MLD, AAA & AA 2013 BIOs

[VanIslander]

Post bios here for future reference.

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[VanIslander]

defenseman Dunc Munro, an all-time great captain from the blueline, leading the 1924 Olympic team to gold as captain (scoring 18 of the team's 110 goals) after already having won the first ever Memorial Cup and two Allan Cups. He then immediately jumped to the NHL where as rookie he captained the Montreal Maroons to the 1926 Stanley Cup championship and was 5th in Lady Byng voting, 3rd in team scoring and 10th in NHL assists. The following season he finished 7th in Hart voting (3rd among D). A year after that, having had three consecutive top-5 scoring finishes among Maroons players, he led the Maroons to the finals (still as captain) before suffering a heart attack the following season, and his Maroons immediately went from contender to basement dweller without him. A year later he returned as player-coach and led the Maroons to the top of the division. He had captained teams with all-time greats like Hooley Smith, Nels Stewart, Reg Noble and Punch Broadbent. He demonstrated toughness, aggressiveness and puckhandling ability as well as leadership. If health problems hadn't ended his career in 1932 at age 31, he and the "Maurading" Maroons he helped define might have celebrated more victories for years to come.

Flashy or not, Munro was undeniably a good player. The short, chubby (190 lbs on a 5'8" frame) was a tough competitor with a flair for making the big play. He was a good puck carrier, and could move quickly with his short, choppy strides. He could also hand out some stiff bodychecks and was one of the reasons the Maroons had an on-ice reputation as the "Marauding Maroons".

Dunc Munro used his head consistently in defensive play

The sterling defense player of the Maroons, now rated one of the best rear-guardsmen in hockey, denied today he signed a new three-year contract with Maroons, as reported, but declared he would remain in Montreal.

Munro broke up a dangerous Ranger rush and went the length

Dunc Munro, hefty Maroons defenceman, who has been performing brilliantly on attack and defence lately, put his team ahead in the first period...

The gritty Munro and (Nels) Stewart menaced the Pirate net time after time with furious and well-aimed shots.

(Clint) Benedict was wonderful in the Maroons' cage, (Reg) Noble, Munro and Broadbent as the best of the remainder.

Munro, in particular, was a pillar and once more indicated that as a cog in the Maroon machine he holds a place by himself. Munro's usefulness to the Maroons is mighty, even if it not always apparent to the majority of the crowd, but against the Americans Saturday it was noticed by all.

Dunc Munro hurtled into the limelight in Boston on Tuesday night by turning in a highly effective game, and the big defenceman is expected to be given plenty of work tonight against his former teammates. Crashing through for a goal and hitting hard on defence, Munro came off the bench after warming it for six games and played effectively.

Munro was described as "beefy" who had some legendary battles with the Canadiens pint-sized Aurel Joliat. In one incident fought like "enraged bulldogs," both on the ice and in the penalty box.

Dunc Munro, a 23-year old newcomer to the NHL, was an experienced competitor. He had been captain and leader of the Toronto Granites team that had won the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics. Munro was a beefy defenseman who had been wooed by the deep pockets of the Maroons, and had been made team captain despite his lack of seniority.

Despite the new "anti-defense" rule, they managed to get away with playing much of the rest of the game in a defensive cocoon. the Canadiens kept coming, but Munro and Noble hung tough on defense... Morenz had been given some rough treatment all night, especially by Munro, who knocked him down whenever possible, and the Canadiens' star was showing signs of exhaustion.

The Cougars tried to get something going in the third period, but Dunc Munro, slowly playing himself back into shape (following an injury), broke their back with a brilliant end-to-end goal.

Dunc Munro stopped a Boston rush and then skated back ahead of rival forwards. He came in close and slashed a sizzling shot off Tiny Thompson's pads.

The Montreal Maroons book references are from seventieslord's past bio.

 

[VanIslander]

goaltender Roger Crozier, the 1965 NHL 1st team all-star, finishing 4th in Hart voting, following that up the next season with a spectacular playoffs on a hurt ankle, taking home the Conn Smythe trophy rather than the Stanley Cup, the first goalie to be MVP and the first playing for the losing team. The following, third year in Detroit, the acrobatic netminder finished 2nd in NHL wins and shutouts. He struggled for a few years thereafter, getting ulcers with his infamous lack of self-confidence. He then began to turn things around and had a half-decent season in 1969-70, finishing with only 6 losses in 34 starts, 7th in league goals against average. The following year he went to expansion Buffalo and immediately strung together another three-year stint of quality play, facing a lot of rubber and respected for helping make the Sabres immediately competitive. His role after that diminished, though he played in and won "the Fog Bowl", the third game of the Stanley Cup Finals against Philly in 1975. He retired after having played 518 NHL games over 14 seasons, half of them of historical significance. He had hall-of-fame type skill but he also had a stress disorder, making himself his worst enemy after his early 3-year peak success increased expectations.

"... has the fastest hands of any goalie I've ever seen,... and he is the quickest to get back on his feet after a fall."

Born in Bracebridge, Ontario on March 16 1942 goaltender Roger Crozier made his NHL debut when Detroit Red Wings star netminder Terry Sawchuk was felled by injury. Crozier played the last 15 games of the season for Detroit and impressed the brass enough that exposed Sawchuk in the waiver draft. When Sawchuk was claimed by the Maple Leafs, Crozier was handed the starting job.

Crozier put together an incredible rookie season, playing 70 games while winning a league-leading 40 of them as well as leading the NHL in shutouts with six. Crozier was named to the First All-Star Team as well as being anointed the leagues top rookie. Crozier, who suffered from pancreaitis missed the beginning of the 1965-66 season, but when he returned he was able to deliver a worthy encore to his solid rookie campaign. Again Crozier led the league in games played and shutouts and his solid play led the Wings to the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals. Though they fell to the Montreal Canadiens, Crozier was named the playoff MVP in defeat.

Unlike a lot of goaltenders Crozier never had great self esteem., especially after Detroit waived the great Terry Sawchuk. "Detroit have had such great goalies - Sawchuk, Glenn Hall and Harry Lumley. Now they're stuck with a little runt like me,'' he said.

Before the current National Hockey League season began, Goalie Jacques Plante, a positive man and a six-time Vezina Trophy winner who has recently fallen on hard times, announced that young Roger Crozier would never make it as a goalie in the big time. But last week—as Plante himself struggled to hang on to his temporary job in the Ranger nets—young Crozier, the first-string goalie of the first-place Red Wings, seemed well on the way to winning a Vezina Trophy of his own. After 14 games of his first regular season, Crozier had the best goal-stopping average of any goalie in the NHL and the most shutouts. His play, along with that of the incomparable Forward Gordie Howe and iron Defenseman Doug Barkley, was the principal reason why Detroit was on top of the heap. In most preseason forecasts, the Wings had been assigned fourth place. "I'm glad we got off to such a good start," was all the still far-from-confident young goalie could say about all this last week. "If we hadn't, everybody would be on my back."

Actually, one look at pale, self-conscious Roger Crozier when he is not in the nets would convince almost anybody that Plante was right. He is small and wispy, filled with doubts about his ability, and he even has an ulcer. He is the despair of coaches who try in vain to cure him of the habit of flopping and falling all over the ice, often in attempts to stop shots that would probably never reach the goal anyway. King Clancy, a one-time defenseman who is now assistant general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, calls Crozier "nothing but a Singer's Midget on the ice." Roger himself, at 22 the youngest as well as the most effective goalie in the league, ponders all these criticisms with care. "I want to find out who my friends are," he says, his eyes seeming almost to brim with tears. "People are sitting around, waiting for the big collapse. They're waiting to say, I told you so.' "

But not everyone is waiting. Sid Abel, the Red Wing coach who got Crozier almost by accident, is thoroughly pleased with his man. " Crozier has the fastest hands of any goalie I've ever seen," says Abel, "and he is the quickest to get back on his feet after a fall." Moreover, says Abel, "Roger has the kind of personality that delights everyone." A superstitious youngster who hates to fly in planes and always starts dressing on the left side to ward off any evil spirits that might be lurking, Crozier recently delighted his teammates after practice in the Montreal Forum by leaping on sturdy Gordie Howe's neck and riding him around the arena like a jockey.

The accident that brought Crozier to the Red Wings was a hothead named Howie Young (SI, Nov. 12, 1962), a defenseman of such spectacular talents and belligerence that he cost the Red Wings far more in penalty time than he ever returned in goals. The Wings were so anxious to get rid of Howie after the season that they were willing to take almost anyone in trade. And when Chicago's Black Hawks offered up rookie Defenseman Ron Ingram with a goalie named Crozier tossed in, the Wings jumped at the deal. Ingram was promptly put in the Red Wing lineup and Crozier, an unsung member of Chicago's most minor minor-league farm team, was shipped off to Detroit's own minor league team in Pittsburgh. It was a positive surprise to the Red Wing brass when Crozier, called up to replace injured Terry Sawchuk in the Detroit nets, turned in a reasonably creditable performance. But then, as everyone knows, a defense always tightens up in front of a substitute goalie, so his success really did not prove much.

After the regular season was over, Crozier was called up again to stand in for Sawchuk in three Stanley Cup games. It was a rough time because he was tending Pittsburgh's nets in the American League's own Calder Cup playoffs and commuting back and forth between Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Quebec to do it. But even frazzled by fatigue and the nervous strain of air travel, he did well enough to convince Coach Abel that he could, if necessary, be the team's regular goalie. It was this reassurance that persuaded the Red Wing officials to leave Sawchuk unprotected in the draft. When Punch Imlach of the Maple Leafs, who has never let a first-class hockey player linger unprotected for long, grabbed Sawchuk as relief man for aged Johnny Bower, the Wings were left with Crozier, like him or not.

Like most professional goalies, Crozier learned his trade early in life. Born in the little Canadian town of Bracebridge, about 100 miles north of Toronto, he was first shoved into the mouth of a hockey goal when he was 6, largely because he was too small to lodge an effective protest, but he grew to like it. A decade later, when he played for St. Catharine's, he was selected the All-Star Goalie for three straight years. When he was 17, he developed his ulcer.

"I used to worry a lot," he explains. "I worried about pucks going past me into the net, and I worried about having a bad night. There was a time when I had to be careful about everything I ate, but things are better now."

Not every goalie has an ulcer, but they all have scars, and Roger is no exception. He has suffered two broken jawbones, had part of a front tooth knocked out by an errant hockey stick and sustained a shattered cheek. That was in his very first major league game when he was hit by a puck rifling off the stick of Frank Mahovlich, one of the fastest shooters in hockey. Crozier got himself patched up in the dressing room and finished the game wearing a mask. Afterward he flew back to Detroit where he found out—in the hospital—that his cheekbone was mashed like chicken fricassee. Roger Crozier is a first-class worrier, but he does not worry much about things like shattered cheekbones. He worries about public opinion, about screened corner shots and about the Montreal Canadiens, who slipped an unbelievable nine goals past him in a single game last season. Last week, the Montrealers beat him to another four goals and tied up the league lead temporarily, but even in defeat edgy Roger put on such a magnificent display of swan dives, lunges, lurches, kicks and one-hand catches in stopping some 25 other Canadien shots that rival Coach Toe Blake went out of his way to offer congratulations. No one, said Toe, could have stopped the four goals that went in, and that made Roger feel better—for the moment anyway.

In their first year in the National Hockey League, Roger Crozier, perhaps more than any other player, gave the Buffalo Sabres instant credibility. An aging veteran with a laundry list of injuries and ailments, Crozier was often out of the lineup, unable to play during his tenure in Buffalo. When he was healthy, Crozier was a force to be reconed with. An acrobatic goalie who challenged shooters with reckless abandon, Crozier's experience and veteran poise gave the Sabres a chance to win any time he was between the pipes. That's saying a lot when you consider the lackluster Sabres defense in the first couple of years of the team's existence. Crozier often faced between 40 and 50 shots against a game during the team's first two years in the NHL. Still, despite all the illness and adversity he faced while with the Sabres, the young team was competitive from the start, thanks in large part to the contributions of Roger Crozier.

Crozier was the starting goaltender for the Sabres' first ever NHL game on October 10, 1970 in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. Crozier turned aside 35 of Pittsburgh's 36 shots as the Sabres earned their first NHL win by a score of 2-1. The 35 save effort was actually an easy night for Crozier during that first season. Four nights later, Crozier would face 53 shots on net as the Sabres were shut out by the powerful Montreal Canadiens 3-0 in their home opener. 21 of those shots came in the second period alone. On November 18, 1970, Crozier made 40 saves on 42 shots as the Sabres invaded the Maple Leaf Gardens, beating Imlach's former club by a score of 7-2.

Despite the constant pressure of facing so many shots a night, Crozier played extremely well, keeping the Sabres close in most of their games. He registered the first shut out in Sabres history on December 6, 1970 as the Sabres blanked the Minnesota North Stars 1-0 at the Aud in Buffalo.

By late December, 1970, the pressure of being the Sabres' number one goaltender took it's toll, and Crozier was out of the lineup, suffering from sheer exhaustion. Daley and Dryden carried the load for much of the rest of the season, with Crozier playing only sparingly. He finished the season with a 3.69 GAA in 44 games played, winning 9, losing 20 with 7 ties.

Crozier fared a little better health-wise during the 1971-72 season. He competed in 63 of Buffalo's 78 games, posting a 3.51 GAA and 2 shutouts. Though the Sabres finished the year with the worst win-loss record in the league, Crozier's play couldn't be faulted for it. Crozier faced 2,190 shots against during the 1971-72 season, which is still the team's record for shots faced by a goaltender in a single season. At the end of the season, his teammates voted Crozier their Most Valuable Player, and he was presented with the Wayne Larkin Memorial Trophy. He also won the team's "Star of Stars" Trophy, for the most three stars selections during the season.

1971-72 would be Crozier's last full season as a starting goaltender in the NHL. Illnesses and injuries limited Crozier's playing time for the rest of his career. In addition to the pancreatitis he had been suffering from since the late 60's, ulcers and gall bladder problems conspired to keep Crozier in almost constant pain.

 

[Dreakmur]

Anze Kopitar !!!


Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (2012)

2 x NHL All-Star (2008, 2011)

3 x Bill Libby Memorial Award (2008, 2010, 2011)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points – 15th(2011), 15th(2012), 17th(2010)
Goals – 12th(2010), 20th(2008)
Assists – 8th(2012), 14th(2011), 14th(2013), 20th(2010)

Play-off Points – 1st(2012)
Play-off Goals – 1st(2012)
Play-off Assists – 1st(2012)

5-Year Peak: 2009-2013
18th in Points, 82% of 2nd place Henrik Sedin
29th in Goals, 73% of 3rd place Patrick Marleau
13th in Assists, 79% of 2nd place Martin St. Louis

Career: 2007-2013
15th in Points, 80% of 2nd place Martin St. Louis
27th in Goals, 67% of 2nd place Ilya Kovalchuk
13th in Assists, 70% of 2nd place Joe Thornton

Scoring Percenatages:
Points: 78(2012), 74(2010), 74(2011), 74(2013), 73(2008), 60(2009), 54(2007)

Best 6 Seasons: 433

Team Scoring:
Points – 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2010), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 1st(2013), 3rd(2007)
Goals – 1st(2010), 1st(2012), 2nd(2008), 2nd(2009), 2nd(2011), 3rd(2007), 5th(2013)
Assists – 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2010), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 1st(2013), 2nd(2007)

Point Leading Percentages: 137, 129, 128, 127, 115, 112


Ice Time:
Team Time on Ice – 1st(2007), 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2010), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 1st(2013)
Team Even Strength Time on Ice – 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2010), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 1st(2013), 2nd(2007)
Team Power Play Time on Ice – 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 2nd(2007), 2nd(2010), 2nd(2013)
Team Short Handed Time on Ice – 1st(2012), 2nd(2011), 3rd(2007), 3rd(2010), 3rd(2013), 5th(2008), 6th(2009)

League Time on Ice – 4th(2010), 7th(2011), 10th(2012), 16th(2013), 21st(2009), 23rd(2007), 23rd(2008)

Assets: Has terrific hands, creativity, shiftiness, skating ability and the potential for great plays every time he's on the ice. Owns the size all NHL teams crave from the center position. Is responsible in his own end.

Flaws: Is not a physical player, despite his massive frame. Must continue to work on his offensive consistency, something he's counted on for. Could stand to become a little more assertive on offense.

​

 

[Dreakmur]

Tomas Kaberle !!!


Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (2011)

4 x NHL All-Star (2002, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Norris voting – 11th(2003), 13th(2006), 17th(2007), vote(2008)
All-Star voting – 13th(2003), 13th(2007), vote(2002), vote(2008)


Olympic Bronze Medalist (2006)

World Championship Gold Medalist (2005)
World Championship Silver Medalist (2006)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points among Defensemen – 4th(2006), 8th(2007), 8th(2010), 9th(2003), 9th(2008), 13th(2011), 16th(2000), 17th(2002), 19th(2001)

Play-off Points among Defensemen – 3rd(2011), 5th(2002)


Olympic Points among Defensemen– 4th(2006), 9th(2012)

World Championship Points – 9th(2008)
World Championship Points among Defensemen – 2nd(2003), 2nd(2008), 3rd(2006), 10th(2005)


Czech League Points among Defenemen – 1st(2005)

5-Year Peak: 2006-2010
6th in Points among Defensemen, 98% of 2nd place Scott Niedermayer
31st in Goals among Defensemen, 55% of 2nd place Mike Green
2nd in Assists among Defensemen, 86% of 1st place Nicklas Lidstrom

10-Year Peak: 2000-2010
6th in Points among Defensemen, 83% of 2nd place Sergei Gonchar, 97% of 3rd place Chris Pronger
22nd in Goals among Defensemen, 55% of 2nd place Rob Blake
4th in Assists among Defensemen, 94% of 2nd place Sergei Gonchar


Ice Time:
Team Time on Ice– 1st(2002), 1st(2003), 1st(2009), 2nd(2000), 2nd(2004), 2nd(2006), 2nd(2007), 2nd(2008), 2nd(2011), 3rd(2001), 3rd(2010)
Team Even Strength Time on Ice – 1st(2008), 2nd(2000), 2nd(2002), 2nd(2003), 2nd(2004), 2nd(2006), 2nd(2007), 3rd(2001), 3rd(2009), 3rd(2010), 4th(2011)
Team Power Play Time on Ice – 1st(2001), 1st(2003), 1st(2006), 1st(2008), 1st(2009), 1st(2010), 1st(2011), 1st(2012), 2nd(2002), 2nd(2007), 3rd(2000), 4th(2004)
Team Short Handed Time on Ice – 1st(2001), 1st(2006), 2nd(2003), 2nd(2004), 3rd(2007), 4th(2000), 4th(2001)

Assets: Possesses excellent hockey smarts and the ability to find his teammates with great passes. A good skater, especially laterally, he is capable of joining the attack and can quarterback the power play efficiently.

Flaws: Still makes mistakes when pinching in. Could use more strength to better handle big forwards. Doesn't shoot enough. Also tends to lack an elevated compete level from time to time, and he is far too passive in general.

​

 

[BubbaBoot]

Herb Jordan
center

• Shoots: Left • Height: 5'6" • Weight: 130 lbs. •
• Born: October 23, 1884 • Quebec City, Quebec •
• Played: 1900-1905 (CAHL) / 1905-1909 (ECAHA) / 1909-1911 (NHA) •

• Achievements •
• Goals
- 1901-02 CAHL 15 (1)
- 1902-03 CAHL 12 (3)
- 1903-04 CAHL 23 (2)
- 1904-05 CAHL 20 (3)
- 1905-06 ECAHA 15 (9)
- 1907-08 ECAHA 22 (T4)
- 1908-09 ECAHA 30 (2)
- Career • 158 (goals/game • 2.43)

• Assists
- 1902-03 CAHL 4 (T1)
- 1903-04 CAHL 3 (T2)
- 1905-06 ECAHA 4 (T2)
- 1907-08 ECAHA 5 (T2)
- Career • 18

• Points
- 1901-02 CAHL 15 (1)
- 1902-03 CAHL 16 (3)
- 1903-04 CAHL 25 (2)
- 1904-05 CAHL 20 (3)
- 1905-06 ECAHA 19 (9)
- 1907-08 ECAHA 27 (4)
- 1908-09 ECAHA 31 (2)
- Career • 176

• PIMs
- Career • 17

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
CAHL | 25|70 |6 |76 |10|| 2.80 |.24 ||
ECHA| 33|79 |12 |91 |7 || 2.39| .36 | |
NHA | 7|9|0|9|0||1.29|.00|||

Table below courtesy of seventielord:
Most Assists in recorded top-level hockey (CAHL/ECAHA), 1903-1909 seasons (min. 6)

(FAHL not included as there are no reconstructed assists there, same with 1905 CAHL)

Name|GP|A|APG
Alf Smith |32|23|0.72
Russell Bowie |44|22|0.50
Blair Russell |36|18|0.50
Herb Jordan|46|18|0.39
Pud Glass |41|13|0.32
Ernie Johnson |43|13|0.30
Jack Marshall |31|12|0.39
Harry Westwick |37|12|0.32
Walter Smaill|36|11|0.28
Cecil Blachford|24|10|0.42
*** *****|49|10|0.20
****** *******|30|9|0.30
Marty Walsh |21|8|0.38
Billy Gilmour|28|8|0.29
Jack McDonald|28|8|0.29
*** ********|18|7|0.39
Cyclone Taylor |21|7|0.33
******* *******|22|7|0.32
Ernie Russell |24|7|0.29
******** ****|17|6|0.35
Frank McGee |17|6|0.35
Lester Patrick |18|6|0.33
Harry Smith|21|6|0.29
Jimmy Gardner|25|6|0.24
Harvey Pulford |29|6|0.21

• Accolades •

Herb Jordan was born in Québec City on October 23, 1884. Herb was an old school gentleman with strict principles. To him ice hockey was a pastime, a hobby, rather than a profession. It is said that he refused to take any payment for playing the game.

During his years playing for Renfrew, he worked as M.J. O'Brien's personal secretary. O'Brien of course was the wealthy owner and founder of the Renfrew Millionires. Herbs connection with M.J. O'Brien initially came through his eldest son Errol Jordan, who had married Stella Murray of Renfrew, the granddaughter of M.J. O’Brien.

A a player Herb was feared for his dangerous shot which fooled many goaltenders. On many nights teams tried to cover him with two players but still failed to contain him. He was a good skater, a decent stickhandler and playmaker, but it was his shot that stood out. It was both hard and quickly released.

He could "scoop" his shots, lifting the puck above the ice, which was a valuable ability in those times. Herb wasn't afraid to battle in front of the goal either, making it difficult for opposing defensemen to stop him.

Quebec's great centre from 1903 to 1909, Herb Jordan was one of the most gifted goal-scorers of his time. Largely forgotten today, Jordan actually has a strong case for the Hall of Fame, when you compare his performance to that of his contemporaries.

In 1903, Jordan was third in goal scored, behind two immortals in Russell Bowie and Frank McGee.
In 1904, he was behind only Bowie in goals, but actually scored at a greater rate per game than Bowie did, which was no mean feat when comparing oneself to a player who averaged nearly three goals per game for his career.
In 1905, Jordan was again third in goals (behind Bowie and Quebec teammate Joe Power), but second in goals per game.
In 1908, he was fourth behind three Hall-of-Famers (Bowie again, Tommy Phillips and Marty Walsh).
In 1909 he was second behind only Walsh. He was never able to lead the league in scoring, but came very close several times.

Now Jordan has it, flies past the cover-point, like a veritable streak, and before the crowd can draw their breath the goaler was wondering if it was an electric bolt that had passed him.

Jordan was the pick of the four, and all through a fast and hard game stood up to the pace and gave a fine exhibition of fast skating and clever stickwork

Herbie Jordan once more proved himself the peer on any centre man in the game to-day. Fast, aggressive, clear-headed and unselfish, he was a dangerous man around the poles. Time and time again he fooled the Ottawa defence and had LeSueur at his mercy.

Jordan was the bright star of the forward line, and he was at all times dangerous... Jordan gave the Ottawa defense a few anxious moments... Jordan went in off the faceoff, and scored in 30 seconds...

Jordan gave a singularly pretty exhibition of stick-handling and his shooting was deadly. A particularly clever shot was passed out to him from the side by Chubby Power. Although covered by two men, he managed with that funny poke of his to elude both of them and lifted the puck right into the nets.

Two of their first three were scored on three-man combinations with a double-pass between Jordan and ****** *****... During the last seven minutes there were seven goals scored, and of these, Jordan, the Quebec rover, who put up a sterling game from the beginning, got four.

Herbie Jordan, one of the greatest centre ice men in the game to-day, again proved his claims to the honor, his efforts being of the gilt-edged variety. He played right in on the poles and he was robbed of many more scored than those credited to him only by the alertness of the Ottawa goal-keeper.

And Jordan was an established player in his own right, too. He had been the second leading scoror in the ECHA the past season, scoring thirty goals in the 12 game season - all the while playing with a last place club.

Certainly, Jordan did not have the high profile of the Patricks or Fred Taylor, but that soon became immaterial. Once he was announced as a member of the Renfrew aggregation, fast becoming thetopic of conversation, importance was ascribed to him.

Herb Jordan joined Quebec in 1903 and played with them for seven years. During this time Quebec was never a threat for league supremacy and this great centre player was fated never to be on a winner.However, in that time he was the leading goal scorer for Quebec.

He carried the load until he got some real support with the arrival of **** ******** in 1907... his best year was 1909 when Joe Malone arrived but the team got nowhere, with poor goaling. This year he scored in 12 consecutive games.

When the O'Briens of Renfrew decided to pack a team to go after the Stanley Cup in 1910, they first tried to get Marty Walsh for centre. He would not leave Ottawa so they signed Jordan who had finished second to Walsh as a scorer in 1909. He centered a line of *** ********* and **** ******. The Creamery Kings were well-loaded but could not win consistently. A deal was made with Canadiens to get Newsy Lalonde for the balance of the season. Although Jordan was their best scorer up to that time, he had to make way for Lalonde.

He was a player with a scoring average of better than two goals per game, who like Russell Bowie, had the bad luck never to be on a Stanley Cup winner.

Herb Jordan, a gifted scorer and likely one of the best players not in the Hall of Fame, alternated between center and rover, as did Lorne Campbell. Overall, center is more represented among the best scorers of the day. But clearly, at least in the early days of the game, the rover was an offensive position, and was counted on to score goals—perhaps not quite to the same extent as centers, but more than wings.

 

[VanIslander]

center Rick Meagher, the three-time NCAA All-American who won the Selke trophy as a 36 year old 10+ year NHL veteran while captain of the St. Louis Blues. He was a much respected defensive pivot who was an all-time great Bottom-6 forward.

Frank J. Selke Trophy (1990)

...speed and tenacity...

http://www.njdevilspitchfork.com/players/m/meagher.html

... his worth was measured in intangibles like diligence, shutting down opposing forwards and heart...

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SilverwareTrophyWinner.jsp?tro=FST&year=1989-90

A quick centre who could check diligently and create scoring chances, Rick Meagher played nearly 700 NHL games for four different clubs. His best years came with the St. Louis Blues in the 1980s. Born in Belleville, Ontario, Meagher was signed as a free agent by the Montreal Canadiens after a stellar four-year career with Boston University. The tricky pivot was named to the ECAC first and second all-star teams twice each, placed on the NCAA championship all-tournament team in 1977, and was a three-time NCAA East first team All-American.

Meagher showed he was a bona fide NHLer when he scored 24 goals while teamed with Don Nachbaur and Warren Miller in 1981-82. Early the next season, the speedy forward was traded to the New Jersey Devils where he checked and saw time on the power play.

A trade to the St. Louis Blues in August 1985, allowed Meagher to find his niche as a big leaguer. Playing behind star playmaker Bernie Federko, he was allowed to play his exemplary two-way game while becoming one of the top penalty killers in the league. His excellent work helped the Blues come within a game of reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 1986.

 

[BubbaBoot]

Reggie Lemelin
goalkeeper

• Catches: Left • Height: 5' 11" • Weight: 170 lbs. •
• Born: November 19, 1954 • Quebec City, Quebec •
• Draft: Philadelphia • 7th round (125th overall) • 1974 NHL Amateur • from: Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL) •
• Played: 1978/79 - 1992/93 •

• Championships •
1975-76 Lockhart Cup (NAHL)

• International Medals •
1984 - Gold - Canada Cup

• Honors •
1977-78 AHL All-Star Team (1st)

• All-Star Voting •
- 80-81 (T10) / 82-83 (T9) / 83-84 (3) / 84-85 (3) / 86-87 (T8) / 87-88 (6) / 88-89 (T10) / 89-90 (6)

• All-Star Games •
NHL • 1989

• Vezina Trophy Voting •
- 83-84 (2) / 84-85 (3) / 87-88 (6) / 88-89 (T7) / 89-90 (4)

• Hart Trophy Voting •
- 83-84 (8th)

• Achievements •
• Games
- 1983-84 NHL 51 (6)
- 1984-85 NHL 56 (5)
- 1985-86 NHL 60 (3)
- Career NHL • 507 (59th all-time)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 59 (40th all-time)

• Wins
- 1984-85 NHL 30 (3)
- 1985-86 NHL 29 (3)
- 1987-88 NHL 24 (7)
- 1989-90 NHL 22 (8)
- Career NHL • 236 (53rd all-time)
- 1988 NHL PLAYOFFS 17 (T2)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 23 (51st all-time)

• Ties
- 1982-83 NHL 8 (7)
- 1983-84 NHL 9 (1)
- 1984-85 NHL 10 (1)
- 1985-86 NHL 6 (9)
- Career NHL • 63 (70th all-time)

• GAA
- 1980-81 NHL 3.24 (8)
- 1987-88 NHL 2.93 (4)
- 1988-89 NHL 3.01 (7)
- 1989-90 NHL 2.81 (3)
- Career NHL • 3.46 (89th all-time)
- 1988 NHL PLAYOFFS 2.63 (1)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 3.58 (99th all-time)

• Save Percentage
- 1983-84 NHL .893 (4)
- 1984-85 NHL .888 (5)
- 1989-90 NHL .892 (9)
- 1988 NHL PLAYOFFS .895 (2)

• Shutouts
- 1980-81 NHL 2 (3)
- 1984-85 NHL 1 (9)
- 1986-87 NHL 2 (3)
- 1987-88 NHL 3 (4)
- 1989-90 NHL 2 (6)
- Career NHL • 12 (94th all-time)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 2 (T62nd all-time)

• career stats •

| gms| W | L | T/0TL | GAA |SAVE %| SO| G| A| PIMs
NHL | 507 |236 |162 |63 |3.46| | 12 |0 |16|109
NHL PLAYOFFS| 59 |23 |25 | |3.58 | | 2| 0 | 4|4
QMJHL | 79|32|33| 1|4.87| |0|0|3|6
AHL | 83|36|35|8|3.39| |4|| |

• all-time team records •
Atlanta/Calgary Flames (NHL) - games (4) / playoff games (3) / wins (3) / Ties-OTL (4) / GAA (11) / SOs (8) / playoff SOs (T3) / mins. (4) / playoff mins. (3) / PIMs (3)
Boston Bruins (NHL) - games (10) / playoff games (6) / wins (10) / playoff wins (8) / Ties-OTL (10) / GAA (15) / Save % (23) / SOs (17) / playoff SOs (T5) / mins. (10) / playoff mins. (9) / PIMs (6)

• Accolades •

Goalie Reggie Lemelin made over 500 appearances in an exemplary career with the Atlanta/Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins. He backstopped his teams to 236 wins and was respected for his positive outlook in the dressing room.

The native of Quebec City played junior hockey with the QMJHL's Sherbrooke Castors. He was chosen 125th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974 and spent four years in the AHL and NAHL. In 1977-78, the gifted netminder led the AHL when he made 60 appearances for the Philadelphia Firebirds. His strong year was recognized when he was voted on to the league's first all-star team. A few weeks later, Lemelin signed with the Atlanta Flames as a free agent.

Lemelin continued to spend most of his time in the minors but did play 18 games as a rookie in 1978-79. He began to gain more playing time after the franchise relocated to Calgary in 1980-81. Lemelin played 29 games that year to help fill the void after Dan Bouchard was traded to the Quebec Nordiques. He played six games in the post-season as the Flames reached the semi-finals for the first time. The upbeat veteran worked effectively with Don Edwards as Calgary improved its position in the standings in the early 1980s. His best year with the club was a 30-win performance in 1984-85.

In August 1987, Lemelin signed as a free agent with the Boston Bruins. He won 24 games for the club that first year and combined with Andy Moog to backstop the club to the Stanley Cup finals. Two years later, he won 22 games and shared the William Jennings trophy with Moog as the team reached the finals for the second time in three years. Lemelin's playing time was reduced in the early '90s before he retired in 1993.

With the NAHL Firebirds, Lemelin was the team’s leading goalie for each of the three seasons. During his time with Philadelphia, Reggie collected eleven shutouts in what was a league with a heavy dose of offense.

Rejean "Reggie" Lemelin was one of a number of goalies from the 1980s that always perplexed me.

Though goaltending in the 1980s is historically regarded as weak at best, Reggie was an above average goalie who was capable of great performances. Yet he was never able to truly establish himself as an elite goalie, like say Grant Fuhr, Billy Smith and Ron Hextall. Instead Lemelin was regarded to be a level below that....

Lemelin was an old-school stand up goalie. That style is basically instinct today, but it was still accepted practice back then, and Lemelin excelled at playing his angles and directing pucks into the corners. In many ways he was blocking shots rather than saving them. By virtue of his playing style he often made stops seem easier than they probably were.

