Adam Oates built Hall of Fame career on passing the puck

Lacking flash and dash

Being able to dish the puck to teammates isn’t a bad game to have. Still, it wasn’t good enough to fulfill Oates‘ dream of playing major junior hockey, so he spent time in Junior B with the Port Credit Titans and in Junior A with the Markham Waxers.

Oates was more than a point-a-game player at what’s considered Tier 2 junior hockey, but he kept getting passed over.

Hull, playing on the West Coast, admittedly knew little of Oates at the time. But that kind of talent going under the radar still was surprising.

“It’s hard for me to believe that he wasn’t at least a little bit talented as he was growing up,” Hull said. “There’s guys who slip through the cracks all the time.”

At first glance, it wasn’t easy to see why the 5-foot-11 Oates didn’t attract attention.

“Adam was never perceived to be the proper body type,” Addesa said. “He was paunchy; he had high body fats. … He was anything in appearance but the prototypical, ‘This is a hockey player.’”

Most scouts were in awe of players with what Addesa called “flash and dash.”

“The prolific skater, the guy that you say, ‘Wow, can that guy ever skate? Oh my goodness.’ And Adam was at the other end of the spectrum,” Addesa said.

Oates kept plugging away in Markham, but something had to change.

‘RPI was my break’

The change came with a visit to Markham by two of Addesa’s assistants at RPI, Bill Greer and Paul Allen. Oates, for once, stood out.

“[They saw] him within three days, and both of them said the same over to the phone to me: ‘Coach, you’ve got to come and see this guy as soon as you can. This guy is brilliant,’” Addesa recalled.

RPI’s coach agreed and wanted to recruit Oates. But it wasn’t that easy, and it shouldn’t have been surprising given Oates‘ struggles to emerge from anonymity early on in his career.

While trying to make the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey League in 1980, Oates played two exhibition games alongside teammates who were being paid. Ten days later, the NCAA passed a retroactive rule that athletes who played alongside professionals were ineligible through contamination.

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