Brian Propp

Brian Propp

Brian Propp, April, 2010
Born (1959-02-15) February 15, 1959
Lanigan, SK, CAN
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins
Minnesota North Stars
HC Lugano
Hartford Whalers
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 14th overall, 1979
Philadelphia Flyers
Playing career 1979–1994

Brian Phillip Propp (born February 15, 1959) is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey left winger who played 15 seasons in the NHL from 1979 until 1994. Propp is currently Director of Strategic Relationships for Wolf Commercial Real Estate and also worked as a broadcaster for the Philadelphia Flyers for nine seasons, finishing in 2008. Propp was born in Lanigan, Saskatchewan, and grew up in Neudorf, Saskatchewan.

Playing career

Propp started career with the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and broke the scoring record with 75 goals and 92 assists for 168 points in 57 games playing on a line with Kelly Dean and Dwayne Tuberfield. He then moved on to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, at the same time when the team was one of the most dominating clubs in all of Canadian Major Junior Hockey. When Propp was with the team it produced future NHLer's such as Brad McCrimmon, Bill Derlago, Laurie Boschman, Dave Semenko, Glen Hanlon, Ray Allison and Walt Poddubny. Propp himself won two league scoring titles. At the end of his third season, he was drafted 14th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

Propp made the Flyers the next season, and proved his mettle in the NHL right away. He managed to score the game-winning goal in his first career game. He played on a line with legends Reggie Leach and Bobby Clarke in his rookie season, and that contributed to his quick success. It would not be the last time Propp played with two elite players, as he played with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux for most of the 1987 Canada Cup Canadian team that won the tournament.

In Game 1 of the 1989 Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens, which his Flyers lost in six games, Propp sustained a concussion from a hard, but unpenalized hit by Montreal defenseman Chris Chelios, where Chelios hit him with his elbow. Propp fell to the ice hard, hitting his head against the ice. Though Propp missed only one game, his teammates maintained their anger at Chelios. Finally, with 1:37 left in regulation in Game 6, Flyer goaltender Ron Hextall took matters into his own hands, slamming Chelios into the boards and pummeling him with blows, apparently in retaliation for the hit on Propp. Eventually, Hextall got suspended for 12 games.

It took him until his 11th season to fail to score at least 65 points in a season, and that was the year when he was traded away by the Flyers. However, in his 10-plus seasons with the club, he was more or less the catalyst of the team, performing in all situations and wherever the team needed him.

In the 1980's he led all left wingers in the NHL and was first in 10 different categories such as, games played (750), assists (465), plus/minus (+308), game winning goals (55), shots (2529), defensive point shares (16.0), playoff goals (52), playoff points (112), playoff power play goals (18), and playoff shots (267). Propp was ranked 2nd in Goals (356), points (821), even strength goals (238), shorthanded goals (20), goals created (322), offensive point shares (54.4), point shares (70.4), playoff games played (116), playoff assists (60), playoff plus/minus (+17), playoff even strength goals (31), and playoff shorthanded goals (3). In all of the major categories in the regular season and playoffs he has made the top 3 among left wingers a remarkable 29 times in that decade.

The 1990–91 season was when Propp was a member of the Minnesota North Stars. Propp scored 73 points and helped the team to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Propp only played 68 games the next two seasons, and even took a sabbatical to play in Switzerland in 1993. During his time in Switzerland, he played for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup and helped them to win the tournament.

Propp played for the Hartford Whalers during the 1993–94 NHL season. Although Propp only scored 29 points, it was a productive season for him as he played both his 1000th NHL game and scored his 1000th NHL point in his last NHL season.

Propp holds a very dubious achievement in that he went to the Stanley Cup Finals five times, with Philadelphia in 1980, 1985, and 1987, with the Boston Bruins in 1990 and with Minnesota in 1991, without ever winning a Stanley Cup. He also played in the NHL All-Star game five times.

During the NHL labour stoppage in 1994, Propp played as a player-coach for HC Anglet in France. After the lockout, however, Propp did not return as a player to the NHL.

Propp finished with 1,004 points over 1,016 NHL games over 15 NHL seasons, and ranks second in Flyers history in goals (369, behind Bill Barber), second in assists (480, second behind Bobby Clarke), and third overall in games played in a Flyers uniform (behind Barber and Clarke).

