It was this fateful day 40 years ago when Paul Coffey scored his first NHL goal.

The tally came in a 5-3 win over provincial rival Calgary Flames. It was one of only nine goals that Coffey had scored that year and marked his lowest goal total until he was in the final years of his career.

Coffey’s goal was a powerplay marker assisted by Mark Messier and Risto Siltanen. He went on to score a total of 32 points that season.

It didn’t take him long to breakout, as in his sophomore campaign Coffey scored 29 goals and 89 points in 80 games finishing third in the Norris trophy voting.

And, well… the rest is history. Coffey flourished into one of the top offensive defenceman to ever play the game and was well ahead of his time with his offensive ability.

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