AAA 2014 Bio Thread

[Rob Scuderi]

Bios!

Post bios here for future reference.

Stats, quotes, references to books, newspapers and other sources are all welcomed.

The All-time Bio Thread has ATD and MLD bios on it and are good to look at next time and beyond!

Click to read more...

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Ivan Boldirev, C/LW

Played in 1978 All-Star Game
Point finishes: 16th (1978), 21st (1979)
Goal finishes: 17th (1979), 20th (1978)
Assist finishes: 19th (1978)
Led team in scoring three times (1977, 1978, 1979)

1x Stanley Cup finalist

Big and strong...Handles puck quite well, hanging onto it despite most persistent checking...Strong skater...Had 101 assists in his two CHL seasons, testifying to his playmaking ability.

People still are waiting for him to reach the full potential predicted in 1969 as Boston's first-round selection in the amateur draft...Not a fast skater but a durable center who checks and skates hard...

Finally achieved success predicted for seasons...Led the club in both goals and assists...Excellent stickhandler and checker...Working on improving skating...Superb on power play, leading team with 10 power play goals last season...Durable center who was one of only two members of team to play all 80 games last season.

Smart, crafty player who can score a goal anytime...Makes most of experience...Cautious player who rarely makes silly mistake...Was Black Hawk's leading goal-scorer two straight seasons...Not a quick skater but makes the effort...Intelligence makes him gifted addition to power play.

Ivan the Terrible...can be terrible on goalies...Not smooth, but plugs away...Useful on power-play and faceoffs...

Slick, smooth worker with much finesse...Splendid stickhandler and playmaker...Durable type who has missed only a dozen games in the past eight seasons...Owner of excellent wrist shot.

Good finesse player who skates and handles the puck well...Very durable type who has missed only 14 games in past seven seasons...Physical player but has the skill to avoid penalties.

Solid veteran who appeared to be a stopgap for Wings but had his best NHL season in a long career with 83 points, including 35 goals...A center much of his career, shifted to the wing last season...Helped upgrade team's power play...Easy skater, good puckhandler, smart playmaker...

He's a rugged centre...

His rugged style of play should fit right in with Chicago.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Joe Pavelski, F

8th in points and 3rd in goals in 2014
2nd Team All-Star LW in 2014 and 7th in Hart voting
Selke voting: 8th (2014), 11th (2012)
Member of Team USA at 2010 and 2014 Olympics
[quote="Pavelski doing it all for Sharks" by Pierre Lebrun 1/23/2014 - ESPN.com]Todd McLellan's toolbox has a piece that fixes everything.
Whether it's to snap out of a slump or, as the case has been over the past month, a way to endure a slew of injuries, the San Jose Sharks head coach knows he can always open his toolbox, take out Joe Pavelski and insert him anywhere he needs in order to get things going.

"He fits anywhere we put him," McLellan told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "That's a sign of an elite player: He makes other players around him better and he's able to adapt.

"I think the fact Pav over the years has played right wing, left wing, center, anywhere from the lines one to three, the point on the power play, the penalty kill, he's experienced everything. He gets a feel for the game from all different perspectives, and I think that makes him better as well.''

In a perfect world, when the Sharks are healthy and have all their weapons at their disposal, McLellan has liked Pavelski as his third-line center, behind Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. It's the kind of 1-2-3 dream depth down the middle that causes matchup nightmares for opponents.

But when Sharks players started dropping like flies this season -- most notably first-line winger Tomas Hertl suffering a serious knee injury Dec. 19 and Couture being lost Jan. 7 to hand surgery -- McLellan brought Pavelski up to play wing with Thornton and Brent Burns on the top line. They've played 15 games together and have absolutely terrorized the opposition. Pavelski has scored 14 goals in that span.

An executive from a rival Western Conference team told ESPN.com on Thursday: "He's been unbelievable. First of all, he's a really good player. On the one hand, he can play with any of their big dogs there, Thornton, [Patrick] Marleau or Couture, he can play with any of them and be really productive. But they become a really dangerous team when he can come underneath as the third-line center.

"You're hard-pressed to find a guy in the three-hole somewhere else in the league that's better. So he can be put in a situation where he exposes others in that case and get a favorable matchup. But he's just so versatile -- he can play on the top line, he can play on the wing or center. And the other thing with him is that he's not a one-dimensional player: He can win faceoffs, kill penalties, play on the power play, 5-on-5, he's good on the shootout. It's hard to find an area of the game where you can say he doesn't excel in.''

What's also interesting is that while most natural centers will tell you they don't much like it when a coach puts them on the wing, Pavelski insists he doesn't mind. He's done so much of both that he's equally comfortable in either position.

"I really don't care," he said. "I really didn't play much wing until I got to the NHL. Something clicked when I did. The nice thing right now is that I still take a lot of strongside faceoffs, so I still have some of that centerman in me. But whatever has triggered it, it's been a pretty smooth transition on a nightly basis, whether I'm on the wing or at center. [/quote]

Sharks Coach Todd McLellan has used him at right wing, at left wing, at center, on the power play, on the penalty kill, at even strength on three different lines, as a face-off specialist, as a shutdown forward, on the point and in front of the net.

“He may be one of the best pros I’ve ever seen because he plays to his strengths, works on his areas of improvement, and he’s gotten better each and every year,†Wisconsin Coach Mike Eaves said.

“Those six inches between his ears make up for any deficiency that he may have physically, and even then, he’s working on those.â€

Brian Burke isn't right about much but few of his comments have been more spot-on than his labeling of Joe Pavelski as a "swiss army knife" at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It's a perfect description of Pavelski's value as a player and is entirely applicable to his 2013 season. Pavelski did it all for the Sharks this year, from leading all forwards in ice time on one of the most improved penalty kills in the league to manning the point on the first unit of a power play that proved to be the best in the NHL by the shot metrics for the fourth straight year to tearing it up at even-strength both at right wing, where he compiled 4 goals and 12 points during the Sharks' season-opening 7-game winning streak, and third-line center where he scored 9 goals and 14 points over the team's final 18 games

On a man advantage that loves executing set faceoff plays, Pavelski dominated draws on his strong side and was terrific defensively both in and outside the circle throughout the regular season and playoffs as one of the team's most reliable penalty killers and best even-strength possession forwards, driving play in reasonably difficult minutes.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Scott Hartnell, LW

6th in goals (2012)
76 career fights, 21-20-23 record according to dropyourgloves.com

10th in playoff goals (2010), Stanley Cup finalist

Assets: Loves to crash and bang, and also gets under the opposition's skin regularly. Complements skilled players well. Has good offensive instincts and defensive makeup. When needed, he can be a quality finisher.

Flaws: Some of his antics are questionable, and are at times reviewable by the league. He's not a natural shooter. Doesn't always drop the gloves when challenged by opponents. Can lack consistency on offense.

Career Potential: Quality, agitating complementary winger.

"I'm not lobbying, but it would be criminal for Scott Hartnell not to be on there," Laviolette said after the Flyers' morning skate. "In my opinion, he's the top power forward in the league right now. Based on numbers, based on this season, based on plus-minus, hits, physical play, goals and assists," you'd be hard-pressed "to come up with somebody who has had a better year than Scott. End of story."

Biggest surprise: Scott Hartnell went from a laughingstock for his falls to an all-star. From someone most fans wanted traded to one of the league's best power forwards.

Hartnell began the season on the third line with rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read. After scoring zero goals in the first six games, he was moved onto the top unit with Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr - and it may have been the shrewdest move coach Peter Laviolette made all season.

Hartnell, who had three tallies in one period in a Jan. 22 shootout loss to Boston, flourished and finished with a career-high 37 goals.

Jarmo Kekalainen: “He’s hard to play against. When you talk about him as an opponent — you talk to a lot of different sources around the league, people that I know and people he’s been associated with — they all say the same thing: You hate to play against him, but you’d love to have him on your team. That’s the way we feel about him. He was a tough opponent. Somebody you always noticed and somebody you hated from the press box, but you always thought you’d like to have him on your team.”

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Barney Holden, D

1x IHL 1st AST (1907)
2x IHL 2nd AST (1905, 1906)

..."was the greatest cover point of all time" according to N.J. Gillespie, writer for the Winnipeg Tribune Magazine, March 11, 1933. Gillespie tells of watching Barney play in Houghton as a youth, and said in the article that Holden would "stand at his position as cover point, now about where the blue line is located, and "laze" a puck over the heads of all and sundry that would find the goal, every time, unless the goal guard was lucky enough to see it coming and block it." "In those days of early hockey, the lighting system was not so good, and when you shot a puck into the air nobody could see it. I have seen "Barney" score goal after goal by shooting a high one the length of the rink that would nestle in the net without the goalie ever knowing it was coming. In the season of 1906-07, playing against the Pittsburgh pro team, in the first five minutes of the second half a player's skate ripped his [Holden's] shoe wide open. He played more than 25 minutes of hockey until the game was ended. When he reached the dressing room, this youth [Gillespie] was there to wait on him, as usual, and drew off his shoe and poured blood out of the shoe. A surgeon took seven stitches in his foot that night." "In those days, hockey players played 30 minutes, and after a 10 minute rest they played 30 more minutes. And if they were hurt enough to have to leave the game, they couldn't get back into the lineup. Unless they were knocked out so cold they had to be carried off the ice, they always stayed in the line up. Those surely were the days of the he-man hockey, mates." Gillespie wrote.

Holden had a legendary wrist shot. It was said that his wrist shot was so hard that it broke the 2 inch thick end boards in Brandon, Manitoba, one night.
...
He was not just a heavy shooter but a heavy hitter.
...
On the downside of his career Holden moved back to Canada where he played with the Montreal Wanderers and Quebec Bulldogs.

It was said asthma that forced him to hang up his skates, although he played some semi-pro baseball after hockey and was active coaching his 5 sons and 1 daughter hockey and baseball teams in Winnipeg city leagues.

[Portage Lake] Manager Gibson said, "...We had some fears as to getting a man to take Hod's place, but in Barney Holden we seem to have landed a star, one whom I have every reason to believe will prove to be as good a man as Stuart."

"Reddy" McMillan and Barney Holden engaged in a fistic encounter...

Barney Holden, the Winnipeg boy, who captained and played cover-point for the Houghton champions, along with Hall and Taylor, is also a possibility for a Manitoba league team...Without Hall, Taylor, and Holden, the Portage Lake outfit will be badly crippled...

It was announced that Shamrocks had secured Barney Holden, reputed the best cover-point in the International League last year, but the club officials seemed doubtful last night as to whether Holden would be here, and later it was denied from Winnipeg that Holden intended to jump from Maple Leafs.

Apparently the Wanderers were interested in acquiring Holden at one point

Just why Wanderers should have tried so hard to land Barney Holden with Smail on hand is a puzzle to local enthusiasts who were at the game.

Tommie [Dunderdale] also says Barney Holden was the best defence man in the National League.

Johnston [sic] and Marshall were playing a good defence game, as were Power and Holden, neither the local forwards nor the visitors seeming able to pass them.

Barney Holden and Joe Hall, the two western hockey stars, who were members of the Quebec team in the National Hockey association, returned to the city [Winnipeg] Thursday, the team having disbanded for the season. Barney will go back to his business in the Empire [unreadable] and door factory...

Just at the close of the contest, it is alleged, [McDonald] deliberately hit Barney Holden, who was playing cover point for the Houghton team, and cut his face up so badly that his own mother did not know him when he reached home.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Arnie Brown, D

11th in AST voting 1967

As a Leaf prospect, the young rearguard spent most of his time sharpening his game with the Rochester Americans of the AHL until 1964. It was at that time that he was packaged up with a host of other Leaf talent and sent to the Rangers in exchange for Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney.

Brown landed his first regular NHL action with the Blueshirts in 1964-65. It was at that time that he established his game as a functional, stay-at-home rearguard who left the more dynamic play to his defensive partner, Harry Howell. In 1967, Brown served as the backdrop to Howell's Norris Trophy season as the league's top defender.

Several years later, Brown teamed up with Brad Park and put in two unprecedented seasons of offensive output. It was the heart of the Bobby Orr era when blueliners began to think and act more offensively. Brown got into the act with 36 points in 1969-70. But during the playoffs of that year, he blew out his knees, which precipitated the demise of his career. Numerous operations on both legs were required with a piece of his mobility disappearing with each intervention.

Club depends on him for defensive leadership...a fine rusher, was second highest scoring defenseman in league two years ago, trailing only scoring champ Bobby Orr...

Personable blue line operative who has been an NHL regular ever since coming into the league in 1964...An excellent skater...Likes to rush with the puck...Is considered one of the defensive leaders of Red Wings...Master of rolling hip check.

Bright prospect in Toronto system, Arnie was acquired by Rangers last February in five-for-two deal. Aggressive as defenseman.

Hard checking backliner, Arnie came to New York in package deal for Andy Bathgate. Can break quickly on rushes up ice.

One of the Rangers toughest defencemen, Arnie is also one of the most penalized but effective players behind the Ranger blueline. Starting his third year with Rangers, he is one of the younger players who is maturing by NHL standards.

Although one of the smallest defensemen in the NHL, Arnie is one of the toughest. Starting his fourth season as a Ranger, Arnie cut his penalty total almost in half last season without cutting his effectiveness on the blue line.

"Brownie" came on strong last season and established a name for himself. He's a top rusher and good puck carrier...A rolling hip check is one of Arnie's favorite tricks.

Arnie Brown developed into a double-barreled threat last season, hitting for a surprising 10 goals and putting in another improving year on defense.

Arnie is a fine, rushing defenseman who clears the puck very well...Arnie's a hard-hitting type.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Chris Kunitz, LW

7th in points in 2013
8th in goals in 2013 and 2014
1st Team AST LW 2013

2x Stanley Cup winner
Member of Team Canada 2014

Assets: Is a great forechecker and hitter. Has savvy offensive instincts and overall polish. Is a deft playmaker with a little bit of a mean streak. Skates very well and provides some grit.

Flaws: Lacks high-end goal-scoring acumen, mainly because he passes up way too many shots. Isn't very big by today's NHL standards, so he tends to wear down over time.

Career Potential: Solid complementary winger with physicality.

[quote="Penguins' Crosby, Kunitz have become top duo" by Dan Rosen - NHL.com] "With any teammate, you want to make sure you're accountable to him," Crosby told NHL.com. "He [Kunitz] is going in on the forecheck and creating loose pucks, so if I'm the first one in I want to make sure I'm doing the same thing. You build that trust.

"He's just so dependable and that's contagious. When a guy is that responsible, you want to make sure you're following that up."

In Anaheim, Kunitz played with both Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, as well as Teemu Selanne and Andy McDonald.

"Usually, I say you acquire the player and it's up to Dan where he can play, but in this case we felt Chris was the type of guy that could play with Sid," Shero told NHL.com. "That goes to more of an educated guess. He had played with good players before and we saw him playing quite a bit in the minors. That was one of the guys that we felt, looking at wingers, we wanted to acquire because of his speed and ability to play with good players."

"Chris does a lot of little things well to be a good complementary guy to play with," Bylsma said. "He goes hard to the net, forces turnovers, is a physical guy, but maybe more so this year than other he has moved into that slot area and been a weapon with his shot. He's done that really well.

"You want to know exactly what to expect as a centerman and every night you know he's going to be physical, he's going to create loose pucks, he's going to be around the net," Crosby said.
[/quote]

A lot of players are willing to venture into the high-contact areas along the boards, in the corners and in front of the net, but Kunitz likely could have his mail delivered there.

He is equal parts fearless and ferocious, absorbing and delivering punishment pretty much every time he steps onto the ice, especially at this time of the year, when games come in best-of-seven bunches.

“He is,” assistant coach Tony Granato said, “what the playoffs are.”

A bit dramatic? Perhaps.

“No matter who plays with him, no matter what time of the game it is, no matter what time of the season it is, I don’t think Chris Kunitz adjusts or changes,” Granato said. “He’s pretty straightforward on how he plays.”

“He’s a grinding, two-way, hard-to-play-against, go-to-the-net, solid player,” said Granato who, it should be noted, does not double as Kunitz’s representative in contract negotiations. “Physical, intense, gritty.” Kunitz creates chaos in front of opposing goalies, setting screens and getting deflections that can lead to follow-up opportunities for others if they don’t go directly into the net.

“You could go through that [opening-round Columbus] series and say there were probably three goals we scored where he didn’t get the goal, but that he was responsible for, from being net-front or recovering pucks,” Granato said.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Vyacheslav Bykov, C

Soviet League finishes (per Eliteprospects):
Points: 3th (1988), 4th (1989), 7th (1983), 8th (1987), 11th (1981), 11th (1985), 11th (1990), 17th (1982)
Goals: 6th (1990), 7th (1981), 7th (1987), 8th (1984), 9th (1983)
Assists: 3th (1988), 4th (1983), 5th (1989)

Soviet POTY voting: 2nd (1989), 3rd (1990), 5th (1986)
1x Soviet League 1st AST (1990)

WC Points: 4th (1987), 5th (1986), 5th (1989)
Olympics Points: 4th (1992)
Canada Cup Points: 5th (1987)

1x WC AST (1989)
1x Olympic AST (1992)

Bykov's talent allowed him to return to national team scene and go onto a career highlighted with 5 world championships, 2 Olympic Golds, and 7 Russian league titles. Two of the WCs and the last Olympic gold came with Bykov as team captain, putting him in a group of esteemed Soviet hockey captains such as Mikhailov and Fetisov.

Bykov and Khomutov in particular had incredible chemistry together. They played a smooth, uninterrupted style of game. Their hockey truly was beautiful hockey, an absolute joy to watch. Their criss-crossing skating with dazzling passing displays dizzied the best of defenses and wore down the opponents. The only thing more nimble than their feet was their hands.

