He spent the following season of 1988-89 honing his craft with the Binghamton Whalers of the AHL, where he duplicated his feat of leading his team in scoring while placing sixth overall in the league scoring race when he scored 39 goals and 95 assists in 75 games. He also made his NHL debut with the Whalers when he saw action in a pair of games.
One would have expected that a 95 point AHL season would have qualified him for a place in the NHL for 1989-90, but he once again spent the majority of his season back in Binghamton. He once again made it onto the ice with the Whalers for a pair of games during which he registered his first NHL point with an assist.
For the 1990-91 season Yake moved to the Springfield Indians, still in the AHL. There he easily scored more than a point per game as he scored 35 goals and 77 points in 60 games. The Whalers saw fit to give him 19 NHL games which saw him score his first NHL goal on his way to 5 points and an additional 6 playoff games. With the Whalers ousted from the playoffs, Yake returned to Springfield where he placed second in team playoff scoring with 18 points in 15 games as the Indians captured the Calder Cup as AHL playoff champions.
With that kind of offensive output and a playoff championship behind him, Yake found himself...
right back in the AHL yet again for the 1991-92 season. His season concluded with 55 points in 53 games with Springfield and 15 games and 2 points with Hartford. The scales finally tipped in favor of the NHL when he played 16 games in Springfield and 66 in Hartford. Thanks to the added responsibility and playing time he received this season, he responded with 22 goals and 53 points.
Yake then benefitted from the expansion of the NHL, as he was claimed by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim who were more than happy to have Yake play in each and every game of the 1993-94 season. He rewarded the Ducks by leading the team in scoring with 52 points.
Just prior to the 1994-95 season, Yake was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but would only see action in just 19 games. After playing a pair of regular season games with the IHL's Denver Grizzlies, Yake was a key part of the Grizzlies run through the playoffs, contributing 15 points in 17 games as Denver captured the Turner Cup.
Yake again led his team in scoring for 1995-96, this time with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL with 88 points in 70 games. He was signed by the Buffalo Sabres for 1996-97 and spent the season with their top affiliate, the Rochester Americans of the AHL. There, he came second in the league scoring race after leading the Americans with 34 goals and 101 points in 78 games.
That performance earned Yake another stint in the NHL, this time with the St. Louis Blues. He saw action in 65 games in 1997-98 and divided time between St. Louis (60 games) and the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL (24 games) in 1998-99. The Following season Yake started the season with the Blues before being claimed off of waivers by the Washington Capitals after 26 games. He would play an additional 35 games with Washington that season.
The 2000-01 season once again saw Yake split time between the NHL and AHL as he played 12 games with the Capitals and 55 with the Portland Pirates in what would be his final season of hockey in North America.
For the 2001-02 season Yake travelled across the Atlantic to Germany's DEL where he joined the Essen Mosquitoes, whom he naturally led in scoring that season, a common thread throughout his time in North America. He would play two more seasons in Germany, the first with the Nuermberg Ice Tigers, leading them in scoring for 2002-03, and the Krefeld Penguins in 2003-04.
He migrated to Switzerland's second division for 2005-06 for the first of three seasons with Visp, which included a strong 2006-07 season during which he led the club in scoring (the sixth time in his professional career he would be the team leader) with 79 points in 45 games in a typically shorter European season. Yake's final season as a professional was the 2008-09 season he spent with Lausanne before he retired for good as a player.
Yake's final NHL totals are 403 games played with 77 goals and 120 assists for 197 points.
Today's featured jersey is a 2003-04 Krefeld Penguins Terry Yake jersey as worn during Yake's time in the German DEL following his NHL days. It has the expected sponsor logos for a European jersey, but in this case they do not overwhelm the team identity in the way many Scandinavian jerseys do. We particularly like the stars in the sleeve stripes for an added dash of excitement as well as the symmetrical chevron stripe on the front, a very underutilized design element in the NHL.
Bonus jerseys: While researching this post we came across a pair of jerseys worth noting. First is a 1990-91 Winnipeg Jets Terry Yake jersey which was worn by Yake in training camp in 1995 with the Jets after being released by the Maple Leafs. Yake did not make the Jets squad and spent the season playing with the Milwaukee Admirals.
When purchasing game used jerseys it is always advisable to do your homework first in order to avoid any unwanted surprises, such as paying for a jersey which later turns out to have never been worn in an NHL regular season game. Don't get us wrong, it's a high quality, great looking jersey genuine game worn jersey, but having only been worn in preseason games and never in the regular season will affect it's value and you should not overpay for it. This jersey was auctioned off back in 2007 with a starting price of just $100 and attracted three bids, eventually selling with a high bid of $200, a fair price for all parties involved. For comparison, a year earlier a similar Jets regular season game worn jersey sold for $486.79.
Our next item of interest is a 2010-11 Hartford Whalers Terry Yake jersey worn in a Whalers alumni game. Again, a chance to obtain a terrific looking jersey actually worn by Yake, but another instance of the buyer needing to know what they are getting before paying top dollar. Clues to the origin of this jersey lie in the patch for the 2011 Whale Bowl, and outdoor game put on by the AHL's Connecticut Whale that featured an NHL alumni game as part of the festivities. The other main clue that this is not a 1990's game worn jersey is the brand logo on the rear of the jersey is not a CCM jersey as worn by Hartford.
Further research reveals that Yake's years with the Whalers came after the Pucky the Whale logos were removed from the shoulders and that the green waist stripe had changed to white by the time Yake arrived in Hartford. While the jersey is a fun jersey and an accurate reproduction of a 1979-1985 Whalers jersey, an informed buyer armed with the knowledge that it is a modern reproduction - yet actually worn by Yake - will pay accordingly and not be duped into believing he is getting a genuine early 1990's game worn jersey even if an unscrupulous seller is able to remove the "2011" patch in an effort to deceive.
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