John Tonelli

John Alexander Tonelli (born March 23, 1957 ) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward from Milton, Ontario. Tonelli made his debut as a professional player at 18 in 1975 with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, where he played his first three seasons, which included making the Avco Cup Final in his rookie season. He joined the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League in 1978; in eight seasons, he served as a key part of a team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals five consecutive years while winning four of them (1980-1983) in a row in the last great NHL dynasty, with Tonelli delivering the assist on Bob Nystrom's goal that won the 1980 Stanley Cup Final. Tonelli was traded late in the 1985-86 season to the Calgary Flames, where he reached the Stanley Cup Final that year, his seventh professional hockey league Final appearance as a player. He subsequently played with the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Quebec Nordiques.

In 2020, the Islanders honored Tonelli by retiring his #27 jersey, the seventh to be given the honor by the team while also joining the Islanders Hall of Fame.

Early life Tonelli was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 23, 1957, to his parents Alex Tonelli, Jr. and Joy Sclisizzi of Milton. He has an older brother Raymond, a younger brother David and a younger sister, Sandra. Tonelli's mother Joy Sclisizzi is a relative of Enio Sclisizzi, who was Milton's first NHLer.

As young man, Tonelli worked in Sclisizzi's bronze-plaque making factory where he washed the finished plaques.

Tonelli's father, who worked for 40 years in the steel business and set an example for his son for hard work, used to dam up the water in a culvert next to their home, which would freeze, and allowed Tonelli endless access to skating time near their home on Ontario St. in Milton.

Tonelli was a multi-sport athlete in his youth, serving as pitcher for the Red Sox in the Milton Minor Baseball Association in 1966, when he hit a grand slam in the same game he served as pitcher. In 1968, with his father as an assistant coach, Tonelli won an OBA championship for the Milton Mowbray Tykes. He had four one-hitters as a pitcher in the 1970 baseball season.

In 1971, he was Holy Rosary School's top basketball scorer with 42 points. In 1972, as a 15-year-old, he pitched a perfect game as a bantam baseball player. Tonelli began his hockey career in earnest when he played one year with the Milton Flyers of the Central Junior B Hockey League before joining the Marlies.

Career

Tonelli was the first 15-year-old player to be signed by the Toronto Marlies OHA team, and the first Miltonian to play with the Marlies since Murray "Cowboy" Grenke in the 1948–49 and 1949–50 seasons.

In his first season with them, Marlies' coach George Armstrong noted Tonelli was pro material.

Contract dispute between OHA and WHA Tonelli was one of the first players to challenge the Ontario Hockey Association and the Marlies OHA team, with which he had signed a contract at age 16. As he reached age 18, the WHA's Houston team offered him a contract worth $500,000 ($2.2 million CAD in 2016), but his contract with the Marlies tied him to the OHA team for three years plus an option.

In June 1975, the WHA owners voted to void Tonelli's Houston contract. Tonelli's agent threatened to sue, and the Marlies asked for $100,000 in compensation, plus 20 percent of Tonelli's three-year WHA contract.

Tonelli refused to play for Toronto in the playoffs after he turned 18, so that it would not imperil his legal arguments. Tonelli's agent Gus Badali sued the Marlies and the OHA, while the Marlies sued Tonelli for breach of contract. Eventually, the Ontario courts ruled that Tonelli's OHA contract with the Marlies was unenforceable because Tonelli had been under the age of 18 when he signed it, and his parents had not signed it, and that the contract was an infant’s contract that was not in his best interests. To this day, Tonelli's legal case serves as a notable precedent for major junior hockey player contracts and for the employment rights of young athletes in Ontario.

Move to Islanders Tonelli's NHL rights were reclaimed by NY Islanders after the Houston WHA franchise folded in July 1978.

In 1982 and 1985, Tonelli was a second team All-Star left wing for the Islanders. He played in the Stanley Cup finals in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984 with the Islanders, winning four championships in the process, and made an additional appearance as runner-up in the Cup finals in 1986 with the Flames.

On May 24, 1980, Tonelli had the assist on Bob Nystrom's overtime Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers, giving the Islanders their first of four straight Cups. In game six at Nassau Coliseum, Lorne Henning stole the puck at center ice, passed to Tonelli, who then criss-crossed with Nystrom, feeding him the puck on Nystrom's backhand for the winning goal at 7:11 of overtime. It was a play the two had perfected during practice. On January 6, 1981, Tonelli scored five goals in a game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tonelli was a gritty forward with a never-say-die attitude for the Islanders. Tonelli, who was affectionately dubbed "The Greasy Jet" by his teammates, is remembered for scoring important "clutch goals" in the Islanders' run of four straight Stanley Cups and five straight finals appearances, particularly during the 1981-82 season. During the playoffs that year, The Islanders were five minutes away from being eliminated by a much weaker Pittsburgh Penguin team, trailing 3-1 in the deciding game. Tonelli assisted on a Mike McEwen goal that closed the champions within one goal, and tied the game himself with 2:21 to play. For an encore, it was John Tonelli that scored in overtime to win the game for the Islanders, thus extending their long reign as Stanley Cup champions.

