as the first 50 goal scorer for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He entered the NHL in 1979 after being selected 5th overall by the Vancouver Canucks, after an impressive junior career with the Sherbrooke Castors. Following one season, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1980, where he became the first 50 goal scorer in the franchises’s history, an achievement he repeated two more times. He scored 54 goals in 1981-82, 51 goals in 1982-83 and 52 goals in 1983-84. He was also captain of the Maple Leafs from 1982-86.
In 1987, he was trade to Chicago, scoring 43 goals in his first season and afterwards, spent 4 season with the Buffalo Sabres, retiring in 1992. In 1993, he joined the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Canucks and has served as a minor-league coach in Hamilton, Charleston, St. John and Mississauga since then.
