Andrew Cassels

As a youth, he played in the 1982 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Chinguacousy in Brampton, Ontario.\n', ' Andrew Cassels was selected 17th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He played three stellar seasons with the Ottawa 67\'s of the OHL, his best season coming 1987–88, when he led the OHL in assists and points in both the regular season and playoffs en route to winning the league MVP award. In his NHL debut with Montreal on 19 November 1989, Cassels scored his first career goal on his first shift and first shot against the Calgary Flames. However, Cassels would find his playing time limited on a deep Montreal team, and only played 60 games for the Canadiens before being traded to the Hartford Whalers in 1991 for a second round draft pick that the Canadiens used to pick Valeri Bure.\n', ' It was in Hartford that Cassels had his greatest success. He recorded 41 points in 1991–92 campaign and had a strong playoffs, finally showing the offensive potential that had seen him taken in the first round of the draft. He would explode in 1992–93, as he recorded 21 goals and 64 assists for 85 points, and formed a deadly partnership with sniper Geoff Sanderson establishing himself as one of the best young playmaking centres in the game. While he would not come close to matching those totals again as Hartford struggled to non-playoff finishes, he continued to mature as an all-around player in following years and he and Sanderson remained a consistent and effective offensive partnership. Cassels led the Whalers in assists for 5 consecutive seasons from 1992–1997, and led the team in overall scoring in the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season.\n', '