"The Guffaw"

Propp was known for his unique goal celebration dubbed "The Guffaw". After scoring a goal, Propp would skate towards center ice, place his right glove under his left arm and raise his right arm in a waving fashion. While making the gesture, Propp would say, "Guffaw!". Propp credits the celebration to comedian Howie Mandel.[1] During an Atlantic City show Mandell suggested it would be great if, instead of cheering and clapping, everyone just waved their arms and said, "Guffaw!" Propp adopted "The Guffaw" and it became his signature move first appearing the 1986-87 season. To this day, Propp still signs autographs with the "Guffaw" slogan.

Post-playing career

In 1999, Brian Propp was named to the MasterCard Canadian Junior All-Time team, which also included Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, and Bernie Parent. The team was selected based on play in the Canadian Hockey League. Also in 1999, Propp was inducted into the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame. Propp was inducted into the Saskatchewan Rural Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002 and in 2003 he was inducted into the Saskatchewan Provincial Hall of Fame. Propp was inducted into the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014 and also inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

A resident of Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey, Propp unsuccessfully ran as a Republican in 2007 for a seat in New Jersey General Assembly in the 7th Legislative District in Burlington County.[2] He is currently Director of Strategic Relationships for Wolf Commercial Real Estate in Marlton, New Jersey.

Personal life

Propp has two children with his wife, Kris. He has a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Paige. He grew up as the son of a Lutheran minister, Ron and Margaret who currently reside in Saskatoon. He has 4 siblings, Greg, Angela, Carol and Ron.

Propp is a second cousin of Dylan Wruck of the Iserlohn Roosters.[3]

In popular culture

In The Goldbergs 3rd season episode "12 Tapes For A Penny", the character Barry Goldberg (Troy Gentile) is wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey with Propp's name and number 26 on it.

Awards

Team Records

NHL Records

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1975–76 Melville Millionaires SJHL 57 76 92 168 36 — — — — —
1976–77 Brandon Wheat Kings WCHL 72 55 80 135 47 16 14 12 26 5
1977–78 Brandon Wheat Kings WCHL 70 70 112 182 200 8 7 6 13 12
1978–79 Brandon Wheat Kings WHL 71 94 100 194 127 22 15 23 38 40
1979–80 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 34 41 75 54 19 5 10 15 29
1980–81 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 79 26 40 66 110 12 6 6 12 32
1981–82 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 44 47 91 117 4 2 2 4 4
1982–83 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 80 40 42 82 72 3 1 2 3 8
1983–84 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 79 39 53 92 37 3 0 1 1 6
1984–85 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 76 43 54 97 43 19 8 10 18 6
1985–86 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 72 40 57 97 47 5 0 2 2 4
1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 53 31 36 67 45 26 12 16 28 10
1987–88 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 27 49 76 76 7 4 2 6 8
1988–89 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 32 46 78 37 18 14 9 23 14
1989–90 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 40 13 15 28 31 — — — — —
1989–90 Boston Bruins NHL 14 3 9 12 10 20 4 9 13 2
1990–91 Minnesota North Stars NHL 79 26 47 73 58 23 8 15 23 28
1991–92 Minnesota North Stars NHL 51 12 23 35 49 1 0 0 0 0
1992–93 Minnesota North Stars NHL 17 3 3 6 0 — — — — —
1992–93 HC Lugano NLA 24 21 6 27 32 9 5 1 6 28
1993–94 Hartford Whalers NHL 65 12 17 29 44 — — — — —
1994–95 HC Anglet FFHG-D1 27 32 19 51 74 — — — — —
NHL totals 1016 425 579 1004 830 160 64 84 148 151
WHL totals 213 219 292 511 374 46 36 41 77 57

International

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1979 Canada WJC 5 2 1 3 2
1982 Canada WC 10 3 1 4 4
1983 Canada WC 10 4 4 8 6
1987 Canada CC 9 2 2 4 2
1992 Canada SC 3 3 1 4 2
International totals 37 14 9 23 16

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://joeyritter.com/videos/ep-50-brian-propp-philadelphia-flyers/
  2. ↑ Burton, Cynthia. "Ex-Flyer tosses puck into ring All-star left winger Brian Propp has a new goal: A seat in the state Assembly.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 6, 2007. Accessed June 18, 2012. "Brian Propp, a longtime Flyer and five-time NHL all-star, is entering a new arena: state politics.... Both assembly seats in this district, which includes Propp's home of Cinnaminson, Edgewater Park and Mount Holly, have been held by since the late 1990s."
  3. ↑ "Oil Kings’ Wruck on record-setting pace". Edmonton Journal. 2011-02-08.

External links

Preceded by
Danny Lucas		 Philadelphia Flyers' first round draft pick
1979 		Succeeded by
Mike Stothers
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