As part of the American Hockey League’s 70th anniversary this season, theahl.com will be taking a look at some of the legendary careers that have been carved in the AHL over the last seven decades.
Don Biggs may have been small in stature, but he certainly played big, becoming one of the dominant scorers of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
A late-round draft pick by the Minnesota North Stars in 1983, Biggs, listed at 5-foot-8, broke into the pro ranks with the Springfield Indians at the end of the 1984-85 season, and in his first full campaign as a professional, he tallied 60 points in 75 games with Springfield and Nova Scotia.
Biggs’ breakthrough season came in 1987-88, after signing as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers. Biggs led the Bears with 38 goals in the regular season and tied for the team lead with 16 points in the postseason. That Hershey team, considered by many to be among the best in AHL history, won 50 games before going a perfect 12-0 in the playoffs en route to the Calder Cup championship.
That year would prove to be just the beginning for Biggs, the first of six consecutive 30-goal seasons in the AHL. He finished fifth in the league scoring race in 1988-89 (103 points in 76 games) and 1989-90 (92 pts. in 66 gp). With the Rochester Americans in 1990-91, Biggs led the team with 88 points in the regular season and had a league-high 23 points in the playoffs as the Amerks reached the Calder Cup Final.
Biggs moved on to the Binghamton Rangers, and in 1992-93, he had the most prolific season the AHL had ever seen. In 78 games, Biggs scored 54 goals and added 84 assists for 138 points, the highest total in the history of the American Hockey League. He was the offensive catalyst for a Rangers team that went 57-13-10, the best regular-season record ever in the AHL, and was a runaway winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the league’s most valuable player.
Biggs would play six more years of professional hockey, but the 1992-93 season was his last appearance in the AHL. He ranks tied for 21st on the league’s all-time scoring list with 692 career points, on 273 goals and 419 assists, in just 597 games played. Biggs is also 12th all-time with 79 playoff points in 70 games over seven postseasons.
Career AHL Statistics – Don Biggs | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||
Season | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
1984-85 | Springfield Indians | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
1985-86 | Springfield Indians/ Nova Scotia Oilers |
75 | 21 | 39 | 60 | 78 | — | — | — | — | — |
1986-87 | Nova Scotia Oilers | 80 | 22 | 25 | 47 | 165 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
1987-88 | Hershey Bears | 77 | 38 | 41 | 79 | 151 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 22 |
1988-89 | Hershey Bears | 76 | 36 | 67 | 103 | 158 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 30 |
1989-90 | Hershey Bears | 66 | 39 | 53 | 92 | 125 | — | — | — | — | — |
1990-91 | Rochester Americans | 65 | 31 | 57 | 88 | 115 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 14 |
1991-92 | Binghamton Rangers | 74 | 32 | 50 | 82 | 122 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 8 |
1992-93 | Binghamton Rangers | 78 | 54 | 84 | 138 | 112 | 14 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 32 |
AHL Totals | 597 | 273 | 419 | 692 | 1026 | 70 | 27 | 52 | 79 | 110 |