Long before Randy Carlyle was a chubby, aging balding guy behind the bench, he was actually a very good defenseman. Cursed with playing for mediocre at best hockey teams throughout his 1,055 game NHL playing career, he had to wait until 2006-07 to get his name on the Stanley Cup.
Randy Carlyle – The Player
Carlyle played his junior hockey with his hometown Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey Association (now Ontario Hockey League). Randy played three years with the Wolves from 1973-74 to 1975-76. That Sudbury team in his final year was arguably the best team the city has seen, reaching the Robertson Cup finals before falling to the Hamilton Fincups.
In 1976, Randy was drafted to two league. The Toronto Maple Leafs chose him in the second round of the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft, 30th overall. He was also taken seventh overall in the WHA Amateur Draft by the Cincinnati Stingers. Other future NHLers taken in the first round of that WHA draft include Bernie Federko, Thomas Gradin, Rick Green, Kent Nilsson and Don Murdoch.
Carlyle played 1,055 regular season NHL games between 1976-77 and 1992-93 with the Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins and Winnipeg Jets. He also appeared in 69 playoff games, scoring nine and assisting on 24 for 33 points.
After just his second year in the NHL, as part of the Harold Ballard implosion in Toronto, Carlyle was traded, along with George Ferguson, to the Penguins for Dave Burrows. Burrows played just three more years in the NHL and was traded back to Pittsburgh shortly into his final season. Within the same three year period, Carlyle was selected the winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. Pretty obvious who won that deal.
Randy won the Norris with 16 goals and 67 assists for 83 points over 76 games in 1980-81 with the Pens. The club honoured him by making Carlyle team captain for the next three years, until he was traded to the Jets during the 1983-84 season. In Winnipeg, he wore the ‘C’ for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons.
Carlyle competed for Canada on the international stage just once. He played at the 1989 IIHF World Hockey Championships, held in Stockholm, Sweden. Canada won silver with the Soviet Union taking gold and Czechoslovakia awarded bronze. Randy was under suspicion for taking performance enhancing drugs but his tests did not match and he was cleared of any wrong doing.
Randy Carlyle – The Coach
After years coaching in the minors, Carlyle became a National Hockey League head coach in 2005-06 with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The following year, he led the Ducks to a Stanley Cup championship with a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators in the final series. He was fired by the Ducks in 2011-12 and took over his current position as head coach of the Maple Leafs that same year.
Back in 1998-99, Randy was named the General Manager of the Year in the IHL. His Manitoba Moose finished fourth overall during the regular season with 108 points. The Moose lost in the second round to the Chicago Wolves.
Randy Carlyle – Hockey Cards
The Randy Carlyle rookie card appears as number 312 in the 1978-79 O-Pee-Chee set. The card is valued at about 20 times more than a common card. Randy is shown in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey but as a member of the Penguins. Carlyle’s first Topps card came the following year. The Randy Carlyle 1979-80 Topps number 124 card is valued as a common.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1973-74 | Sudbury Wolves | OHA | 12 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 21 |
| 1974-75 | Sudbury Wolves | OHA | 67 | 17 | 47 | 64 | 118 |
| 1975-76 | Sudbury Wolves | OHA | 60 | 15 | 64 | 79 | 126 |
| 1976-77 | Dallas Black Hawks | CHL | 26 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 63 |
| 1976-77 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 45 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 51 |
| 1977-78 | Dallas Black Hawks | CHL | 21 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 31 |
| 1977-78 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 49 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 31 |
| 1978-79 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 70 | 13 | 34 | 47 | 78 |
| 1979-80 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 67 | 8 | 28 | 36 | 45 |
| 1980-81 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 76 | 16 | 67 | 83 | 136 |
| 1981-82 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 73 | 11 | 64 | 75 | 131 |
| 1982-83 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 61 | 15 | 41 | 56 | 110 |
| 1983-84 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 50 | 3 | 23 | 26 | 82 |
| 1983-84 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 1984-85 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 71 | 13 | 38 | 51 | 98 |
| 1985-86 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 68 | 16 | 33 | 49 | 93 |
| 1986-87 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 71 | 16 | 26 | 42 | 93 |
| 1987-88 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 78 | 15 | 44 | 59 | 210 |
| 1988-89 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 78 | 6 | 38 | 44 | 78 |
| 1989-90 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 53 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 50 |
| 1990-91 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 52 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 44 |
| 1991-92 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 66 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 54 |
| 1992-93 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 22 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| NHL Totals | 1055 | 148 | 499 | 647 | 1400 |