Dave Gagner came up through the Chatham minor hockey system before joining the Brantford Alexanders for
two full seasons. In 1982-83 he had a great offensive
season, scoring 55 goals and 121 points in 70 games.
- 1983-84
- That summer Gagner was selected by the New York
Rangers in the first round, 12th overall in the NHL
Entry Draft. In 1983-84 he devoted himself to
playing for the Canadian National Team, suiting up
for 50 games and also playing in the 1984 World
Championships. Gagner then lived out a dream by
playing for
Canada
at the 1984 Olympics in
Sarajevo
, and although the team failed to medal, he always regarded it as
one of the main highlights of his hockey career.
- 1984-85
- Gagner began his pro career playing 38 games with
the New York Rangers, scoring six goals and 12
points. He remained with the Rangers' organization
for another two years but never was able to
completely get over the hump and earn a full-time
roster spot. The bigger, stronger players in the NHL
posed a noticeable problem for players such as
Gagner, who relied on speed to combat a lack of
size. But in the NHL most players had both size and
speed.
- 1990-91
- Gagner was traded to the Minnesota North Stars in
October, 1987 hoping to revitalize his sagging
career. He seemed to like the Stars offensive system
much more and managed to surpass the 30-goal plateau
in each of the five full seasons he was with the
team. He also had two 40-goal seasons with his best
year coming in 1990-91 when he had 40 goals and 82
points. That was also the year the North Stars
advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost
to Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gagner
was an offensive juggernaut throughout the playoffs
for
Minnesota
, collecting 27 points in 23 games.
- 1996-97
- Gagner remained with the North Stars in
Minnesota
until the club moved to
Dallas
and he remained with the team for three more years in
Texas
. Midway through the 1995-96 campaign he was traded to the Toronto
Maple Leafs, but he was there for just 28 games
before they shipped him off to
Calgary
. He played the entire 1996-97 season with the Flames and had a
solid 60-point season
- 1997
- In the summer of 1997, Gagner signed a free-agent
pact with the Florida Panthers where he played for a
little over a year before being traded to the
Vancouver Canucks midway through the 1998-99 season.
He finished out the year and then announced his
retirement after 15 years in the NHL.
- 2006
- After his retirement, Gagner founded Custom Ice
Rinks, a company that builds ice rinks in people's
backyards in the winter. In August 2006 it was
announced that he will be the new assistant coach of
the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League; his
son Sam Gagner also played for the team and
currently plays for the Edmonton Oilers. Dave
also attends the University of Western Ontario
part-time.
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