Tonelli also scored the winning goal in a February 20, 1982 game against the Colorado Rockies, beating former teammate Chico Resch with just 47 seconds to play to allow the Islanders to set an NHL record (since broken) with their 15th consecutive victory.

Early in his Islander days, Tonelli was a curiosity to his teammates. He arrived early and stayed late. He made demands of himself that were so harsh that coaches felt compelled to ask Tonelli to save some of that work for the games. At the time, the New York Times estimated he was making $200,000 per year on a four-year contract.

A book called Hockey Scouting Report, 1988-89, authored by former NHL goalie John Davidson, who had played for the Islanders' rival the New York Rangers — which lost to the Islanders in the playoffs in 1981, 1982 and 1983 — and a couple of other writers, did a report on Tonelli that made his eyes water. "I don't want to point any fingers", Tonelli at the time. "Let's just say that the nature of the game is that some guys out there hold grudges a long time."

The book stated about Tonelli: "Once a good skater with a lot of power, Tonelli's skills are now on the downslide. He doesn't have the acceleration he once did, and for a straight-ahead player who had little agility, loss of speed and power is the worst loss that could be suffered. He retains a kind of laziness he's long had, in that he won't backcheck as well as he should, sort of coasting back to save his energy for another offensive rush." Then a free-agent, he said he sensed the Kings were not interested in his returning next season and instead signed with the Chicago Blackhawks.

On February 18, 1992, Tonelli was traded to the Quebec Nordiques by Chicago for future considerations. He finished the season there before retiring.

Tonelli finished his 1028-game NHL career with 325 goals and 511 assists for 836 points.

Personal life

The John Tonelli Arena in Milton, Ontario is named in his honour. In 2021 it was announced that the sports centre had secured investment from the Government of Canada and from the town of Milton to upgrade and make improvements to the skating rink as well as to spectator facilities and access.

His older brother Ray was also a hockey and baseball player, and Tonelli's cousin is former NHLer Ryan Jones.

With his ex-wife Karen, John has two daughters and a son, Jennifer, Ashley, Ryan and with his current wife Lauren he has 2 sons, Jordan, 19, and Zackary, 18. Zach and Jordan both play hockey for Brown University.

Tonelli is the only player in history to score a regular-season goal on an assist by Gordie Howe and another regular-season goal on an assist by Wayne Gretzky.

Awards Stanley Cup champion - 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 OMJHL First All-Star Team (1975) Most valuable player of the 1984 Canada Cup tournament. Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1982 and 1985 Inducted into the Milton Walk of Fame in 2007 Jersey #27 retired by the New York Islanders organization (2020)

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1972–73 Milton Flyers CJHL 40 20 25 45 — — — — — — 1973–74 Toronto Marlboros OHA 69 18 37 55 62 — — — — — 1974–75 Toronto Marlboros OMJHL 70 49 86 135 85 — — — — — 1975–76 Houston Aeros WHA 79 14 17 31 66 17 7 7 14 18 1976–77 Houston Aeros WHA 80 24 31 55 109 11 3 4 7 12 1977–78 Houston Aeros WHA 65 23 41 64 103 6 1 3 4 8 1978–79 New York Islanders NHL 73 17 39 56 44 10 1 6 7 0 1979–80 New York Islanders NHL 77 14 30 44 49 21 7 9 16 18 1980–81 New York Islanders NHL 70 20 32 52 57 16 5 8 13 16 1981–82 New York Islanders NHL 80 35 58 93 57 19 6 10 16 18 1982–83 New York Islanders NHL 76 31 40 71 55 20 7 11 18 20 1983–84 New York Islanders NHL 73 27 40 67 66 17 1 3 4 31 1984–85 New York Islanders NHL 80 42 58 100 95 10 1 8 9 10 1985–86 New York Islanders NHL 65 20 41 61 50 — — — — — 1985–86 Calgary Flames NHL 9 3 4 7 10 22 7 9 16 49 1986–87 Calgary Flames NHL 78 20 31 51 72 3 0 0 0 4 1987–88 Calgary Flames NHL 74 17 41 58 84 6 2 5 7 8 1988–89 Los Angeles Kings NHL 71 31 33 64 110 6 0 0 0 8 1989–90 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 31 37 68 62 10 1 2 3 6 1990–91 Los Angeles Kings NHL 71 14 16 30 49 12 2 4 6 12 1991–92 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 33 1 7 8 37 — — — — — 1991–92 Quebec Nordiques NHL 19 2 4 6 14 — — — — — WHA totals 224 61 89 150 278 34 11 14 25 38 NHL totals 1,028 325 511 836 911 172 40 75 115 200

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1984 Canada CC 8 3 6 9 2 Senior totals 8 3 6 9 2