Esposito, Phil

Phil Esposito, byname of Philip Anthony Esposito, (born February 20, 1942, Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, Canada), Canadian-born U.S. professional ice hockey centre (1963–81) in the National Hockey League (NHL), who was a leading scorer in his day.

Esposito played hockey from his youth onward, and after a season (1962–63) on a Chicago Black Hawk (later Blackhawk) farm team he played as a regular on the parent team from the next season, becoming a regular in the 1964–65 season. He was traded in 1967 to the Boston Bruins, with whom he won two Stanley Cup championships and scored more than 50 goals in five different seasons. In 1975 Esposito was traded to the New York Rangers before retiring in 1981.

Esposito was the first hockey player to score more than 100 points (goals plus assists) in a season (1968–69). In the 1968–69 season he scored a record-setting 49 goals and 77 assists (126 points) and increased the record in the 1970–71 season to 152 points, a record that stood until the 1981–82 season, when it was broken by the Edmonton Oilers’ Wayne Gretzky. At the time of his retirement, Esposito’s 1,590 points were second only to Gordie Howe’s total. He won the NHL Art Ross Trophy as top scorer of the league five times (1969, 1971–74), and he twice won (1969, 1974) the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.

After retiring as a player, Esposito was an announcer and did television commentary for Ranger games before becoming the team’s general manager (1988–89). In 1992 he headed a franchise bid that led to the creation of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he served as the general manager until 1998. He subsequently became a radio announcer for the Lightning. Esposito was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. His brother Tony was a goalie for the Chicago Black Hawks.