When the bigger and more physical Kamensky joined the two tiny puck wizards in about 1986, the Bykov line was considered by many to be the equal of the KLM Line.

http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2009/05/vyacheslav-bykov.html

"I was singing the old Soviet anthem to myself," said Vyacheslav Bykov, the veteran center whose slap shot with 1 minute 9 seconds remaining sealed the victory Sunday. "I was thinking the future is Russian."

Judging from play these last two weeks, it would appear Bykov was right, whether the Russian hockey future is in Europe or in the NHL.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=3441,77523&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

[Dave King] mentioned three names to watch in the third period: Andrei Khomoutov, Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Kravtchouk. "Those are the three veterans," he said. "They'll need leadership from them."
Those words proved to be prophetic. Bykov narrowly missed a power-play goal with slap shot that LeBlanc made a great save on. Minutes later, Khomoutov slipped a rebound past LeBlanc to break the tie at 10:55 of the third period. Then Khomoutov hit Bykov with a nifty centering pass on the fly, and Bykov brilliantly fed Yuri Khmylev on the left wing for the goal at 14:08 that broke the Americans' spirit.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/22/s...s-advice-is-zip-lips.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

The Russian Olympic team, likely to consist of players who were on the top two teams at the Izvestia Cup, still should be powerful. And 1992 Olympic standouts Vyacheslav Bykov and Andrei Khomutov, both playing in Switzerland, could be added to an unusually young Russian team.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6624,1314340&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

For the Soviets, it was their 20th world title, one more than Canada. After blowing the two goal lead they had built up six minutes into the second period the Soviets needed a goal for Vyacheslav Bykov at 5:16 of the final period to complete their 10-0 unbeaten walk through the 16-day tournament.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=5151,4033846&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

Vyacheslav Bykov, a forward from the Soviet Central Army Sports Club, scored twice against Canada.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=1881,2052877&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

The teams swapped goals in the first two minutes of the game. Vyacheslav Bykov opened the scoring 72 seconds into the game, tipping a pass from Valery Kamensky past Moog.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=3624,3675171&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

Veteran Marcel Dionne handed the Soviets a soft goal when, on a Canadian power player, he made a drop pass in his own zone with no teammate behind him. Bykov swooped in and beat goaltender Kelly Hrudley at 11:40.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=2532,5530155&dq=vyacheslav+bykov&hl=en

Swiss clubs have also led pre-emptive strikes in signing top echelon Soviet players. efenseDman Yuri Voshakov turned down an offer by the Los Angeles Kings and went to Switzerland, as did Vyacheslav Bykov and Andrei Khomutov, who passed on the Quebec Nordiques.

"The NHL is still the premier league in the world, and if a player gets a good offer and turns it down, you have to question his ambition, Team Canada head coach Dave King said recently.

Bykov argued, however, that "money is not everything in life. The Soviet Union is a big country. As a hockey player,, you fly all over it and abroad too. You are away from home most of the time. So if you switch over to the NHL, it is the same all over again. That's why I prefer to play here, spend more time with my family."

The longest bus ride in the Swiss League takes about four hours.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=bDdDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Jq0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4276,3284265&dq=en

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Andrei Khomutov, RW

Andrei Khomutov, an all-time great right winger who was a mainstay on Soviet national teams from winning Canada Cup '81 to the World Championships in 1993, was simply exceptional from 1987 to 1992. Nationally he scored 344 points in 374 Soviet league games as a 10-year veteran of the Red Army team; internationally, he scored 94 points in 116 games for the USSR team. He won gold at the IIHF World Championships in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, and 1993;
and gold in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Winter Olympics.

Soviet League finishes (per Eliteprospects):
Points: 5 (1989), 7 (1988), 8 (1987), 14 (1981), 14 (1985), 14 (1990), 15 (1983) 16 (1986), 18 (1986)
Goals: 1 (1988), 5 (1989), 6 (1990), 7 (1985)
Assists: 9 (1987)

Soviet POTY voting: 1st (1990)
1x Soviet League 1st AST RW (1990)

International competition finishes:
WC Points:2nd (1990), 2nd (1993)
Olympics Points: 2nd (1992)
Canada Cup Points: 7th (1987)

WC AST (1990)

Andrey Khomutov began his hockey career with CSKA Moskva in 1980 and won nine Soviet (1981-1989) and ten European Champions Cup (1981-1990) titles with them. Khomutov was selected as the MVP of the Soviet Championships in 1990 and he was the leading goalscorer at the 1988 Soviet Championships with 29 goals. He was also selected as part of the best line at the Soviet Championships in 1988 and 1990. Internationally, besides his three Olympic golds, Khomutov was World champion seven times (1981-83, 1986, 1989-90, 1993) and European champion eight times (1981-83, 1985-87, 1989, 1991). Khomutov was also the leading goal scorer at the 1992 Olympic Games with 7 goals and 1990 World Championships with 11 goals. He also played on the winning 1981 Canada Cup and was runner-up at the 1987 Canada Cup.

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/kh/andrey-khomutov-1.html

Quotes:

Viktor Tikhonov's book written with help of Oleg Spassky

Tikhonov in his recap of 1988 Winter Olympics (held in Calgary):

We've also managed to improve on some of our weaknesses; for example, we've learned how to win a faceoff. -- Only our centers used to have a chance to win a faceoff -- But in Calgary, good faceoff skills were also displayed by the wingers Vladimir Krutov, Andrei Khomutov and Sergei Jashin.

Tikhonov talking about the 1986 World Championships held in Moscow:

I guess it's difficult for me to convince the readers that Andrei Khomutov played very well in these World Championships; after all, he did not score a single goal. But the statistics don't always tell the whole story, certainly they don't tell about the coach's tactical plans. -- When our player was penalized, it was usually Bykov and Khomutov who were given the exhausting job of killing penalties -- Bykov and his linemates played well in these World Championships. Their performance ensured our success in the deciding game.

These two quotes come from poster VMBM who was kind enough to pass them along from his reading of a book written by Viktor Tikhonov.

The Canada Cup of Hockey Fact and Stat Book by H.J. Anderson

1987 Canada Cup

The Central Red Army Team line of skilled Andrei Khomutov, Slava Bykov, and highly touted Valeri Kamensky had replaced the Dynamo Moscow trio….

Game 1

When Wayne Gretzky scored from a bad angle with only two minutes fifty-nine seconds remaining, it looked like Canada had completed an incredible comeback, but Andrei Khomutov silenced the crowd, scoring with 32 seconds left to send the game to overtime. Although being tied up by Ray Bourque, the helmet-less Khomutov managed to swipe the puck past Fuhr.

Game 2

Again, the Soviets roared back at 4:45 from the start of the third period, the second line soared again; Khomutov, breaking down the right, found Slava Bykov whose high backhand shot from the faceoff circle beat Fuhr.

Game 3

However, with 28 seconds remaining, after a Ray Bourque error, Andrei Khomutov walked in alone on Fuhr and slotted it home to leave Canada again down by two at the end of the first period.

The Red Machine: the Soviet Quest to Dominate Canada’s Game by Lawrence Martin

Andrei Khomutov, an artful dodger…

Interview with Alexei Kovalev originally published on IIHF.com in 2006. http://hockeyadventure.com/2007/08/24/kovalev-hoping-to-take-russia-to-new-heights/

Kovalev: Back then, it was a little bit different. We didn’t have as much respect accorded to our team that year. We didn’t really have any stars except [Andrei] Khomutov and [Slava] Bykov and the rest of the guys were just young and hard-working. Nobody really expected anything from us. We just went about our business, hard and quiet, and moved forward slowly. And we won the gold.

Joe Pelletier:

Bykov and Khomutov in particular had incredible chemistry together. They played a smooth, uninterrupted style of game. Their hockey truly was beautiful hockey, an absolute joy to watch. Their criss-crossing skating with dazzling passing displays dizzied the best of defenses and wore down the opponents. The only thing more nimble than their feet was their hands.

Their NHL rights were held by the sad-sack Quebec Nordiques. The Nords had brought over goaltender Sergei Mylnikov in 1989-90, but he had a terrible time, both on the ice and off of it. He fled from North America as soon as he could, returning to Russia with no kind words about the Nordiques or the NHL. The story has it Bykov and Khomutov listened to Mylnikov's horror stories and opted instead to play in the Alps Mountains of Switzerland. They were in the West, the money was good, the lifestyle and the country were amazing.

The hockey was good, too. Bykov and Khomutov dominated the Swiss league, playing with Fribourg until late in the century.

Andrei Khomutov - No. 15, LW, 5-9, 160, 25 years old, Central Red Army. Nickname is "The Russian Rat," as he plays like Boston's Ken Linseman. Always in motion. Complements 20-year-old center Valeri Kamensky, a future star.

Bit of a thanks to VanI here as well.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Achievements

-In 28 seasons behind the Alberta bench, he led the Bears to six national championships and 17 Canada West titles.
-In 1983, he became the first coach in CIAU history to win 500 games and, on October 8, 1985 made history by becoming the most successful coach in intercollegiate hockey history with his 556th victory.
-When he retired after the 1988-89 season, he had amassed 697 wins, 296 losses and 37 ties for a .695 winning percentage.
-Was co-coach of the 1980 Canadian Olympic hockey team;
-Coached the Canadian student national team to a gold medal at the 1981 World Student Games in Jaca, Spain, and silver and bronze medals in 1972 at Lake Placid, New York, and in 1987 at Poprad, Czechoslovakia.
-He has conducted coaching workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia, where he is recognized as one of the foremost Canadian authorities on the game.

“The big one,” of course, is the Hockey Hall of Fame, which so far has not seen fit to admit one of the sport’s true visionaries to its hallowed Toronto home -- probably because Drake, despite a ridiculously successful career as a coach and innovator, went too quietly about his business, never needed to hear the sound of his own name, and was never cut out for the limelight of the professional game, though he coached it in a few places.

All he did, this 86-year-old absent-minded professor, was have a bigger influence over more hockey coaches than, arguably, anyone in the history of the game. That ought to be enough, but as Dave King noted Wednesday afternoon, “it seems like the NHL aura has to be there for (the Hall) to happen."

Hitchcock remains hopeful that the Hockey Hall of Fame honour also will be coming for Drake, but that NHL-heavy committee is a tough one to crack, even for someone whose name is known everywhere among coaches -- and whose endorsement for the Hall included testimonials from Hitchcock (“The man’s fingerprints are all over the game”), Mike Babcock (“I’m a head coach today because of Clare Drake ... I urge you to elect him to the Hall and give him the acclaim he’s never sought, but so richly deserves”), Tom Watt (“When Clare retired as the winningest college hockey coach ever, his picture should have been on the cover of Time magazine”) ... on and on down a long list of people blown away by his influence over the way the game has been played -- and is still played.

“It’s fine with me,” Drake said Wednesday. “I got something like 32 really wonderful letters from guys in the hockey world, and as (wife) Dolly said to me, those letters are just as good as any induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They were so nicely done, and had a lot of feeling to them.”

Asked earlier on the conference call what he was most proud of in his career, Drake said it was consistency, “and that’s a tribute to the players and assistant coaches that worked with me. I felt I just hooked on for the ride, really.”

And that’s Clare Drake. Told that Hitchcock and King, in particular, had spoken glowingly of him, he said, “all those guys are very generous to me. We were kind of lucky I think to grow up together as coaches in Canada West, with (Calgary’s) George Kingston and (Saskatchewan’s) Dave King, Barry Trotz in Manitoba ... and we had a good sharing culture.”

Drake did most of the sharing, said King.

“He changed the game more than any other coach has changed the game, and I don’t care what level you’re talking about,” he said. “The rink was a laboratory, and he came up with all these amazing ideas, all these visions -- and THEN, he’d go to coaching clinics and just give it to you. I think he knew he taught it better than anyone else.”

“You can go all over the world, China, Japan, Russia, Sweden, and just go ask about Clare Drake,” said Hitchcock. “And anybody who’s a coach who’s over 40 years of age will be able to tell you exactly where they were, what seminar they were at, what he taught.

“He put pressure forecheck into the PK, pressure in the zone, he was the guy who introduced how to teach that: lanes and stick positioning and angles, which 90% of the NHL teams use today. His influence is as big or bigger than any instructor has ever had in our sport.”

“I’ve talked to a lot of coaches, and they’ve said that at the start of a season, and I do the same thing, I always look at Clare Drake’s penalty killing and Clare Drake’s forechecking stuff. Some people call it thievery, we call it research,” said King, who wished more people were aware of “our game’s greatest secret.”

Hitchcock remembers when he worked at a cycle shop in Edmonton, coaching midget teams, mesmerized by how Drake’s Golden Bears played the game, and evenings spent listening to him and his longtime assistant and successor, Billy Moores, talk hockey.

“And then it kind of came full circle, because when I went to Dallas, I asked Clare to evaluate our penalty killing, in 1997 or ’98, and tell me what we needed to do better so that we could put more heat on people, more pressure. And all the things that he taught me, I still use today.”

Hitchcock’s Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Legendary+coach+Clare+Drake+awarded+Order+Hockey/9446503/story.html

I don’t know Coach Drake personally, having met him in passing a handful of times – gracious man, always has both a smile and time for a hockey question from anybody – but have been an admirer from afar since first being exposed to the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey program in the 1974-75 season. His perennial powerhouse squad was en route to its third national championship of the six he won over his three decades at the helm – or should I say his fourth of seven, since he also won an unprecedented and unmatched Double coaching both hockey and football Golden Bears to national crowns in the 1967-68 academic year. The man was born to coach, and to teach. And to win.

....

As Drager’s excellent biography details, Drake’s fingerprints have been all over the game since at least the mid-1950s, when he was cutting his coaching teeth in Dusseldorf of all places. The world championships happened to be in (West) Germany that year, and the Penticton Vees faced the challenge of upholding Canada’s honour after the Russians had won gold in their very first appearance at the Worlds one year previous. Drake’s scouting reports of the Soviets complete with analysis of line combinations, defence pairings and diagrams of their new-fangled “kollektiv” attack and defence formations proved supremely useful to head coach Grant Warwick, as the Vees thrashed the Soviets 5-0 in the decisive game. That was three years before Coach Drake won his first game as coach the Golden Bears. A decade after the 697th and last of those wins, Drake was still a pioneer in international hockey, serving as a mentor coach to the first Canadian women’s Olympic team in Nagano. In between times he’d coached the men’s Olympic team in Lake Placid, won Canada’s first ever Spengler Cup gold, and participated in more Universiades and World Student Games than a few. There’s a partial list of his accomplishments in this Hockey Canada profile.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2011/06/27/why-clare-drake-belongs-in-the-hockey-hall-of-fame/

After retiring from the U of A, Clare joined the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets as an assistant coach and the Jets coaching staff won the Jack Adams Trophy in 1989-90. He left full time coaching shortly after but continued to serve as a consultant to a wide range of NHL teams. In 1995, Clare also began work as a mentor to the Canadian Women’s National Hockey team and was proud to see the young squad take home silver at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

http://www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca/Aoe/athletics/clare-drake/index.html

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Laurie Boschman, C

Captain of Ottawa Senators (1993)
137 NHL fights, with 8-7-14 record according to dropyourgloves.com

Good playmaker with tough, abrasive approach to game

Second season ruined by mononucleosis, then was criticized by Leaf owner Harold Ballard for Christian beliefs last season...Not especially fast but solid scorer, strong defensively and aggressive.

Had eight points in 12 games for Jets, who liked his aggressive, hard-nosed approach... Not especially fast but solid scorer, strong defensively and a hard worker

Laurie Boschman, a fine all-around center, would have been close to 100 points if a shoulder injury hadn't chopped him down for 19 games. He had 74 points...Good offensive player and strong checker who plays with bellicose approach (234 penalty minutes)...Not overly fast but smart with the puck...

...hard-driving, hard-hitting, all-purpose Laurie Boschman...Toronto Maple Leafs regret trading him to Edmonton...Oilers gave up on him too quickly and dealt him to Winnipeg, where he blossomed into quality player two years ago...Plays forceful, aggressive game and is willing to fight...Rival players regard him as fierce competitor...Plays effectively with or without the puck...

Boschman took dozens of bad penalties and lost a bunch of fights. He still found enough time to set up 42 goals...A feisty sort on the ice; kind and gentle man off of it...Coming off a so-so season, brightened by good point totals, but burdened by a career high minus-29 rating and 241 minutes in penalties...Scourge of the goal-tenders he pesters and bumps...Critics say he overhandles the puck...Makes his best plays in heavy traffic...

The Finesse Game
Boschman is a good skater, not terribly fast but equipped with sufficient and agility to get where he has to be and to have developed into an excellent two-way center.He is a very heady player, able to anticipate and read the ice very well and that is an additional reason why he is good as a checker. Boschman is good with and without the puck and can take good advantage of his teammates...Boschman, despite last year's plus/minus rating, is good defensively, backchecking well and playing well positionally.

The Physical Game
Boschman is tough. He is a feisty guy and he plays that way all the time. Laurie will run into anything that's wearing a non-Jet sweater, regardless of who and how big...He stands up for himself and his teammates too when appropriate, and Boschman complements his finesse skills with his hitting game.

The Intangibles
Boschman is a very hard worker, very dedicated to the game. He gives 100 percent of himself at all times and that makes him a good leader for the Jets.

Laurie Boschman is a solid, dependable, two-way player for Winnipeg, one of their unsung - to the rest of the league - heroes.

The Finesse Game
Laurie combines his strong, tireless skating with his on-ice smarts to be a very heady player, able to anticipate and read the ice very well. That makes him an excellent defensive forward (so forget that plus/minus; it's an unfair indication of Boschman's skills.)...For his own goals Boschman will be most effective in front of the net, where he is more than willing to take his lumps and where he cash in on the turnovers his checking has forced.