Though he was a constant in the Calgary crease for much of the 1980s, he could never secure himself the #1 starting goalies job. Not even after his magical 1983-84 season where he went unbeaten in 19 straight games and was voted as runner up to Buffalo rookie sensation Tom Barrasso for the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the league. Lemelin was even asked to play for Team Canada at the 1984 Canada Cup following his 21-12-9 season, and would improve his numbers in 1985-86.

In 1987-88 Lemelin was moved to Boston where he was essential in their voyage to the Stanley Cup finals. Most people will of course remember the Bruins started Andy Moog for the final series against Moog's old Edmonton Oilers teammates. But Lemelin actually played the lion's share of games that post season, posting a 11-6 record in 17 post season games.

Lemelin would remain in Boston until 1993. As time went by his status as the back up goalie behind Moog was cemented. Regardless, the Bruins featured one of the strongest tandems and therefore strongest teams in the early 1990s. The Bruins returned to the Stanley Cup finals in 1990, but would once again fall short to the Oilers.

I guess history will not be as kind to Reggie Lemelin as perhaps it should be. He was an above average goalie, and for a couple of seasons he may even have been elite. But success and therefore that magical defining moment was tough to find. Consider this - Lemelin was the back up goalie for 3 Stanley Cup finals. Perhaps that is his defining moment.

 

[BubbaBoot]

Mike O'Connell
defense

• Shoots: Right • Height: 5' 9" • Weight: 180 lbs. •
• Born: November 25, 1955 • Chicago, Illinois •
• Draft: Chicago • 3rd round (43rd overall) • 1975 NHL Amateur • from: Kingston Canadiens (OMJHL) •
• Played: 1977/78 - 1989/90 •
[Younger brother of former WHA player Tim O'Connell...Son of former NFL player Tommy O'Connell, QB for the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns]

• Awards •
1974-75 • Max Kaminsky Trophy (OMJHL) - Best Defenseman
1976-77 • Most Valuable Defenseman (CHL)

• Honors •
1974-75 OMJHL All-Star Team (1st)
1976-77 CHL All-Star Team (1st)
1983-84 7th Player Award (Boston Bruins)

• All-Star Games •
OMJHL • 1974
NHL • 1984

• All-Star Team Voting •
- 82-83 (7th) / 83-84 (10th)

• Norris Trophy Voting •
- 82-83 (T8th) / 83-84 (T8th)

• Achievements •
• Games Played
- Career • 860 (150th all-time for defensemen / 8th in his playing span)
- Career PLAYOFFS • 233 (5th all-time / 3rd for defensemen)

• Goals
- Career • 105 (T73rd all-time for defensemen / 17th in his playing span)

• Shorthanded Goals
- Career • 6 (T7th in his playing span for defensemen)

• Assists
- Career • 334 (T67th all-time for defensemen / 19th in his playing span)

• Points
- Career • 439 (T66th all-time for defensemen / 18th in his playing span)

• Plus/Minus
- 1982-83 NHL 44 (7)

• Most Shorthanded Minutes / Game - Defensemen
- 1983/84 4:01 (1)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 860 |105 |334 |439 |605|+39| .12 |.39 |38|6
NHL PLAYOFFS| 82 |8 |24 |32 |64 |+2| .10| .29 | 3|1
CHL |195|27|135|162|155||.14|.69||
International | 12|2|3|5|4||.17|.25||
OMJHL | 120| 34|98|132|128||.28|.82| |

• Accolades •

Defenceman Mike O'Connell was an excellent skater with a host of offensive gifts. He was key performer on the power play and helped his team's transition game without neglecting his defensive responsibilities.

O'Connell was born in Chicago, Illinois, but spent much of his youth in Cleveland, Ohio and Cohasset, Massachusetts. He played hockey for Archbishop Williams high school as a freshman and sophomore. As a junior, he skated for the Braintree Hawks of the New England Amateur Hockey League where, as a sixteen-year-old, he was often pitted against players ten years his senior.

The talented blueliner opted to play junior hockey in Canada rather than attend a U.S. college. He became a playmaking standout for two years with the OHA's Kingston Canadians. After scoring 73 points in 50 games for Kingston in 1974-75, he was taken 43rd overall by the Chicago Black Hawks at the Amateur Draft. That year he was also voted on to the OHA first all-star team. He spent his first three pro seasons with the Dallas Black Hawks of the CHL and registered 135 assists during that period. After scoring 68 points in 63 games in 1976-77, he was named the top defenceman in the CHL and placed on the league's first all-star team.

The crafty playmaker was a constant in the Bruins' lineup for the equivalent of over five seasons and was often teamed with steady Mike Milbury. In 1982-83 he recorded a plus/minus mark of +44 and helped Boston reach the semi-finals. The next year he set career highs with 18 goals and 60 points and was a participant in the NHL All-Star Game.

Prior to the trading deadline in March 1986, O'Connell was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for fellow blueliner Reed Larson. His offensive totals dropped as coach Jacques Demers utilized him as a penalty killer and defensive stabilizer on his disciplined squad. O'Connell adapted well to his new team and helped the Wings reach the semi-finals in 1987 and 1988. After playing in his 13th season in 1989-90, the veteran defenceman retired.

In 1975 he was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL and the Phoenix Roadrunners in the WHA. O’Connell chose not to emulate his older brother and signed with the Hawks instead. O’Connell continued to excel, earning awards and All-Star honors. By the 1978/79 season Mike made the big time where he joined the Blackhawks roster. O’Connell was steady, consistent, and industrious blue-liner but not a superstar. O’Connell spent the rest of his career in the NHL: playing for the Hawks, the Boston Bruins (where he worked with Brad Park and Raymond Bourque on defense) before ending his playing career with the Detroit Red Wings in 1990.

An excellent skater, O'Connell was a solid all-around player, being both reliable in the defensive zone and consistently effective on offense, with a hard, accurate shot from the point. His best years were spent in Boston, helping to make up an impressive defensive squad that included Brad Park and Ray Bourque. He played in the 1984 NHL All-Star Game while with the Bruins and also represented the United States at the 1981 Canada Cup and 1985 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments. O'Connell finished his NHL career as a penalty killer and defensive specialist with the Detroit Red Wings in 1989, who had obtained him in a trade for Reed Larson in 1986.

An undersized and under-rated defenseman, Chicago born, Massachusetts raised Mike O'Connell was a great skating standout at both ends of the ice

Blessed with great skating ability and a terrific understanding of transition offense, O'Connell immediately starred (in junior).

Although he played behind Ray Bourque and Brad Park, O'Connell, who often teamed with Mike Milbury, emerged as an offensive force. For the next five seasons he was a fixture on the power play, and grew into an all star performer. Not only did he play in the 1984 all star game, but he scored 18 goals and 60 points.

A good modern day comparable for O'Connell would be Brian Rafalski. Not only are they similar sized defensemen, but both were strong offensive contributors thanks to their skating, passing and offensive reads and pinches. O'Connell relied on his heavy shot perhaps more than Rafalski, but both were really crafty. Both were also solid defensive players, relying strong positioning and angling, rarely getting beat one on one. O'Connell was a noted shot blocker who was relied on to rush the puck out of the defensive zone.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Marc Savard, C

Assist Finishes: 3 (2006), 3 (2007), 3 (2008), 6 (2009)
Point Finishes: 8 (2007), 9 (2006), 9 (2009), 20 (2008)

Team Scoring Finishes (Year, Margin): 1 (2007, +26), 1 (2008, +22), 1 (2009, +15), 2 (2001, -6), 2 (2006, -1), 3 (2004), 4 (2000), 4 (2003), 6 (1999)

vsX scores: 91.51 (2006), 84.21 (2007), 80 (2009), 73.58 (2008), 67.71 (2001), 59.77 (2004), 56.38 (2000)

Assets: Is extremely shifty and sees the ice well. Possesses tremendous offensive instincts. An excellent playmaker, he finds his teammates with precision. Has improved his play without the puck. Can agitate opponents.

Flaws: Concussion injuries have placed his career in jeopardy. Stands only 5-10 and, although feisty, can get outmuscled. Isn't the fastest skater and can get under his coach's skin because of a lack of discipline from time to time.

Career Potential: Quality veteran playmaker, if healthy.

The best thing to happen to the Bruins in the last three games (and actually the last week, for that matter) is that Marc Savard skated on Tuesday before the Bruins' practice. A message to the GM: Lock this guy up now, please.

We've all had the great displeasure of watching life without Savy, and it isn't pretty. Even the head coach thinks so. "We have Marc Savard, who's the quarterback on our power play, that we obviously miss dearly right now," Claude Julien said after Monday's third straight loss, a 4-1 embarrassment to the Islanders. "There's not the confidence nor the determination that we need to have to be successful."

http://nesn.com/2009/11/bruins-hoping-for-boost-from-return-of-marc-savard-milan-lucic/

It may change when Marc Savard begins to play again, but for as long as the Bruins use two centers on their top unit to make up for the loss of their power-play quarterback, they’ll probably keep a somewhat unlikely presence – Matt Hunwick – at the point with Zdeno Chara.

http://www.patriotledger.com/sports...succeeds-despite-center-Marc-Savard-s-absence

The playmaking center has appeared in 807 career games with Boston, Atlanta, Calgary, and the Rangers. Savard has 207 goals and 499 assists. When healthy with the Bruins, Savard was considered the No. 1 center and power-play quarterback, primarily stationed at the right-side half-boards.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...ruins-sight/f0IfhuWqwgaYb51Yo1lcpI/story.html

After the game, Julien said Jagr can “quarterback a power play a lot like [Marc] Savard used to do on the half wall.” Obviously, that’s something the Bruins could certainly use heading down the stretch and into the playoffs.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/...grs-debut-and-other-leftover-bruins-thoughts/

This past season, Savard even became a fixture on coach Claude Julien's penalty kill and was a go-to guy for crucial faceoffs.

Savard admits his devotion to becoming a two-way force, which started in Atlanta under former Thrashers coach Bob Hartley, went on hiatus his first season in Boston. Then along came Julien.

"I think with Claude, he wants me to be in these situations, and he told me that, and I had to earn his trust. That's all you've got to do," Savard said. "I think I've earned his trust, and I've got to continue to do that."

"The backchecking was amazing," said [Derek] Morris, who noted that Savard's pleas impacted his decision to sign with the Bruins this offseason. "I noticed it. Before, he used to make a play and if he didn't make it, he'd take a loop around and [wait] until he could make another play. Now he hits on the brakes. … He has that passion to win. He takes things personally now, where before maybe he brushed them off."

"It's been a learning process for Marc," Neely said. "I credit the coaching staff for helping him understand that. He's obviously a very gifted player, and for Marc, it's become not just about his points, it's become about how to win as a team. He's certainly an integral part of our hockey club.

"He's counted on to do a lot of offensive things for our team. But beside from that, he's been counted on to play a role defensively. We've seen him do that the last couple years, he's killing penalties and is far more responsible, and I think he's taken pride in that."

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/columns/story?columnist=kalman_matt&id=4521811

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Roman Hamrlik, D

Team TOI Ranks (40 game minimum): 1st (1995), 1st (1996), 1st (2000), 1st (2001), 2nd (1997), 2nd (1998), 2nd (2003), 2nd (2004), 2nd (2007), 2nd (2008), 2nd (2009), 2nd (2010), 2nd (2011), 3rd (1999), 3rd (2002), 3rd (2006), 4th (1994), 4th (2012), 6th (1993)

Team PP TOI Ranks (40 game minimum): 1st (1995), 1st (1996), 1st (1997), 1st (1999), 1st (2000), 1st (2001), 1st (2002), 2nd (1998), 2nd (2003), 2nd (2004), 2nd (2006), 2nd (2007), 3rd (1994), 3rd (2009), 3rd (2010), 3rd (2011), 4th (2008)

Team SH TOI Ranks (40 game minimum): 2nd (1995), 3rd (1998), 3rd (1999), 3rd (2000), 3rd (2001), 3rd (2002), 3rd (2003), 3rd (2008), 3rd (2010), 4th (1996), 4th (2004), 4th (2007), 4th (2009), 4th (2011), 4th (2012)

Defenseman Scoring: 9 (1996), 11 (2000), 16 (2003), 17 (2001), 18 (1997)

7th in Norris and AST Voting in 1996, 3x ASG (1996, 1999, 2003)

1x Olympic Gold (1998)

Hamrlik will return to Tampa this week, but as a member of the New York Islanders, the Lightning's opponent in the first round of the playoffs. And though he never developed into the perennial All-Star many thought he might after Tampa Bay made him the first pick in franchise history, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound blueliner's hard shot from the point and ability to eat up ice time could impact the series.
"He's had a little bit of an off year this year, but he's just a fairly consistent player," Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich said. "He's good in his own end and fairly gifted offensively. He's just got all the skills, and he's a pretty relaxed player out there. He always keeps a cool head about him."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/08/Lightning/Hamrlik_returns_not_t.shtml

The Finesse Game
He is a mobile defenseman with a good shot and good passing skills, but he is not very creative. As his confidence grew near the end of the season, Hamrlik became more willing to get involved offensively, even driving to the front of the net on some rushes, although his strength in his defensive play.

Hamrlik has adjusted to the NHL pace because of his good skating. He makes fewer high-risk plays and saw more ice time as a result.

The Physical Game
Despite recurring back problems, he is a lusty hitter. He is aggressive and likes physical play...

The Finesse Game
Hamrlik is very close to becoming the NHL's next star defenseman. He has all of the tools. He is a fast, strong skater forwards and backwards. Although he needs to improve his reads a bit, he's getting better.

Right now, the young Czech thinks he can just overpower people, and he frequently can, but he could also learn to outsmart them and not make the game so difficult. Hamrlik loves to get involved offensively. He plays nearly the full two minutes of a power play on the point, but he won't hesitate to jump into the play low. He has an excellent shot with a quick release.

The Physical Game
Hamrlik answered questions about his toughness with his successful return from knee surgery. Hamrlik is aggressive and likes physical play, although he is not a huge, splashy hitter. He is in great shape, and routinely plays 27-30 minutes a night.

The Finesse Game
Hamrlik is drawing comparison to Ray Bourque and Chris Chelios for his marathon ice time and his desire to control a game. Despite his step backwards last season, he is very close to becoming the NHL's next star defenseman.

Defensively, Hamrlik runs into problems when he is trying to move the puck out of his zone and when forced to handle the puck on his backhand, but that is about the only way the opposition can cope with him.

 

[BubbaBoot]

Eddie Shack
left wing

• Shoots: left • Height: 6' 1" • Weight: 200 lbs. •
• Born: February 11, 1937 • Sudbury, Ontario •
• Played: 1958/59 - 1974/75

• Championships •
1957 J. Ross Robertson Cup (OHA)
1962 Stanley Cup (NHL)
1963 Stanley Cup (NHL)
1964 Stanley Cup (NHL)
1967 Stanley Cup (NHL)

• All-Star Games •
NHL - 1962 / 1963 / 1964

• Achievements •
• VsX • Goals • LWers
- 81 / 77 / 65 / 61 / 59 / 58 / 48 / 44

• Games
- Career NHL • 1047 (17th all-time among LWers / 2nd during playing span)

• Goals
- 1956-57 OHA 47 (3)
- Career NHL • 239 (T79th all-time among LWers / T8th during playing span)

• Even Strength Goals
- 1965-66 NHL 24 (2)

• PIMs •
- 1958-59 NHL 109 (6)
- 1958-59 NHL 110 (6)
- 1958-59 NHL 107 (8)
- 1958-59 NHL 128 (6)
- Career NHL • 1437 (35th all-time among LWers / 1st during playing span)

• Assists •
- 1955-56 OHA 49 (4)
- 1956-57 OHA 57 (T1)
- Career NHL • 207 (T88th all-time among LWers / 16th during playing span)

• Points •
- 1955-56 OHA 72 (T6)
- 1956-57 OHA 104 (2)
- Career NHL • 428 (88th all-time among LWers / 11th during playing span)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 1047|239 |226 |465|1437|| .23 |.22 ||
NHL PLAYOFFS| 74 |6 |7 |13 |151 || .08| .10 ||
OHA | 194| 91|128|219|348||.47|.66||
AHL| 52|22|26|48|120||.42|.50||

• career team records •
Guelph Biltmores (OHA) - games (4) / goals (5) / assists (2) / points (T3)
Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) - games (37) / playoff games (31) / goals (47) / assists (73) / points (62) / PIMs (22) / playoff PIMs (13) / EV goals (44)

One of two players (Shack was the first) to score twenty or more goals in a season for five or more NHL teams

• Accolades •

Known to all in hockey as "The Entertainer" or "The Nose," Eddie Shack was a unique talent. Not too many players have a song made that is inspired by his play, called, "Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack."

