Ebbie Goodfellow and positions: I posted this in the preliminary discussion thread.
Goodfellow played part of the 1933-34 season at centre and part at defense, before returning to centre for the playoffs. He started the 1934-35 season at defense, but moved back to centre around the new year. Goodfellow finally moved to defense for good in the 1935-36 season.
Mar 31, 1934 Border Cities Star:
Ebbie Goodfellow, blonde-haired Ottawa boy who had led an uncertain career most of the Winter...bouncing from centre to defense, and defense to centre...was the hero of the piece.
Ebenezer Goodfellow, who a few weeks ago wasn't sure whether he was a defenseman, or a centre, or even how long his job was going to last.
Goodfellow was playing centre in this game, centring Sorrell and Wiseman on the second line, as he did for the rest of that years playoffs. He also played on the power play with Weiland, Lewis, Aurie, and Sorrell.
Leader-Post, Dec 29, 1934:
Ebbie Goodfellow will return to his old position at centre with Eddie Wiseman and Johnny Sorrell...
Goodfellow's career looks like this.
The Forward Years (1929/30 through 1932/33)
Goodfellow was a top scorer on a bad, low-scoring team.
1929-30 - Goodfellow was a close second to Carson Cooper in team scoring, on a low-scoring Detroit team. 17th in league scoring.
1930-31 - Goodfellow led the league in scoring for much of the season, finished second in points, and was fourth in Hart voting behind Morenz, Shore, and Clancy. He registered a point on 48 of Detroit's 102 goals.
1931-32 - Goodfellow led the offensively inept Detroit team with 30 points, but finished only 19th in league scoring.
1932-33 - Goodfellow slipped to 20 points, 6th on Detroit. It appears that Detroit had a more balanced attack this season, and Goodfellow played on the second line for much of the season.
The Transition Years (1933/34 and 1934/35)
1933-34 - Goodfellow was off the first line for good, with the arrival of Cooney Weiland. He spent most of the season playing defence. He still scored 26 points, 5th on Detroit, as he was part of Detroit's strong power play unit of Lewis-Weiland-Aurie-Goodfellow-Sorrell. He also received a single vote for the all-star team at defence. One of the quotes above suggests that Goodfellow's job was in danger, so maybe he wasn't playing well earlier this year. In the playoffs,
he moved back to second line centre.
In order to provide his forwards with every ounce of scoring punch, Manager Adams has moved Ebbie Goodfellow from his defence post to centre.
Goodfellow has played defence for the greatest part of the season...
Goodfellow had a strong playoff as Detroit lost in the Stanley Cup finals. Four of those came in the first two games against Toronto, which Detroit won, and Vern Degeer of the Border Cities Star wrote that
Goodfellow played two of the greatest games of his career.
1934-35 - Goodfellow started the season at defence. He was on fire, leading all players in the American division in scoring as of Dec 17 with seven goals and 14 points. But around the new year, to break up the team's slump,
he was moved back to the second line between Wiseman and Sorrell, where he had played in the playoffs the previous year. The move didn't help, as Detroit missed the playoffs. Goodfellow's point totals remained high despite spending part of the year as a rearguard, finishing fifth in scoring on Detroit once again. His presence on the power play probably drove that, with the five power play players finishing 1 through 5 in scoring on Detroit (Aurie-Lewis-Weiland-Sorrell-Goodfellow.) Goodfellow's position switching in this season may have cost him an all-star spot.
The Defence Years (1935/36 through 1940/41)
1935/36 - Goodfellow moved back to defence for good before the season. He was paired with Ralph "Scotty" Bowman, and Doug Young and Bucko MacDonald formed the starting pairing. Syd Howe replaced Goodfellow on the second line, and Marty Barry replaced Weiland on the first line. As a full-time blueliner, Goodfellow "only" scored 23 points,
which still led all defencemen in the league. He was named to the second all-star team after the season. In the playoffs, Detroit won the Stanley Cup.
1936/37 - Detroit returned another strong team this season. Goodfellow and Bowman were the starting pairing this year. Goodfellow finished in a tie with Lionel Conacher for defenceman scoring, behind Babe Siebert. He was named a first-team all-star after the season. In the playoffs, Detroit won their second straight Stanley Cup, and Goodfellow contributed four points in Detroit's first eight playoff games. He missed Game 4 of the final due to injury and played only briefly in the deciding Game 5, but star centre Marty Barry put the team on his back and scored three of Detroit's four goals in those two games.