The Physical Game
The physical game is Boschman's game, and he thrives on the emotion his hitting game creates. He is very strong, especially in the hands and wrists (which is why he's such a good faceoff man)...Laurie can't be intimidated. Boschman will win many of the battles along the boards or in the corners because of his leg strength. He uses his hips and legs to drive through a check in pursuit of the puck, and his balance helps him remain vertical and able to make a play. He stands up for himself and his teammates without prompting, and Boschman also wields a nasty stick.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Jay Pandolfo, LW

Selke voting: 3rd (2007), 8th (2006), 17th (2008)
2x Stanley Cup winner, 1x Stanley Cup finalist

Assets: Was an extremely efficient penalty killer. Solid on the forecheck, he had the grit needed to do battle in the corners. Played an exemplary team game.
Flaws: Never showed the same scoring touch in the pros that he displayed at Boston University (NCAA). Was prone to long scoring droughts at the highest level.
Career Potential: Hard-working defensive forward.

Claude Julien coached Pandolfo in both New Jersey and Boston, and appreciated all of the understated details he brought to the table in both locations. When he called for Pandolfo, John Madden and Sergei Brylin to hop over the boards with the Devils, Julien was at ease knowing things would be taken care of defensively against the other team’s best players.

“I thought he was the most underrated as a player [when he was in New Jersey] as far as what he brought to our team,” said Julien. “Everybody would talk about John Madden killing penalties, but [Pandolfo] was Madden’s partner on the PK. There were a lot of times I saw him being ‘the guy’ on that penalty kill, and making it all work. If you want to be successful at that then you really need to take pride in your job, and that’s something Jay always did.

“He was such a smart player. His strength was always hockey sense. I know he had scoring skills and put up big offensive numbers in college, but then he came to the pro level and was a little bit like Guy Carbonneau for that matter. He modified his game and became a really good defensive-minded player that you knew was going to be reliable against top lines.”

[quote="Selke Trophy: Making a case against Brind'Amour" BattleofCali.com - 6/18/2007] Thanks to Vic Ferrari’s minutes-tracking site, we can track opponent matching for 5-on-5 play, at least. In 4 games against the Rangers, Brind'Amour played in 26 of 62 of Jagr’s even-strength minutes (42%). Compare this against Pahlsson’s 1 game (9 of 13 minutes, 71%) or Pandolfo’s 8 games (103 of 134 minutes, 77%).

Or the same number of games for Crosby: Brind’Amour (14 of 44 minutes, 32%), Pahlsson (9 of 15 minutes, 60%), Pandolfo (94 of 126 minutes, 75%).

At 5-on-5, at least from these two examples, Pahlsson and Pandolfo are taking on more of the murderer’s minutes, whereas Brind’Amour is less rigorously matched.

Even-strength Rod Brind’Amour: 14:41 per game
Quality of opposition: 214 / 676, Quality of teammates: 236 / 676
5-on-5 GAA on the ice: 3.10, 5-on-5 GAA off the ice 3.05

Even-strength Sammy Pahlsson: 12:43 per game
Quality of opposition: 10 / 676, Quality of teammates: 674 / 676
5-on-5 GAA on the ice: 2.39, 5-on-5 GAA off the ice 2.21

Even-strength Jay Pandolfo: 15:20 per game
Quality of opposition: 2 / 676, Quality of teammates 569 / 676
5-on-5 GAA on the ice: 1.95, 5-on-5 GAA off the ice 2.40

TAKEAWAY: Pahlsson and Pandolfo are playing among the toughest murderer’s minutes in the league, accompanied by some of the least productive linemates in the league: a really tough combination. Brind’Amour, by comparison, is playing less rigorous shutdown role alongside more capable linemates—his minutes are significantly easier, on average.

The real star in these even-strength minutes metrics is Jay Pandolfo, who despite playing very impressive murderer's minutes, still is able to demonstrate a significant defensive impact: The Devils have nearly a half-goal improvement in 5-on-5 GAA when Pandolfo is on the ice.

I think based on the even-strength results especially, he was the least deserving of the three nominees, and in fact, I probably would have given the award to (surprise!) Jay Pandolfo. He, above the others, was able to play the toughest minutes (in a higher-scoring eastern conference) and was able to demonstrably neutralize the best scorers in the league. [/quote]

Shadowing Jagr

When the Devils played the Rangers during the regular season, Pandolfo seemed to know exactly how to steal Jagr's personal space. No one has come up with a better method of smothering the Rangers this season.

When he faces Jagr, Pandolfo does not even look toward the net most of the time. He focuses on Jagr, reacting to his every twitch.

"This has been my role on the team since I've got here," said Pandolfo, who is in his ninth season with the Devils. "I've been in a checking mode."

Pandolfo more or less stalks Jagr. At 6 feet 1 inch and 190 pounds, Pandolfo is 2 inches shorter and 55 pounds lighter than Jagr, making it easier to outskate him than to outmuscle him.

Pandolfo's strategy is rather simple: If Jagr does not get the puck, he cannot score. If he does get it, Pandolfo calls for help from his teammates, primarily defenseman Colin White. That was basically how the Devils won their last two games against the Rangers, holding Jagr to only one assist.

"I'm pretty sure they are going to do everything they did during the regular season," Jagr said. "Pandolfo was skating with me all the time. They're going to use all of their tricks to stop me, and I have to use all of my tricks to beat them."

When Jagr stays on the ice for a double shift, Pandolfo stays with him. When Jagr moves from right wing to left wing, Pandolfo switches, too. Only Jagr receives this much attention. The Devils generally match Pandolfo's line against the opposing team's top line, but they rarely try to match Pandolfo against the opponent's top player.

Pandolfo is disciplined and relentless, the kind of single-minded defender who can fluster a free-styling scorer.

"Jay is always in your face," said Grant Marshall, the right wing on Pandolfo's line. "He is constantly working — reading plays, anticipating plays. We watch him all the time, and the way he competes filters right down the lineup." [/b]

They may vote him the team's Unsung Hero for the third time in his career.

The only problem with Pandolfo's candidacy for the award is that no one can say he is unsung anymore. After Jagr failed to score in the Rangers' 2-1 loss March 4 in New Jersey, he was asked about Pandolfo's coverage.

"It's good that it happened now," Jagr told reporters. "It's something we can learn from if it happens in the playoffs."

Suddenly, a team was preparing for Pandolfo instead of the other way around.

There was one shift in the first period, captured on one of NBC's isolation cameras, on which Jay Pandolfo followed Jaromir Jagr stride-for-stride from one end of the ice to the other. They're calling Pandolfo "The Shadow," but he seemed more like a gnat. By the middle of the game, Jagr was swatting at Pandolfo, clearly annoyed by his pestering.
Jagr, who played 23:22, did manage to avoid his shadow on some shifts. He wasn't completely neutralized because he took nine shots on goal. He also had the primary assist on the Rangers' only goal, when he fed Petr Prucha in the slot. Pandolfo wasn't on the ice for that one.

But he was when Jagr was called for a critical penalty 32 seconds into the third period. Jagr hooked Pandolfo out of frustration and the ensuing power play led to a game-breaking goal by the Devils, as Brian Rafalski made it a 4-1lead just 21 seconds later.

Jagr also spent much of the latter portion of the game pushing and poking at Pandolfo, clearly expressing his displeasure with the extra attention the Devils were paying him.

 

[seventieslord]

Billy Harris, RW

- 6'2", 195 lbs
- 7th in Playoff Scoring (1977)
- 11th in Selke Voting (1977)
- 5th in RW All-Star voting (1976)
- Killed 22% of penalties for his teams
- best percentages by seventies method: 59, 58, 55, 52, 50, 49
- best ES percentages: 61, 60, 59, 56, 55, 51, 46, 44
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (1976)
- Ironman streak spanned over 7 full seasons

He was a fine two-way player and used his size well

Everything a professional hockey scout looks for in a junior player was there to be admired in Bill Harris... he could score, he could set up plays, he was tough and had a healthy respect all around the Ontario circuit, he was big and strong... it was almost unanimous that he was the best junior on the continent... "I can't think of an NHL team he couldn't have made last season, if he'd have been eligible," said Bill Torrey, the GM who picked Harris. "Harris is a team man and a leader," said Frank Bonello, who coached him last winter. "Getting him would be a big start toward building an NHL contender."

not an exceptional skater but big and strong

The youthful leader of the Islanders' offensive brigade... one of the few pleasing features of the NHL's first winter on long island... "I thought he'd have done better and might have even won the Calder," says GM Bill Torrey. "Barber and Vickers, the guys who finished ahead of him, both had the advantage of playing on solid lines with good teams. Harris had to step right in and be the #1 guy for a pretty bad club" ... a reliable scorer, a good playmaker, and a powerhouse with a mean streak. "He was everything we hoped he'd be and he's got great things ahead of him."

after a slow start, husky RW ended season as Islanders' leading scorer... bright, articulate rookie handled pressure well.

"Money in the bank. Hasn't burned up the league yet, but he's a star of the future."

A good skater and a fine playmaker

both his first seasons have been disappointing to some; however, this talented RW has played under pressure and for a losing team... many observers feel all he needs is a veteran center to boost his goal output... like Denis Potvin, he has shot size, desire to be outstanding...

"It's a bit harder to take passes," Harris says of being a left handed shot on the right wing, "but with your stick pointing inward you have a lot more of the goal to shoot at and, of course, it's harder for the goalie to cut down the angle on you."... "Through that mid season slump, I concentrated on my checking because somebody told me that was the best way to cure a slump. So when I finally came out of it, I was an improved two-way player."

had successful season, placing 2nd in Islanders scoring...

"It's not hard to figure out why (I had these numbers), says Harris. "I had Bryan Trottier playing center for me. I was getting those good passes and when I made a pass, something was happenng with it. "He's been fine and he's a solid two-way player, but we feel he can become a really important scorer. He has all the necessary qualities." says GM Bill Torrey.

improving each season... one of team's leaders...

"We knew we weren't getting a superstar who'd score a thousand goals. We did know we were getting a strong, sound, smart player we could build with," says Torrey... "(the Gillies/Trottier/Harris line) is a good combination of talents and I'm content to be the digger and the playmaker," says Harris.

One of the best two-way players on the club.

slowly developing into steady two-way RW... still looking for first season as explosive goal scorer... scores goals in streaks and then slumps... makes game look easy with his fluid skating... popular, pleasant chap.

The arrival of sharpshooter Mike Bosst wasn't the best thing ever to befall Bill Harris. It cost him his job. Bossy was obtained especially to play RW with Trottier and Gillies, a position Harris had been occupying. "Maybe this gives us a little better distribution," Harris reasoned. "Certainly, I'm not a scoring specialist. I try to play a balanced game with equal parts offense and defense. I even tried a bit of center last season and enjoyed the challenge."

An excellent checker, Billy is also a superb penalty killer.

size, strength and determination... steady two-way RW... durable player... has also played center.

In seven years, Harris has never missed a scheduled match. He hasn't missed many checks either. Harris is the prototype of the two-way player, always in the right position, game in and game out.

durable player who has never missed a game... nearly had streak broken when cut over right eyelid, but discarded patch after one day to keep streak alive...

"We've got wonderful offense so what we needed was the kind of consistent checking a guy like Bill Harris can give us," said LA coach Bob Berry. "Harry is one of the best in the business." In eight NHL seasons, he has missed only 2 games, has scored 188 times and has stopped hundreds of enemy offensive opportunities.

big, strong two-way winger... play declined in past two seasons but he is young enough to bounce back... uses size and strength well, especially in overpowering defensemen for a move on the net... a fine player with leadership qualities.

There was a time not too long ago, when LA had their Triple Crown line and not much else, no other attackers to worry the opposition and no defense to speak of... they took a giant step toward correcting that imbalance in 1980 when he acquired a superb defensive winger named Bill Harris... he can handle any checking assignment, can kill penalties and is capable of providing some decent offense as well. "No club can hope to win without a Harris-type forward," Maguire says.

A good two-way performer, Billy has strong defensive skills. An excellent positional player.

Another solid, experienced addition who helped boost team to fine 1981 season...has played all three forward positions for the Kings... excellent defensive player and penalty killer.. extremely durable, he has missed only one game due to injury in nine seasons.

"He's money in the bank," says coach Mike Nykoluk, "just waiting to be withdrawn when we need him... he's one of the really solid two-way wingers in the NHL. He'll be a great asset with a young club like ours. He'll be a teacher."

 

[seventieslord]

Don Smith, LW/C

- 5'7", 160 lbs
- Career was cut off due to WW1
- 196 points in 186 NHA/NHL/FAHL/PCHA/CHA games
- 2 points in 4 playoff games
- Best vs1 scores: 100, 71, 70, 62, 55, 53, 44

Scoring Accomplishments:
1907: 1st in FAHL
1908: 5th in MHL
1909: 5th in OPHL
1910: 4th in CHA and 10th in NHA, or 6th overall
1911: 3rd in NHA
1912: 5th in PCHA
1913: 8th in NHA
1914: 7th in NHA (10th in Goals, 6th in Assists)
1915: (4th in NHA Assists)
1916: (14th in NHA Goals)

- 10th all-time in NHA Goals as shown below:

Name | Goals | NHA Seasons
Joe Malone | 179 | 7
Didier Pitre | 156 | 7
Newsy Lalonde | 148 | 7
Tommy Smith | 141 | 5
Odie Cleghorn | 134 | 7
Gord Roberts | 124 | 7
Jack Darragh | 122 | 7
Harry Hyland | 106 | 7
Skene Ronan | 104 | 7
Don Smith | 97 | 6
Jack McDonald | 91 | 6
Ernie Russell | 86 | 5
Frank Nighbor | 85 | 3
Sprague Cleghorn | 83 | 7
Rusty Crawford | 67 | 5
Marty Walsh | 63 | 3

Born in Cornwall, Ontario, Don Smith went on to play Senior hockey in his hometown for three years before making stops in Portage la Prairie before turning pro in the Ontario Professional Hockey League in 1908. Smith switched teams in each of the next three years with stints with the Montreal Shamrocks, the Renfrew Creamery Kings and the Victoria Aristocrats before settling in Montreal for good in 1912.

Smith was halfway through his third season with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Association when the club sold his rights to the cross-town rival Montreal Wanderers during the 1914-15 season. After playing one full season with the Wanderers Smith's career was put on hold while he served his country.

During the three years Smith served in the military the NHA folded and a new circuit, the National Hockey League was formed. Smith returned to hockey in 1919 when he was signed by his former club, the Montreal Canadiens.

Smith, a forward who played both left wing and centre suited up for 10 games for Les Habitants and scored one goal. His first season in the NHL was also his last as a player. Don Smith retired in 1920.

Played center for Joe Hall... Also centered Odie Cleghorn and Rowe... Was a very popular player with the fans and admired for his good hockey and clean play... Played LW with Newsy Lalonde and Didier Pitre... Wanderers used him at centre for Gord Roberts and Harry Hyland... a fine player who was unlucky enough never to be on a championship team

Donald Smith, born in 1895, was an outstanding hockey player in Cornwall, Ottawa, and Pembroke. He played professional hockey, and was a speedy skater, great stick handler and possessed a lot of fighting ability.

Centre Donald Smith was considered a consistent and steady hockey player, and was just what the Renfrew Millionaires were looking for in the 1911-12 season.

Smith first joined the National Hockey Association as a member of the Shamrock team after playing three years in Cornwall, and two years in other leagues. He then moved to the Renfrew Millionaires, playing on a line with Odie Cleghorn and Bobby Rowe.

It was a good decision for Smith, with his year as a Millionaire marking his career high of 28 goals in the 16 game season, landing him in third place on the scoring list.

When the Millionaires franchise closed, he moved with teammate Bert Lindsay to play for Victoria. Like many of the former Millionaire players, in 1913 Smith returned to the National Hockey Association.

He continued to play in the league for another eight years; seven with the Montreal Canadiens and one with the Montreal Wanderers before retiring in 1921.

He left hockey without having won the Stanley Cup but with a reputation for being a clean player, well-liked and respected by all who had played with and against him.

Donald Smith was a steady all-around hockey player. He started with Cornwall in 1905 and played with them for three years. Don spent a year in the MHL and one in the OPHL before joining the Shamrocks in the NHA.

Smith skated with Renfrew only for the 1911-12 season, centering a line with Odie Cleghorn and Bobby Rowe. Don was noted for being a clean player, leaving the rough stuff to his teammates. He preferred to concentrate on scoring the goals.

Tempers became frayed and the player mixed it up quite freely. Roy McGiffen and Don Smith were active with firsts and sticks.

Donald Smith, the speedy center of the Voctoria team, is the leading scorer to date in the Pacific Coast Hockey league.

When the all-star hockey team, under the management of At Ross, left for the coast last night, the players went without Donald Smith, the sensational player of the Canadiens team. A year ago, Smith played at the Coast League, and last fall when Lester Patrick told him his salary would be cut, he decided to ply with Canadiens in place of going back to the coast. Over the matter, the Patricks notified Art Ross that they would not accept Donald Smith as one of the all-stars, nor allow him to play in any of the games. Smith confirmed the report last night himself. Smith made himself a general favorite whit the local hockey public all winter, and was one of the most effective players in the National Hockey Association.

Donald Smith, the star forward of the Canadien hockey team of a year ago, arrived in town last night…

Donald Smith was the star of the visitors and played as good a game as any man on the ice; indeed it would not, perhaps, be saying too much to label him the star of the match. But he worked himself to death in the first and second periods and with him all in and later relieved, the Canadiens were not dangerous.

Donald Smith, the hard working little Wanderer forward, still tops the list with a total of seven goals to his credit.

Previous to going overseas Don Smith was conceded to be one of the best hockey players in the National Hockey Association.

Smith played with the Canadiens when they won the title and later on was transferred to the Wanderers, with which club he was playing when he enlisted for overseas service.

 

[seventieslord]

Alex Smith, D

- Stanley Cup (1927)
- Top-10 in scoring be defensemen 4 times (7th, 8th, 8th, 9th)
- Best defense points percentages: 76, 64, 53, 44, 43, 42

Known as one of Ottawa's finest athletes, Alex Smith played most sports in his collegiate days but took on a hockey career that saw him become a member of the Ottawa Senators in 1924. He was an outstanding defenceman who helped that team claim the Stanley Cup in the 1926-27 season.

