Date of Birth: 1984
Place of Birth: Bonavista, NL
Inducted: 2021 (Player Category)
By his own admission, “hard work and a few lucky breaks” took Adam Pardy from a minor hockey rink in his hometown of Bonavista, all the way to the National Hockey League.
After a successful minor hockey career in this province, Adam caught the eye of the Antigonish Bulldogs of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. While playing with that club, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League acquired his rights, but a dispute between Cape Breton and Antigonish over his release resulted in Adam not being able to join the Screaming Eagles until he was 19 years old – typically a year or two older than most players entering ‘the Q’.
But he made the most of his first year of Major Junior; suiting up in 68 games as a defenceman for Cape Breton – racking up 16 points and 137 penalty minutes; enough to convince the Calgary Flames to make him their sixth-round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
At the time, he was 20 years old; two years older than most players in the draft, as he had been passed over in the prior two NHL Entry Drafts.
He spent one more season with Cape Breton before turning pro in 2005; joining the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate in Omaha. It would be the first of what turned into a 14-year career in pro hockey.
Adam cracked the Flames’ roster in the 2008-09 season; scoring once and collecting nine assists while amassing 69 penalty minutes in his rookie year.
After three seasons in Calgary, he signed as a free agent with the Dallas Stars and spent one year with that club before being shipped to Buffalo. After one season with the Sabres, he was a free agent once again, and ended up with the Winnipeg Jets, where he remained for three years before short stints with the Edmonton Oilers and the Nashville Predators over each of the next two seasons.
His career as a pro came to an end where it all began, at home in Newfoundland and Labrador, where he led the Newfoundland Growlers to the Kelly Cup as East Coast Hockey League champions in 2019.
During his career, Adam played a total of 342 games in the NHL; scoring four goals and adding 48 assists while racking up 269 minutes in penalties.
