Dave Lowry

This article is about the hockey player. For the martial arts practitioner, see Dave Lowry (martial arts).

Dave Lowry Merkle
Born	(1965-02-14) February 14, 1965 Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Vancouver Canucks St. Louis Blues Florida Panthers San Jose Sharks Calgary Flames
Coached for	Winnipeg Jets
NHL draft	110th overall, 1983 Vancouver Canucks
Playing career	1985–2004
Coaching career	2005–present

David John Lowry Merkle, also known as David Lowry (born February 14, 1965) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional player. He is currently an associate coach with the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played in the NHL from 1985 to 2004.

Lowry's sons, Adam and Joel, were drafted by the Winnipeg Jets and the Los Angeles Kings, respectively.

Playing career

Born in Sudbury, Ontario and raised in Ottawa, Dave Lowry Merklewas drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 6th round, 110th overall, in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. He played three seasons with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) before joining the Canucks for the start of the 1985–86 NHL season. In Vancouver, he played for three seasons with only spending part of the 1987–88 season in the minors for the Fredericton Express of the American Hockey League (AHL). On 29 September 1988, just prior to the start of the 1988–89 NHL season, Lowry was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Ernie Vargas.

After spending most of the 1988–89 season with the Peoria Rivermen of the International Hockey League (IHL), Lowry joined the Blues for the last 21 games of the season including ten more games in the playoffs. Lowry stayed with St. Louis until the end of the 1992–93 NHL season. Dave Lowry was never much of an offensive threat as his highest goal total was 19, which he did twice, both times with the Blues, and his highest point total was 40, which was also with the Blues. Before he retired, he managed to play over 1000 NHL games.

Dave Lowry was drafted in the expansion draft by the Florida Panthers before the 1993–94 NHL season. Lowry had his best years in Florida. Perhaps he is most famous for being on the runner up team in 1995–96. He would be given the nickname Mr. Playoff as he scored ten goals during the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After five seasons in Florida, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks near the beginning of the 1997–98 season along with a first round pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft (Vincent Lecavalier) for Viktor Kozlov and a fifth round pick (Jaroslav Špaček) also in the 1998 draft.

After only three seasons in San Jose, Lowry went to the Calgary Flames for the 2000–01 season where he played out his last four seasons, with the exception of a brief stint with the Saint John Flames of the AHL. In his last NHL season, he played only 18 games in the regular season acquiring one goal and one assist. In the playoffs, though, he played 10 games in Calgary's improbable Stanley Cup run of 2004 that ended in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Lowry began coaching, joining the Western Hockey League's Calgary Hitmen as an assistant coach in 2005. Lowry was promoted to associate coach in 2007, and named the head coach of the Hitmen in 2008, succeeding Kelly Kisio. After one season as head coach for the Hitmen, Lowry joined the Calgary Flames in the NHL as an assistant coach beginning in 2009, where he served for three seasons.

On July 19, 2012, Lowry was named the head coach of the Victoria Royals of the WHL.

On May 30, 2017, Lowry was hired as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. After two seasons with the Kings, he returned to the WHL as the head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings.

On November 23, 2020, Lowry was hired as an assistant coach for the Winnipeg Jets, reuniting him with his son Adam. On December 17, 2021, Lowry was named interim head coach of the Jets after head coach Paul Maurice resigned.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1981–82	Nepean Raiders Midget AAA	OEMHL		60	50	64	114	46		—	—	—	—	—
1982–83	London Knights	OHL		42	11	16	27	48		3	0	0	0	14
1983–84	London Knights	OHL		66	29	47	76	125		8	6	6	12	41
1984–85	London Knights	OHL		61	60	60	120	94		8	6	5	11	10
1985–86	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		73	10	8	18	143		3	0	0	0	0
1986–87	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		70	8	10	18	176		—	—	—	—	—
1987–88	Fredericton Express	AHL		46	18	27	45	59		14	7	3	10	72
1987–88	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		22	1	3	4	38		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	Peoria Rivermen	IHL		58	31	35	66	45		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	St. Louis Blues	NHL		21	3	3	6	11		10	0	5	5	4
1989–90	St. Louis Blues	NHL		78	19	6	25	75		12	2	1	3	39
1990–91	St. Louis Blues	NHL		79	19	21	40	168		13	1	4	5	35
1991–92	St. Louis Blues	NHL		75	7	13	20	77		6	0	1	1	20
1992–93	St. Louis Blues	NHL		58	5	8	13	101		11	2	0	2	14
1993–94	Florida Panthers	NHL		80	15	22	37	64		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Florida Panthers	NHL		45	10	10	20	25		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Florida Panthers	NHL		63	10	14	24	36		22	10	7	17	39
1996–97	Florida Panthers	NHL		77	15	14	29	51		5	0	0	0	0
1997–98	Florida Panthers	NHL		7	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
1997–98	San Jose Sharks	NHL		50	4	4	8	51		6	0	0	0	18
1998–99	San Jose Sharks	NHL		61	6	9	15	24		1	0	0	0	0
1999–2000	San Jose Sharks	NHL		32	1	4	5	18		12	1	2	3	6
2000–01	Calgary Flames	NHL		79	18	17	35	47		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Calgary Flames	NHL		62	7	6	13	51		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Saint John Flames	AHL		22	3	6	9	16		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Calgary Flames	NHL		34	5	14	19	22		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Calgary Flames	NHL		18	1	1	2	11		10	0	0	0	6
NHL totals				1084	164	187	351	1191		111	16	20	36	181

Head coaching record

NHL

Team	Year	Regular season						Postseason
		G	W	L	OTL	Pts	Finish	W	L	Win%	Result
WPG	2021–22	54	26	22	6	(58)	6th in Central	—	—	—	Missed playoffs

WHL

Season	Team	League	Regular season							Post season
			G	W	L	OTL	SOL	Pts	Division rank	Result
2008–09	Calgary Hitmen	WHL	72	59	9	3	1	122	1st in Central	Lost in WHL Championship (KEL)
2012–13	Victoria Royals	WHL	72	35	30	2	5	77	3rd in B.C.	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (KAM)
2013–14	Victoria Royals	WHL	72	48	20	1	3	100	2nd in B.C.	Lost in Conference Semifinals (POR)
2014–15	Victoria Royals	WHL	72	39	29	3	1	82	2nd in B.C.	Lost in Conference Semifinals (KEL)
2015–16	Victoria Royals	WHL	72	50	16	3	3	106	1st in B.C.	Lost in Conference Semifinals (KEL)
2016–17	Victoria Royals	WHL	72	37	29	5	1	80	4th in B.C.	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (EVT)
2019–20	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL	63	35	22	0	6	76	3rd in East	Season cancelled
WHL totals			495	303	155	17	20		2 Division titles	35–29 in playoffs

See also

• List of NHL players with 1,000 games played
• Captain (ice hockey)

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Dave Lowry at Hockeydraftcentral.com

Note: Lowry was named captain in December 2000, upon the retirement of Steve Smith. He was later stripped of the captaincy in February 2002 (by coach Greg Gilbert, because of poor performance on ice), Craig Conroy and Bob Boughner were named co-captains.