Kelly Kisio: Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame inductee

Kelly Kisio with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Kisio

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One minute he played for the enemy with a name that was not too hard to make fun of, the next he was playing for the good guys in the Battle of Alberta, and the minute after that he was laying the foundation for the next generation of hockey players.

Now, he has been named to the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame, and that got me thinking all the way back to 1979 when I first saw Kelly Kisio play.

Wrangling the Broncos
My first recollection of Kelly Kisio is when he suited up for the Calgary Wranglers and they came to face the Lethbridge Broncos at the Sportsplex.

He was a great player for the Wranglers. In his two years with Calgary, he tallied 60 goals and 61 assists for 121 points in the 1978-1979 season, and 65 goals and 73 assists for 138 points in the 1979-1980 season. He was also Western Hockey League rookie of the year in 1979.

Road to the NHL
Despite putting up back to back 60-plus goal and 100-plus point seasons, Kelly Kisio went undrafted by any National Hockey League team.

Instead, he went from junior to a series of minor leagues. In the 1980-1981 season, he split his time. With the Kalamazoo Wings of the International Hockey League, he had 27 goals and 16 assists for 43 points in 31 games. With the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League, he had 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 41 games.

The next year, the 1981-1982 season, he played 78 games for the Dallas Black Hawks, recording 62 goals and 39 assists for 101 points.

He went overseas for the 1982-1983 season, suiting up for HC Davos in Switzerland, where he had 49 goals and 38 assists for 87 points in 38 games. Wikipedia reveals in his second to last game in Switzerland, Kisio scored eight goals and added two assists.

He was ready for prime time.

The Motor City
It’s funny. When I was watching the sports news one day during that 1982-1983 NHL season, and heard Kisio’s name with the Detroit Red Wings, it surprised me. With not a lot of access to sports news, he kind of fell off the radar for me. I was looking too, because he had been such a good player with the Wranglers.

Kisio ended up playing 14 games that season, scoring four goals and three assists for seven points.

In 1983-1984, his first full season with the Red Wings, Kisio had 23 goals and 37 assists for 60 points. He also added a goal in four playoff games.

The next year, the 1984-1985 season, Kisio had a similar season, recording 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 goals in 75 games. He also had two assists in three playoff games.

The 1985-1986 season would be Kisio’s last in the Motor City. He played in 76 games, tallying 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points.

After the season, he was on the move.

Broadway bound
In the summer of 1986, the Red Wings traded Kelly Kisio along with Lane Lambert, Jim Leavins and a draft pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for goaltender Glen Hanlon and two draft picks. Kisio was Braodway bound.

In his first year with the Rangers, Kisio had 24 goals and 40 assists for 64 points in 70 games in that 1986-1987 season. He also had an assist in four playoff games.

In the 1987-1988 season, Kisio had 23 goals and 55 assists for 78 points in 77 games with the Rangers. The next season, 1988-1989, he appeared in 70 games, recording 26 goals and 36 assists for 62 points, but did not hit the scoresheet in four playoff games.

He closed out the decade in the 1989-1990 season with 22 goals and 44 assists for 66 points in 68 games. He also had two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 10 playoff games.

As the decade closed, Kelly Kisio was a solid contributor for the Rangers.

The years after
Kelly Kisio would play one more year for the Rangers, move on to the San Jose Sharks for 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 seasons, then close out his career with the Calgary Flames in the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons. He was also an NHL all-satr in 1993.

He retired after that 1994-1995 season, recording 229 goals and 429 assists for 658 points in 716 career games.

Kisio became a scout with the Flames then moved into the role of general manager of the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League for the 1998-1999 season. In his time with the Hitmen, they made the playoffs every year but one, won four regular season titles, and won the Western Hockey League championship in 1999 and 2010.

He left the Hitmen after the 2015-2016 season to become a scout with the Vegas Golden Knights, a position he still holds.

Parting thoughts
Kelly Kisio is one of those inspiring stories in hockey. Going undrafted, he toiled in the minor leagues then went off to Europe before finally getting his break in the NHL.

I distinctly remember being surprised when I heard his name in Detroit. It seemed like it had been forever since he was killing my Lethbridge Broncos as a member of the Calgary Wranglers.

He made the most of his chance, recording seven straight 20-plus goal seasons and eight overall.

Maybe his greatest contributions are to junior hockey, as an administrator and through his son Brent, who is the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. That is ironic, because the Hurricanes are the Wranglers, having moved from Calgary to Lethbridge in 1986. So Brent is with the organization where it all started for his family.

It has been an interesting career for Kelly Kisio.