Shack was working in a butcher shop when he decided to try out for the Guelph Biltmores. When he made the team and moved away from his family, he left with the knowledge that he could always go back and be a butcher. From 1952 to 1957 he played in Guelph before making the move to the New York Rangers farm team in the AHL, the Providence Reds. After only one season in Providence, he was called up to New York where he was expected to become a scorer. Shack was not living up to expectations and when the Rangers tried to make a trade in 1960 with the Detroit Red Wings that involved Red Kelly, the transaction was cancelled when Kelly refused to report to New York. He was finally traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs later that year.

Moving to the Leafs was a resurgence for Shack as he fit in with the team right away. In his first full season with the team, the Leafs brought home the Stanley Cup and won three in a row from 1961-62 to 1963-64. Shack scored a Cup-winning goal and later told the press that the puck had gone off his behind and that he was just trying to get out of the way! Shack won another cup with Toronto in 1967 before being traded to the Boston Bruins the next season.

Shack moved around to several other teams including the L.A. Kings, Buffalo Sabres, and Pittsburgh Penguins before ending up back in Toronto as a Leaf. He retired from the game with four Stanley Cup rings and having made three consecutive All-Star appearances from '62 to '64.

After a recent tumultuous two-game visit to New York, the Toronto Maple Leafs landed just where they always are at this time of year—ahead of the Rangers and seemingly sure of a playoff spot. And the irony is that the trick was turned with the help of a punchy Punchinello named Eddie Shack, an ex-Ranger who was laughed out of Madison Square Garden a few years ago. "Looney Tunes" they call Shack around the Garden these days, but he was just looney enough last week to score the goal that gave the Leafs the tie that put them in third place. And that's the way it's likely to be with Eddie.

During the early weeks of the current season, when the Maple Leafs were hanging around the lower depths of the National Hockey League, Shack was lingering in the minors and the fans in Toronto were missing him badly. Then one day about two weeks after the season opened, workmen began scurrying around both ends of the Toronto arena, buttressing the concrete walls with heavy timbers. To perplexed observers, the Leafs' Executive Vice President Hal Ballard had a perfectly reasonable explanation: "Eddie is back." Anyone who has ever seen Shack skate pell-mell into immovable objects knew that the Maple Leaf Gardens needed all the reinforcement it could get. And so, for that matter, did the Maple Leafs.

Over the years the Toronto team has built a reputation for latent competence. For 70 games they skate around, working up just enough sweat to be socially offensive, and they win just enough games to assure themselves a playoff berth. Once the cup play begins, their latent talent comes alive. Comes alive? Erupts is more like it. Players who have done little more than go through the motions for weeks suddenly begin to zip right by startled defenders or, if necessary, over them. The league front-runners, weary from trying to win more games than anyone else during a meaningless regular season, haven't got a prayer against those crafty old well-rested Leafs and, when it is all over, there sits the Stanley Cup in Maple Leaf Gardens.

For four out of five recent years Toronto imposed these conditions on its NHL neighbors, and it seemed reasonable to assume they would do it again last spring when the Maple Leafs chugged into Montreal for the opening round of the playoffs. But good grief! They got whomped. Significant? End of an era? Goodby to all that? If these were merely rhetorical questions at the end of last season, they seemed more like statements of fact at the beginning of this one. The 1965-66 Maple Leafs had apparently hit on the perfect blend of tired old men and inept rookies. Losing a few regular-season games is one thing, but when the Boston Bruins begin to maltreat you with outrageous consistency, you've had it as a hockey team. And that's what was happening to the former cup champs.

The night after the Leafs lost to the Rangers on their home ice. Coach Punch Imlach scanned his Rochester farm team's roster, took a deep breath and put in a call to Mr. Edward Shack in Rochester. "Hustle on up here," Imlach told Eddie, "and do something."

Imlach called just the right person, for Shack's talent is unique. Nobody has ever confused him with any of the world's great hockey players. No sir. But take a perfectly orderly and predictable turn of events, point Eddie in its direction, and duck. Suddenly what was orderly becomes a wilderness of confusion, excitement and unpredictability. Shack does have a fair turn of speed, but his splendid rushes up the ice are often completed with a futile circle of the opponent's net. At times he makes abandoned assaults on the unoffending sideboards just because they are there. Opponents, teammates, referees—all have been clobbered by Shack and all at the most unforeseeable times. A few years ago one of Toronto's more experienced forwards, Bert Olmstead, had cannily avoided a vicious check by an opposing defenseman in white only to be flattened in mid-ice by his teammate Shack. Olmstead got up, regathered his gloves and stick, pulled a fistful of Eddie's shirt out in front of him and yelled: "What color is it, Eddie, what color is it?"

"Blue," said Shack.

"That's right," said Olmstead, "it's blue. Stay clear of it, Eddie, for Pete's sake, stay clear of blue!"

Obviously, then, if a hockey team is running smoothly and winning its games, Eddie Shack can be a most disconcerting fellow to have around and a menace to the organization. At the start of this season, however, Punch Imlach's team was anything but smooth-running. It seemed in imminent danger of coming to a dead stop. What the Maple Leafs needed was a jolt, a detonator, a kick in the rear. Welcome home, Eddie Shack! Eddie returned from the sticks with a bang, fans screamed with joy, and the Leafs began a steady climb back to respectability.

Whatever the advantages proffered to little boys growing up in a small backwoods Canadian town, Shack missed most of them. At 14 he had one of the largest noses in Sudbury, Ont., and though he was a sturdy young fellow the target was irresistible to his playmates. Shack spent most of his waking hours fighting off tormentors. In that part of Canada teachers used to put the good athletes in a corner and then ignore them. Because of this, Eddie, who could skate like an autumn leaf in the wind, managed to get by six grades of grammar school without learning to read or write.

Eddie Shack is one of the most colorful characters in a long list in NHL history.

Eddie's magnetic personality, desire and fearlessness made him a crowd favorite. Eddie was known for his fisticuffs, and make no doubt about it, that's why he made the NHL. He feared nobody. His battles with AHLer Larry Zeidel and many NHLers, most notably Gordie Howe, are legendary.

Eddie's brutal stickfight with Larry Zeidel, one of the toughest guys in the AHL in the era of "old time hockey" is a classic. Both were thrown out of the game, they went to their respective dressing rooms, showered, then came out to watch the rest of the game in the stands. Zeidel spotted Eddie sitting the front row of the stands, and ran after him to resume the fight. The two of them fought again, and Zeidel rationalized it by saying that "Shack was going to the NHL and I'm staying in the AHL and I probably won't get another shot at him".

Eddie could also be dirty if he wanted to. Once when Chicago Blackhawk Pat Stapleton swerved to hip-check Eddie, he took two knees in the back and Eddie's stick across his head. Stapleton had to crawl 25 feet across the ice to get to the bench.

Eddie could also use his head. During a game against the Montreal Canadiens, he took offence at Henri Richard's style. "He was out there zippin' around like he didn't have a care in the world, so I decided to bring him down to us," Eddie once said. After Eddie got a couple of shots in, Henri grabbed his arms. "We'd take two steps over here, two steps over there," Eddie said. "I said piss on this and I banged him with my head." Richard left the game with a cut over his right eye requiring six stitches. Later in the game Eddie nailed Jean Beliveau into the boards, knocking the hockey legend out for two games. During his second stint with the Leafs, Eddie injured two Rangers on one play. He elbowed Rod Gilbert and cross-checked Phil Goyette in the head, leaving both men unconscious on the ice.

As a teenager Shack was working in a coal mine and as a butcher when he decided to try out for the Guelph Biltmores. He figured he could always return to the meat cutting business, but he wanted to give hockey, his one true passion, his full shot. Shack not only made the team but became its star. He played in the Royal City from 1952 to 1957, leading the Biltmores to an appearance in the Memorial Cup tournament in 1957.

At the time the Biltmores were a feeder team for the NHL New York Rangers. The Rangers were impressed enough to promote him to their farm team in the AHL, the Providence Reds. With a good scoring touch and his aggressive play in the corners, Shack would spend only one season in the minor leagues.

In the following two seasons in Manhattan Shack established his reputation for exuberance and zest but not for scoring. With just 16 goals over two years, the Rangers gave up on Shack. They initially tried to make a trade with the Detroit Red Wings that involved Red Kelly, the transaction was cancelled when Kelly refused to report to New York. He was finally traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs later that year in exchange for Pat Hannigan and Johnny Wilson.

Moving to the Leafs was the perfect move for Shack as he fit in with the team right away. In his first full season with the team, the Leafs brought home the Stanley Cup and won three in a row from 1961-62 to 1963-64. Shack scored a Cup-winning goal and later told the press that the puck had gone off his behind and that he was just trying to get out of the way! Shack won another cup with Toronto in 1967 before being traded to the Boston Bruins the next season.

Shack moved around to several other teams including the L.A. Kings, Buffalo Sabres, and Pittsburgh Penguins before ending up back in Toronto as a Leaf. He retired from the game with four Stanley Cup rings and having made three consecutive All-Star appearances from '62 to '64.

It was Eddie's magnetic personality that the fans remember most. "We want Shack" was a regular chant in Maple Leaf Gardens. Eddie, living up to his nickname "the Entertainer," would occasionally stand up from his spot on the bench and lift his arms to encourage the fans to do chant louder! Another favorite move of his was to entertain the fans even when the game was over. If he was called as one of the game's three stars, he'd enthusiastically rush out to center ice, do his trademarked pirouette, and then enthusiastically skated off! The fans loved it! The fans loved him!

One night Toronto was getting trounced 10-0 late in the third and Eddie had never left the bench. The fans, to fight boredom started the chant, "We want Shack !" Coach Punch Imlach finally relented and told Eddie, "Get on the damn ice." Eddie leaped over the boards, raced around the ice to warm up and he had the fans in hysterics. They lined up for the face-off then Eddie called time and hustled over to the bench. "Coach I forgot to ask, did you want me to go for a win or a tie?"

Critics scoffed at Eddie the Entertainer. But he brought to the team a totally unique intangible. He knew how to work the fans. They loved him and he loved them. He knew how to liven up the fans which in turn would liven up his team, which ultimately helped his teams win some games.

Shack was known as a tough guy and a joker, but he was one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever had. He became the spokesperson for countless firms and products.

Lost in all the showmanship is the fact that Shack was actually a pretty decent hockey player. He was actually a scorer in junior, but was turned into a checker when he turned pro. He played 1047 games and recorded 239 goals and was an integral part of four Stanley Cup championships.

While Shack will never get a vote as one of the greatest players of all time, but make no doubt he is a legend of hockey. . In fact Shack's status is more Legendary than many of the players in the Hockey Hall of Fame. While Shack the player might not be qualified for eternal greatness in Hockey's Hall of Fame, his incredible combination of toughness, leadership, character and showmanship may never be matched again.

Shack continues to be one of the most popular cult figures in the game long after his retirement. A regular nomad on the travelling alumni circuit, Shack is easily recognizable, either as a player or as a referee, thanks to his trademark black cowboy hat and his rollicking laugh.

Edward Steven Phillip Shack was born February 11 1937 in Sudbury Ontario. He got his start in Junior with the Guelph Biltmores where he gained a reputation for being a bit “differentâ€. Back in those days there was no NHL draft and after a breakout year in 1956-57 where Shack scored an amazing 47 goals and added 57 assists, he caught the eye of the New York Rangers, who signed him as a free agent. he spent his first season split between New York and their AHL affiliate at the time the Providence Reds.

The Leafs were always in the market for someone who would complement their talented blend of players, but where Shack fit in was unknown. He wasn’t exactly a goal scorer, couldn’t kill penalties (because he was usually serving them), and his skating could be likened to a drunk albatross, yet he had a charm about him that endeared him to fans, especially in the hotbed of Toronto.

Shack did earn himself a respectable 14 goals that first season in Toronto. Though not a great fighter, he nonetheless did several times. Often coming out on the losing end, he would get up, bow to the crowd then take his spot in the sin bin, His antics often angered other players, feeling he was mocking them, but in truth that was the only way Shack knew how to play. He would play seven seasons in Toronto and score 26 goals in 1965-66, but still found himself demoted to the Rochester Americans of the AHL, The aura that was Eddie Shack was beginning to wear off, but not before one final hurrah in Hogtown.

Boston was much more powerful team than the Leafs and sported a dominant young man named Bobby Orr. Shack would fit right in to the Bruins ‘Big Bad†nature. He would also register 23 goals in his first season. Shack would spend one more year in Boston before a deal sent him to the Los Angeles Kings. Shack would continue an odd trend there, it seems he had gotten into a habit of scoring 20+ goals after being dealt to a new team, and his trade to LA was no exception. He potted 23 in 1969-70.

Though LA was a perfect place for Shacks flakey personality, the team wasn’t very good, and Shack once again found himself on a team that was horribly mismanaged at the time., He would be dealt in 1970-71 season to the Buffalo Sabres, and once again would continue his odd trend, garnering 25 goals during his first season.

Shack had become somewhat of a joke by this time. Yes he was still entertaining and always good for a laugh, but his purpose was becoming increasingly moot. The game was changing and scoring was opening up and many felt Shack would be lost in the shuffle. Even his penalty minutes had been in decline and the wear and tear was starting to show. The Sabres would make one of the best deals in their history after this, dealing Shack to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Rene Robert. Robert would go on to form one third of the famed “French Connection†line with Rick Martin and Gilbert Perrault that would dominate the league for years to come. Shack would go on a mini tear in Pittsburgh, scoring 14 points in 18 games. The following season he would do you know what… yes score 25 goals, it was the last real output of his career.

"Eddie was a big factor on those Leaf teams of the 1960s, much bigger than most people imagined. If you think about the six team league, Punch Imlach sent Eddie out there to make sure the other club played honest. Look at those Montreal teams. John Ferguson always cause a lot of trouble, crashing the goal crease and harassing me, so Punch put Eddie on and things settle down.

"Take a look down our bench. There weren't too many who could handle that job, who could go out on the ice and do what Eddie did, because they just weren't cut out for it. He was big, as strong as an ox, and perfect for his role on those great Leafs teams. He was a leader, too, and not many people know that about Shackie. Sure he was a happy go lucky guy, but an absolute competitor."

 

[BillyShoe1721]

Philadelphia selects a solid two-way centerman Barry Pederson

VsX: 92, 89, 86, 70, 63, 54, 54
2x NHL All Star Game Participant
2x Top 4 AS(3, 4)
3x Top 15 Selke (10, 11, 15*), also received 1 vote in 87-88
1 Hart Trophy vote, 83-84
3rd in Playoff Points, 83
2nd in Combined Playoff Points, 82-83
SH TOI Rank(81-82 to 88-89): 4, 3, 1, 4, 2, 2, 3, on PKs 1.34% better than the league average

*One Vote

While he was for a time one of the top playmaking centres in the NHL, he may be best remembered as the player traded by Boston for Cam Neely.

Pederson and star winger Rick Middleton had instant chemistry, and would be one of the league's most dangerous duos for several seasons.

In 1982–83, he emerged as a full-fledged star, finishing with 46 goals and 107 points. He led the Bruins in assists and points, and finished 5th in league scoring (the only player in the top 8 not to eventually make the Hockey Hall of Fame). In the playoffs, he would take his game to another level, as he and Middleton wreaked havoc combining for 65 points in just 17 games before losing out to New York Islanders in the conference finals. Pederson finished 3rd in playoff goals and points despite not reaching the finals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Pederson

The 5'11", 185lb Pederson rewrote the Bruins rookie record book and established himself as a playoff warrior as well leading the Bruins in most scoring categories.

http://canuckslegends.blogspot.com/2007/02/barry-pederson.html

Cheevers employs Pederson for important face-offs.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125000/index.htm

He was a great offensive center with the Boston Bruins, averaging 43 goals in his first three full seasons, but was typecast as a defensive player in Vancouver.

Players who know him are quick to praise Pederson's leadership skills.

"Barry's really good in the dressing room," Young said. "He's a motivator, a good leader and I think that's what we're looking for. Barry's a real leader, on and off the ice."

There is at least one void Pederson should fill immediately. He is a superior faceoff man, something the Penguins have lacked for years.

"He's very good on the draw," Kyte said. "So he can really help in crucial faceoff situations in our own defensive zone and perhaps in the offensive zone as well."

"He's very good on faceoffs," Hillier said. "That's certainly something we need. We need one guy we can count on every time to go out and win them for us, and I think Barry can do that. I think he's going to really fit in well here."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=3997,3320414&dq=barry+pederson&hl=en

As the penalty- killing problem began to grow, Middleton told Goring he wanted back in on killing penalties. Lately, Goring has also been using Pederson more as a penalty killer.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/...+SEEK+TO+TIGHTEN+PENALTY+KILLING&pqatl=google

Pederson has been the fulcrum of the Boston offense for three seasons, the one player who typifies Bruin hockey with his excellence in all phases of the game, at both ends of the ice.

The 23 year old center won the big faceoffs, keyed the power play and killed penalties. Boston coach Gerry Cheevers always used Pederson in clutch situations.

"As a player, Barry probably is one of the top three or four centremen in the league," said former teammate Peter McNab, now with the Vancouver Canucks.

