Gulls Sign 12-Year Veteran Anderson as Player-Coach
John Anderson had a chance to sign last week with the Hartford Whalers, where he could have tried to resume a quietly successful 12-year career in the NHL after a brief hiatus.
Instead, he chose Thursday to take a two-year contract with Gulls because he believes the NHL will soon come here--perhaps even before the end of that contract.
“I think it’s an organization that’s definitely going to be in the NHL in the next four or five years, maybe sooner,” Anderson said from Toronto. “I think they’re actually pursuing an NHL team, either an expansion team or an existing one.
“I just want to be part of the hockey tradition in San Diego. If that happens, I certainly want to be in a management-type role in San Diego, because I’m 35 and I can’t play forever.”
Anderson, a right wing who scored 282 goals in 12 NHL seasons, said he still has a desire to play in the NHL. He proved he still could contribute when he posted 41 goals, 54 assists and a plus-minus rating of plus-42 last year, third best in the American Hockey League while playing 68 games for the New Haven Nighthawks. He was voted the league’s MVP.
But he credited Gull Vice President Don Waddell and co-owners Fred and Bill Comrie with swaying him to sign a letter of intent here for undisclosed terms. He said he was impressed being with Gulls’ officials and several marquee NHL players in a private box to watch baseball’s All-Star game last week.
Anderson said Hartford had offered him a tryout, but the Whalers considered him more seriously as a player/assistant coach in the minor leagues. He now appears ready to accept the end of the road as an NHL player.
“I still would love to play in the NHL and I still think I can,” said Anderson, the No. 1 pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1977 amateur draft who went on to play 814 games. “But I’m looking ahead to my future and I think this is a better move for me. (Playing is) not really my long-term plan.
“A player/assistant coaching role is much more lucrative for me in the minors as opposed to playing in the National Hockey League for probably a lot more money.”
The Gulls are anticipating as much production from Anderson on the ice as off. He is coming off back-to-back 40-goal seasons (he had 40 at Ft. Wayne in 1990-91), and hope to see some semblance of the player who scored 30 or more goals five times in the NHL.
“We won’t be able to get (IHL MVP Dmitri Kvartalnov) back, but at least we got his equal from the American Hockey League,” Waddell said.
Said Coach Rick Dudley, “John is a quality player who should be a huge asset to the organization. He’s a very bright and enthusiastic guy who will help us as both player and coach.”