After being claimed by the Detroit Falcons in the 1931 Dispersal Draft, Smith was back in Ottawa one season later. He was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1933 and later wore the New York Americans sweater for his last year in the NHL, 1934-35.

It was decided last night by General Manager Gill that Alex Smith will replace George Boucher on the Ottawa defense. The latter is not in his very best form owing an injury to one of his knees received at Pittsburgh some time since and the Ottawa pilot is desirous of having Boucher in top form for the playoffs and not take any chances on further injury in the meantime.

Alex Smith has demonstrated on repeated occasions that he can hold his own in select hockey society and the rougher the games the better he likes them. He has plenty of poundage, is a fast skater, and a good puck carrier as well as being able to shoot the puck at terrific speed.

One player who is coming along splendidly and who is acquiring finish and smoothness under constant work is Alex Smith. One hockey follower pointed out yesterday that Smith is a real scoring threat and instanced the fine change of pace he has acquired in coming in on as a defense.

...Senators were without the services of George Boucher, who had a sore back, and Alex Smith replaced him in stellar style. Boucher's generalship was a bit lacking, but Smith more than made up for it in the vigor of his rushing.

Alex Smith was conspicuous with some fast rushes that threatened danger.

The first period was 3 parts over when Alex Smith obtained possession of the puck and sailed through center. He rounded xxx to get close in for a drive on the Chicago net and the puck nestled in an upper corner. Two minutes later Smith repeated the play with another shot that completely eluded "Chuck" Gardiner, the Chicago net guardian.

Alex Smith, the raw boned young defenseman who filled the breach when Clancy was out through injuries has stamped himself all over a valuable guard. Smith as not only been forming a perfect defense alongside George Boucher, but he has been sniping goals to keep the Senators in the running or give them victories. He has put to rout even the home town critics who thought he would not measure up to the first string guard.

They were joined by Ward who tripped Alex Smith. A moment later, Smith threw Hooley Smith over his hip and also joined the boys with the timers.

...At the end of the 2nd period, xxx, a reserve forward for the Canadiens, took exception to Alex Smith checking him after the bell sounded.

Alex Smith obtained possession of the puck and went down the left boards to circle around the Canadien defensemen and landed the puck in the upper corner of the net.

One of the younger members of the great Senators ensemble, Alex Smith, is one of the greatest all-around athletes that ever performed in Ottawa

A sturdy, reliable defenseman in Alex Smith...

The newest players: Hec Kilrea, one of hockey's fastest wingmen; Alec Connell, veteran goalie; and Alex Smith, star defenseman, bolstered Falcons' weak spots.

The Senator roster was nearly completed with the signing of rugged Alex Smith, defense player.

Alex Smith, hulking defenceman with Ottawa Senators since he broke into professional hockey, has been obtained by Boston Bruins. His size and hard-hitting defensive ability should make him fit into the Bruin machine.

He passed to Perk Galbraith as Alex Smith swept down from his defense post and fought his way through to the Ottawa net. The Senators defensemen allowed him to remain there while Galbraith passed back to xxx belted the puck down the middle, and Smith cooly slammed the rebound home to deadlock the game.

Alex Smith, well-known Ottawa hockey player, will perform this season in the star-spangled livery of the New York Americans.

It is unknown here if any other team in the league is interested in acquiring the hard-hitting Ottawa man.

A little study from before that demonstrates how rare it is to find a defenseman who lasted as long as Smith did in such a small NHL:

Sticking around in a very competitive league

Down here at the AAA level, all the pre-expansion defensemen who had any kind of significant all-star/Norris recognition or noteworthy offensive numbers are gone. The best indicator for their greatness is just how long they were able to hold an NHL job in this era where competition for the few jobs was very fierce. Assuming that positions were granted on merit, just being on an NHL roster back then meant you were approximately one of the 24 best defensemen in the world, which still translates to being a solid #2/3 in terms of today’s talent pool. How good the player’s team was is an important consideration, as well as whether they did anything exceptionally well that made them noteworthy.

See this chart containing all of the 1926-1967 defensemen selected in the last ¾ of the MLD and the AAA so far. If anyone wants the spreadsheet where I did all the work, you can have it, but these are the results. The “total” field is the sum of “seasons worth of games” that they played, since it would not be fair as the schedule went from 30 to 70 games in that time. This field represents how long they had a legitimate claim at being an elite level, top-24-ish defenseman.

The “qual” field is done by weighing out the SRS (hockey-reference’s simple rating system based on team goal differential and strength of schedule) of their teams each season by how many seasons’ worth of games they played. This is very similar to overpass’ calculation that judges how strong a player’s team was over the course of their career. It’s a different metric that means something very similar, but instead of being on a scale of 0 to infinity (0 meaning the team never scored a single goal and infinity meaning they never allowed one, 1 meaning they scored and allowed the exact same amount), this is on a scale where zero represents average, higher is better, lower is worse, and most numbers hover from -1 to +1, with only a few outlying numbers for exceptionally good and bad teams. So a player with a positive score typically played on better than average teams, and a negative score means the opposite. Why is this important? The same reason we talk about it regarding players who played post-expansion. Better teams tend to have deeper lineups that are tougher to crack and stay on. It is more impressive to play 8 years on a perennial contender than 8 years on a bottom feeder. The latter player may not have been able to crack the former’s lineup and the former player, in theory, would easily make the latter’s lineup.

For illustrative purposes, I also included playoff games. Playoff games are a good indication that they a) played a long time and/or were durable, b) played for teams that had success, c) were good enough to get into the lineup in the playoffs, when the bench shortens. I adjusted the playoff game totals slightly for anyone who had any playoff games before 1942 (which is when they changed to the playoff format used throughout the O6 era), using a simple algebraic formula. It didn’t affect much, but I had to do something to account for the era’s shorter playoff series. These players are marked with a *.

I also included quick notes of items that may transcend the calculations. For example, you may disregard icetime for a modern player if they are elite at filling a specific role (fighting, bodychecking, agitating, shotblocking) so it’s possible you’d want to do the same here. I noted a few of those, as well as other considerations such as time played after expansion for Douglas and Hillman (Al MacNeil would not have played another NHL game if the league stayed at 6 teams)

name | Total | Qual | Playoffs | Notable?
Warren Godfrey | 10.50 | -0.21 | 52 |
Alex Smith | 9.96 | -0.06 | 34* |
Reg Hamilton | 8.64 | 0.40 | 66* |
Joe Cooper | 8.41 | -0.08 | 38* |
Hal Laycoe | 7.98 | -0.16 | 40 |
Bill Brydge | 7.96 | -0.47 | 4* |
Stewart Evans | 7.73 | 0.04 | 35* |
Alex Levinsky | 7.66 | 0.03 | 42 |
Lou Fontinato | 7.64 | -0.08 | 21 | Heavyweight fighter
Al Langlois | 7.10 | 0.14 | 53 |
Bob Turner | 6.83 | 0.76 | 68 | 5 stanley cups, could play as PK forward too
Ted Graham | 6.71 | -0.12 | 34* |
Bill Juzda | 6.52 | 0.06 | 42 | Epic bodychecker
Murray Henderson | 6.48 | -0.03 | 41 |
Al MacNeil | 6.43 | 0.39 | 37 |
Lee Fogolin Sr. | 6.20 | -0.34 | 28 |
Ralph Bowman | 5.71 | -0.22 | 26* | Semi-significant Norris votes
Frank Eddolls | 5.05 | 0.06 | 31 | made one ASG on merit
Larry Hillman | 5.01 | 0.28 | 63 | Decorated AHL player, notoriously deep leaf lineup, played 6 seasons after expansion
Al Dewsbury | 5.01 | -0.77 | 14 |
Joe Jerwa | 4.94 | -0.17 | 20 | Twice 2nd in defense points
Kent Douglas | 4.04 | 0.29 | 19 | Semi-significant Norris votes, some AHL awards, deep leaf lineup, 2 seasons post-expansion
Hugh Bolton | 3.36 | 0.03 | 17 | Semi-significant Norris votes, injuries caused at least 2 seasons worth of games missed

Players are ranked in order of how long they “lasted”. Considering we have a ton of post-expansion defensemen to choose from right now who have 10+ seasons worth of games played, clearly the idea of simply making an NHL roster when there are only 6 teams should be highly valued. Considering only 10 defensemen have been selected who played over 7 seasons’ worth of games prior to 1967 have been taken in the last 400 picks, (and fewer still remain) it’s obvious that it’s a pretty rare feat.

 

[seventieslord]

Alexander Golikov, RW

- 6'0", 172 lbs
- Soviet League 1st Team All-Star (1980)
- Placed 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 8th in Soviet league scoring
- 15th in Soviet MVP voting (1974)
- named to "best 34 players" team every year he was eligible and is available (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979)
- co-recipient of "best line" award (1977, 1979)
- 369 points in 386 Soviet league games
- Inducted in USSR Hall of Fame (1978)
- Best USSR Converted VsX scores: 77, 72, 70, 68, 68, 62, 55

- 3rd in scoring at two major international tournaments (1979 WEC, 1980 Olympics)
- 42 points in 43 major international games
- 10th in Golden Hockey Stick voting (1979) - for top player in Europe
- By chidlovski's count and definition of national team game, 43 goals in 89 international games (0.48)
- used this metric as it provides higher sample size and easy reference to country breakdown as opposed to "major" international games
- This includes 31 in 74 against the other "big 6" countries (0.42) and 7 in 11 vs. Canada (0.64)

- Olympic Silver Medal (1980)
- WEC Gold Medal (1978, 1979)
- WEC Silver Medal (1976)
- WEC Bronze Medal (1977)

Alexander Golikov was one of the top scoring forwards of the Russian Elite League of the 1970s. Graduate of the youth hockey school in Penza, Russia, he began to play in the Russian Elite League when he joined the Khimik Voskresensk in 1971.

Led by the well-known Soviet coach, Nikolay Epstein, Khimik was a rare Russian team of the 1970s that followed a distinct defensive style. Alexander Golikov managed to develop into a skillful scorer of the Russian League even with a team where scoring was rather secondary to a strict defense.

In 1976, Golikov joined the Dynamo Moscow where he played with a legend of the Soviet hockey, Alexander Maltsev... Both Golikov's brothers played for the Team USSR and were inducted into the "Russian Hall of Fame" for their outstanding achievements.

In 1974, Golikov was 22. He was selected as a candidate for the Team USSR 1974 at the Summit Series but he didn't play a single game in the Series.

Offensively gifted and highly skilled winger who was discovered by Nikolay Epstein. Was hailed as the next Soviet superstar as a junior. Developed into a decent two-way player, although his work ethic was questioned in earlier years.

Had very good speed. Graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in Kolomna 1976, and then moved to Moscow. Played 385 league games, scoring 225 goals.

Represented Soviet Union 89 times (43 goals). Could have had a longer career on the national team but fell out of favour with Vladimir Tikhonov after a personal clash.

Alexander Golikov was an excellent goalscorer, a real opportunist around the net, especially if there were loose pucks laying around. The highlight of his career was the 1979 Challenge Cup at Madison Square Garden when the Soviets beat the NHL all-stars 2-1 in games.

...he was a good but not a great skater, had a good shot etc, and I don't remember whether he was physical or not. He played mostly with his brother Vladimir and Alexander Maltsev/young Sergei Makarov in the national team (e.g. 1978 WC, 1979 WC, 1980 Winter Olympics), and I guess he was the least talented player on the forward line(s), even though he actually often outscored (and even outplayed?) his brother, who usually centered him. Alexander was the top scorer of the line in the 1980 Olympics, and also had a strong 1979 WC and 1979 Challenge Cup.

Alexander was primarily known as a goal-scorer, but he might have had some other skills too. Namely, in the 1979 Challenge Cup vs. NHL All-Stars, he and his brother formed a brilliant penalty-killing tandem (plus 2 dmen, of course); the NHL All-Stars did not seem to get anything going on their power play, when the two brothers were on the ice. They had clearly practised PK'ing prior to that series. In the deciding game, he replaced the injured Valeri Kharlamov on the top line (i.e. played with Mikhailov and Petrov); he set up Mikhailov's GWG plus scored a SHG in the game, and he created a couple of other good scoring chances too, so I think he adjusted well and was not totally one-dimensional player. I wouldn't really emphasize his penalty-killing or playmaking abilities, but at least he seemed capable in those areas.

BTW, I've sometimes wondered why he was dropped so soon from the national team, even though he had a very good run in 1979-80. I guess he just didn't impress in those few games he played after Lake Placid plus the Soviet national team was arguably at its strongest in 1981-83

you can see them at their best during the 1979 Challenge Cup, the 1979 World Championships, the 1980 Olympics, and the 1981 Canada Cup. Both were fairly big, strong, fast skaters, as well as outstanding puckhandlers and shooters (they both shot right-handed… he was a world-class player and one of the very top Soviet forwards during that era

Peak Scoring

Scoring fluctuated too much over the years in the soviet league to use that stat in long-term comparisons. To account for this and compare Golikov to similar players (Soviets selected in the MLD and AAA), I simply looked at their soviet league scoring finishes. As you can see, Golikov's scoring finishes are more impressive than all but Kapustin, and arguably Kozhevnikov.

I also took a look at their international careers. As mentioned above, Golikov could have played longer on the national team, but clashed with Tikhonov. So he may have had an international career that was all prime, compared to other guys with longer careers. So I took the most favourable possible period for each of them, to serve as a representation of their "prime international career" and put them against Golikov's entire international career. As you can see, Golikov's PPG is still fourth highest once you isolate their primes. And although he only has two impressive finishes, he is in fact the only player here to be top-3 twice, one of only three to be top-5 twice, and indeed, one of only four who were even top-10 twice!

Name | Best Soviet Finishes | Intl Pts | Intl GP | PPG | Best Intl Finishes
Viktor Zhluktov | 5, 10, 10, 11, 13 | 58 | 51 | 1.14 | 1, 10, 11, 12
Sergei Kapustin | 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13 | 49 | 45 | 1.09 | 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
Nikolai Drozdetsky | 3, 3, 6, 10, 12 | 40 | 40 | 1.00 | 3, 4, 4
Alexander Golikov | 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 13 | 42 | 43 | 0.98 | 3, 3
Vyacheslav Anisin | 1, 11, 16, 16 | 36 | 44 | 0.82 | 11
Evgeny Mishakov | 8, 11, 12 | 32 | 41 | 0.78 | 12
Alexander Kozhevnikov | 2, 2, 5, 6 | 18 | 24 | 0.75 | 11
Sergei Svetlov | 5, 6 | 33 | 50 | 0.66 | 11
Alexander Bodunov | 4, 6, 7, 16 | 19 | 33 | 0.58 | 5
TOTALS/AVERAGES | | 327 | 371 | 0.88 |

Could he score against the best teams?

This is a question that always comes up when talking about that "next tier" of Soviet forwards. Again, I decided to take a look at all Soviets selected in the MLD and AAA, who played mainly in the 70s and/or 80s, and had a large enough sample size to go by.

From chidlovski.net:

Name | G | GP | avg | Top-6 G | Top-6 GP | avg | Canada G | Canada GP | avg
Viktor Shalimov | 66 | 126 | 0.52 | 48 | 103 | 0.47 | 3 | 9 | 0.33
Nikolai Drozdetsky | 64 | 109 | 0.59 | 34 | 80 | 0.43 | 3 | 12 | 0.25
Sergei Kapustin | 120 | 208 | 0.58 | 78 | 167 | 0.47 | 9 | 27 | 0.33
Alexander Kozhevnikov | 28 | 70 | 0.40 | 20 | 49 | 0.41 | 3 | 6 | 0.50
Alexander Bodunov | 23 | 57 | 0.40 | 17 | 46 | 0.37 | 2 | 10 | 0.20
Evgeny Mishakov | 48 | 91 | 0.53 | 31 | 72 | 0.43 | 12 | 24 | 0.50
Viktor Zhluktov | 79 | 195 | 0.41 | 57 | 157 | 0.36 | 8 | 24 | 0.33
Sergei Svetlov | 57 | 154 | 0.37 | 36 | 124 | 0.29 | 10 | 23 | 0.43
Vyacheslav Anisin | 35 | 99 | 0.35 | 20 | 80 | 0.25 | 3 | 16 | 0.19
Alexander Golikov | 43 | 89 | 0.48 | 31 | 74 | 0.42 | 7 | 11 | 0.64
TOTALS/AVERAGES | 563 | 1198 | 0.47 | 372 | 952 | 0.39 | 60 | 162 | 0.37

As you can see, Golikov scored against Canada at basically the same rate as the average of the other 9. His average against the best 6 countries was lower; however, an even sharper drop than he experienced was typically customary. Canada was the toughest of all to score on, and it was typical to see a further drop in scoring totals. However, Golikov shone in games against Canada, scoring more goals per game than anyone else on this list.

Golikov was easily the best Soviet forward left, and deserved selection among players like this a fairly long time ago.

 

[seventieslord]

Brian Sutter, Coach

- Jack Adams Trophy (1991)
- Also placed top-5 in Voting three other times (2nd-1993, 2nd-2002, 5th-1990)
- Only coach to get Chicago into the playoffs from 1998-2008 (2002)
- Career record of 451-417-160 (.517) for teams that were .494 before his arrival and .466 after his departure*
- In St. Louis: .484 before Sutter, .545 with Sutter, .524 after Sutter*
- In Boston: .575 before Sutter, .609 with Sutter, .463 after Sutter*
- In Calgary: .463 before Sutter, .439 with Sutter, .463 after Sutter*
- In Chicago: .454 before Sutter, .476 with Sutter, .415 after Sutter*
- *Used two seasons before and after Sutter’s tenure with each team
- 28-40 in the playoffs (.412)

While Suhonen was laid-back, Sutter is an "old-school" coach more inclined to challenge players than Suhonen was. Sources say that Hawks owner Bill Wirtz likes Sutter's no-nonsense approach and that he wasn't a fan of Suhonen's mild-mannered demeanor and European coaching philosophy last season.