"He's a young man who played a big role in the dressing room and helped create that positive atmosphere in Boston. He'll be missed for his creativeness, both on and off the ice."

"He was the key to the power play, key to the penalty killing and played with Middleton in all the big situations. You take him away from Middleton and you just may lose two players playing at their maximum capabilities."

Pederson's leadership qualities will be missed the most. He has always been a player who accepted responsibility and responded in the toughest of situations.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...5,924862&dq=barry+pederson+penalty+kill&hl=en

"Barry Pederson and Rick Middleton are great penalty killers," Cheevers said. "But we don't want them to kill so many penalties that we'll miss them on offense.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...8,720932&dq=barry+pederson+penalty+kill&hl=en

Who Penguins got: Barry Pederson, 28, center, strong defensive player with good offensive history, good faceoff man.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...=6860,3162532&dq=barry+pederson+two+way&hl=en

And with [Barry Pederson], the wondrous Rick Middleton (NHL records of 17 points and 12 assists in the series) and the relentless Keith Crowder setting the pace, the forwards were models of two-way efficiency. They bombarded Buffalo goaltenders Bob Sauve and Phil Myre. They bewildered the Sabre defense. And they crunched the Sabre forwards on those rare occasions when the road map showed Buffalo the way to the Boston zone.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/...BRUINS+WON'T+FIDDLE+WITH+FORMULA&pqatl=google

 

[BillyShoe1721]

Philadelphia selects D Dave Babych, who was a top pairing defenseman in overall TOI on his teams for 13 seasons during his career, including the first 10 years of his career. He also led defensemen in scoring on his teams for the first ten years of his career.

3x Top 14 AS(9, 11, 14)
9x Top 25 Points among Defensemen(3, 5, 5, 11, 12, 19, 20, 24, 25)
6th in Points by defensemen in 10 year peak(80-81 to 89-90), 72% of 2nd place Bourque & 88% of 3rd place Murphy
7th in Points by defensemen in 7 year peak(81-82 to 87-88), 73% of 2nd place Bourque & 96% of 3rd place Murphy
2x NHL All Star Game Participant

TOI Ranks(80-81 to 96-97, excluding 90-91 where he only played 8 games)

Overall: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 2, 3
ES: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 3, 1, 5, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1

In 1981–82, Babych emerged as a star on a revitalized Winnipeg team which improved by 48 points with the addition of superstar rookie Dale Hawerchuk, setting franchise records for defencemen with 19 goals and 68 points in helping the Jets to their first-ever NHL playoff berth. Key to his improvement and development was the acquisition of veteran Serge Savard, a future Hall of Famer, to serve as his partner on the blueline. 1982–83 would be better yet, as he led the Jets with 61 assists and broke his own club record for defensive scoring with 74 points. He was also voted in as a starter for the Campbell Conference at the 1983 NHL All-Star Game.

Babych played in the All-Star game again in 1984, and turned in another excellent season, although he missed 14 games due to injury. In 1984–85, the Jets would have their best season ever, finishing fourth in the NHL with 96 points, and Babych - now forming a dynamic partnership on the blueline with former Norris Trophy winner Randy Carlyle - finished the year with 62 points to lead the team's defenders in scoring for the fifth consecutive season. He excelled in the 1985 playoffs, leading the team in scoring as they won their first-ever playoff series before being ousted by the Edmonton Oilers.

While Babych was no longer the front-line defender he was earlier in his career, he continued to be a steady and valued contributor during his seven years in Vancouver, capable of showing flashes of his former offensive ability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Babych

Defenceman Dave Babych was born in Edmonton, Alberta on May 23, 1961 and developed into a steady blueliner during his 19-year NHL career.

With the Whalers, Babych didn't reach the offensive highs he hit as a Jet but maintained his solid two way game, providing solid defence and chipping in points on a consistent basis. After Babych's sixth campaign with Hartford, he was on the move again.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10049

There was early Dave Babych, the junior superstar, the 2nd overall draft pick and the offensive defenseman. And then there was the later Dave Babych, a really solid defensive rearguard who quietly but effectively remained an solid defender.

Dave would dominate with Portland of the WHL, combining size and skating and puck movement. He was a gifted offensive blueliner, but also a very good positional defender.

Babych played 5 and 1/2 seasons in Hartford, suffering from the same anonymity and lack of team success. His scoring prowess also went down in the lower scoring Adams Division, but he was probably the best defenseman the NHL Whalers ever had.

He was able to bounce back very nicely, playing 7 seasons in Vancouver. Babych supplied veteran leadership and a steadying influence in the back end, though he never scored more than 32 points.

Dave Babych will likely go down in hockey history as a forgotten man. That is unfortunate as Babych was an upper echelon defender in the 1980s and very solid NHL citizen.

http://winnipegjetslegends.blogspot.com/2007/09/dave-babych.html

Babych quickly became a fan favorite. A solid, hardworking, and consistent player as well as a superb skater, he prowled the Whalers' blue line for six years.

http://books.google.com/books?id=c5...d=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=dave babych&f=false

 

[BubbaBoot]

Scott Mellanby
right wing

• Shoots: right • Height: 6' 1" • Weight: 210 lbs. •
• Born: June 11, 1966 • Montreal, Quebec •
• Drafted: Philadelphia • 2nd round (27th overall) • 1984 NHL Entry • from: Henry Carr Crusaders (ON-Jr.B) •
• Played: 1985/86 - 2006/2007 •

• International Medals •
1986 Silver World Junior Championships

• All-Star Game •
NHL - 1996

• Achievements •

• VsX • Goals • RWers
58 / 58 / 57 / 55 / 53 / 50 / 47

• Games
- Career NHL • 1431 (23rd all-time / 4th among RWers)

• Goals
- Career NHL • 364 (40th among RWers)

• Power Play Goals
- 1995-96 NHL 19 (5)
- Career NHL • 140 (54th all-time / 17 among RWers)

• PIMs •
- 2002-03 NHL 176 (8)
- Career NHL • 2479 (23rd all-time / 5th among RWers)

• Assists •
- Career NHL • 476 (27th among RWers)

• Points •
- Career NHL • 840 (31st among RWers)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 1431|364 |476 |840|2479|-36| .25 |.33 |135|1
NHL PLAYOFFS| 136 |24 |29 |53 |220 |-17| .18| .21 |9|0
ON-Jr.B | 39| 37|37|74|97||.95|.95||
WCHA| 72|35|47|82|149||.49|.65||
International |7|5|4|9|6||.71|.56||

Captain 4 yrs for the Florida Panthers / Captain 2 yrs for the Atlanta Thrashers

1985-86 Wisconsin Badgers (5th in points / 6th for assists / 2nd for goals / 3rd for PIMs)
1987-88 Philadelphia Flyers (tied 6th in points / tied 3rd for goals / 3rd for PIMs)
1991-92 Edmonton Oilers (4th in points / 5th for goals / 2nd for PIMs)
1993-94 Florida Panthers (1st in points / 1st for assists / 1st for goals / 2nd for PIMs)
1994-95 Florida Panthers (3rd in points / 4th for assists / 2nd for goals / 2nd for PIMs)
1995-96 Florida Panthers (1st in points / 2nd for assists / 1st for goals / 2nd for PIMs)
1996-97 Florida Panthers (2nd in points / 3rd for assists / 2nd for goals / 3rd for PIMs)
1997-98 Florida Panthers (4th in points / tied 4th for assists / 3rd for goals / 4th for PIMs)
1998-99 Florida Panthers (4th in points / 4th for assists / tied 3rd for goals / 4th for PIMs)
1999-00 Florida Panthers (5th in points / tied 4th for goals / 4th for PIMs)
2002-03 St. Louis Blues (5th in points / 5th for assists / 4th for goals / 3rd for PIMs)

• career team records •
Florida Panthers (NHL) - games (5) / playoff games (T2) / goals (2) / playoff goals (T7) / assists (4) / playoff assists (T3) / points (3) / playoff points (T4) / PIMs (3) / playoff PIMs (3) / EV goals (6) / PP goals (1) / g/game (12) / p/game (15)

• Accolades •

Scott Edgar Mellanby (born June 11, 1966) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He primarily played right wing throughout his career, on occasion shifting over to the left side. He is the son of former Hockey Night in Canada producer Ralph Mellanby

Scott Mellanby was selected 27th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. After being drafted, Mellanby went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he played for two seasons. After his second season in the WCHA was finished, he promptly played his first two NHL games.

In 1989 Mellanby suffered a serious injury in a barroom brawl when he tried to help a friend and he wound up getting a severe cut from a broken beer bottle on his left arm. The cut sliced four tendons, a nerve and an artery in the arm. Doctors repaired it through surgery, but Mellanby had been close to amputation. Mellanby would play for Philadelphia until the summer of 1991, when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-player deal that included Jari Kurri going to Philadelphia (though Kurri was traded to the Los Angeles Kings the same day).

Mellanby was left unprotected by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft, allowing him to be claimed by the new Florida Panthers. This was the team where Mellanby would have his best years. In fact he became a fan favorite in Florida when he killed a rat with his hockey stick in the team dressing room, spawning the "rat trick" craze, where fans would litter the ice with thousands of plastic rats after each Panthers goal. It was brought to the hockey world's attention during the Panthers' run to the final in 1996.[1] He also scored the Panthers' first ever goal in franchise history on October 9, 1993.

Mellanby was traded to the St. Louis Blues in February 2001, and the move revitalized his declining career. He scored 57 points during the 2002–03 season, his highest total since 1996. Mellanby then signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Thrashers in the summer of 2004 and he resigned with Atlanta for the 2006–07 season.

One of my all time favorite warriors is Atlanta Thrashers captain Scott Mellanby, who, after 21 years and over 1400 career games, walks away from the game today without a Stanley Cup championship.

It's not as though he didn't have his chances. He broke into the league as a strapping winger with the Philadelphia Flyers, and impressed everyone en route to an unsuccessful Stanley Cup finals showdown with Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers.

But it was in 1996, in perhaps his most recognizable role, that he led the Florida Panthers to the finals in 1996. Earlier that season, Mellanby, the son of long time Hockey Night In Canada producer Ralph Mellanby, scored what teammates would call a rat trick, killing a rat in the Florida locker room on the same night he scored two goals. From that moment on, Florida fans would cover the ice with plastic rats any time the Panthers would score a goal. It became an international story when Mellanby and the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup finals. He called those days the best memories he had in his NHL career. "People still remind me of that. A kid came up to me outside during the All-Star game in Boston, and said 'Hey you're the rat guy,'" Mellanby said. "I have great memories of that and that team."

Mellanby, as I posted yesterday about Trevor Linden, is a class act and a true hockey warrior. He is one of those guys that never was a true superstar, and therefore it is possible history will not remember him as the great player he was.

A combative right-winger with an above average scoring touch... Over the years, he reached the 20-goal mark eight times and was valuable team leader who often played his best hockey in the post-season...

The hard-working youngster scored eleven goals and played solid defensive hockey under Mike Keenan in 1986-87. He also contributed ten points when the club reached the Stanley Cup finals that spring. Mellanby's scoring touch and diligent effort all over the ice made him one of the Philly's top players...

The robust forward scored 82 points over two years with the Oilers and helped Edmonton reach the semi-finals in 1992. After the Florida Panthers claimed him at the 1993 Expansion Draft, Mellanby became a regular with the club for seven and a half years... he was an offensive and emotional leader on the young club when it marched all the way to the Stanley Cup final...

As the team struggled in the late 1990s, the classy veteran continued to battle. In February 2001, the powerful St. Louis Blues acquired him as they readied themselves for the playoffs. Mellanby scored three goals while helping the club reach the Western Conference championship...

As a member of the Thrashers, Mellanby would be named Captain in only his second season with the club. That season he would help the Thrashers reach the playoffs for the (only) time in franchise history.

 

[Hedberg]

LW Steve Vickers

6'0, 180 lbs
Shoots Left
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

NHL 2nd Team All-Star (74-75)
9th in Goals (74-75)
Played in 1975 and 1976 All-Star Game
Won 1973 Calder Trophy

246 G, 340 A, 586 Pts in 698 NHL GP

Legends of Hockey:

By the time he reached the junior ranks with the Toronto Marlboros in 1969-70, he had become a strong, physical forward who could knock opponents about like ten pins on an alley.

Upon turning pro in 1971-72, he put a full year with the Omaha Knights of the CHL. The following year, he caught on full time with the Rangers and made a big impression on all allies and foes alike. He... established himself as a confident, effective rookie who could fight well and park himself like an immovable object in the opposition's goal crease. Such a vantage point allowed him to pile up 53 points in 63 games. His overall impact brought him a Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in 1972.

From that point on, Vickers performed as a solid NHL forward who wore only Ranger Blue throughout his ten-year NHL career. During that time, he twice exceeded the 80-point plateau for single-season output.

Retro Rangers: Remembering Steve Vickers

On November 12th Steve scored a hat trick against Gary Edwards and the LA Kings and then repeated the feat in the Rangers next game against Michel Belhumeur and the Flyers. It was the first time in NHL history that anyone had recorded back-to-back hat tricks.

The trio proved to have that certain chemistry and the second variation of the “Bulldog line†was born. The previous version was pretty successful as well with Dave Balon at left wing. But Balon had been traded in November of 1971 (Note 2) and as many as 16 left wingers were tried on the line until Vickers came along.

Vickers also brought something to the line that Balon couldn’t: Toughness.

Although Steve wasn’t the type to go looking for a fight, he could take care of himself and be counted on to stand up for his teammates. His famous 1973 punch out of the Bruin’s Don Marcotte earned respect from the tough guys around the league as well as his coach. “Vickers is tough†said Francis. “It takes a lot to get him riled up but when he does, look out!†Ranger scout Steve Brklacich put it this way, “He doesn’t start fights, he finishes themâ€.

The three linemates were all excellent two-way players who were assigned to check the oppositions top line every game, a task that Vickers welcomed. “I prided myself in being a good two-way player.â€

Steve was a very smart player who was quite often in the right place at the right time. He scored most of his goals from his “office†near the left post about 3-4 feet out with a strong, accurate backhand shot. But he paid the price by taking a pounding from opposing defensemen. “You have to keep moving to stay free from the defensemen and not get tangled upâ€, Vickers told reporters. “And you need a goo sense of balance.â€

 

[BubbaBoot]

Cory Stillman
left wing

• Shoots: left • Height: 6' 0" • Weight: 200 lbs. •
• Born: December 20, 1973 • Peterborough, Ontario •
• Draft: Calgary • 1st round (6th overall) • 1992 NHL Entry • from: Windsor Spitfires (OHL) •
• Played: 1994/95 - 2010/11 •

• Championships •
1993 Championship (OHL)
2004 Stanley Cup (NHL)
2006 Stanley Cup (NHL)

• Awards •
1990/91 Rookie of the Year (OHL)

• All-Star Team Voting•
2003-04 (7)

• Achievements •
• VsX • Goals • LWers
68 / 68 / 66 / 63 / 61 / 60

• Games •
- Career NHL • 1025 (T24th among LWers)

• Goals •
- 2005-06 NHL PLAYOFFS 9 (T3)
- Career NHL • 278 (34th among LWers)

• Shorthanded Goals •
- 1997-98 NHL 4 (7)
- 1998-99 NHL 3 (8)
- Career NHL • 9 (T39th among LWers)

• Assists •
- 1990-91 OHL 70 (11)
- 2003-04 NHL 55 (3)
- 2005-06 NHL PLAYOFFS 17 (2)
- Career NHL • 449 (21st among LWers)

• Points •
- 1990-91 OHL 101 (T11)
- 2003-04 NHL 80 (7)
- 2005-06 NHL PLAYOFFS 26 (2)
- Career NHL • 727 (25th among LWers)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 1025|278 |449 |727|489|-20| .27 |.44 |99|9
NHL PLAYOFFS| 82 |19 |32 |51 |43|7| .23| .39 |8|1
OHL | 178| 85|186|271|145||.48|1.05||
AHL| 142|63|101|164|122||.44|.71||
International |11|4|4|8|14||.36|.36||

Played all 3 forward positions.....listed as a CTR with the St. Louis Blues and a RWer with the Carolina Hurricanes.

