On This Date in Sports November 30, 1995: Grant Fuhr 300
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Grant Fuhr, now playing with the St. Louis Blues, becomes the 11th goalie to earn 300s wins. Fuhr earns his 300th win as the Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets on the road 4-1. The Jets held a 1-0 lead after two periods, but St. Louis rallied to win the game with four unanswered goals. Fuhr would play up until the 1999/00 season, finishing with a record of 403-295-114.
Grant Fuhr was born on September 28, 1962, in Spruce Grove, Alberta. Fuhr came from a diverse background, with a black father and a mother who had ancestry in the Enoch Cree Nation. Fuhr played on an Enoch team early in his junior career. After moving on to play with the Victoria Cougars of the WHL, Grant Fuhr was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1981 NHL Draft.
Grant Fuhr made his debut with the Edmonton Oilers in 1981; over the next few seasons, he would share the goaltending duties with Andy Moog. In 1984, Fuhr finally became the man in net for Edmonton as he started throughout the playoffs as the Oilers won their first Stanley Cup. The Oilers would win the Stanley Cup four times in a five-year stretch, as Grant Fuhr became one of the top goalies in the NHL. In 1988, Fuhr had his best season, winning 40 games as he won his only Vezina Trophy given to the top goaltender in the league.
Trouble began for Grant Fuhr in 1990, as he dealt with addiction issues. Bill Ranford helped win a fifth Stanley Cup, playing in place of Fuhr, who would be suspended 59 games for violating the NHL’s drug policy. Just before the 1991/92 season, Grant Fuhr was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. After a year and a half in Toronto, Fuhr was sent to the Buffalo Sabres. In both Toronto and Buffalo, he would lose his starting job to up and coming goalies with Felix Potvin taking over in Toronto and Dominik Hasek taking over in Buffalo.
After spending the lockout 1994/95 season with the Los Angeles Kings, playing with Wayne Gretzky, Grant Fuhr ended up on the St. Louis Blues for the 1995/96 season. In St. Louis, Grant Fuhr started 79 games, and he had his best season since leaving Edmonton. However, a knee injury in the playoffs would prove to be the beginning of the end. Grant Fuhr would spend four seasons with the Blues before being traded to the Calgary Flames. Fuhr appeared in 23 games with the Flames, earning his 400th win. It would be Grant Fuhr’s final season in the NHL, as finished with a record of 403-295-114.
In 2003 Grant Fuhr was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, becoming the first black player to earn such an honor.