Brian Sutter accepted a tough assignment Thursday: make the Chicago Blackhawks a contending hockey team again and do it with a style that puts fans back in the seats. "It's a sports city where the fans want to see an honest effort for an honest dollar," Sutter said Thursday after taking a three-year contract to become Chicago's sixth coach since 1995. "You want them to buy a beer and enjoy it and not throw it down on the floor."

Sagging attendance and unhappy fans are byproducts for the Blackhawks after missing the playoffs four straight years. "Last year they didn't like the style of play," owner Bill Wirtz said.

Coach Alpo Suhonen was forced out by a heart condition in March, seven games short of finishing his first season. His style was finesse and sometimes his locker room was complacent. "It didn't work," the Blackhawks' Tony Amonte said. "Guys had a little too much freedom. You didn't get rewarded when you played better and didn't get demoted or spanked when you didn't do well." Amonte said that will all change with Sutter, whose brother, Darryl, coached the Blackhawks from 1992-95. "No more country club," Amonte said.

Sutter fit general manager Mike Smith's criteria. He doesn't scream to get his point across but he does command attention. "I'm not a hollering guy," said Sutter, starting his fourth NHL coaching job. "I'm a no-nonsense guy and I don't ride fences. I make a decision after I talk to a lot of people. I'm going to ask a lot of myself. I can't be afraid to do the wrong thing."

Sutter's leadership stood out. Smith also interviewed Bryan Murray, Terry Murray and Denis Savard.

Nice little snippet that illustrates just how unexpected Sutter’s success with the Hawks was:

Coach Brian Sutter, an exacting man who took over the job last spring, has both a pessimistic side and a gift for hyperbole, traits that led him to arrive at training camp last month and declare, "There is nothing that has gone on here that is acceptable."

Sutter wasn't referring to his team's history, which was quite acceptable as recently as the 1996-97 season. Since then, however, the mismanaged Hawks have failed to reach the playoffs and have had eight coaches. Nothing has worked. Two years ago, under blustery coach Lorne Molleken, the goon-heavy Blackhawks beat the tar out of everyone, amassed the second-highest penalty-minute total in the NHL and lost 39 games. Last year, under soft-tempered Alpo Suhonen, the Hawks treated opponents too gently, allowed a conference-high 246 goals and lost 40 games. Says general manager Mike Smith of Suhonen's brief reign, "We were an easy team to play against."

That also means "not hard to beat," a description the Blackhawks will fit again. While Sutter has reintroduced a hard-hitting style ("Recess is over," says right wing Tony Amonte), Chicago did little to improve in the off-season. Only a nifty collection of skilled forwards that includes Amonte (34 goals last year) and right wing Steve Sullivan (34) provides any reason for optimism.

Brian Sutter was not Blackhawks G.M. Mike Smith's first choice when he went out looking for a new coach last May. Former Panthers G.M. Bryan Murray was. But Sutter put team execs into a trance. In an interview that lasted eight hours, Sutter presented Smith and team officials with more than 200 pages of insights on the Blackhawks' depth chart, their strengths and their weaknesses.

Sutter and Smith also discussed the types of coaching systems Sutter believes in. In particular, Smith wondered if Sutter, after sometimes-contentious coaching stints in St. Louis, Boston and Calgary, would be open to teaching a style that emphasized both finesse and physical play. Sutter's answers were a surprise.

"Sometimes you think you know who the perfect coach will be for your team--and you're wrong," Smith says. "In this situation, it was like a light going on over all of our heads at how right Brian was for us."

Sutter is known for a demanding, disciplined style of play. Though that style has rankled some of his players, it also enabled him to compile a record of 360-319-103-5 in his first 10 seasons as an NHL coach. He led his teams to the postseason seven times, but he didn't make the playoffs in any of his last three seasons with the Flames.

"I think you can put that non-playoff streak to rest," Canadiens center Doug Gilmour says. "Brian has that whole team eating, sleeping and drinking Sutter hockey."

It's been 10 years since Brian Sutter was fired as coach of the St. Louis Blues, and to him it seems like yesterday. Sutter's jersey hangs from the rafters of the Savvis Center and there's a larger-than-life-size poster highlighting his accomplishments on the concourse. There's still a soft spot in his heart, a man that was a Blue through and through and still hasn't quite gotten over the divorce.

He got emotional discussing his 16 years with the organization on Friday, a day before his Chicago Blackhawks played the Blues in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series. "I was with a lot of great people, and it's a great tradition here," Sutter said. "Whoo, it's absolutely incredible."

But Sutter, now the Blackhawks coach, still smarts from his dismissal in 1992. He said he's changed in his three coaching stops since then, by necessity. "I changed the day they made changes here when I was coaching," Sutter said. "I learned from that situation that I wasn't in control of everything, and I learned to enjoy myself a lot more. I felt total onus and obligation to the city of St. Louis to do the best job I could because I knew what the franchise had gone through for a number of years."

Sutter guided the Blackhawks to 96 points this season -- a 25-point improvement -- and their first playoff berth in five years. He did it by transforming a European-style team into one that reflects his hard-nosed, hard-charging style. Before the playoffs, he downplayed this homecoming. But now he admits he'd love nothing better than to beat the Blues in the first-round series. "Let's put it this way: if one of my brothers were standing in front of the bus last night and we were about to leave and he was on the other team, I'd have run over him," Sutter said. "I wouldn't have called out first to ask him to get out of the way, either. That's my mentality, that's the way it is. I don't really care."

On the other hand, he believes the St. Louis experience taught him to roll with the punches better. "Believe me, I laugh a lot more and I enjoy life a lot more," Sutter said. "I learned that you couldn't be totally in charge of everything, even though you cared so much, you cared too much."

Sutter played with the Blues from 1976-88, and then immediately moved to the coaching office. He remains proud of his accomplishments as coach, including a 105-point season and second overall finish in the NHL in 1990-91. "There wasn't a player in history that's done that," Sutter said. "It was something totally out of the blue. Going from playing to coach, when I look back it, was tough. But you know what, we built one hell of a team here. We went from one of the worst to one of the best."

He prefers to remember the good days. "Did I learn anything from being here?" Sutter said. "Hey, you don't dwell on the negatives. Never, ever, and never ever is a long time."

Don't let the NHL pedigree fool you, Brian Sutter is a working-class coach. His blue-collar mentality is a product of the renowned Sutter work ethic, a trademark of all six NHL-playing brothers. It also applies to the lifestyle choice of the eldest Sutter, who -- after nearly 30 years as an NHL player and coach -- has found fulfillment dividing his time between his cattle ranch near Sylvan Lake and coaching his brother Brent's WHL team in Red Deer.

"It's rather interesting how things turn out," muses Sutter, 50, who leads the Rebels into the Brandt Centre tonight against the Regina Pats. "All those years I played and coached, hockey was a game to me and that's all it was. Farming was my life. Guys in the National Hockey League that I've turned down in the last year or two, they can't understand why I'm doing this, but I have the best of both worlds. I can get off the tractor or horse and be in the office in 15 minutes. "There's not too many people in life who can say they have a job they really enjoy. I've always had two."

Sutter played 12 seasons in the NHL, all with the St. Louis Blues, before jumping into the coaching ranks with his former club. He served behind the bench for more than 1,000 games in four cities -- St. Louis, Boston, Calgary and Chicago -- before stepping back from the game three years ago. "If I want to coach in the National Hockey League I can coach in the National Hockey League," he says matter of factly. "It's not something I've said 'no' to but I'd have to go to a place to be with good people and to make a difference." Sutter has found all those things in Red Deer -- and he didn't have to leave home to do it. The opportunity came up this summer when Brent agreed to become the head coach of the New Jersey Devils and asked his big brother to step behind the Rebels' bench in his place.

Although Sutter has never coached in the junior ranks, he's not going to change his approach to the game. "Hockey has to be played hard and have some fun and raise a little hell while you're doing it," he explains. "It has never ever changed for me, whether you're playing junior or the (NHL). I was in the National Hockey League from the time I was 19 and I never thought any moment was anything out of this world. I just thought I was pretty lucky to be able to do it and I never took one day for granted."

A similar philosophy helped Brent Sutter go from one of the most-respected players in the NHL to one of the most-respected coaches in junior hockey. His departure was considered a huge blow to the Rebels' franchise -- until they replaced a Sutter with a Sutter. "I'm not going to compare myself to Brent," insists Brian, who believes work ethic and discipline should be the basic fundamentals of every coaching philosophy. "Are we different? Yeah. We are in some senses because our players are different. Every good coach doesn't coach the game the way he absolutely thinks it should be played. It's like training a horse. You have to work with him and you have to work with his strengths and understand what he's not capable of doing."

Sutter's blue-collar mentality often translates into some unique analogies. It might seem unusual for a coach with his credentials to relate hockey principles to herding cows, driving a tractor or baling hay, but Sutter goes by what he knows. "I've run around the race track frontwards, backwards, every way you want to run it," he says with a chuckle. "Been there, saw it, done it. I've had to fight the other team's tough guy every night but I also knew we weren't going to win if I didn't shut down the Guy Lafleurs and the Mike Bossys. I also knew were weren't gonna win if I wasn't involved in the offence. Guess what? None of those are any more important than the other. My point is, I tightened my skates up the way every player in the dressing room has tightened them up, so I understand how they feel. I'll never forget that feeling and I respect it."

Sutter's passion for the game is evident when you consider his most-recent coaching gig -- with the Bentley Generals senior team. He guided the collection of farmers, truck drivers and oil-rig hands to the Allan Cup national finals. "It's coaching and having fun and making people better," he says. "I enjoy doing it. I always have and I always will." Asked about his new team, Sutter jokes that most of the players haven't learned to shave yet. That's a nice way of saying patience will be a key as he guides the youngest team in the WHL through a 72-game schedule. "But that doesn't mean I'm not expecting a lot," he cautions. "I coached young teams in the National Hockey League and I know every one of them were teams that everybody hated to play against.

“The man most responsible for my development as an NHL player.”

“His will to win is second to none.”

My back didn’t hurt as much as my spirit when Brian Sutter was fired after the enxd of 1991-92. What you see as Brett Hull is what Brian Sutter made him to be. I wasn’t much of a player until Brian Sutter taught me that the definition of a winner is someone who succeeds beyond expectations, who delivers when no one else thinks he or she can. One of my shortcomints as a player was not accepting the limitations of all players. I arrived with the attitude that every player should be able to shoot, skate, stickhandle, and make certain plays at certain times. “You have to be yourself,” Brian always told me. “But you have to understand that the other 20 guys on the team are all different with different skill levels. You have to always be able to adjust your game to their game. That’s what being a good player is all about. You have to be patient. Sutter always believed I should be able to play with any center and any winger… I played frequently with Ron Sutter or Ron Wilson. I played on every line except the 4th line. Tough guy Kelly Chase was even on my line a few times…”

…Before Brian was fired, I said it would be a mistake to get rid of him… not long after that he was gone. Zezel. Stevens. Oates. Sutter. Every person I felt I needed kept getting shipped out…. After a 22-point dip in the standings, management needed to blame someone and they chose Brian. He was unjustly carved by the media. A case in point was the acquisition of his brothers, Rich and Ron. The media ripped him for that. It was written repeatedly that other Blues resented having the coach’s brothers on the team. That was absurd: You couldn’t have asked for two greater team players than the Sutters. There were 21 other teams who would have gladly found room for them in their lineup. Another inaccurate portrayal was of the blues as a divided team. After it was written once, reporters from every city would ask if there was dissension on the blues. I kept telling them it was ridiculous, but it wouldn’t die…. On the Blues, even the players who didn’t play regularly still had the utmost respect for Brian Sutter. Just as he had as a player, Brian put all of his energy and heart into coaching… apparently, other teams believed Brian was doing an excellent job, because one month after he was fired, he was offered jobs by Hartford and Ottawa. The Kings and Bruins also wanted to talk to him.

Brian Sutter always prodded me to be a better leader… he always expected more from me. He didn’t even give me an A until after Adam was dealt away. He gave it to me when he thought I deserved it. No beef from me, because Brian Sutter was the main reason why I led the NHL in goal scoring…

Brian Sutter does smile. But you probably won’t see it until the night we win the Stanley Cup… you have to really work to get a laugh out of the man we call Sudsy… we are nothing alike; he’s one of the most intense hockey people I’ve ever met… but our relationship couldn’t be better. He understands that my carefree attitude doesb’t translate into a lack of desire on the ice. And it may not be his way, but he appreciates that I play best when I’m having fun. When he was hired, he told me he wasn’t interested in changing my style. He knows I can’t be a Bob Gainey clone… All he asks is to “improve each day as a player and a person”. How can you argue with a coach who has that kind of philosophy?

…our relationship was strengthened by a meeting after the 1988-89 season. After scoring 41 goals and 43 assists in 78 games, I was full of confidence as I walked into a meeting with Sudsy and Berry. He made some general comments, then looked at me with his most serious look. “I don’t want to insult you, but if you thought you were a good player last season, I hope you will think again.” Whoa! Hold on here. Didn’t I just score 41 goals? There are guys who play 10 seasons and don’t score 41 goals. Sutter was an excellent player, and he only did it twice. Why don’t you criticize players who aren’t producing? Eventually, his theme hit home. This wasn’t Terry Crisp, asking me to change my personality and revamp my game. This was a coach who let me play the way I wanted to play. I thought, “why don’t I just shut up and listen to what he has to say?”… :you can come back and score 41 goals again. Or you can take the next step up and score 65, and ne a dominant NHL player. You can play a lot better than you are.” He told me I had the same kind of goal-scoring knack as Mike Bossy. “I never ask anyone to give 100% because nobody knows what 100% is. I just want my players to give me more than they gave yesterday. And tomorrow, I’ll want more than y ou gave me today.” We talked about my role and how I needed to me more of a leader. That summer, I went home and worked out with more dedication than ever before...

Sudsy doesn’t bother me about my weight; he has the assistant coaches do it… we know if anyone can take us to the Cup, it’s this guy. He wants to win it so badly, it pains him… there was criticism of the Blues for choosing a player to coach. Now I can’t even imagine the Blues without Sutter behind the bench. The playes feel fortunate to have him… Defensively, he has changed me. “Defense is an attitude, not an ability,” he tells me regularly. I’ve started to believe that… Brian has mellowed ever so slightly, but I’m not going to be the one to tell him that. Brian has such great desire to win that sometimes he just boils over.
…One time, Brian was so mad at us that he wanted to take on the whole team. “You guys think you’re so tough. Why don’t I take five of you guys into the next room. We’ll turn off the lights. We’ll see who walks out of the room.” After Sudsy stalked off, Craig Coxe, one of our tough guys, said, “No way would I ever go into a room with him.”

 

[seventieslord]

Harold Snepsts, D

- 6'3", 210 lbs
- Stanley Cup Finalist (1982)
- NHL All-Star game participant (1977, 1982)
- Fred J. Hume Award (unsung hero) (1979)
- 4 x Babe Pratt Award (best defenseman) (1978, 1979, 1980, 1982)
- Killed 49% of penalties for teams 8% below average (one of the highest numbers of all-time)
- Averaged 19.86 minutes per game for 1033 games, 16.89 ES (teams 10% below average)
- Averaged 22.7 minutes per game (19.50 ES) in 7-year prime
- Top-4 in TOI on team 9 times (2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4)
- Top-4 in ES TOI on team 9 times (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4)
- 101 NHL fights (known record of 15-8-12)

Harold Snepsts played 17 seasons in the NHL and the list of injuries the gritty defenceman suffered is as long as his stats page. He has had cuts, breaks, separations, sprains, and numerous operations--from his eye to his knees--and even some plastic surgery to his ear. But when all was said and done, Snepsts was known as a standup defenceman who played every game with intensity and feeling.

The Vancouver Canucks selected Snepsts from the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings in the 1974 Amateur Draft. He made his NHL debut in the 1974-75 season and in only his third season in the league played in the 1977 All-Star Game. He played in the All-Star Game once again in 1982 when the Canucks made a run for the Cup. They faced the Islanders in the finals but failed to win a game, giving New York their third straight Cup.

Snepsts was traded to the North Stars in 1994 but played only one season there before signing with the Red Wings as a free agent. He helped Detroit get to the conference finals in both 1986-87 and 1987-88, but both times the Detroiters were stopped by the Oilers as the Edmontons headed toward consecutive championships.

While Canuck players like Pavel Bure, Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden may have been flashier, perhaps the most popular Canuck of all time is rugged defenseman Harold Snepsts.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, on October 24, 1954, Harold was a mainstay on the Vancouver Canucks blueline for more than a decade. While his 17-year NHL career included stops with the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues, Snepsts will be considered first and foremost a Vancouver Canuck.

He joined the Canucks during the 1974 season, and would remain with the team for the next 10 years. Included in that stint was the Canucks memorable march to the Stanley Cup finals in 1982. Snepsts value to the Canucks didn't go un-noticed by the fans or media.

In voting conducted by the Vancouver media, Snepsts was awarded the Premier's Trophy as the team's top defenseman four times in a five-year stretch, joining Doug Lidster and Jyrki Lumme, as the only four-time winners in team history.

Snepsts was also presented with the Fred J. Hume Award as the Canucks unsung hero in 1979. Snepsts was also one of the last skaters in the league to play without a helmet.

You remember the chant. “Har-old! Har-old!†And who can forget the bushy moustache and icy glare? Never known for his scoring prowess, long-time Vancouver Canucks defenceman Harold Snepsts made an indelible mark on this province with his on-ice leadership, toughness, heart, and grit. To this day he remains one of the most popular players in franchise history.