1937/38 - Detroit crashed hard, missing the playoffs and finishing last in the division, in one of the big stories of the NHL season. Their core players were getting a little long in the tooth, with all of Lewis, Barry, Aurie, Sorrell, and Hec Kilrea aged 30 or older. Goodfellow himself was 30 years old, and
he broke his wrist early in the season and missed 18 games in total. It was a season to forget.
Big Ebbie Goodfellow, the blond Ottawan with the winning smile, shattering body check, and world of speed, will be on the spot in Detroit tonight...
Opinion has been growing lately that Goodfellow's absence for some weeks with an arm injury is the answer to the dismal showing of last season's world champions...
During Goodfellow's absence in November and December, Detroit went 2-10-1. In January, he missed another 5 games and the team was 2-2-1. Overall, Detroit was 8-13-9 (.417) with Goodfellow in the lineup, and 4-12-2 (0.278) while missing Goodfellow. He may not have been in top form even while playing, as he failed to score a goal all season and only had 7 assists.
1938/39 - Goodfellow was named team captain before the season. He played in all 48 games and scored 16 points. Detroit improved, but still failed to make the playoffs. They had failed to bring in enough young talent to replace their aging stars, and struggled to score. Goodfellow's 16 points were good for a tie for fifth among blueliners (Clapper, Heller, Pratt, Shore.) In the all-star voting, he was a non-factor, receiving only 3 votes total, the same as his teammate Bowman.
1939/40 - After two off-years, Goodfellow had a huge comeback season. Detroit continued the rebuilding process, as Jack Adams let Barry, Lewis and Doug Young go and brought in dozens of young players for tryouts, leaving Goodfellow and Bowman as the only holdovers from their championship seasons. The moves led to little on-ice success, as the Wings finished 16-26-6, good for fifth out of seven NHL teams. But Goodfellow scored 28 points, second on a weak Detroit attack. He tied for the lead in points among all defencemen. He was second in all-star voting among defencemen, with 16 first team votes and 9 second team votes to Dit Clapper's 21 and 4. And he won the Hart Trophy in a close vote over Syl Apps and Clapper.
Windsor Daily Star:
The Ottawa-born Goodfellow, a 10-year man in the N.H.L., long has been recognized as one of the best defense-men in the league and was chosen this year with Clapper on the first Canadian Press All-Stars team.
Conceded by Manager Jack Adams to have been the rallying force of the Detroit club during the 1939-40 season, Goodfellow was second highest point-scorer for the Red Wings during the season.
1940/41 - Goodfellow continued his strong play at the age of 33. Not only a captain and star player, he became a playing coach for this season also. Adams was still the bench coach, and Goodfellow was an on-ice coach. Detroit's rebuild paid dividends this season, as they finally climbed back over 0.500 and made the Stanley Cup final. Their 102 goals against was a big improvement, and they tied for 2nd in the league in GA. Syd Howe and Goodfellow were the stars once again, and young stars Sid Abel and Jack Stewart were developing. On the ice, Goodfellow was once again among the leading scorers from the blueline, with 22 points. He received substantial support in the all-star voting, with 19 voting points, but finished fifth and fell short of making the first or second team.
Goodfellow was injured in Detroit's first round victory over the defending champion Rangers. His injured elbow and knee kept him out of the rest of the playoffs. Detroit beat Chicago without him, but probably missed him as they were swept by Boston in the final.
The Coaching Years - 1941/42 and 1942/43
1941/42 - Goodfellow was recovering from a knee operation, and only played in 9 games. He continued as a coach of the Red Wings. The team's regular season record suffered, as they dropped below 0.500. They went on a run in the 1942 playoffs, winning the first two rounds and going up on Toronto 3-0 in the final, but lost four straight games to Toronto. Goodfellow's playoff contribution was limited to his coaching duties.
1942/43 - Goodfellow's knee again allowed him into only 11 regular season games, and no playoff games. But by this time Detroit didn't need him on the ice anymore. Under Goodfellow's tutelage, Jack Stewart had developed into the best defenceman in the league. Led by a strong mix of veterans and young players, and coached by Adams and Goodfellow, the Wings won the regular season title and the Stanley Cup.
Random note: Goodfellow was a big man, one of the fastest skaters in hockey, and he had a hard shot.
He was also tough.
"Goodfellow, long known as the "best one-punch fighter in hockey's history,"
The guy I was so eager to argue for top-5 this round ain't even available yet. 
