Tiger Williams

Tiger Williams Biography

David James "Dave, Tiger" Williams (born February 3, 1954) is a former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from the 1974-75 NHL season to the 1987-88 NHL season. He is the NHL's career leader in penalty minutes.

NHL career

Williams was drafted in the second round (31st overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. He was also drafted by the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in the third round (33rd overall) in the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, but he chose instead to play in the NHL.

Williams was best known for his role as an enforcer, but he was also able to score goals. He played on five different NHL teams during his career. He was drafted by the Maple Leafs and played there from his NHL debut on 7 January against the New York Islanders in 1975 until he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks on 18 February, 1980 for Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago. While in Toronto, he broke many Maple Leaf and NHL penalty minute records and led the league in penalty minutes twice with 338 in 1976-77 and 298 in 1978-79. While it seemed that he lived in the "sin bin", he was able to score his fair share of goals. During his best season in Toronto, he scored 22 goals in 55 games before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks part way through that season. He scored 8 more goals in 23 games that season with Vancouver for, at that time, a career best 30 goals.

The next season, 1980-81, in Vancouver, Williams scored a career high of 35 goals and 62 points while amassing a league leading 343 penalty minutes in 77 games. The 343 penalty minutes would be the third highest of his career. Those 35 goals were the most by any Canuck that year. That season, Williams earned a place in the mid-season All-Star game, having scored 27 goals by the All-Star break, and played on a line with Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy. He would play an integral role in the team's surprise run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1982. Williams played in Vancouver until the end of the 1983-84 season.

After Vancouver, Williams played for the Detroit Red Wings for part of the 1984-85 NHL season before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings that same year. During his tenure in Los Angeles, he would set his career high of 358 penalty minutes for one season. He would play in Los Angeles until he was traded to the Hartford Whalers during the 1987-88 NHL season. That would also be his last NHL season as Hartford placed him on waivers and he was released on February 12, 1988. He officially retired in 1988.

Williams was nicknamed "Tiger" as a 5-year-old by his minor hockey coach in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. He also appeared as himself in the first episode of the Canadian sitcom Rent-a-Goalie.

After the NHL

Co-written by James Lawton, Williams published his autobiography, Tiger: A Hockey Story in 1984. In 1987, Williams released a 101-page cookbook called Done Like Dinner: Tiger In the Kitchen. It was co-written with Kasey Wilson. It included many hockey-inspired recipes, including Habs Tourtire, Stanley Cup Bars, and Luc Robitaille's Lasagna Omelette.

Williams re-emerged briefly as a roller hockey player, appearing in one game, scoring two points, for the RHI's Vancouver Voodoo in 1993.

In 1996, Canadian punk rock band The Hanson Brothers spearheaded a campaign to agitate for Williams' induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They included a mail-in postcard with their album Sudden Death so that purchasers could make their feelings known to the NHL.

Records

National Hockey League records:
- Most NHL career regular season penalty minutes: 3,966
- Most NHL penalty minutes, career, including playoffs: 4,421
Toronto Maple Leafs records:
- Most playoff penalty minutes: 240
- Most penalty minutes in one season by a left wing: 351 in 1978
Vancouver Canucks records:
- Most playoff penalty minutes: 181
- Most penalty minutes in one playoff year: 116 in 1982
- Most penalty minutes in one playoff series: 51 vs. Chicago in 1982

Career statistics

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1971-72	Swift Current Broncos	WCHL	68	12	22	34	278	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1972-73	Swift Current Broncos	WCHL	68	44	58	102	266	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1973-74	Swift Current Broncos	WCHL	66	52	56	108	310	12	14	10	24	23
1974-75	Oklahoma City Blazers	CHL	39	16	11	27	202	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1974-75	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	42	10	19	29	187	7	1	3	4	25
1975-76	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	78	21	19	40	299	10	0	0	0	75
1976-77	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	77	18	25	43	338	9	3	6	9	29
1977-78	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	78	19	31	50	351	12	1	2	3	63
1978-79	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	77	19	20	39	298	6	0	0	0	48
1979-80	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	55	22	18	40	197	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1979-80	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	23	8	5	13	81	3	0	0	0	20
1980-81	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	77	35	27	62	343	3	0	0	0	20
1981-82	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	77	17	21	38	341	17	3	7	10	116
1982-83	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	68	8	13	21	265	4	0	3	3	12
1983-84	Vancouver Canucks	NHL	67	15	16	31	294	4	1	0	1	13
1984-85	Adirondack Red Wings	AHL	8	5	2	7	4	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1984-85	Detroit Red Wings	NHL	55	3	8	11	158	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1984-85	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	12	4	3	7	43	3	0	0	0	4
1985-86	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	72	20	29	49	320	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1986-87	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	76	16	18	34	358	5	3	2	5	30
1987-88	Los Angeles Kings	NHL	2	0	0	0	6	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
1987-88	Hartford Whalers	NHL	26	6	0	6	87	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
NHL totals			962	241	272	513	3966	83	12	23	35	455