Drafted 59th overall by the Canucks in the 1974 Amateur Draft, Snepsts’ rugged play with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings attracted the attention of big league scouts. As a clean-shaven, baby-faced 19-year-old, Snepsts made his NHL debut with the Canucks in 1974-75 as Phil Maloney’s troops marched to the franchise’s first-ever Smythe Division title. Establishing himself as a mainstay on the Canucks blueline the following season, the towering Snepsts would remain with the club for a decade, developing into a fan favourite, whose every touch of the puck was greeted by The Chant. He admits that with the tremendous support came tremendous pressure to perform at his best night in, night out, noting, “How could you not want to do well for these fans?â€

Playing the best hockey of his career during the 1981-82 season, Snepsts was a key cog in the Canucks unlikely cinderella run to the Stanley Cup final against the powerful New York Islanders. Although that magical spring remains the highlight of Snepsts’ career, one unlucky picked-off pass that led to Mike Bossy’s winner in Game One continues to haunt him.

In one of the most unpopular moves in team history, Snepsts was traded in 1984 to Minnesota. After three years in Detroit, Snepsts returned to Vancouver for two more seasons, restarting British Columbia’s idolization of ‘Big Harry.’ Although 34 years old, Snepsts could still play with the youth of the NHL. The Vancouver Sun’s Archie McDonald wrote, “There is a hockey expression for guys who embrace the ice like Harold Snepsts. They say he can play defence in a rocking chair.â€

In 1990, he was traded to St. Louis where he eventually retired in 1991, finishing his 17-year career with 1033 games played, 233 points, and 2009 penalty minutes. For the rest of the decade, he remained involved in the game through coaching, as head coach of the Peoria Rivermen (1991-92) and San Diego Gulls (1993-94), the WHL’s Portland Winter Hawks (1998-00) where he was a longtime minority shareholder since his early playing days, and as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues for one NHL season (1992-93). After spending several years with the NHL’s Central Scouting, Snepsts recently returned to the Canucks organization as a western scout.

Amid frequent uniform changes, Snepsts’ hard-working, lunch-bucket play was always consistent, making life miserable for many NHL forwards who dared to venture into the Canucks’ zone. There was never any question about big number 27’s toughness either, playing through innumerable injuries. As one of the last NHL players to play without a helmet, his doctor once advised him to wear a lid to protect against potential damage to the noggin. Displaying his characteristic good nature and humour he replied, “Don’t worry about that, Doc. If it happens, I could always return as a forward.â€

Snepsts’ character and fine defensive play did not go unrewarded. He represented the Canucks at the NHL All-Star Game twice in 1977 and 1982, was named Vancouver’s top defenceman on four occasions, and was awarded the Fred Hume Award once as the team’s unsung hero.

Some players captivate with their skill and speed, while others impress with their size and strength. And then there are those rare few whose character transcends the game they play. Big Harold’s heart touched every corner of this province. The Har-old chants may be rare these days, but they still echo clearly in the memories of many.

While he played in short stops with the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues, the mustachioed and helmetless Harold Snepsts will forever be remembered as the robust though anything but graceful blue liner with the Vancouver Canucks for a combined 12 NHL seasons.

Harold was a hugely popular player on the west coast, perhaps the most popular ever. He was a cult hero in the old Pacific Coliseum, where fans would boisterously chant "Haaar-Old! .... Haaar-Old!....Haaar-Old!" over and over. Even in the later years of his career when he would revisit Vancouver as a member of another club, the fans would cheer for their hero.

Snepsts making the NHL was an odd-defying feat. Edmonton Journal writer Mark Spector might have put it best when he wrote "Harold Snepsts was the ultimate diamond in the rough. Light on the diamond, heavy on the . . . well, you get the picture."

Harold had no real finesse skill to speak of. He was a down right terrible skater. He seemingly ran on the ice instead of gliding in strong strides. He had little speed and even less mobility. This made him prone to being beaten one-on-one by a fleet footed enemy. Harold also was an adventure with the puck. Over time he learned to almost avoid handling the puck. If he did have to play it he'd most likely just fire it out of the zone. However because he often played with his back to the play, he was often intercepted.

What Snepsts could do though was extremely valuable. He intimidated the opposition. You would think twice before traveling to the slot in front of the Canucks net, as Harold would punish you with enjoyment. He loved to hit and did so with great aggression and authority. In his younger years he was a willing and good fighter, though. Essentially he was on the ice to add size and aggression, and to keep the other team honest.

One of the reasons why Harold lasted over 1000 games in the National Hockey League was because he was as popular with his teammates as he was with the fans. He had a legendary sense of humour and was a great leader. The great character he showed every day of his career was an immeasurable contribution that far outweighed any amount of goals or bodychecks he collected.

Harold was born and raised in Edmonton. His long road to the NHL began as a simple desire to play indoors during the cold, unforgiving Edmonton winters. As an 11 year old, Snepsts, who like many top bantam players of that day desired to play for the local Maple Leafs Athletic Club.

"I was playing for Beverly Heights (a local club team) and that was the elite - to make it to the Maple Leafs and the indoor rink," said Snepsts. And while he had to scrape and claw his way just to stay on the team.

"After I turned 12 I barely made every team I played on," said Snepsts.

Snepsts graduated from the MLAC to the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League.

"Initially, you were just happy to play Bantam AA. Then as you started playing there, you realized that a good portion of the guys that made the Oil Kings were from the Maple Leafs."

But it wasn't that easy for Snepsts, who was nearly cut from the Leafs juvenile team.

"Harold Snepsts was the worst skater on the team, but he could run like crazy on the ice," said coach Jim Stewart

"It was a fine line between being cut from that team and not making the Oil Kings, to not making professional hockey at all," Snepsts said.

Yet Snepsts persevered and did stick, and did graduate to the Oil Kings.

"He was tough, he had the size and he loved to practice but I still thought he was a long term project. When I look back on my NHL and junior career and all the players played with and against, I would have to say Harold fell into the category of the guy you thought was never going to make it." said junior and NHL teammate Darcy Rota.

But he did. He was brought in for his toughness, and he supplied it amply. In one legendary fight, Snepsts tangled with Clark Gillies, a future NHL power forward. "We fought, we stopped, then we fought again. We both ended up with black eyes," remembers Snepsts fondly. .

Snepsts was a NHL prospect because of his size and toughness, but even he knew he was a long shot.

"All I wanted was to get drafted anywhere and get a tryout." he said. His wish was granted when he became the third-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in the 1974 entry draft.

After his initial training camp with the Canucks he was sent to the minor leagues, though by midseason was recalled permanently to the NHL. He would be a standout in his own style of defense in Vancouver, and twice represented the Canucks in the mid-season all star game, including in 1977 when the game was held in Vancouver. The crowd went wild when they introduced the local folk hero.

"Dirty Harry's" career highlight came in 1982 when the Canucks made an unexpected run at the Stanley Cup. Harold was incredible that spring, but unfortunately is remembered for a mistake that perhaps cost the Canucks a win in game one of the Stanley Cup finals. In overtime, Harold fired a loose puck straight up the middle, in a desperate attempt to clear the puck. Except the puck landed right on the stick of the great Mike Bossy. Bossy, perhaps the best pure goal scorer ever seen in the NHL, quickly put the puck behind Richard Brodeur to clinch game one. The feisty Canucks deserved to win that game, and while it is unlikely that it would have made a difference in the series with the dynastic Islanders, it was too bad they lost as they seemed to lose some momentum as well..

He played 10 seasons with the Canucks before being traded to Minnesota for Al MacAdam in 1984. The Canucks thought Snepsts was dispensable because of age, injuries, and because promising youngsters like Rick Lanz, Michel Petit, Garth Butcher and J.J. Daigneault were in the system.

It is interesting to review the comments of general manager Harry Neale on the day he made the deal. Said Neale: "I think we may have done Harold a favor. If we had let compassion come into our decision and kept him it might not have been best for either party. He is going to a good team that wants him. We haven't exactly sent him to hell . . . It wasn't going to be long before one of the young defencemen nudged him out of here anyway . . . He will get a new lease on life with a new team."

He stayed only one season in Minnesota and had to wait to get to Detroit to become reborn. He signed as a free agent with the Red Wings in 1985, and became a cult hero in Motown as well.

"I learned an awful lot in Detroit what a veteran should do to help turn a club around," he says. "We had about six old guys and it is unbelievable what you can do to help the young players. There is a lot of pressure on them to succeed right away and sometimes they didn't know where to turn. You just have to tell them their time will come. Talk to them in the dressing room and on the road and give them some confidence."

After 3 years in Detroit, he was released of his contract and seemed destined to retire. However he did desire to return to Vancouver, and publicly said he will only play with the Canucks. The Canucks were interested as well, as new general manager Pat Quinn had been critical of the lack of leadership and experience in Vancouver in the previous couple of years.

Snepsts signed and played almost two full years in Vancouver. He was instrumental in teaching one of the brightest youngsters in Canucks history. He was the road trip roommate of 18 year old phenom Trevor Linden. Linden would go on to become one of the best players in Canucks history, and is even better known as one of the nicest guys off the ice. Both accomplishments have a little Snepsts magic in them.

Snepsts, along with Rich Sutter, were unexpectedly traded at the the 1990 trading deadline to the St. Louis Blues. The Canucks were looking for a youth movement and sent the two veterans to St. Louis. Harold enjoyed his end of his season in St. Louis so much that he decided to return for one more year for the 1990-91 season. He had two goals left - to play in 1000 NHL games and to drink from the Stanley Cup.

While his thirst was never quenched, he did become the 70th player to appear in 1000 NHL games. That's an amazing fact for a player who based on his skill level likely never should have played in any.

There was a party for Snepsts on the night of his 1000th game. Snepsts, who scored the game winning goal against Detroit in his 999th game (just his 4th goal since 1984!), said "With this body, I'm just trying to get to 1,001." Ironically, Snepsts hurt his hip in game 1001 and never finished the game.

He ended his career with 1,033 games, 38 goals and 195 assists. He also had 2,009 penalty minutes, the equivalent of 33.5 games in the penalty box.

many of the hundreds of players who have skated for the Canucks during the last 35 years have possessed more talent than Harold Snepsts. But few, if any, had a greater passion for the game than the big defenseman… and few, if any, were more popular with fans or teammates than the Edmonton native with the rock solid blue collar work ethic.

“I think he was truly one of the big strongmen of the game,†says fellow defenseman Paul Reinhart, who played both with and against him. “And when I say strongmen, I’m talking about how he played a good, strong game. He wasn’t just a big, tough-guy fighter. He was a good, strong honest player.â€

“(I came in) at that time when the Broad Street Bullies were trying to intimidate the league and everyone was looking for someone to combat that…â€

…he certainly didn’t shy away from the rough going. But he also worked hard to learn the tough trade of NHL blueliner. He used his 6’3†frame and his penchant for physical contact to his advantage, but he also mastered the art of defensive responsibility. During his first 10 seasons with Vancouver, he was named the club’s top defenseman four times. He represented the Canucks in the NHL all-star game in 1977 and 1982, and was a centra figure in the team’s run to the 1982 Finals.

“The first time I played with Harold, the first thing he said to me was, if you can establish yourself as a reliable person in your own end as a defenseman, there will always be a job for you,†says Doug Lidster, one of two other Canucks to be named the club’s top defenseman on four separate occasions.

…he remains one of the most loved Canucks of all-time, not just by fans but by his fellow players. Asked to name his most memorable teammate, forward Rick Blight didn’t hesitate. “Definitely Sneptsy. He was a lot of fun to be around.â€

“He was a favourite and rightfully so,†adds Lidster. “Everybody pulled for him because of his smile and his laugh. But he always instilled that pride and work ethic and respect for doing the right thing. That was another word that was big for him – respect. He was a guy who played within his limitations, and took pride in that.â€

Snepsts was a huge factor for Vancouver during the 1982 playoffs, when he played 17 games to help the Canucks reach the finals. The team had lost blueliners Rick Lanz, Kevin McCarthy and Jiri Bubla to injuries, so the rest of the crew had to step up. “There were times in Los Angeles, when there were three of us playing probably the last 10 minutes or more of the games. I lost about 15 points during the 1982 playoffsâ€.

“They always talk about Harold’s giveaway,†says former Canucks broadcaster Jim Robson. “They don’t say that he was tremendous in the playoffs that year. He played game after game and was great.â€

…one of the last NHL players to play without a helmet, Snepsts became a comforting, familiar sight for fans in the Pacific Coliseum over his career in Vancouver, giving them a thrill with his unique skating stride and his dark hair flowing behind him whenever he found some open ice that let him move.

…Why does he think he was so popular as a Canuck? “Passion. I loved this game. I would just hope, maybe, that I showed that I cared about winning and losing and not for individual stats. And I think people can relate to a kind of a blue collar person.â€

SCOUTING REPORTS

Hulking Harold Snepsts is a walking tribute to the Canucks`scouting system... a solid and peppery addition to the Canuck rearguard... his hitting ability was certified by the check that knocked Rick Macleish out of the Philly lineup and probably cost the Flyers the Stanley Cup.

Harold is what coaches call a 110% player. He gives his all whenever he's on the ice... the fans like his all-out style

Nicknamed “Dirty Harryâ€â€¦ almost had an ear severed when struck by an opponent’s stick. Developed into Canucks’ most respected defenseman last season. Plays a bruising, hitting style and specializes in standup bodychecks… especially adept at clearing rival forwards away from the slot…

When he was called into the GM`s office, Snepsts thought he was going to be sent down to the minors. Instead, he was told he would represent Vancouver in the midseason all-star game. "It's not the same as the all-star team at the end of the season, but I considered it a distinction. At least the team felt I wouldn't disgrace it and look out of place among the best players in hockey."...big and rough, he incurred 149 PIM and helped make the going hazardous for incoming opposition forwards. "You slow them down if you shake them up," he says.

Concentrates mainly on clearing traffic from the front of the net

â€The Hammerâ€â€¦ That hits the nail on the head… tough guy who makes a mission out of dumping opposing players in the slot… not a good skater but specializes in hitting and blocking the puck… jovial and easygoing off-ice, determined on ice.

a very consistent player

The large man with the unpronounceable last name has now played four complete seasons and is only 24... a physical player.

Harold is at his best in his own zone either clearing out traffic or digging out the puck.

A consistent favourite with canucks fans and media

A durable performer, he thoroughly enjoys the hitting aspect of hockey.

A solid backliner for seven seasons, needed showcase of playoff success to be appreciated… strong puckhandler but he’s a defensive defenseman who takes care of business in his team’s zone… bad pass gave Islanders OT goal in game 1 of final but he shook it off to play well… jovial, popular player off the ice, very intense on it… size and strength make him one of the best at keeping the front of the net clear of bodies.

Snepsts, never one with great speed to begin with, has lost whatever speed he had and has become very slow. He can not keep up with the play as it moves around him, either by skating forward or backward, and he is increasingly beaten one-on-one by opposition forwards who go around him like he doesn’t exist. He has almost no mobility within the offensive zone either, and matches that with an impotent shot from the point. He will not pinch into the play. The thing Snepsts does best now is move the puck up smartly, but that is contingent on his getting to the puck in the first place and somehow avoiding the forwards checking him in the second place.

Snepsts can clear men out of the slot pretty well because he is big and strong. He adds size to the defense and keeps things honest in his zone and is still effective taking the opposition out of the play along the boards or in the corners – when he can catch them. Snepsts was out injured for much of last year and how he recovers from that injury is a question. The Wings hope he can be a patch on the defense until some youngsters get ready to move in, but at this point, that’s doubtful. He has got to be at the end of his career. He can barely keep pace with the play around him.

The finesse game has never been Harold’s game, and it is less so today than ever before… He is very weak at handling the puck in his own end and frequently has his back to the play, meaning that he’ll make bad, blind passes around the boards or up the middle. But the difference in Harold’s play last year as opposed to previous years is that coach Jacques Demers has minimized Snepsts’ weakness by not having him handle the puck.

Harold puts fear into the opposition and makes them pay for camping in front of the Wings’ net. Snepsts loves to hit and can do so with authority, and he has learned to temper that desire with common sense. Snepsts doesn’t run around the defensive zone in search of prey, but waits for the opposition to come to him. And then he lets them have it. He clears men from the slot well because he is big and strong. He adds size to the defense and keeps things honest in his zone. There are many intangibles with Snepsts’ performance, not the least of which is his obvious inability to play the game at the NHL pace. But because his physical play is so important, the Wings and Demers have found a way to use him so that he does not hurt the team. The key is his play in front of the net, and he played very well last year. He is also a great team guy and has a good sense of humour, so he’s important in the locker room too.

Snepsts makes his play effective by staying away from his weaknesses; he doesn’t, regularly, for example, handle the puck… He showed better than anyone could have hoped for in Vancouver, and he’d like to play at least one more season.

Harold’s time with St. Louis may be limited because of several younger defensemen on the verge of full time NHL duty, but Snepsts can still contribute to a degree.

remains one of the NHL's best defensive defensemen... shows a fine touch with his passes, a rough touch with his checks, and excellent leadership...

Harold has been a fan favourite wherever hes played... he's a big, physical defenseman who uses his strength to clear players from the crease... "Harold Snepsts has more heart than most people dream about having," says coach Brian Sutter. "He gives everything when he's on the ice, plain and simple."

[/center]

 

[seventieslord]

James Stewart, D

- Size unknown
- 1892 Retroactive Norris" (Ultimate Hockey)
- Stanley Cup Champion (1893, 1894)

Stewart is something of a defensive pick, if you'll pardon the pun. One might build an argument that Paton was not the most important cog in the Winged Wheelers' defence; Stewart played for the Crystals before joining the AAA, and in two of those three years the Crystals allowed the fewest goals per game.

He played point for each of his 11 years, the second-most important defensive position, and in 9 of those years his team allowed the fewest goals per game. He completes the triumvirate of Paton and Allan Cameron to form the nucleus of the defensively dominant Winged Wheelers teams that lasted into the 1890s.