1990-91 Windsor Spitfires (1st in points / 2nd for assists / 3rd for goals)
1991-92 Windsor Spitfires (1st in points / 2nd for assists / 3rd for goals)
1993-94 St. Johns Flames (2nd in points / 3rd for assists / 1st for goals)
1994-95 St. Johns Flames (tied 1st in points / 1st for assists / 2nd for goals)
1997-98 Calgary Flames (2nd in points / tied 6th for assists / tied 1st for goals )
1998-99 Calgary Flames (2nd in points / 3rd for assists / 3rd for goals )
2000-01 Calgary Flames (4th in points / 5th for assists / 4th for goals )
2001-02 St. Louis Blues (6th in points / 3rd for goals )
2002-03 St. Louis Blues (tied 3rd in points / 4th for assists/ 4th for goals )
2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning (2nd in points / 2nd for assists / 5th for goals)
2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes (tied 2nd in points / tied 1st for assists / tied 1st in playoffs plus/minus)
2008-09 Florida Panthers (3rd in points / 2nd for assists / 3rd for goals)

• career team records •
Florida Panthers (NHL) - games (5) / playoff games (T2) / goals (2) / playoff goals (T7) / assists (4) / playoff assists (T3) / points (3) / playoff points (T4) / PIMs (3) / playoff PIMs (3) / EV goals (6) / PP goals (1) / g/game (12) / p/game (15)

• Accolades •

Cory Stillman's first year in the OHL was 1990-91 with the Windsor Spitfires where he collected 101 points in only 64 games. The next season saw Stillman selected by the Calgary Flames 6th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. His final year as a junior saw Stillman and his new team the Peterborough Petes go all the way to the Memorial Cup finals.

In Stillman's first season in the AHL with the Saint John Flames he led all rookies in scoring and made his NHL debut the next season while spending the majority of the year in Saint John. Stillman saw his first Stanley Cup playoff action in 1996 and was in Calgary for the better part of seven seasons before being dealt to the St. Louis Blues who were getting geared up for a Cup run in 2001. The Blues went all the way to the Conference Finals before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup winning Colorado Avalanche.

In his first full season with the Blues in 2001-02 Stillman scored 23 goals and finished with 45 points before establishing a career high 67 points the following year. After parts of three seasons with St. Louis, Stillman signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the summer of 2003 and went on to establish a career high in points with 80 (25-55-80) during the 2003-04 season and was instrumental in leading the Bolts to their first Stanley Cup title.

Following the lockout year of 2004-05, Stillman signed a three-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes in the summer. Coming off a career year in Tampa Bay, Stillman was named the alternate captain of the Carolina Hurricanes prior to the start of the regular season. He continued to produce offensively notching 76 points in his first season as a Hurricane. His leadership and determined play motivated a young Hurricanes squad to finished second in the Eastern Conference. Stillman once again entered the NHL playoffs with an upstart Southeastern Division team, and once again was awarded the Stanley Cup. Stillman recorded at least a point in 21 of the 25 Hurricane playoff games and became only the sixth player in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in consecutive seasons with two different teams.

Stillman returned to the Hurricane line-up in 2006-07, and mid-way through his season suffered a shoulder injury which sidelined the Peterborough, Ontario native for 31 games. He managed to record 27 points in 43 games that season on an inconsistent Hurricane club that failed to reach the playoffs. The following season, Cory Stillman appeared in 55 games with the Hurricanes before the club traded him with Mike Commodore to the Ottawa Senators for Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves.

Stillman's stint in Ottawa was short lived however, after appearing in 24 regular season games his Senators were swept from the playoffs in the first round. In the off-season, Stillman signed a 3 year deal worth $10.6-million with the Florida Panthers.

On February 24, 2011, Stillman's time in Florida would come to an end. He was traded back to the Carolina Hurricanes, the club he had helped win the Stanley Cup back in 2006.

Stillman was always a solid depth scorer in the league and saw his heyday come in his one season in Tampa Bay and with Carolina. In 2003-2004 he helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup having his best professional season scoring 25 goals and adding 55 assists. After the lockout, he signed with the Hurricanes and helped Carolina win the Stanley Cup in 2005-2006 scoring 21 goals and chipping in another 55 assists.

Stillman was a great character guy and a guy who was a solid complimentary piece for any team he played for during his career. His role in helping both Tampa Bay and Carolina win their first (and only) Stanley Cups won’t be forgotten in either place. Stillman getting to finish his career in Carolina this past season and try to help them into the playoffs made for a nice coda for his playing career.

After battling injuries the last few seasons, Stillman found ways to still produce when called upon. He wasn’t always the biggest star, but when he was on and healthy, he was the ideal complementary player to have on your team.

....DeBoer refers to Stillman as a pseudo-coach on the ice.

"He's real veteran presence, obviously, the experience of being a champion, we don't have a lot of that in the room for our younger core group,'' he said. "We've only got a handful of veteran guys like him that have been through the wars.

"He's a great guy for the younger players to lean on and also for a young coaching staff because he's one of the smartest hockey minds I've been around. We need him as a player, obviously, to help our power play and contribute to goals. He's coming to the end of his career, but if you ask him, he's still some years left and we need that.''

....In the end, when scouting reports were no longer important, many of those injuries were finally disclosed. Rugged defenseman Jassen Cullimore played despite breaking his wrist. Cory Stillman tore up his MCL early in the playoffs, yet soldiered on.

 

[Hedberg]

D Pekka Rautakallio

5'11, 185 lbs
Shoots Left
Pori, Finland

Winner of SM-liiga Best Defenceman Award (later renamed the Pekka Rautakallio trophy) 1978, 1979, 1986
Played in 1982 All-Star Game
33 G, 121 A, 154 Pts in 235 NHL GP
15 G, 70 A, 85 Pts in 151 WHA GP

International Hockey Legends

Nicknamed Rocky during his North American tour of duty, Rautakallio is the Bobby Orr of Finnish hockey. He put up some very impressive stats in the National Hockey League as well as in his native Finland. He wasn't a puck rushing defenseman like Orr, as his skating ability wasn't overly tremendous, though it was certainly not bad. Instead he relied on his great understanding of the game to position himself perfectly be it in the offensive or defensive zone. He was a great passer, quarterbacking the point on the power play and making long breakout passes from his own zone. He also possessed a wicked snapshot from the point. It was hard and accurate, and he got it away in an uncanny hurry. Defensively he was solid, due largely to his positioning. Though normally mild-mannered he could be tough if necessary, though he usually left the overly physical duties to his defense partner.

His NHL career turned out to be a big success. By his second year he was one of the top defensemen in the league. He scored 11 goals and 45 assists in 76 games. In 1981-82 he upped his totals to an impressive 17 goals and 68 points, and contributing to the Flames 16 game playoff run. He was also chosen to play in the NHL All Star Game in 1982. That made Rautakallio the first Finn ever to play in mid-season classic.

Legends of Hockey

The bankruptcy of the Phoenix franchise and having nowhere else to place meant Pekka returned to Assat Pori. Rautakallio played two more World Championship tournaments before catching the attention of the Atlanta Flames. The Flames saw him as the defensive equivalent to Kent Nilsson, a skilled European puck wizard. The defenseman gave every sign of fulfilling that promise. His thirty points and +22 in 1979-80 were respectable in both areas. The hockey tactician had taken his rookie NHL year as a chance to get used to the closer quarters and hard hitting. The results paid off with a second season effort of 56 points and a further 6 in the playoff, as Calgary stopped just short of the Finals.

Rautakallio had his best personal season in North American in 1981-82. His 17 goals and 51 assists left him a dozen points better than his previous best. Pekka was also named as to the All-Star squad, the first Finn to be named to the mid-season classic. At the end of the season Rautakallio decided to leave the NHL behind. He found that his children were loosing touch with their language and his oldest was at risk of not being accepted to the academic program in the Finnish school system. "It made me feel happy to know I made it in the NHL. I don' t feel I had anything to prove after last season. Everything I would have done in the future would have been a plus," said Rautakallio. Pekka Rautakallio played five seasons with HIFK Helsinki before winding up his playing career with HC Rapperswil in Switzerland.

 

[VanIslander]

defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, an all-time great third pairing role player who was renowned for his bodychecking, agitating, hard-working, rugged competitiveness. The native Lithuanian has represented Russia throughout his career as an impact player. He began with Moscow Dynamo and won gold in the world juniors as the tourney best defenseman and gold in the Olympics for the Unified Team in 1992 before jumping to the NHL as the 5th overall pick the following year. He would win two more Olympic medals in 1998 and 2002 and a semi-final loss in the 1996 World Cup. He was an alternate captain of the 2006 Olympic team that went to the semifinals. He led his team in hits often, including his rookie year with the Islanders. After his sophomore year in Long Island he suffered injuries and a family illness back home and was traded to Pittsburgh where he bodyguarded one of the players he antagonized in an Isles upset of the Pens earlier, Mario Lemieux. He was legendary against Mario Lemieux and Eric Lindros (whose first concussion he initiated). He was physical and all-out nasty in his determination to upset the opposing stars. When asked about the hardest players to play against he mentioned skilled quick guys Heatley and St. Louis rather than the mammoths he often irritated. He retired having been a beloved Islander and Ranger and a Pen inbetween, with 863 NHL games and 1379 PIMs over 14 NHL seasons and 83 playoff games.

Although under 6 feet tall, Kaspar would quickly become known around the league as one of the grittier hard working guys in the league. You also can't talk about Darius Kasparaitis for long without mentioning his hip check. For the most part Kaspar was one of the last players in the league to use a hip check, and he put it to good use. It got to the point that Kaspar would get his own highlight reel section in the hockey hits VHS tapes that used to come out in the day. Combined with his No Fear style of play, he quickly became a fan favorite on the Islanders.

http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2012/6/27/3117452/the-lost-milbury-files-darius-kasparaitis

Here is Darius mugging Mario time and again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoJqaswC7vw Watch the whole 2 minutes and you'll understand why Lemieux later asked his GM to acquire the shift disturber (to not have to play against him!).

“We play to win the Stanley Cup. Failure in the playoffs ? I count that as not a good season.”

Even though Kasparaitis had departed the league after the 2007 season he left an impression with Ranger fans with the team salute that he created. After every Rangers home win, Kasparaitis would direct the players to center ice and have the whole team follow in saluting the fans by raising their sticks in the air before departing the ice. The tradition is still carried on by the Rangers for every home win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_Kasparaitis

... one of the most punishing body-checkers in professional hockey. In his very first season, he delivered an open-ice hip check on New Jersey Devils star forward and enforcer Randy McKay, knocking him out for nine games; in 1998, he planted a shoulder to the head of the giant young Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers, giving Lindros the first of his many concussions. Kasparaitis has always worn a long mane of shaggy, bright-blond hair that pokes out from under his helmet, and his large nose looks permanently misaligned. Though frequently joking in a kind of absurdist, Northern European manner and popular with the press, he was extremely unpopular with opponents, who could be seen emerging from encounters in the corners with Kasparaitis in a state of sheer rage, the replays revealing that Kasparaitis had, in the span of two or three seconds, cross-checked them in the neck and kneed them in the back of the thigh.

And therefore, in the old rough-and-tumble NHL, he was a vital asset—anyone could score, maybe, and lots of guys could fight, but it took someone special to step up and throw his entire body into the frequently larger (certainly taller) body of an oncoming attacker. And it was effective; it could change the pace and tenor of entire stretches of a game: When you are surging down the ice with your linemates and suddenly you turn to look and one of them has simply disappeared, it really makes you think.

In 2002, in part at the insistence of then-Ranger Lindros, New York signed Kasparaitis to a six-year, $25.5 million contract. That was reasonable money then for such a colorful character in such a media town...

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/15496/

Olympic Gold (1992)
Olympic Silver (1998)
Olympic Bronze (2002)
Olympic Alternate Captain (2006)
World Cup competitor (1996, 2005)

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Copying Nalyd's ATD 2012 bio and adding Golden Stick voting and some other info.

Golden Stick: 2nd (1972), 3rd (1969), 6th (1970), 10th (1973), 10th (1974), 11th (1971), 14th (1976)
Czech All-Star Team: 1969, 1972

WC Points: 1st (1969), 3rd (1972)
WC Goals: 15th (1969), 8th (1972), 14th (1973)
WC Assists: 1st (1969), 2nd (1972)
AST: 4th (1972), 5th (1969)

Jaroslav Holík

Four top 3 Czechoslovakian league scoring finishes: 1st: 1966; 2nd: 1967, '69; 3rd: 1972; 6th: 1968, '74

Jaroslav was a big brute of a center, with laboured skating thanks to serious leg injuries early in his career

Source

Was famous for his emotional and agressive style in both ends of the ice, often reached top results in both scoring and penalty minutes.
Source

Brothers Jiri and Jaroslav Holik, also on that '72 Czech team, are regarded two of the hardest-hitting and technically skilled members in the league.

Source

A complex man, Jaroslav Holik life has had lot of ups and downs. But he has been one of the most talked about people in the World of Hockey, whether as a player or as a coach.

Holik played a hard, highly focused game of hockey. He had very high expectation of himself and of others [...] He had no tolerence for insincerity or hypocrisy.

When he was 19 [...] it didn't take long before he was considered one of the greatest talents of his time. But them a serious injury hindered his further development.

Holik was mostly a defenceman, a tireless worker who inspired the other players because he never considered a match to be lost.

- In September 1962, he was struck with a puck just above his right ankle and came down with a bone narrow infection. Just as he was fully healing, he received a puck at the same spot, breaking his leg.

- Was suspended from the 1971 World Championship, for his view against the Russian occupation of his country.

Conclusions:
It's hard to find great telling quotes about Jaroslav Holík. That's why I shied away from a bio last year. But reading as many articles I can find showed me a few things:
1. He took a lot of penalties.
2. He was equally adept as a playmaker and as a scorer.
3. He scored big goals, being noted as the game winning scorer in multiple big games, including the 1972 World Championships against the USSR.
4. He was very good on the powerplay, being noted many times as producing on the pp. Found one quote on killing penalties, not enough to say he's ATD worthy.
5. In the late 60's, the Holik brothers were the stars of Czech hockey. Although search bias could skew that.
6. He was an effective agitator who drew penalties.

He had good size for his era. Used his size a lot. Had the skill to produce. Might just be the Czech Jeremy Roenick.

Along with his younger brother Jiri, Jaroslav Holik was one of the stars of Czech hockey in the sixties and seventies. Disdaining the finesse style of most Czech hockey players, Holik was instead a banger and fighter. His temper was not just confined to the rink and as a result, he frequently found himself in trouble with the authorities who did not want players to be too independently minded...Particularly memorable were the Holiks' duels with the Russians, especially at the world championships in 1972. They also captured numerous league titles playing together for the army team Dukla Jihlava.

As Suchy rushed to his team's bench and was mobbed by his countrymen, Czechoslovakia's Jaroslav Holik could be seen pointing his stick at Zinger and repeatedly calling him a "bloody Communist."

If anyone had reason to show his bitterness against the Soviets, it was Holik. Among the most outspoken athletes in Czechoslovakia, he occasionally turned his stick around during games and fired it like a gun as an act of social commentary. For years he had engaged in bloody confrontations with Alexander Ragulin, a hulking Soviet defenseman who outweighed Holik by 40 pounds. These bloody battles against the Soviets hadn't gone unnoticed. In fact, they had angered Czechoslovakia's Communist Party so much that Holik, whose brother Jiri also played on the national team, was held off the 1968 Olympic team that won silver in Grenoble.

Anders Hedberg: Four years after the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia, the two national teams met in the 1972 World Championships in Prague. It was an incredibly sensitive period....Games between these teams were exhibitions of heroism, hatred, and viciousness...The Czechs ended up winning, and Jaroslav Holik was the most visible person in the middle of this guerilla warfare. He blocked shots fearlessly, without regard for his well-being. He threw himself around the ice trying to show, as a people, how the Czechs would not be dominated. And then, midway through the game, he brought his stick to his eye like a rifle, and aimed it at the Russian bench.

 

[BubbaBoot]

Jim Morrison
defense

• Shoots: Left • Height: 5' 10" • Weight: 183 lbs. •
• Born: October 11, 1931 • Montreal, Quebec •
• Played: 1951/52 - 1960/61 , 1969/70 - 1970/71 (NHL) \\\ 1960/61 - 1968/69, 1971/72 - 1972/73 (AHL) •
• AHL Hall of Fame (2013) •

• Championships •
1951 Memorial Cup (CHL)

• Awards •
1965-66 Eddie Shore Award (AHL) - Outstanding Defenseman

• Honors •
1961-62 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1963-64 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1964-65 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1965-66 AHL All-Star Team (1st)
1966-67 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1967-68 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1968-69 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1971-72 AHL All-Star Team (2nd)

• All-Star Games •
NHL • 1955
NHL • 1956
NHL • 1957

• NHL All-Star Team Voting •
- 55-56 (T5th) / 56-57 (T13th) / 57-58 (T11th)

• Norris Trophy Voting •
- 54-55 (T14th) / 55-56 (T12th)

• Achievements (8 yr NHL span - 1952/53 to 1959/60)•
• Games Played
- NHL • 522 (8th for defensemen)
- Career AHL • 721

• Goals
- NHL • 34 (7th for defensemen)
- Career AHL • 85

• Assists
- NHL • 126 (8th for defensemen)
1965-66 AHL 48 (11th)
- Career AHL • 341

• Points
- NHL • 160 (8th for defensemen )
- Career AHL • 426

• PIMs
- NHL • 458 (13th for defensemen )
- Career AHL • 556

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 704 |40 |160 |200 |542||.06 |.23 ||
NHL PLAYOFFS| 36 |0 |12 |12 |38 || .00| .33 | |
AHL |721|85|341|426|556||.12|.47||
AHL PLAYOFFS |61|12|27|39| 66||.20 |.42 ||
OHA| 53|19|42|61|63||.36|.79||
QJHL | 36| 15|15|30|16||.42|.42| |
JRs PLAYOFFS |16|6|11|17|66||.38 |.69 ||
MEM CUP PLAYOFFS |11|5|7|12|66||.46 |.64 ||

• team records •
- Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) defensemen - games (19) / goals (26) / assists (21) / points (23) / PIMs (33) / Goals/game (18) / assists/game (20) / points/game (20)
- Quebec Aces (AHL) - games (1) / goals (19 / 1 for DEF) / assists (1) / PIMs (3 / 2 for DEF)

• Accolades •

In his playing days, Jim Morrison was an offensive defenseman. He came to this style by being converted from centre to defense while playing junior hockey. The style paid off well in junior as he helped the Barrie Flyers captured the 1951 Memorial Cup.

