Brett Callighen

Brett Charles Callighen (born May 15, 1953) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played 213 games in the World Hockey Association (WHA), followed by 160 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the New England Whalers and Edmonton Oilers. He was Wayne Gretzky's first regular left winger.

Brett Callighen
Born (1953-05-15) May 15, 1953
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 182 lb (83 kg; 13 st 0 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for WHA
New England Whalers
WHA/NHL
Edmonton Oilers
NLA
HC Lugano
AEL
Wiener EV
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 1974–1986

Playing career

Callighen was playing with the Oilers when they were one of the four WHA teams to move into the NHL for the 1979–80 NHL season. On October 14, 1979, Callighen along with Blair MacDonald assisted on Gretzky's first NHL goal. During that season, on 24 February, Callighen suffered an injury to his left eye when it was clipped by Brad McCrimmon's stick, causing Callighen to miss the remainder of that season.[1] Callighen had repeated surgeries, but was declared legally blind in that eye. He played in only portions of the Oilers' 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons, followed by a few games over the next four years with top-tier European teams HC Lugano and Vienna EV and AHL team Adirondack Red Wings.[1]

Hockey agent

Upon retiring from hockey, Callighen began working as a hockey agent, co-running Optima World Sports with former Oilers teammate Ron Chipperfield,[2] sending players to Europe and Asia, including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Republic of Korea.

His clientele over the years have included Curtis Brown, Mark Hartigan, Todd Warriner, Jon Sim, Matt Higgins, Brad Fast and Jeff Toms among others.

Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1974–75 Dallas Black Hawks CHL 5 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1974–75 Flint Generals IHL 50 6 20 26 80 — — — — —
1974–75 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 21 3 11 14 40 — — — — —
1975–76 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 72 25 33 58 104 6 2 2 4 21
1976–77 Rhode Island Reds AHL 22 4 8 12 32 — — — — —
1976–77 New England Whalers WHA 33 6 10 16 41 — — — — —
1976–77 Edmonton Oilers WHA 29 9 16 25 48 5 4 1 5 7
1977–78 Edmonton Oilers WHA 80 20 30 50 112 5 0 2 2 16
1978–79 Edmonton Oilers WHA 71 31 39 70 79 13 5 10 15 15
1979–80 Edmonton Oilers NHL 59 23 35 58 72 3 0 2 2 0
1980–81 Edmonton Oilers NHL 55 25 35 60 32 9 4 4 8 6
1981–82 Edmonton Oilers NHL 46 8 19 27 28 2 0 0 0 2
1982–83 HC Lugano NLA 16 10 — — — — — — — —
1983–84 HC Lugano NLA 13 6 9 15 — — — — — —
1983–84 Vienna EV AEL 23 26 13 39 38 — — — — —
1985–86 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 11 0 2 2 6 — — — — —
WHA totals 213 66 95 161 280 23 9 13 22 38
NHL totals 160 56 89 145 132 14 4 6 10 8

References
  1. "Brett Charles Callighen". LegendsOfHockey.net. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  2. Duhatschek, Eric (November 23, 2004). "Having an ice time on the European tour". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
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