----------

Even though Tom Paton was recognized as the best goalie, I guess people don't realize that James Stewart was Paton's teammate for most of their careers, and Stewart played the second-most important defensive position. Before joining the Winged Wheelers, Stewart played with the Crystals, and they were excellent defensively as well. He is absolutely an elite stay-at-home blueliner at this level.

Ultimate Hockey recognizes Stewart as "Best Shot-Blocker" of the 19th Century, saying he "was Allan Cameron's defensive conscience and the first in modern terms, to act as a second goalie. He held the point position as like a rock on those celebrated Montreal AAA squads..." I'd say this is overly simplistic. For one thing, as we'll see when we look at Allan Cameron, that man did not need a defensive conscience (unlike, perhaps, their Montreal Vics contemporary Jack Campbell).

For another, if you read the game reports for the Winged Wheelers, it's rare to see Stewart singled out for his performance. Praise directed his way was almost always in conjunction with Cameron, for example in the January 14, 1888 edition of the Montreal Gazette which stated "...the Crystals tried to reduce the odds against them, but owing to the grand defence of Cameron and Stewart their efforts were unavailing."

Indeed, in the February 16, 1888 edition of that paper, a writer admonished that "Stewart should not forget that his position is point, he has a disposition to get too far away from his place, he should keep further back to give the goalkeeper a little more assistance." In due time I'm going to make an argument that this comment has more to do with the defensive style of the mighty Winged Wheelers, than with a failing on Stewart's part, who played a very important defensive position for some exceptionally good defensive teams.

Previously I've written a bit about the Big Three on defence for the Montreal Winged Wheelers of the 1880s and early 1890s, a defensively dominant team: goaltender Tom Paton, point James Stewart and cover-point Allan Cameron. We know that Paton excelled not only at stopping the puck but especially at clearing it after a save; we known that Cameron was noted both for his transition game and his aggressive defence; and we know that while Stewart was less celebrated than the other two, he was still known as a top defender. However, we also saw a quote which called Stewart out for leaving his position in front of the goal too much, for not playing as a point should.

But it doesn't make much sense that this team, with a point that played out of position so often, would be able to prevent goals as well as they did. The point was the second-most important defensive position on the ice, and if he abandoned his position so much, that would cost his team goals. Unless, of course, leaving his post actually helped his team keep the puck out of the net...

I believe that Stewart's aggressiveness, relative to how the point position was "supposed" to be played at the time, was in fact a tactical choice, and one that was very effective. Cameron was known to challenge opponents, instead of waiting for them to come to him, and I suggest that Stewart did the same to great effect. This is from a game report in the March 8, 1892 edition of the Montreal Gazette:

Paton had many stops to make, nevertheless, but they were of the free and easy order and he cleverly drove the puck out of his territory. Stewart and Cameron swooped around after the puck in admirable style.

So both Cameron and Stewart went after the enemy puck-carriers (something points especially were not really expected to do). They did not play passively, allowing the opponents time to enter the zone and set up a combination play. I believe this is one of the main reasons the Winged Wheelers were so good at preventing goals: Cameron and Stewart were able to play aggressively, stripping the puck from opponents before they could make a play. Not everyone could do this, of course; you'd need the instincts and ability to pull it off.

I believe this is also what allowed Cameron and Stewart to be so effective by being aggressive. If you challenged an enemy puck carrier, you were not in as much danger of getting into a bad position as you would be in the modern game, because if the opponent passed the puck before you get to him, he could at best do it laterally, and it will often be behind him. As such, if you could read the play quickly enough (which Cameron and Stewart surely could), when the opponent passed the puck you were be able to adjust your trajectory to intercept that player instead, because he simply could not be behind you.

As such, I think Cameron and especially Stewart were simply ahead of their time, realizing the advantage on defence that playing aggressively could bring. While some other defences waiting for puck carriers to come to them, the Winged Wheelers focused on stopping the opponents advances as soon as they could. And this is one reason they were so very good at keeping the puck out of the net.

 

[seventieslord]

Frederick Whitcroft, F

- 5'10", 165 lbs
- Member of the HHOF
- Stanley Cup Finalist (1907, 1909, 1910)
- IOHL Champion (1906)
- Canadian Western Champion (1908, 1909)
- APHL Goals, Assists and Points Leader (1908)
- 14 goals in 8 Stanley Cup Games
- 126 goals, 18 assists in 50 other recorded games

Whitcroft only played 5 games in a "top" league (NHA, 1910, 3 goals) but he was recognized as a star nonetheless. He was the star of the Alberta Pro League, and before that, the Intermediate OHA. Much like Tommy Phillips, Whitcroft was sought after due to his notoreity, and became somewhat of a freelancer. He was one of the first names the O'Briens went after when attempting to create a "superteam", The Renfrew Millionaires.

Here are the stats from Whitcroft's cup matches:

- 1907: Played with Kenora for 4 games, then stuck around for the MHL playoffs to defend the cup against Brandon. (2 GP, 5 G)
- 1907: Played with Kenora to defend cup vs. Wanderers, but they lost. (2GP, 2G)
- 1909: Played for the Edmonton challengers. (2GP, 2G)
- 1910: Played for the Edmonton challengers. (2GP, 5G)

Fred Whitcroft played for the Peterborough Colts when they won the OHA junior championship in 1901, and he was a rover for the intermediate Colts when they captured the provincial championship five years later.

When *** ****** of the Kenora Thistles was looking for a rover to strengthen his team for a defense of their Stanley Cup title, Whitcroft's name was mentioned. The necessary arrangements being made, Whitcroft was in Kenora for the end of the 1907 season as a member of the Thistles in the Manitoba Pro League. Although their line up was bolstered with the additions of Whitcroft, Alf Smith, and Harry Westwick of Ottawa, Kenora could not hold off the challenge from the Montreal Wanderers and surrendered the Cup in March 1907.

Whitcroft moved to Edmonton the following season and led the APHL with 35 goals in ten games. The Edmonton team challenged for the Stanley Cup in December 1908 and again in January 1910 but was unsuccessful on both occasions. Whitcroft left Edmonton after the challenge series and finished his career with the Renfrew Creamery Kings of the National Hockey Association.

...At the age of seventeen he began play with the Ontario Hockey Association (O.H.A.)'s Peterborough Colts and was a member of the 1901 squad that won the junior championship. Whitcroft possessed a solid, compact frame that would have better suited a defenseman, but he also possessed great speed, on-ice agility, and a gift for nifty stickhandling-- the tools of a prolific scorer. As a result, Whitcroft often played the middle ice positions of cover point and rover.

In 1904 Fred joined the Midland Hockey Club of the intermediate division of the O.H.A. The following year he moved back to Peterborough and assumed the captaincy of their intermediate hockey team. Again he led his team to an O.H.A. provincial championship, this time in the intermediate division. Word of Whitcroft's scoring prowess quickly spread around the province.

Fred was to enter into one more year of amateur hockey before making the decision to turn pro. Whitcroft played the first five games of the 1906-07 season for the Colts, scoring an impressive thirteen goals. Whitcroft's reputation had managed to reach all the way up to the northwestern Ontario town of Kenora, home of the then-Stanley Cup champion Thistles. The Thistles were having some problems with injuries, and with a Stanley Cup challenge match coming up at the end of the season versus the Montreal Wanderers, looked outside the borders of their small lakeside village for help. It was *** ****** who suggested, following the advice of Jack Walsh, who had witnessed Whitcroft's extraordinary play in Peterborough, that the team acquire the ranging rover. Now officially a pro team playing out of the Manitoba Professional Hockey League (M.P.H.L.), the Thistles wasted no time in signing Fred to a short contract that would see him finish out the Thistles' season for the substantial sum of $700.

Whitcroft played four regular season games with the club, scoring a modest four goals, but found his scoring touch in the best-of-three league playoff vs. the Brandon Wheat Kings, scoring five goals in two games. Had Brandon won, they, by virtue of winning the league title over the Thistles, would have inherited the Cup and therefore the right to play the Wanderers. Whitcroft's nifty scoring touch made sure that that was not the case. Kenora's stewardship of the famed trophy might have been a bit shorter if it wasn't for the talents of the talented scorer from Port Perry. Victory over their league rivals set the stage for a Thistles-Wanderers re-match on the rather late date of March 23rd.

Playing the games in neutral Winnipeg, Manitoba due to a dispute with the Wanderers on player eligibility, Whitcroft and the Thistles, aided by two ringers from the powerful Ottawa Hockey Club (or "Silver Seven")-- Harry "Rat" Westwick and Alf Smith, were soundly defeated in the first game, 7-2. The lateness of the season provided for some slushy, early spring ice and the Thistles, depleted of hometown heroes *** ****** and ***** ******** and with a hobbled Tommy Phillips at left wing, gave a sub-par exhibition to the incredulous Thistles fans who had made the trip all the way from Kenora just to watch their beloved team play. Still, there was hope for game two, although the club would now have to outscore the Wanderers by six in order to retain the Cup. Although Kenora, with Hooper playing, won the second game 6-5, they lost the total points series 12-8 and the Wanderers reclaimed possession of the trophy. Whitcroft had played well in both games, scoring two goals, yet he lost his cool at the end of the second match when it was apparent that the Thistles would not succeed, skating up behind Wanderer Ernie "Moose" Johnson and hitting him upon the head. Johnson collapsed and had to be helped off the ice to the dressing room. The ugly incident brough the Kenora balloon crashing back down to earth, and never would they quite be the same.

Later that year, Whitcroft moved to Edmonton, Alberta and signed a contract with the Edmonton Pros (Eskimos) of the Alberta Professional Hockey League (A.P.H.L.). As soon as he set foot on ice, Fred dominated the fledgling league, scoring an impressive 35 goals in only 10 games, 9 more than the next closest player. Whitcroft's team posted a 7-2-1 record in the three-team league, going on to win a series of playoff games that saw them declared champions of the west. In those eight playoff games, Fred scored an incredible 24 goals. Before the next season began, management made the decision to replace every regular season performer with a ringer, that is, every player except Fred. Ex-Kenora teammate Tommy Phillips joined the club just in time to play in a exhibition contest that December. Former Kenora Thistle "Bad" Joe Hall and lanky Montreal Wanderer defenseman Lester Patrick were added as well. With these and other rather timely additions, Edmonton sought to challenge the Wanderers for the Stanley Cup. The club's challenge was accepted at the beginning of the 1908-09 season. On December 28th, 1908 Whitcroft and his merry band of ringers went into battle against the mighty Montreal Wanderers, losing the first match by the score of 7-3. Early in the contest Tommy Phillips suffered a broken ankle and was lost for game two. Two nights later, the Eskimos bounced back, edging the Wanderers 7-6, but, being a series based on total goals, lost the Stanley Cup by a score of 14-9.

During Edmonton's 1908-09 campaign, Whitcroft continued to score goals in bushels, racking up 27 in 10 games. Unfortunately, the A.P.H.L. had ceased to exist as a league proper so the Eskimos went around the country playing exhibition games. After again winning the western championship in which Fred scored 19 goals in 7 playoff games, the Eskimos again issued a challenge for the Stanley Cup. On November 24th, 1909 the challenge was approved by the Cup trustees-- a two game, total-goals series against Fred "Cyclone" Taylor and the Ottawa Hockey Club (Silver Seven), to be held in the early part of the following season. The two contests, played on January 23rd and 25th of 1910, were high-scoring affairs, with the Sens taking both games, 8-4 and 13-7 respectively. Whitcroft had managed to score five of the Eskimos' 11 goals, but again went away empty-handed.

In the December days running up to the Ottawa-Edmonton series, Whitcroft had been made an improbable offer to return east that he couldn't refuse. Ambrose O'Brien, the owner of the Renfrew Creamery Kings, promised Fred $2,000 if he would come play for the northeastern Ontario club that some were beginning to call the "Millionaires". O'Brien had recently signed Edmonton teammates **** ******, Lester Patrick (along with his brother Frank), and was aggressively pursuing Cyclone Taylor. After the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Whitcroft joined the Renfrew juggernaut.

Despite being included in a roster that contained three other future hall-of-famers (the total becoming five when Edouard "Newsy" LaLonde joined the team halfway through the season), Whitcroft never quite got his game on track, scoring a modest three goals in five contests, and though the team finished 8-3-1 and led the National Hockey Association (N.H.A.) in total offense, they finished out of the Stanley Cup hunt, thanks to Montreal's league-leading, Stanley Cup clinching 11-1 record.

After that fourth and last attempt at winning back Lord Stanley, Whitcroft retired as a player, moving back to Edmonton and coaching the Eskimos for the next two seasons.

One of the best in amateur and professional hockey... described as a good-sized man, very fast on skates and a prolific scorer.

A large man, he was extremely fast and possessed great stickhandling ability.

A bulletlike shooter

Whitcroft adds both speed and brains to the Renfrew lineup.

Despite losing, Whitcroft's efforts in the 1910 Cup Series was appreciated:

Whitcroft was a star of the first order, whose work was one of the big sensations.

I'm not sure how rough Whitcroft played, but he was a bigger guy and did give it to Moose Johnson once:

Ernie Johnson got a good going over from Fred Whitcroft.

 

[seventieslord]

Alexander Kozhevnikov, C

- 6'3", 195 lbs

DOMESTIC:
- Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame (1982)
- 406 Points in 490 USSR games
- Top-6 in USSR Scoring 4 times (2nd, 2nd, 5th, 6th)
- 5th in USSR MVP Voting (1982)
- Best six adjusted-from-USSR VsX scores: 98, 82, 79, 71, 51, 49, 46

INTERNATIONAL:
- Olympic Gold Medalist (1984, 1988)
- World Championship Gold Medalist (1982)
- Canada Cup Bronze (1984)
- 1982 World Championship – 3rd in Goals, 2nd on Soviet Team
- 1984 Olympics – 11th in Points, 3rd on Soviet Team
- 18 points in 24 International games
- 8th in Golden Stick voting for the top player in Europe - 4th among Soviets (8-11-6, 1984)

Skinny as a kid, but grew very quickly as a youth. Was a graduate of the Penza youth hockey school. For many years Viktor Tikhonov tried to get him to play for the army team CSKA Moscow. Kozhevnikov declined the offers all the time, which hurt his national team career.

Known for his high pain treshold. Had a total of fourteen operations, six of them to the knee joint. One of them was after a bad knee injury two months before the 1984 Olympics. Doctors told him that it would take four months before he could play again. However, the doctor for Spartak Moscow worked miracles with him and got him ready for play in time for the Olympics.

Injuries also put a stop to his playing career in the early 1990s when he didn’t play between 1991 and 1995 due to a bad back. In his comeback he played up to par with his NHL-generation teammates like Alexei Morozov and Alexander Korolyuk.

Known as a heavy smoker, smoking three to four packs a day.

Here is the story of Kozhevnikov as told in Lawrence Martin's The Red Machine:

Tikhonov had so much talent in these times that anyone seeking to challenge his ways risked finding himself replaced. There were those who dared to do it... Drozdetsky was one... Balderis, who went his own way, another. And there was a third sining Soviet in those days, the unique Alexander Kozhevnikov.

In the 1982-83 season Kozhevnikov finished 2nd in the Soviet league scoring, yet...

Despite his second place standing in the scoring race, Alexander Kozhevnikov didn't get invited to these championships. He was in the doghouse again. All one had to do was look at Kozhevnikov to know that he and the Stalinists would not hit it off. He was lanky, unshaven; his hair shot all over the place and his eyes had an independent, challenging glare. Concomitant with the look was his playing style - rugged, fearless, temperamental, uncolonial. He yelled at teammates, fought with opponents, paid little heed to practice times or curfews and stole away from the training camp barracks at every opportunity. That he got as far as he did was testimony to his dramatic skill with the puck and a bull's eye shot.

He had been kicked out of a prestegious school for vandalism and years later was invited back to give a speech as a hockey star and he refused to forget the insult of having been expelled and declined the offer. The school still put up his picture.

Kozhennikov was struggling until in 1980 the new national team coach Kulagin said:

"But I believe in you. I will work with you. We'll put an end to your slovenly life." Kozhevnikov began following the coach's instructions to the letter. "When he said 20 slapshots into the net, I did them. Not 19, not 21, but 20." He began scoring at a remarkable pace, enough to get him invited to the national team and to stir interest from the Calgary Flames.

Soon however he desired to escape the training camp regime of the Soviet system and missed curfew and went away on off days, contrary to the rules.

He was punished many times for taking off, but, with Kulagin, who could not afford to lose a player of Kozhevnikov's skills, he could survive... Kulagin sometimes had to pamper the star, to the extent that he showed up that time with a folding cot at Kozhevnikov's apartment away from the base, so he could monitor him and dissuade him from going on a binge.

Then when Kalugin died, Kozhevnikov was transferred to the Soviet Wings team.

Kozhevnikov suffered through four knee operations in his career but still managed to reach an elite plateau in Soviet hockey - 250 goals.

In the 1984 Olympics he scored "the critical first goal" against Czechoslovakia, one of four goals he had that tourney. In the 1984 Canada Cup the Soviets won all five round robin games including one against Canada, but lost to Canada in the medal round, with key on-ice mistakes by two players, but it was a third, Kozhevnikov, whom Tikhonov blamed officially in a Soviet magazine interview months later.

During the last ATD, I ended up doing quite a bit of research on Kozhevnikov based on his international performances. Most North American newspaper accounts made significant mention of his strong backhand and the ability to mystify goalies with long, seemingly weak-looking shots. I recall a Russian source comparing him to Phil Esposito due to his ability to dominate in the slot thanks to his size, skill and strength

His troubles came mostly from the overly-regimental Soviet system, especially control freak Tikhonov, who kept him off the national team at times for punishment in disobeying his training and curfew rules. There is no denying that Kozhevnikov had world class talent, that he scored key goals internationally, having a couple of great tourneys, having shown a consistent ability to score domestically, even leading his countrymen in goals scored in 1982.

How good was his peak?
1982: Kozhevnikov probably should have been the Soviet league MVP. He had 71 points to Makarov’s 75, but he had 43 goals to Makarov’s 32. He also didn’t have the support of the Green Unit.

