Derian Hatcher

Derian John Hatcher (born June 4, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Philadelphia Flyers. He is the current owner of the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

He is the younger brother of former NHL player Kevin Hatcher, with whom he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame on October 21, 2010. In 2014, Hatcher and David Legwand, a fellow OHL alumnus, NHL player and Michigan native, purchased and became co-owners of the Sarnia Sting, with Hatcher serving as head coach from 2015 to 2020.

Playing career As a youth, Hatcher played in the 1985 and 1986 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with the Detroit Compuware minor ice hockey team.

Hatcher was known as a physical defenseman and a strong bodychecker and used his intimidating size to good effect. He was drafted in the 1st round as the eighth overall selection by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1990 NHL entry draft and scored in his NHL debut game on October 12, 1991. Hatcher played for the North Stars and went with them when they moved to Dallas in 1993. He was named captain during the 1994-95 season.

Hatcher played another ten years for the Dallas Stars, collecting 71 goals, 223 assists, 1,380 penalty minutes, and captained the Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1999. In doing so, he became the first American-born captain to win the Stanley Cup. Hatcher was the longest-serving captain in franchise history before being matched and surpassed by Jamie Benn. In July 2003, Hatcher signed with the Detroit Red Wings on a five-year, $30 million contract. A knee injury (torn ligament) in just the third game of the season forced Hatcher to miss most of the year, playing in just 15 regular season games with the Red Wings.

In 2004, due to the cancellation of the NHL season, Hatcher, along with fellow Detroit Red Wings teammates Chris Chelios and Kris Draper, decided to play minor league hockey with the Motor City Mechanics based out of Fraser, Michigan.

On August 2, 2005, Hatcher signed a four year deal for $14 million with the Philadelphia Flyers after his contract with Detroit ($4.9 million) was bought out due to the new salary cap.

On January 29, 2006, Hatcher was named interim captain of the Flyers. He served as captain for the rest of the 2005–06 season due to the absence of injured captain Keith Primeau. Hatcher has also served as an alternate captain for the Flyers.

Suffering from a right knee injury, he missed the entire 2008–09 NHL season. Hatcher later returned as a "co-coach" for the playoffs. After having replacement surgery on the same knee in June 2009, Hatcher said that he would most likely not return to playing hockey. On June 15, 2009, Hatcher formally announced his retirement from the NHL, done so with the Dallas Stars. He remained in the Flyers organization as a player development coach, taking a job vacated by another former Flyer defenseman and captain, Éric Desjardins, who resigned to pursue business interests.

Awards Played in NHL All-Star Game - 1997 1999 Stanley Cup champion NHL Second All-Star Team - 2003 Inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame - 2010

Personal life Hatcher and his brother Kevin, also a former NHL player, previously owned a bar/restaurant in Utica, Michigan.

In 2015, Hatcher, along with David Legwand, purchased the OHL's Sarnia Sting. Hatcher served as head coach of the team, with Legwand as an assistant coach, from 2015 to 2021.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1987–88 Detroit G. P. D. Midgets MNHL 25 5 13 18 52 — — — — — 1988–89 Detroit G. P. D. Midgets MNHL 51 19 35 54 100 — — — — — 1989–90 North Bay Centennials OHL 64 14 38 52 45 5 2 3 5 8 1990–91 North Bay Centennials OHL 64 13 50 63 163 10 2 10 12 28 1991–92 Minnesota North Stars NHL 43 7 5 12 88 5 0 2 2 8 1991–92 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 2 1 2 3 21 — — — — — 1992–93 Minnesota North Stars NHL 67 4 15 19 178 — — — — — 1993–94 Dallas Stars NHL 83 12 19 31 211 9 0 2 2 14 1994–95 Dallas Stars NHL 43 5 11 16 105 — — — — — 1995–96 Dallas Stars NHL 79 8 23 31 129 — — — — — 1996–97 Dallas Stars NHL 63 3 19 22 97 7 0 2 2 20 1997–98 Dallas Stars NHL 70 6 25 31 132 17 3 3 6 39 1998–99 Dallas Stars NHL 80 9 21 30 102 18 1 6 7 24 1999–2000 Dallas Stars NHL 57 2 22 24 68 23 1 3 4 29 2000–01 Dallas Stars NHL 80 2 21 23 77 10 0 1 1 16 2001–02 Dallas Stars NHL 80 4 21 25 87 — — — — — 2002–03 Dallas Stars NHL 82 8 22 30 106 11 1 2 3 33 2003–04 Detroit Red Wings NHL 15 0 4 4 8 12 0 1 1 15 2004–05 Motor City Mechanics UHL 24 5 12 17 27 — — — — — 2005–06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 4 13 17 93 6 0 2 2 10 2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 82 3 6 9 67 — — — — — 2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 44 2 5 7 33 15 1 2 3 40 NHL totals 1,045 80 251 331 1,581 133 7 26 33 248

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1993 United States WC 6 1 2 3 8 1996 United States WCH 6 3 2 5 10 1998 United States OG 4 0 0 0 0 2002 United States WC 7 0 1 1 0 2006 United States OG 6 0 0 0 12 Senior totals 29 4 5 9 30