Welcome back to The Hockey News – Vancouver Canucks site’s Coaches as Players series. Last time, we looked at Canucks skills and skating coach Jason Krog’s NHL career with the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, and Canucks. Today, let’s recap assistant coach Scott Young’s career with the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Québec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche, the Ducks, St. Louis Blues, and Dallas Stars.
Young was a former first-round pick, taken 11th overall by the Whalers in the 1986 NHL Draft. While he had spent time as a defenceman before joining the NHL, according to Elite Prospects, Young played his entire NHL career as a forward. He spent two seasons with Boston College of the NCAA before joining the Whalers, putting up 31 goals and 34 assists in 71 games. He also played for Team USA at the IIHF U-20 World Junior Championship for three consecutive seasons and was named captain in his final stint.
The 1987–88 season was Young’s first in the NHL, during which he played a total of seven games. He made his NHL debut on March 2, 1988, against the Chicago Blackhawks. For the reast of the season, he played with Team USA’s National Team alongside players such as Tony Granato, Craig Janney, and Mike Richter. He finished his 56-game stint with 11 goals and 47 assists. He joined the Whalers for a postseason run, scoring his first NHL goal in Game 2 of a four-game series loss to the Montréal Canadiens.
In 1988–89, Young saw an increase in playing time with the Whalers, finishing the regular season with 76 games played. He potted his first NHL assist in the season opening game against the Nordiques and went on a seven-game point streak (nine points) only a couple of games later. Young followed this up with a nine-game point streak in November that saw him score two goals and 11 assists. By the end of the season, he recorded 19 goals, 40 assists, and 13 multi-point games, with two of these being three-point efforts. He also represented the USA at the World Championship, putting up seven assists in 10 games. In yet another first-round playoff loss to the Canadiens, Young put up two goals.
The 1989–90 season was Young’s last full season as a member of the Whalers. This year, he scored 24 goals and 60 assists in 80 games, continuing his run of offensive skill and multi-point matches (including three three-point games). In this postseason, the Whalers made it to seven games, but were still eliminated in the first round — this time by the Boston Bruins.
Young’s career with the Whalers came to an end in 1990–91, as the forward was traded to the Penguins in exchange for Rob Brown. Prior to this move, Young played 34 more games with Hartford, scoring six goals and nine assists. He played the remainder of the season with the Penguins, putting together an 11-goal, 16-assist campaign in 43 games, and joining the team for 17 games of their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup wins.
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The 1991–92 season saw Young head to Italy to play with HC Bolzano, as well as at the Olympics for Team USA. He didn’t see any NHL time this year due to the 1992 NHL strike, and was later traded to Québec in exchange for Bryan Fogarty. He made his return to the league in the 1992–93 season, putting up 30 goals and 30 assists in 82 games, as well as four goals and one assist in six playoff games. However, it wasn’t long until Young left the NHL yet again, as two years after the strike in 1992 came the 1994 NHL lockout. During this time, he played with the Frankfurt Lions and EV Landshut of the DEL.
By Young’s next NHL season, the Nordiques had made the move to relocate, now going by the Avalanche based out of Colorado. Individually speaking, Young had yet another solid season offensively, scoring 21 goals and 39 assists in 81 games. He put up three goals and 12 assists in 22 postseason games, helping the Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He followed this up with an 18-goal, 19-assist season and a Conference Final loss for Colorado.
Before the start of the 1997–98 season, Young was traded yet again, this time to the Ducks. He only spent one season with Anaheim, scoring 13 goals and 20 assists in 73 games. Things changed when he joined the Blues, who he signed with in free agency in 1998. In his first season with St. Louis, he scored 24 goals and 28 assists in 75 regular season games, as well as four goals and seven assists in 13 playoff games. His most offensively prolific NHL season came when he was a member of St. Louis, as he posted a career-high of 40 goals and also added 33 assists in 81 games during the 2000–01 season. The Blues made the playoffs in every season of Young’s first stint with them, but were unable to advance past the Conference Finals.
In 2002, Young signed with the Stars in free agency, marking the end of a four-year stretch with St. Louis. He spent two seasons with Dallas, scoring 23 goals and 19 assists in 2002–03 and eight goals and eight assists in 2003–04. He left the league for the third time in his career in 2004–05 due to the lockout, playing in three games for the Memphis RiverKings of the CHL. After the NHL resumed operations in 2005, he signed another contract with the Blues, returning for one more season before departing from the NHL for good.
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