Pat Falloon was the first player the San Jose Sharks ever drafted, taken second overall in 1991, right after Eric Lindros. He scored 25 goals as a rookie for an expansion team and went on to play 575 NHL games for five clubs. Then he went back to the life he had always said came first.
What happened to Pat Falloon?
Pat Falloon went home to farm. He grows wheat, soybeans and flaxseed on his family’s farm in Foxwarren, Manitoba, the small town where he was born, The Spokesman-Review reported in September 2020. Harvest is his favorite time of year, he told the paper, and he summed up his life in one line: “I went from farmer to hockey to farmer.”
| Pat Falloon: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | The San Jose Sharks’ first draft pick, second overall behind Eric Lindros |
| Position | Right wing, shoots right |
| Born | 22 September 1972, Foxwarren, Manitoba |
| Drafted | 1991, first round, second overall, San Jose Sharks |
| NHL career | 9 seasons, 575 games, San Jose, Philadelphia, Ottawa, Edmonton and Pittsburgh |
| Last NHL season | 1999-2000, Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Current role | Grain farmer on the family farm in Foxwarren, as of September 2020 |
| Senior hockey | North Central Hockey League, 2001 to 2008 |
The decision to stop was made on the farm itself. In 2007 the Spokesman-Review wrote that he had been out on the combine, enjoying the harvest, when he decided not to go back to pro hockey that year. He was working the land with his father then, growing wheat, barley, oats, canola and peas, and he said he was still open to other opportunities. None of them took him away from Foxwarren.
He never fully walked away from the rink, though. After his NHL career ended in 2000, he went back to work on the farm alongside his father, and he kept playing senior hockey close to home. The Globe and Mail followed him on an Allan Cup run with the Ile des Chenes North Stars, and he said then that he enjoyed life on the farm and that pro hockey takes a toll on the body. In 144 regular-season games in the North Central Hockey League between 2001 and 2008, he scored 265 goals, the Spokesman-Review reported.
Was Pat Falloon a bust?
By the standard of a second overall pick, Pat Falloon did not live up to expectations, and his rookie season of 25 goals and 59 points remained his best. The players around him set a high bar. Eric Lindros, taken one spot earlier, scored 865 points in 760 games. Two players taken shortly after Falloon became Hall of Famers: Scott Niedermayer went third and played 1,263 games, and Peter Forsberg went sixth and scored 885 points in only 708 games.
But the label hides how much he did produce. Only 21 players from the entire 1991 draft class scored more NHL points than Pat Falloon’s 322, according to the 1991 draft table on Hockey-Reference. The draft had 264 picks. He had four NHL seasons of 40 points or more, including 51 in 1995-96, the year San Jose traded him to Philadelphia.
Pat Falloon’s draft: the Sharks’ first pick ever
San Jose joined the NHL in 1991-92, and Pat Falloon was the first player the franchise chose at the draft table. He arrived as a junior star. With the Spokane Chiefs he had 146 goals and 340 points in 204 regular-season games, including seasons of 64 and 60 goals, and in 1991 he led Spokane to the Memorial Cup and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
As a 19-year-old rookie, he led the expansion Sharks with 25 goals. He stayed in San Jose for parts of five seasons before trades took him to Philadelphia, Ottawa, Edmonton and Pittsburgh. His last full NHL season was 1998-99 in Edmonton, where he played all 82 games and scored 17 goals.
He played his final NHL game with Pittsburgh in 2000, at 27. The first goal in Sharks history was scored by Craig Coxe, who has his own unexpected second career, and the channels for every Sharks game are in our guide to how to watch the San Jose Sharks.
Pat Falloon’s NHL stats
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | San Jose | 79 | 25 | 34 | 59 |
| 1992-93 | San Jose | 41 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| 1993-94 | San Jose | 83 | 22 | 31 | 53 |
| 1994-95 | San Jose | 46 | 12 | 7 | 19 |
| 1995-96 | San Jose and Philadelphia | 71 | 25 | 26 | 51 |
| 1996-97 | Philadelphia | 52 | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| 1997-98 | Philadelphia and Ottawa | 58 | 8 | 10 | 18 |
| 1998-99 | Edmonton | 82 | 17 | 23 | 40 |
| 1999-2000 | Edmonton and Pittsburgh | 63 | 9 | 22 | 31 |
| Total | 575 | 143 | 179 | 322 |
Figures are from Hockey-Reference. He also played in seven straight postseasons from 1994 to 2000, with 11 goals in 66 playoff games, and was part of the Philadelphia team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1997.
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