Dave "Tiger" Williams
Dave "Tiger" Williams was born on February 3 1954, in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. He played junior hockey with the Swift Current Broncos
of the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL) and was well known for both his scoring abilities and on-ice toughness. He scored over
50 goals in his final year in junior but also had 300+ penalty minutes. He was drafted in the second round, #31 overall in the 1974 NHL
amateur draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He joined the team part way through the 1974-75 and had an immediate impact bringing
toughness to the team. The 1970s NHL was a tough league where the Leafs often went head to head with their arch rivals, the
Broadstreet Bullies from Philadelphia.
Tiger Williams spent the decade of the 1970s in Toronto, manning the enforcer role while still scoring around 20 goals and 40 points
per season. Tiger was a fan favourite not only for his fighting abilities but because after scoring a goal, he would ride his
hockey stick down the length of the ice. In early 1980 him and Jerry Butler were traded by the Leafs to the Vancouver Canucks for
Bill Derlago and Rick Vaive. He had his best year in 1980-81 with the Canucks scoring 35 goals and 27 assists for 62 points and
adding 343 minutes in penalties. He spent some time in 1984 with the Detroit Red Wings organization before playing for four seasons
with the Los Angeles Kings. In 1987 he was traded by the Kings to the Hartford Whalers for cash and ended his career at the end
of that season. At the end of his 14-year NHL career, Tiger is the league's all-time leader in regular season penalty minutes
with 3,966.
Dave "Tiger" William's Career Statistics
Year Team GP G A Pts Pim 1974-75 Toronto Maple Leafs 42 10 19 29 187 1975-76 Toronto Maple Leafs 78 21 19 40 299 1976-77 Toronto Maple Leafs 77 18 25 43 338 1977-78 Toronto Maple Leafs 78 19 31 50 351 1978-79 Toronto Maple Leafs 77 19 20 39 298 1979-80 Toronto Maple Leafs 55 22 18 40 197 1979-80 Vancouver Canucks 23 8 5 13 81 1980-81 Vancouver Canucks 77 35 27 62 343 1981-82 Vancouver Canucks 77 17 21 38 341 1982-83 Vancouver Canucks 68 8 13 21 265 1983-84 Vancouver Canucks 67 15 16 31 294 1984-85 Detroit Red Wings 55 3 8 11 158 1984-85 Los-Angeles Kings 12 4 3 7 43 1985-86 Los-Angeles Kings 72 20 29 49 320 1986-87 Los-Angeles Kings 76 16 18 34 358 1987-88 Los-Angeles Kings 2 0 0 0 6 1987-88 Hartford Whalers 26 6 0 6 87 Career Totals 962 241 272 513 3966
Tiger Williams Pictures