His first professional season, 1951-52, was split among four teams, the highlight coming when the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired him from the Boston Bruins. Morrison went on to play six and a half seasons with the Blue and White. His partners on the blueline during that time included Fern Flamen, Jim Thomson, and Tim Horton.

Toward the end of the 1950s, the Leafs traded him back to Boston for a season. A season with the Detroit Red Wings and 14 games playing for the New York Rangers brought him into the 1960s. For most of the decade, Morrison played in the American Hockey League in Quebec.

Morrison was a well-respected player in the AHL. In 1966, the loop honoured him with its award for best defenseman, and the players elected him president of the AHL Players' Association. In battling for improved playing conditions, Morrison was traded to Baltimore. That move gave him another shot at the NHL.

As his third decade in professional hockey rolled around, he was given a shot to play with the Pittsburgh Penguins in their third season. The veteran picked up where he had left off nearly ten years before. Morrison manned the point on power plays and chipped in three helpers during the playoffs.

Morrison lasted two seasons in Pittsburgh before returning to the AHL. Following his playing career, he coached for Baltimore and the Kingston Canadians of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League. Kirk Muller is one player that Morrison guided during his eight years of coaching the club. Jim Morrison recently retired from the Boston Bruins scouting staff following eighteen years of service.

No. Not that Jim Morrison. This Jim Morrison - he of more than 700 NHL games mostly with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1950s.

During his hockey career, including seven seasons as a defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Morrison skated in famed arenas such as Maple Leaf Gardens, Boston Gardens, the Olympia, Madison Square Gardens, Chicago Stadium and the Montreal Forum.

He skated with and against the likes of Gordie Howe, Red Kelly, George Armstrong, Johnny Bower, Andy Bathgate and Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard.

"Defending against the Rocket was tough," the 81 year old said. "He was like a bull. He'd barrel through guys, whereas Howe was strong, but skating around you with finesse."
You can read the full story here.

Morrison likely would have played well over 1000 NHL games but he had the misfortune of playing in the last decade of the Original Six. The defenseman spent most of the 1960s in the AHL where he was a stand out. He was named to six consecutive AHL post-season All Star Teams, and seven in eight years total. In 1966 he was named as the Eddie Shore Trophy winner as the best defenseman in the AHL.

Had there been more than 6 teams in the NHL at the time, Morrison certainly would have extended his NHL career by another 8 years. As it is, Morrison finally returned to the NHL with the fledgling Pittsburgh Penguins in 1969. He played two seasons before returning to the AHL as a playing coach.

Morrison spent most of the 1970s as a junior head coach with Kingston and Kitchener of the OHL. He went on to scout for the Boston Bruins until he was 70 years old before retiring.

PORT HOPE, ONT.—For 50 years, including seven seasons as a silky smooth skater on the Maple Leafs’ blueline, the game was his lifeblood. Then Jim Morrison felt forgotten by hockey when forced into retirement.

“I was used to being involved, being with the guys, sharing stories. Just to be out of it completely was hard to take for awhile,†said the 81-year-old, who was last employed as a Boston Bruins scout until team policy meant he had to stand down at 70.

“No question, I felt that I could be doing something in the game, definitely. I know Wanda (his wife of 55 years) used to tell me to get out of the house because, what’s the old expression, if she had turned around quickly I would have probably broke my nose. She was tired of me following her around.â€

Retired hockey heroes aren’t much different than those moving on from other professions. There’s a dramatic lifestyle adjustment when their playing and working days end. For them, the cheering stops and the camaraderie fades.

Defenceman Jim Morrison skated with the Leafs from 1952-58, playing in three all-star games. But on Monday, Morrison will be remembered — and applauded — again. He will be inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame, 40 years after he played his final game.

The defenceman, named to a record eight all-star teams during the AHL portion of his career, will be feted in front of family and friends at a ceremony in Providence, R.I.

“It’s wonderful. I can’t really explain how I feel about it. I’m just so happy,†he says.
“You start talking about things and all of a sudden you start getting a little frog in your throat and you have a hard time getting the words out. Even though I’m on in years, it’s still not hard to get emotional about things.â€

Morrison said he views the honour as a validation of his career, one that saw him play 22 seasons, time split almost evenly between the NHL and the AHL, the game’s top minor pro league. The difference between now and when Morrison graduated as a junior from the Memorial Cup champion Barrie Flyers in 1951 is that, back then, there were only six teams in the big league. That’s just over 100 NHL jobs. Many great players got trapped in the minors.

“I think at one time — and I’ve thought a lot about this over the years — there were clubs good enough in the American Hockey League that could probably hold their own or beat some of the lower teams that were in the National (Hockey) League,†said Morrison, relaxing in his townhouse condominium on the west side of town.

“But back in those days we didn’t have the freedom of movement that a lot of players have today. We just couldn’t get out of situations we were in. Some guys were stuck where they were, but they were good players.â€

Morrison’s ascension to hall of fame status so long after he played strikes a blow for many of those players who give the game a rich history but never got rich in the process. Once a month, Morrison drives in to Toronto to gather with dozens of his contemporaries at an NHL oldtimers luncheon.

Those former teammates and adversaries are thrilled for their colleague and view his recognition as a reminder that there was great hockey played at all levels back in those helmetless, pre-expansion days.

“It’s a nice feeling for all of us because it shows that era had something to it. For him to get the award, it’s terrific,†said Ivan Irwin, the 85-year-old former defenceman from the New York Rangers who faced Morrison in both the NHL and AHL.

“It tells people that, even in the old times, there were some good players that need to be honoured.â€

As a Leaf, Morrison lugged the puck up the ice from 1952 to 1958. At least, when he was allowed. The defenceman recalls that at one point the team, likely on orders from autocratic owner Conn Smythe, instituted a rule that if a defenceman carried the puck over centre, he’d be fined $50. After taking four of those financial hits — a significant dent in a $6,500 annual salary — Morrison yielded and started dumping the puck in, much to the derision of the faithful at the Gardens.

While Morrison played in three all-star games as a Leaf, Toronto had another exceptional puck-moving defenceman in Tim Horton and a similarly skilled young hotshot on the way named Carl Brewer. Morrison was dispensable and was traded to the Bruins in 1958 for defensive defenceman Allan Stanley.

From Boston, he went on to Detroit and then the Rangers before being sold to Quebec Aces, where despite being a perennial all-star and the AHL’s top defenceman in 1965-66, he became one of those players stuck in the minors.

Morrison now wonders if his efforts to form a players’ union — he became the AHL Players’ Association’s first president — might have got him blackballed by NHL owners. After all, among his transgressions, he tried to get meal money raised from $7 to $10 a day. They eventually settled on $8.

The defenceman spent his few NHL off-seasons delivering furniture for Eaton’s then, in later summers, he was an assistant golf pro at The Weston Golf and Country Club. (A natural athlete, he was also a national canoeing champion twice in the early ’50s.)

Morrison got one last shot at the NHL when he was traded from Baltimore of the AHL to the NHL’s Penguins after that league expanded from six to 12 teams. He played two seasons in Pittsburgh and then coached in the AHL and major junior, with Kingston, before rounding out five decades in the game as part of the scouting fraternity.

Toronto's interest in Morrison stemmed from the fact they thought he could be used as a forward. During his time in Boston, he lined up on defence. Under Pittsburgh Hornets (AHL) coach, King Clancy, Morrison was employed as a centre.

When the Leafs summoned Morrison, he found himself at left wing on a line with Max Bentley and George Armstrong.

"A short time later Gus Mortson was injured and they needed me on defence so I was paired with Thomson (Jimmy). I've been on the blueline ever since," stated Morrison to The Hockey News.

Noted for his smooth skating, puck handling, and play making skills, Morrison had to adjust his game when the Leafs put him on a leash. Rushes beyond centre ice were frowned on and such action resulted in fines. A player of Morrison's calibre in this regard could end up in the poor house if he didn't follow the demands of his coach.

 

[Hedberg]

RW Wally Hergesheimer

5'8, 155 lbs
Shoots Right
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Played in 1953 and 1956 All-Star Games
114 G, 85 A, 199 pts in 351 NHL GP
3rd (52-53), 4th (53-54), 7th (51-52) in Goals
4th (52-53) in Points

Legends of Hockey

. He was also humourously known as "Fingers" because he'd lost his index and middle fingers up to the knuckles of his right hand in a punch-press accident.

"When I made it to the NHL," he recounted, "it was something I never really expected. It was little Wally this and little Wally that?but I just kept going and?everything seemed to fall into place."

By 1951, Hergesheimer was voted the AHL's most outstanding rookie on the strength of his 96 points in 82 games with the Cleveland Barons. The New Rangers brought him on board the following season. He quickly established a reputation for angling his way into the goal crease to cash rebounds into goals. His success earned him the nickname "Garbage Collector."

New York Rangers

The Rangers` best goal-scorer of the early 1950s, Wally Hergesheimer was an instant hit from the moment he arrived in New York in 1951, scoring 83 goals over his first three seasons to lead the team each year.

New York Rangers Legends

Wally always could be found crashing the net, banging away at loose pucks and rebounds.

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame

"He's an artist on skates and has everything that goes to make a great player," (Fred) Maxwell said.

Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 15, 1952

I had to go for him (Rangers scout Frank) Boucher says "He's one of the trickiest players I ever saw around the nets. And small as he is, he manages to roll with the bodychecks so that nobody ever seems to get a clean shot at him. Something like Buddy O'Connor.

Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 1, 1954 (originally posted by seventielord)

Muzz also singled out centre Paul Ronty and right winger Wally Hergesheimer for their fine play. "Ronty has been doing some fine work feeding the wings and coming up with an occasional goal. Hergy, of course, is our big gun. He comes through with those important goals - in several games he's had two."

 

[BubbaBoot]

Alex Levinsky
defense

• Shoots: Right • Height: 5'10" • Weight: 184 lbs. •
• Born: February 2, 1910 • Syracuse, New York •
• Played: 1930/31 - 1938/39 (NHL) • 1938/39 - 1939/40 (IAHL) • 1928/29 - 1929/30 (OHA Jr) • 1929/30 - 1930/31 (OHA Sr) •

• Championships •
1929 Memorial Cup (CHL)
1932 Stanley Cup (NHL)
1938 Stanley Cup (NHL)

• All Star Games •
1934 NHL

• Achievements •
• Games Played (Defensemen 1930-1939)
- Career NHL • 367 (T4th in his playing span)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 37(T5th in his playing span)

• Goals
- Career NHL • 19 (T18th in his playing span)

• Assists
1929 OHA Jr PLAYOFFS 4 (T1st)
1933-34 NHL 11 (4th for defensemen)
- Career NHL • 49 (T10th in his playing span)

• Points
1929 MEMORIAL CUP 9 (Tied 6th overall / 2nd for defensemen)
1933-34 NHL 16 (7th for defensemen)
1939-40 IAHL 16 (6th for defensemen)
- Career NHL • 68 (T12th in his playing span)

• PlIMs
1929 MEMORIAL CUP 20 (Tied 1st overall)
1933 NHL PLAYOFFS (T2)
1935-36 NHL 69 (5)
- Career NHL • 307 (T14th in his playing span)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 367 |19 |49 |68 |307||.05 |.13 ||
NHL PLAYOFFS| 37 |2 |1 |3 |26 ||.05|.03 ||
IAHL |70|7|18|25|24||.10|.26||
OHA | 27|11|2|13|36||.41|.07||
MEM CUP | 12| 2|5|7|120||.17|.42| |

- Hap Day's defensive partner in Toronto
- Earl Siebert's defensive partner in Chicago
- Captain for the Philadelphia Ramblers

• Accolades •

Alex Levinsky was a competent stay-at-home defenceman whose career lasted parts of nine seasons. He was at his best in the early 1930s when he helped the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Levinsky played for the Toronto Marlboros juniors and seniors as well at the University of Toronto for a year. He debuted with the Toronto Maple Leafs late in the 1930-31 season. "Mine Boy" became a regular the next year and helped the franchise win its first Stanley Cup as the Maple Leafs. He spent two more years with the Leafs before he was traded to the New York Rangers for cash.

Levinsky played 20 games for the Blueshirts then joined the Chicago Black Hawks for four and a half years. He was a solid presence in the Hawks' end of the ice and scored a goal during the club's drive to its second Stanley Cup championship in 1938. He retired in 1940 after playing a year with the AHL's Philadelphia Ramblers.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Levinsky had a most interesting nickname - "Mine Boy." No, he never worked in any mines. Nor did his father, but it was he who inadvertantly gave his son the life long moniker. The proud poppa used to yell from the stands "That's mine boy!"

I have not been able to confirm it just yet, but Alex Levinsky may have been the first Jewish hockey player in NHL history.

Levinsky was a two time Stanley Cup champion who split his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks, and played ever so briefly with the New York Rangers. He won a Cup title both as a Leaf and as a Hawk: in Toronto in 1932 and in Chicago in 1938.

Levinsky, who grew up in Toronto, was a solid, stay-at-home defenseman, who rarely scored. He was a strong skater blessed with speed, as he had played a lot of forward as a youth. Smythe had signed him and his junior partner Bob Gracie right out of the Toronto Marlies junior team, though Levinsky would find himself soon partnered with Hap Day.

The Leafs moved Levinsky to the Rangers for the 1934-35 campaign, but after just 20 games with the Blueshirts Levinsky moved on to Chicago. He would play the next five years with the Hawks before being suspended by the team. The Hawks had traded Levinsky, the oldest player on their blue line, down to the minor leagues for Joe Cooper of the Philadelphia Ramblers. Levinsky balked at the move to Philly, and was suspended indefinitely. He eventually reported Philadelphia, but only after assurances from New York Rangers boss Lester Patrick that he would soon return to the NHL as the Rangers wanted him back. That never did happen though. Levinsky would play two years with the Ramblers, serving as team captain.

In 367 NHL games Levinsky scored 19 goals and 49 assists for 68 career points. He added another 2 goals and 1 assist in 37 playoff games.

After hockey he returned home to Toronto and owned his own car dealership and ran a bowling alley. He died on September 1st, 1990.

....suddenly the fans were calling the Blackhawks the "Wonder Team". They lived up to this name against the New York Americans in the next series. Chicago dropped the first game but won the next two to reach to Stanley Cup Finals. The star of the series was Alex Levinsky, the defenseman to replace Siebert.

