Jim Wiemer

Jim Wiemer's career was spent bouncing between the NHL and the minor leagues.

Selected in the 4th round, 83rd overall in the 1980 draft by the Buffalo Sabres, Jim played for three seasons with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League and was a member of the 1978-79 group that won the Memorial Cup. In his final year playing junior, Wiemer scored 41 goals and had 54 assists for 95 points.

Though he was drafted as a left winger, the Sabres converted the rugged forward into a defenseman. It took him two full years of playing in the minor leagues with Buffalo's AHL farm team in Rochester (under the tutelage of a young Mike Keenan) before getting called up to the big team for 64 games in 1983-84. He tallied five goals and 15 assists. He spent 10 mores games with Buffalo in 1984-85 before criss-crossing across the continent between NHL clubs and minor-league teams. Wiemer had brief stints with the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings over the following five years before managing to stick with the Boston Bruins for seasons from 1989 to 1993. Wiemer's professional career ended after the 1994-95 season, playing the entire year for the Rochester Americans.

The big defenseman had some excellent offensive attributes. His best pro season came in 1985-86 when he was named as the American Hockey League's top defenseman. He scored an impressive 24 goals and 73 points in 73 games, but could only stick with the Rangers for 7 games that season.

Because of Wiemer's relatively late transition to the blueline, he was never really able to stick at the NHL level. He had to make up for years of lost training and intuition. Wiemer did get into 325 NHL games however, scoring 29 goals and 101 points. He participated in an impressive 62 NHL post season matches as well.