August 27 NHL History
1962: Center Adam Oates, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and arguably the best undrafted player in NHL history, is born in Weston, Ontario.
Many scouts consider Oates too slow to play in the NHL, so he attends Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute instead. The Engineers go 85-19-1 during his three seasons and win the 1985 NCAA championship with Oates setting school records for assists (60) and points (91) in his junior season, after which the Detroit Red Wings sign him to a four-year contract. He splits time between the Red Wings and the minors in 1985-86, then becomes a full-time NHL player the following season.
But Oates’ career really takes off after he’s traded to the St. Louis Blues on June 15, 1989 and becomes the first-line center playing with Brett Hull on his right side. Oates has 102 and 115 points in his two full seasons with the Blues, helping Hull score 72 and 86 goals. After unsuccessfully trying to renegotiate his contract, Oates is traded to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 7, 1992. He leads the League with 97 assists in 1992-93 and finishes with an NHL career-high 142 points. He retires after the 2003-04 season with 341 goals, 1,079 assists and 1,420 points in 1,337 NHL games with seven teams and is inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.
1966: Toe Blake and Elmer Lach, two-thirds of the Montreal Canadiens‘ famed “Punch Line,” are among 10 new inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame. They join the third member of the line, Maurice Richard, a 1961 inductee. Other members of the Class of 1966 include Ted Lindsay, Butch Bouchard, Frank Brimsek, Ken Reardon, Babe Pratt, Ted “Teeder” Kennedy and Max Bentley. NHL president Clarence Campbell is also inducted as a builder.