 

[BubbaBoot]

David Krejci
center

• Shoots: right • Height: 6' 0" • Weight: 188 lbs. •
• Born: April 28, 1986 • Sternberk, Czechoslovakia •
• Drafted: Boston • 2nd round (63rd overall) • 2004 NHL Entry from HC Kladno (Czech U-20) •
• North American Junior Team • Gatineau Olympiques •
• Played: 2006/07 - current (NHL) •

• Championships •
2002 U18 Championship (HC Trinec / Czech)
2004 U20 Championship (HC Kladno / Czech)
2011 Stanley Cup (NHL)

• International Medals •
2004 Bronze • U18 World Junior Championships
2005 Bronze • U20 World Junior Championships
2012 Bronze • World Championships

• Awards •
2009 7th Player Award (Boston Bruins)
2009 Plus/Minus Award (NHL)
2013 Golden Stick Award (Czech - Top Player of the Year)

• All-Star Team Voting •
2008-09 (T13)

• Selke Trophy Voting •
2008-09 (6)

• Achievements •
• VsX • Points • CTRs (since 2008/09, his first full/healthy season)
- 71 / 52 / 82 / 74 / 59

• Games
- Career NHL • 424 (since 2007/08 - T86th)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 81 (since 2007/08 - 12th / 3rd among centers)

• Goals
- 2001-02 U-18 CZECH 32 (T7)
- 2006 QMJHL PLAYOFFS 10 (T6)
- 2006-07 AHL 31 (T13)
- Career NHL • 91 (since 2007/08 - 48th / 16th among centers)
- 2011 NHL PLAYOFFS 12 (1)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 29 (since 2007/08 - 9th / 4th among centers)

• Even Strength Goals
- Career NHL • 73 (since 2007/08 - 43rd / 15th among centers)
- 2011 NHL PLAYOFFS 10 (1)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 22 (since 2007/08 - 5th / 3rd among centers)

• Assists •
- 2002-03 U-18 CZECH 30 (T4) - Moved up to U-20 CZECH League halfway through the season -
- 2003-04 U-20 CZECH 37 (5)
- 2006 QMJHL PLAYOFFS 22 (3)
- 2007 AHL PLAYOFFS 13 (3)
- 2008-09 NHL 74 (T14)
- 2010-11 NHL 49 (T10)
- Career NHL • 218 (since 2007/08 - 19th / 8th among centers)
- 2013 NHL PLAYOFFS 17 (1)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 44 (since 2007/08 - 8th / 6th among centers)

• Points •
- 2001-02 U-18 CZECH 59 (8)
- 2003-04 U-20 CZECH 60 (T7)
- 2006 QMJHL PLAYOFFS 32 (T3)
- 2006-07 AHL 74 (13)
- 2007 AHL PLAYOFFS 16 (T7)
- Career NHL • 309 (since 2007/08 - 29th / 11th among centers)
- 2011 NHL PLAYOFFS 23 (1)
- 2013 NHL PLAYOFFS 26 (1)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 73 (since 2007/08 - 6th / 4th among centers)

• Plus/Minus •
- 2001-02 U-18 CZECH +43 (8)
- 2003-04 Jr U-18 World Championships +7 (T2)
- 2008-09 NHL +37 (1)
- Career NHL • +58 (since 2007/08 - 13th / 4th among centers)
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • +31 (since 2007/08 - T5th / 2nd among centers)

• Points/game •
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • .90 (since 2007/08 - T13th / T7th among centers)

• Shooting % •
- Career NHL PLAYOFFS • 15.9% (since 2007/08 - 14th / 3rd among centers)

• career stats •

| gms| G | A | TP | PIMs|+/-| G/gm| A/gm| PP| SH
NHL | 424|91 |218 |309|158|+58| .21 |.51 |15|3
NHL PLAYOFFS| 81 |29 |44 |73 |34 |+31| .36| .54 |7|0
QMJHL| 117|49|95|144|85|-6|.42|.81|19|2
QMJHL PLAYOFFS |27|12|29|41|34|-1|.44 |1.07 |4|0
AHL| 94|38|64|102|66|+16|.40|.68|8|4
AHL PLAYOFFS|13|3|13|16|22|+6|.23 |1.00 |2|0
International|40|11|13|24|18||.28|.33 ||

• career team records (CTRS)•
Boston Bruins (NHL) - games (12) / playoff games (3) / goals (22) / playoff goals (3) / assists (16) / playoff assists (3) / points (16) / playoff points (T3) / PIMs (25) / playoff PIMs (13) / EV goals (14) /Playoff EV goals (T3) / PP goals (19) playoff PP goals (5) / SH goals (T15) / +/- (11) / playoff +/- (1) / Pts/game (20) / playoff Pts/game (11)

2001-02 HC Trinec U18 - points (1) / assists (1) / goals (1) / plus/minus (3)
2002-03 HC Trinec U18 - points (T1) / assists (T1) / goals (T5)
2003-04 HC Kladno U20 - points (1) / assists (1) / goals (3)
2003-04 U-18 Jr CZECH National Team - points (1) / assists (1) / goals (T1) / plus/minus (1)
2004-05 Gatineau Olympiques - points (2) / assists (2) / goals (3)
2005-06 Gatineau Olympiques - points (2) / assists (2) / goals (3)
2006 Gatineau Olympiques PLAYOFFS - points (1) / assists (1) / goals (T1)
2006-07 Providence Bruins - points (1) / assists (T1) / goals (3)
2007 Providence Bruins PLAYOFFS - points (1) / assists (1) / goals (T3) / plus/minus (1)
2008-09 Boston Bruins - points (2) / assists (2) / goals (4) / plus/minus (1)
2009 Boston Bruins PLAYOFFS - points (3) / assists (3) / plus/minus (2)
2009-10 Boston Bruins - points (T1) / assists (2) / goals (4) / plus/minus (T5)
2010 Boston Bruins PLAYOFFS - points (3) / goals (T2) / plus/minus (T2)
2010-11 Boston Bruins - points (T1) / assists (1) / goals (T9) / plus/minus (T5)
2011 Boston Bruins PLAYOFFS - points (1) / goals (1) / assists (2)
2011-12 Boston Bruins - points (3) / assists (3) / goals (4)
2012-13 Boston Bruins - points (2) / assists (1) / goals (T4)
2013 Boston Bruins PLAYOFFS - points (1) / goals (1) / assists (2) / plus/minus (T2)

• Accolades •

David Krejci currently sits atop the NHL for playoff scoring with five goals and 10 points in just four games, keying Boston’s 3-1 advantage over the Toronto Maple Leafs in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.

Keyed by Krejci’s second career playoff hat trick in Game 4, including the sudden death game-winner to secure a 4-3 victory, Boston is surging at the right time after the top line struggled to find consistency during the regular season. Although Nathan Horton (three goals, six points) and Milan Lucic (six assists) have found their offensive games at just the right time, Krejci has taken things to a whole new level.

Hardcore Bruins fans and especially those who have been solidly in the 27-year-old Czech center’s corner since he made the NHL club as a regular during the 2007-08 hockey season are not at all surprised by his torrid production of late.

Well, maybe just a little.

It stands to reason that Krejci is merely carving in stone his reputation as a top postseason performer after leading the NHL in scoring during Boston’s 2011 run to its first Stanley Cup championship since 1972. His 12 goals and 23 points (in 25 games) were lost in the shuffle of a brilliant Tim Thomas MVP performance, but Krejci’s own heroics were hardly unexpected given his position near the top of the team’s playoff scoring list every year since 2008. Two years after hoisting the Cup, Krejci is performing like an NHL superstar, even if his regular season numbers don’t even begin to tell the story of how skilled, smart, and competitive he is.

In 424 NHL regular season games, Krejci has 91 goals and 309 points, all in a Bruins uniform, or as the Hockey News’ Ken Campbell points out, a 0.73 points per game pace. Krejci’s 57 points in 63 playoff games is a substantially higher 0.90 scoring rate, placing the former late second-rounder at the top of Boston’s list of active playoff scorers.

There is a select group of believers who have stood behind Krejci all along. Principal among them are the Boston Bruins and current director of player personnel Scott Bradley, who was the club’s amateur scouting director when Krejci was drafted. However, in looking back on where Krejci stood going into the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, his eventual success was anything but a certainty.

When the skinny kid with frosted blonde highlights in his hair met with the Boston media after the team announced his selection 63rd overall, he didn’t speak English and former B’s scout (and 1990 draft pick) Otto Hascak had to translate for him. In the years since, though he softly speaks with a thick Czech accent, Krejci is one of the more thoughtful and intelligent interviews of any NHL player.

“We think we made a big score here,” then chief scout Bradley said at the conclusion of the proceedings at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C. “To get two (Martins Karsums, acquired one pick later) guys we had rated in (our) top 20, it’s a good feeling.”

Karsums didn’t pan out as a Bruin, but he and fellow disappointment Matt Lashoff were packaged off to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009 for Mark Recchi and the pick that ended up fetching Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski a year later from the Florida Panthers.

Krejci, after spending a couple of years in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Gatineau Olympiques, joined the Providence Bruins for the 2006-07 campaign (he saw six mostly uneventful NHL games with the non-playoff Bruins, taking a head shot from Buffalo’s Adam Mair along the way).

Krejci made Boston’s opening night roster for the 2007-08 season but struggled in 12 games, notching just three points before being sent back down. He earned a call-up just after Christmas that year and has never looked back, blossoming as a top-two line center for the B’s even without high-end regular season production.

Here’s a look back at David Krejci in 2004, the benefit of hindsight only now revealing what was indeed, as Bradley put it, a “big score” by the Bruins and their scouts.

Perhaps under different circumstances, Krejci would have been made a king in Boston by now. If his clutch playoff scoring continues, it won’t be long before even the most grudging cynics are ready to stand at his coronation.

"I skated with him a bunch during the lockout so I saw him up close and personal. He’s a really highly skilled guy. He holds the puck that second longer than most guys. You watch him play, he never just throws the puck away. There’s always a purpose with the puck decision he makes. He’s obviously the pivot between [Horton and Lucic] that are more power forward type guys. Obviously he’s scored a lot in the playoffs. I think he’s more of a playmaker than he is a goal scorer. He’s had a good playoffs. That’s for sure so far."

"He’s not overly fast. He doesn’t really jump out you. I think he’s a guy you have to watch more and more to really appreciate him. It’s kind of how [XXXX XXXXXX] is when he plays defense. You can watch him once or twice and not notice him. He’s so efficient in how he plays. The more you see him, the more you appreciate him. He’s one of those guys who slows the game down too. He not one of those guys who flies around. For us against him, having a good gap on him is crucial. If you give up the blue line on him, that’s where he cuts back and he finds late guys and he finds that second wave coming. That’s where he can really eat you alive. Make him make plays before the blue line, that’s the best way to slow him down I think."

"He’s quick. Very shifty. Very good with the puck. A guy you’ve got to stay tight to and stay in his face because he’s shifty. He’s definitely a playmaker. Makes passes and makes plays a lot guys don’t make. We’ve got to try and take away time and space away from him and try to be physical but he’s going to make plays. We’ve just got to limit how good they are."

"They have some top-end players on their team and he’s definitely one of them from a talent and skill standpoint. He’s pretty good defensively too. He’s a an all-around player. If you look at [Bruins center Patrice] Bergeron and him, they’re both guys who are very [offensive] players but they’re good in their end too. That’s a whole other challenge. Quick, shifty and he’s got a good shot too so he’s definitely a well-balance player."

Krejci won't be a huge physical presence, but still shows that he isn't afraid of taking a hit to make a play. He drives hard to the net and is willing to dig for the pucks in corners. Krejci's strongest asset is his elite skill. He possesses soft hands and is is a smooth puckhandler. Krejci is adequate in the faceoff circle and is a solid stickhandler. Krejci has very good shooting skills, with a highly accurate wrist shot. He has good vision and hockey sense and makes smart, crisp passes. Krejci generally makes good decisions with the puck and is an excellent playmaker. He isn't afraid of playing in heavy traffic and shows remarkable poise once on a scoring chance. The defensive side of Krejci's game is about average, he won't hurt you defensively, but also won't rule as a backchecking forward. Krejci also owns a tremendous work ethic.

David Krejci does some awfully amazing things. Some edge-of-your-seat breathtaking passes. And during the playoffs, he's turned shooter, too.

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins center David Krejci was already a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy before Gregory Campbell went down with a broken leg in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Leading the playoffs with nine goals, 14 assists and 23 points, Krejci has played like an MVP in helping the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup final, where they faced the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 on Monday night. They entered the game with the series tied 1-1.

But Krejci has added a new dimension to his game, joining the team's highly successful penalty kill.

Campbell had been one Boston's top penalty killers when he sustained a broken right fibula blocking a shot from Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the playoffs.

So Bruins coach Claude Julien turned to Krejci to replace Campbell on the penalty kill, a natural move, the coach says.

"(Krejci's) always been in all the meetings, even this year, because if one of our penalty killers was in the box, he would kill some penalties," Julien said before Monday's game. "He's very comfortable with it. I think he's done a great job. David is a smart player. To me, it was not a big issue to put him in there because he's very capable of handling more ice time."

Julien said one of the reasons Krejci hadn't seen more time on the penalty kill during the regular season was because he liked to bring him in for the first shift following a penalty kill to help swing the momentum back in Boston's favor.

It may seem a little strange to put David Krejci among some of the greatest players in Bruins history, but when it comes to the postseason, it’s kind of tough to question the center’s resume.

Krejci is having himself another stellar postseason this year, and with the B’s just six wins from winning a Stanley Cup, there are some who see a Conn Smythe in his future. While that’s still putting the horse way before the cart (the horse is still in the barn at this point, really), it does speak to how well Krejci is playing this spring.

This is nothing new, of course. The first-line center was one of the Bruins’ best players on their run to the Cup back in 2011. He led the league in points en route to bringing a Cup to Boston for the first time since 1972.

Just a year earlier, Krejci’s injury against Philadelphia proved to be a turning point in the series as Boston went on to blow a 3-0 series lead. While Krejci’s accolades aren’t going unnoticed — at least not completely — it’s kind of tough to fathom what Krejci has done through his playoff career with the Bruins. Krejci may not end up going down as one of the best players in Bruins history, he’s a little too inconsistent in the regular season for that, he’s already cementing himself as one of the best postseason players in club history.

Just consider some of these stats when thinking about Krejci’s place among the Bruins’ top postseason scorers:
- Through 73 career playoff games (through Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals), Krejci has 28 goal and 39 assists for 67 points. Only 10 players in Bruins history have more points than Krejci.
- The 67 points in 73 playoff games gives Krejci .918 points per game. That’s a better rate than Bruins legends like Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Johnny Bucyk, Wayne Cashman and Brad Park, who all have more career playoff points than Krejci.
- The Bruins are 19-2 in playoff games where Krejci scores a goal. One of those losses was Game 6 of the 2011 Eastern Conference finals where Krejci scored a hat trick in a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay.
- His Game 6 hat trick in the 2011 ECF was the first in Bruins playoff history since 1991. He then scored another playoff hat trick in 2013 against Toronto which included an overtime game-winner. Krejci has seven career game-winning goals in the playoffs.
- Krejci scored three game-winning goals in the club’s second-round series with Philadelphia in 2011. He along with Mel Hill (1939) and Roy Conacher (1939) are the only players in Bruins history to score three game-winning goals in one series.
- Krejci’s four game-winning goals in 2011 tied Cam Neely for the most in one postseason.
- Krejci has 16 career multi-point playoff games. The Bruins are 15-1 in those games.

When the lights shine bright, Krejci brings his best. That’s why it’s certainly going to be tough to beat the Bruins when he’s clicking like this. If he and the Bruins can add another Cup, there will be no denying that Krejci (at only 27 years old) truly is one of the premier playoff performers in franchise history.

 

[Hedberg]

C Charlie Burns

5'11, 170lbs
Shoots Right
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (born in Detroit, Michigan, USA)

106 G, 198 A, 304 Pts in 749 GP
Best Forward at the 1958 World Championships

Legends of Hockey

While playing junior hockey with the Toronto Marlboros, Charlie Burns suffered a fractured skull that almost ended his career. But he underwent surgery to have a metal plate inserted in his head and made a courageous comeback, wearing a heavily padded helmet in all games and practices during his professional hockey career until he was 38.

Burns played at the 1958 World Championships with the Whitby Dunlops and finished the tournament with three goals and seven points in seven games and was selected the outstanding forward. The Dunlops won all seven of their games, outscoring the opposition by a total of 82-6.

He became an outstanding utility man with the Bruins. Bruins coach Phil Watson used him to shadow the league's greatest stars Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Frank Mahovlich. Watson said Burns was a good man for the job because he was an excellent skater and didn't let anything get under his skin.

If he had played longer in the post-expansion era, Burns certainly would have been a candidate for nomination as the NHL's best defensive forward. But the Frank J. Selke Trophy wasn't awarded for the first time until 1978, five years after he'd played his last NHL game.

Wikipedia:

Burns was mainly known for being an excellent skater, playmaker and defensive player who performed checking and penalty-killing. His trademark was the heavily padded helmet that he was forced to wear after suffering a serious head injury while playing junior hockey in 1954–55.

In 1959, he was the only US-born player in the NHL. Although Burns was born in Detroit, his family moved to Toronto when he was a child. Burns chose Canadian citizenship when he turned 21 and later played for the 1958 World Champion Whitby Dunlops.

Minnesota North Stars Legends

Charlie Burns was an excellent penalty killer and strong defensive forward. Versatility was his trademark, as was his cumbersome-looking helmet.

A spectacular skater with a fantastic intellect for the game, Burns really benefited from expansion in 1967. Though he had spent previous several seasons playing (and coaching!) in San Francisco of the Western League, he had plenty of Original Six experience, too.

In his first season in Minny he actually played and coached, making him the last man in NHL history to play and coach the team at the same time.

Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team (originally posted by tarheelhockey)

"He was a good assistant captain who spent time with the younger players. He brought a lot to the table; a good playmaker who set up his wingers." -- Tracy Pratt on Charlie Burns

"Burns was not one to make excuses, however. While many players complained about the extensive travel West Coast teams had to endure, Burns refused to do so. "Everybody goes through ups and downs," Burns said. "People use [travel] as an excuse. Winning is a habit and so is waiting to win. Losing is a habit and so is waiting to lose."

Sunday Sun Nov 1 1969 (originally posted by tarheelhockey)

He's smart. He's versatile and one of the best penalty killers in the game. - Minnesota Coach Wren Blair

He's quick. He can skate with the best. He's one of the best shadows in the game and it makes him one of the best penalty killers - Manager/Coach Collins