Edmonton, Alberta became the birthplace of Wayne Babych on June 6, 1958. Babych spent parts of five seasons playing junior hockey with the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Portland Winter Hawks. Chosen 3rd overall in the 1978 Amateur Draft, the St. Louis Blues had big plans for the right winger, and he responded with 27 goals in his rookie year of 1978-79.
Babych followed that up with a 26-goal outing the next year before exploding for 54 goals and 96 points in 1980-81. Unfortunately, he never again approached those totals, slipping to 19, 16, and 13 goals in his next three campaigns with the Blues.
The Blues lost patience with Babych and left him exposed in the annual Waiver Draft where the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed him. With the Penguins, he was able to bounce back a little, scoring 20 goals and 54 points, but just two games into his second year in Pittsburgh, he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques.
Babych played 15 games with the Nords, scoring eleven points before he was traded again on January 17, 1986, this time to the Hartford Whalers, where his younger brother, Dave, played. He finished that year with 28 points in 37 games with the Whale but stumbled the next season, playing just four games with no points and spending six more games in the minors before quitting.
