Wayne Primeau
Hockey
- Inducted in 2012
- Athlete
Born in Scarborough on June 4, 1976, Wayne moved to Whitby with him family in 1980. He attended F.M. Heard Public School, Pringle Creek Public School and Anderson CVI. Wayne is a product of the Brooklin-Whitby Minor Hockey Association (now the WMHA).
As a Whitby Midget AAA player, Wayne was drafted 4th overall by the Owen Sound Platers in 1992 and played for the Platers for the 92-93, 93-94, 94-95, and part of the 95-96 seasons finishing off his last year in Junior with the Oshawa Generals. During his time in the OHL, Wayne played in 249 regular season games scoring 96 goals with 181 assists for 277 points and an additional 30 playoff games with 8 goals and 22 assists. He was drafted as the 17th overall pick in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1994 draft. In 1992, Wayne was chosen for the Team Ontario U17 team and followed that honour up with his selection to Team Canada’s U18 team in 1993.
Wayne appeared with the NHL Sabres for 1 game in 1995 and 2 games in 1996 while still a Junior. He also played 32 games for the Rochester Americans in 1996 winning the Calder Cup and again with the Americans at the start of the 1996-97 season. He played with the Buffalo Sabres for four seasons before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2000. While with the Sabres, Wayne played in the 1999 Stanley Cup finals losing to the Dallas Stars.
During his career, Wayne has also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Throughout his NHL career, this 230lb, 6′ 3″ centre played in 774 games, scoring 69 goals with 125 assists for a total of 194 points in the regular season and another 90 games in the playoffs with 7 goals and 14 assists.