1983: Makarov was hurt, and missed about 1/3 of the season, so we’ll account for that. His 25 goals would have been 33 in a full season. Kozhevnikov had 35. Makarov’s 42 points would have been 56. Kozhevnikov had 57.

1984: Kuzhevnikov was hurt, and missed about ¼ of the season, so we’ll account for that as well. Kozhevnikov’s 47 points becomes 59. Makarov has 73. Kozhevnikov’s 33 goals become 41. Makarov had 36. This was probably the Green Unit’s most dominant year – CSKA took 1-4 in the scoring race. Kozhevnikov was 5th.

1988: Makarov had 23 goals to Kozhevnikov’s 25. Makarov, however, did have 68 points to Kozhevniko’s 45. This was another extremely dominant season for CSKA – on the point leader-board, they had 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8. Considering Kozhevnikov played with very mediocre line mates, the gap in points doesn’t seem too bad. I can easily get away with naming his top-scoring team mates, since they’ll never be drafted anyway: Ivan Avdeyev and Sergei Kharin.

Obviously, Makarov was able to maintain this pace for 10 years, and Kozhevnikov kind of fizzled out for a while. He had another excellent season in 1988, when he carried a Krylja Sovetov team into second place. Considering teams and linemates, I think it's very fair to say that Kozhevnikov was among the very elite in the USSR.

See 0:55 for Kozhevnikov zinging one in from just inside the blueline to clinch Olympic Gold:

 

[seventieslord]

Dave Hunter, LW

- 5'11", 195 lbs
- Stanley Cup (1984, 1985, 1987)
- Stanley Cup Finalist (1983)
- Killed 29% of penalties for teams 17% better than average
- 53 NHL/WHA fights (spotty W/L record of 0-3-4 exists)
- just 1.15 PIM per game not from fights in the WHA/NHL regular season and playoffs, despite rough play
- Best VsX scores: 40, 34, 30, 29, 29, 27, 26
- Best ES scores: 52, 45, 44, 41, 41, 39, 34

... a role player par excellence. In fact, if you were to look up the term 3rd or 4th line role player in a hockey dictionary - it would say See Dave Hunter. Dave - in typical Hunter fashion, was a mean, extremely physical and effective player along the boards, wearing down the opposition with tenacious forechecking and physical contact. Yet despite his aggressiveness, Hunter usually part had small PIM totals. That shows his true value as a smart and controlled energy player. He was particularly effective on the road.

Though not a graceful player in the finesse sense, Dave combined decent skating speed and good balance with excellent vision and anticipation to make him one of the top defensive forwards of the 1980s. One of the biggest reasons for his defensive excellence is he was such a good positional player.

An original draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens (17th overall in 1978), Hunter actually signed as an underage junior with Edmonton when the Oilers were still in the WHA. In 1979 the Oilers joined the NHL and obtained Hunter's NHL rights in the Expansion Draft.

Hunter might have made the Habs regret letting him go. In the post season of 1981, the young Oilers served notice that they had arrived when they upset the heavily favored and legendary Montreal Canadiens. Hunter was assigned to cover Montreal's top offensive weapon Guy Lafleur, and he did a masterful job. The Flower picked up only a lonely assist in that series.

Hunter enjoyed 8 1/2 seasons in the City of Champions where he was a quiet though nice piece of the Gretzky-led dynasty. Hunter was a consistent 35-40 points a season but his true worth was his defensive contributions on a team not known for playing defense.

In all, Dave Hunter scored 133 goals and 190 assists for 323 points in 746 NHL games. The oldest of the three Hunter brothers to play in the NHL, Dave probably had the least offensive talents in the family but Dave ended up with three Stanley Cup rings compared to Mark's one and Dale's none.

... his strong two-way play... In his final year of junior, he scored 44 goals and 88 points in 68 games with the Wolves. He also had 156 minutes in penalties, proving he could handle the tough stuff as well.

By 1978-79, Hunter was set to turn pro but opted to join the Edmonton Oilers of the WHA, feeling he would have a better chance at cracking their lineup as a 20-year-old rookie. He played 72 games with the Oilers that year, scoring 32 points. With the folding of the WHA at the end of the season, Edmonton and three other clubs were absorbed into the NHL, and Hunter continued playing for the Oilers. In his first year in the NHL, he played in all 80 games, scoring 12 goals and 43 points. Hunter spent close to nine seasons with the Oilers in the NHL and was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams, in 1984, 1985, and 1987.

He's considered to be one of the most outstanding checking forwards in the NHL. The equal of any defensive forward in the league, he's now paying attention to offensive output

Annually ranked among the NHL's top checkers.

Elbow to the chops. Slash to the ankle. Good hard check into the end boards. It's tough to administer pain gracefully. "There isn't one of them who wouldn't make a good Bruin," says Boston general manager Harry Sinden. "The type of guys you hate when they're against you, but you love to have on your own team. Dale's always spearing guys in the back of the legs or whacking them all the way down the ice. He's pretty cute."

If you think Dale's cute, wait till you hear about his cuddly brother Dave. "One night against Chicago, Dave knocked Denis Savard out of the game with a hit," says Oiler coach and general manager Glen Sather with relish. "Was it clean? Sure. An elbow to the face. There's nothing clean about Dave. He's a farm boy. They're all farm boys, the Hunters. Crude and mean."

Hunter is a good skater and as a defensive forward he has to be. He has good speed and balance, though he is not particularly agile on his feet; Hunter is more of a straight line skater than a fancy one anyway. He has good vision on the ice and he reads the play well, able to anticipate openings and get to them before his check can. Hunter stays with his check deep into the Oiler zone and does well defensively because he plays his position. Hunter is disciplined enough not to wander all over the ice and thats the reason why he is effective. Hunter is not tremendously gifted offensively and will score mostly on shots from around the net. His ability to handle the puck or use his teammates is no better than average.

Like his brothers, Dave is a physical hockey player. He is a grinder and plays along the boards and in the corners when he's on offense. Dave initiates contact and certainly takes it to make his plays. On defense, Hunter will hit his check in all three zones and has the strength to hold the opposing forward out of the play when necessary. unlike his brothers, Dave hits hard but is relatively clean not often being penalized for elbows or high sticks.

Hunter's off-ice activities (in other words, his arrest and subsequent conviction for driving while intoxicated) undoubtedly preyed on him throughout the season. he must put his personal life in order so that he will be able to concentrate solely on hockey. Dave won't get a lot of headlines for his hockey playing, but he is an important part of the Oilers as a defensive forward.

not a graceful player, Hunter remains an outstanding defensive forward. he's a good skater with some speed and good balance... will need to score from in tight to the net... probably the meanest Oiler on the club, including Mark Messier. He is an extremely effective physical player, especially along the boards, and Dave won't hesitate to put his stick into anyone... his hitting wears the opposition down... a smart checker, as evidenced by his low PIM total, Hunter is a role player par excellence. He is one of the team's better road players because of his toughness, and the kind of player any club needs for success.

he doesn't wander, and that's a big reason for his defensive effectiveness... extremely physical and effective along the boards... brings a winning attitude and the knowledge of how to win to Pittsburgh... can be a crucial part of any future Penguins success story.

 

[seventieslord]

Morris Lukowich, LW

- 5'9", 170 lbs
- Avco Cup (1979)
- WHA 2nd All-Star Team (1979)
- Top-20 in WHA points twice (6th, 16th)
- Top-10 in NHL points once (18th)
- 4th in WHA playoff scoring (1979)
- Played in NHL All-Star game (1980, 1981)
- 4th in LW All-Star Voting (1982)
- Winnipeg Jets Captain (1981)
- Best 6 vsX scores including WHA conversions: 66, 59, 54, 51, 46, 43, 36

Explosively fast... always eager to improve...

Explosive left winger with great persistence...If he can't drive around an opponent he'll go through him...Secrets of his scoring success are a quick wrist shot and uncanny accuracy...Plays with a certain belligerence that coaches love...Ranked second among WHA goal scorers last season...

Possessed with tremendous dedication and tenacity, Morris can play any forward post.

Jets studied the list of players they might lose upon entering the NHL and decided that of the two they could keep, one would have to be a tough, versatile LW named Morris Lukowich. "He was just about our best man," said coach Tom McVie. "He gave us the most attack, was the payoff man on the PP, and also did a good job of killing penalties."

Outstanding all-around left wing...Gets the job done in any way he can...Will go around an opponent....Will go through an opponent...Will go over an opponent...Led club in virtually every offensive department...Had 13 power-play goals, most on team...Surprisingly tough for his size...That's reason that GM John Ferguson made him one of two protected players in 1979 expansion draft...A second team all-star in WHA...Voted Jets' "Most Exciting Player"...

In Morris Lukowich, the Jets own one of the fastest skaters in the NHL. "that's why we picked him for Team Canada. We knew who could keep up with the Russians," said Ferguson, who ran Canada's entry at the 1981 World Championships. "I don't believe there's anybody in the NHL he can't keep up with - and therefore defend against successfully."

First-rate winger who has scored 35 and 33 goals in first two NHL seasons...Not big, but quick, tough, and strong...Scores most of his goals with very accurate, quickly released wrist shot...Jets' representative in last two NHL All-Star Games...A big favorite with Winnipeg fans for skill and combative attitude...

"You define what you'd like a hockey player to do and you've pretty well described Luke," says coach Tom Watt. "he defends his position well. he covers his man, being one of the best skaters in the league. And he got us 43 goals, as well."

One of best three or four left wingers in NHL...Scored 43 goals last season after 35 and 33 in first two NHL terms...Owns excellent wrist shot...Team captain

Solid veteran who rebounded from off year in 1982-83 to score 30 goals last season...Quick skater with good shot...Abrasive approach despite small stature...

 

[seventieslord]

Ric Seiling, RW/C

- 6'1", 180 lbs
- 12th in Selke voting (1985)
- Earned Selke votes in 4 other seasons
- Killed 29% of penalties for teams 19% better than average
- Best VsX scores: 48, 44, 34, 34, 32, 31, 29
- Best ES scores: 62, 61, 48, 44, 35, 33, 30

He is both bigger and quicker than Rod, and a lot more aggressive... Not a flashy type, his skills are called subtle... well-composed for a youngster... he's a good penalty killer and a smart two-way player...

has developed into skilled RW who can score and check... has gained his best reputation as a defensive forward... plays with his head, much like older brother Rod... plays a more aggressive game though...

has developed into outstanding two-way RW who excels offensively and defensively... quick and steady but, like brother Rod, not flashy or fancy...

Enthusiastic, hard-working player who knows how to play at both ends of the ice... not flashy but gets the job done... strong checker and very durable... popular with fans because of his nonstop style of mucking for puck in the corners.

unspectacular but steady RW who does everything well... valuable defensive forward who checks his man tightly... excels as penalty killer... good man to have playing inside on powerplays... has a quickly released wrist shot and deft scoring touch around the net... hardworking, hustling forward who plays effectively at home or on the road...

unsung hero who does unnoticed things well that lead to victories... two-way RW who excels at both ends of the ice... skilled penalty killer and checker...

 

[seventieslord]

Lucien DeBlois, F

- 5'11", 200 lbs
- Stanley Cup (1986)
- Winnipeg Jets Captain (1983, 1984)
- 525 career points (433 at even strength)
- Killed 24% of penalties for teams 11% below average
- Best VsX scores: 66, 45, 38, 37, 32, 30, 25
- Best ES scores: 64, 55, 52, 47, 45, 38, 36

DeBlois was drafted overall by the Rangers in 1977, a shrewd move in the eyes of then-GM John Ferguson: "We took DeBlois over Bossy, because we felt that Bossy didn't check enough for the NHL." True enough, perhaps, but no amount of checking from DeBlois could replace the guaranteed 50 goals from Mike Bossy... his was a career marked with resilience rather than a burst of greatness...

Plays an aggressive style of game...

A strong skater who plays an aggressive brand of hockey... excellent at making play out of corners and from the backboards.

sound offensive-styled RW who was wasted with Rangers... often was on 4th line when he was dressed at all... talent was never in question but Rangers were stocked at his position... had to be included in Barry Beck deal at Rockies' insistence... immediately installed on PP and did a fine job there... built like a square with wide shoulders and thick arms...

has the ability to overpower goaltending with his booming shot. He's a strong skater who likes to play aggressive

With Christian is matched with Morris Lukowich and Lucien DeBlois, another winger who likes the heavy going.

consistent two-way player... scored 25 goals and was strong defensively... good penalty killer... strong along the boards and in corners... one of the game's best practical jokers.

The Jets didn't want ivan Hlinka, but knew Vancouver did, so they claimed him in a special 198 draft of Czechoslovakian players. In the shuffle that ensued, they would up getting winger Lucien DeBlois as payment for giving up Hlinka. "And we did want him," said Ferguson, who'd claimed DeBlois when working in New York in 1977. "He's the kind of hardworking two-way guy you need to stock your team with. He's fast and he's got size, which is a must on the wings."

solid big league winger... good defensive player who often kills penalties...

Ferguson made a mental note to get the big winger for Winnipeg if the opportunity arose.

The Jets thought enough of DeBlois to make him their captain last season... he checked as persistently as ever and keyed their penalty killing detail. "I liked him very much in Winnipeg and I was very anxious to get him," says Serge Savard."

front-line NHL winger... good skater and defensive player who does heavy penalty killing load...

a good skater, with good balance on his skates but not a whole lot of speed... he is more of a mucker up and down his wing than a rocket, and won't beat too many defensemen one on one... he controls the puck fairly well and is a good passer, but DeBlois is not exceedingly intelligent on the ice and doesn't have a great capacity for creativity... can score if he is left open... a tough hockey player, willing and able to hit in the corners and along the boards. He has good upper body strength, but has been prone to groin pulls and abdominal strains in the last few seasons... can hit hard and consistently... can hold his check out of the play if necessary, and he can check without drawing penalties, which means he plays hard, but clean...No one claims DeBlois doesn't work hard. The results of that work just leave a little to be desired right now... another of the Canadiens' hardworking and hard-nosed players.

Before his injuries, DeBlois was a steady skater, built more for comfort than speed. He generally mucks up and down his wing, and will almost never beat a defender one-on-one... can control the puck fairly well and has always been able to take advantage of his teammates... doesn't know how to continue a play after he's gotten rid of the puck and doesn't see the ice with any great depth, so he'll make the first play he can see... he'll score if he's open but gets himself into position to score more by accident than anything else. He's got a hard shot that he fires from close in, and he;ll ger most of his goals on second efforts and rebounds... In order to be effective, Deblois must play physically. He has been willing and able to hit in the corners and along the boards, and is successful there because of good upper body strength and balance on his skates... plays hard but clean, drawing few penalties for his physical play... certainly, his physical condition is a legitimate question following three injury-plagued seasons... his value to the team is in his physical game, but he is basically an expendable part.

''In the end, we looked bad,'' said Bergeron. ''In games like this, you can see the character of the players, and I'm not too happy about certain players.''
Bergeron said he would shuffle all but his checking line of Kelly Kisio, Lucien Deblois and Don Maloney for the game tomorrow against Calgary.

And in the grouping of Don Maloney, Lucien DeBlois and Jan Erixon, Bergeron has crafted an industrious checking line.

"That was our biggest win of the year," goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck said after the Rangers scored five times in the first period en route to a 6-1 pounding of the defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers at Madison Square Garden. "It's not often that you keep Wayne Gretzky off the scoreboard.

A lot of credit for that went to the line of Lucien DeBlois, Don Maloney and Jan Erixon, which checked the Gretzky line.

Hard work, tight checking and good hands paid off for center Lucien Deblois' line as the Rangers extended the Blackhawks winless skid to seven games.

"These guys work hard, took hard checks, made good checks, and because they have such great hands, should be able to score 50 goals," Bergeron said.

DeBlois is not a speed demon on skates, but he is strong and balanced. His ability to recognize plays and his willingness to get where he has to be (as opposed to speed) served last year to make him a pretty effective checking center. Offensively, DeBlois' game is almost non-existent... complements his physical play with a small degree of ability in making plays off the boards... can hit hard enough to hurt... by staying healthy, he made himself a valuable member of the Rangers, behaving as the strong center they covet... he's not a good enough skater to take on the league's best players, but DeBlois filled in well last year... he needs to control his temper more on the ice, as he is apt to respond to the little slashes and trips designed to irritate him...

...Lucien DeBlois, who checked Mario Lemieux into exasperation.

''That we didn't panic then is what I'm most pleased about,'' said Lucien DeBlois, who did yet another fine checking job on Calgary's chief scoring threats.

''It was almost too early to panic,'' said Don Maloney, who scored tonight while combining with DeBlois and Jan Erixon to smother the Chicago line that included Denis Savard. ''But it was a shock. Fortunately, we bounced back almost as quickly.''

And there are, after all, the Rangers, who in Jan Erixon and Lucien DeBlois possess a couple of shadows Lemieux would just as soon stroll down the avenue without.

"They did a great job again," Rangers coach Phil Esposito said of Erixon and DeBlois. "But by now, I guess we've come to expect it from both of them.

strength and balance, rather than speed and fluidity, mark DeBlois' skating game... despite the plus/minus, he was a positive defensive player, and filled in excellently when Jan Erixon was injured...

skating strength and balance are the keys to DeBlois' finesse game - physical skills though those are. Though lacking exceptional speed or quickness (and therefore a degree of the agility that would result), DeBlois succeeds in his checking role because of his strong stride and pace, and his ability to pursue the puck. His ability to recognize plays, along with his desire to close the offensive gaps, add further value to his checking role... while he has a pretty strong wrist shot (once he gets it off), DeBlois lacks a scorer's release or sense of the net, and his puckhandling is not much better... his physical willingness can betray him with injury, but he is a fairly strong physical player. His takeouts are good, and he has enough strength and balance to knock the wind from the opposition's sails when he hits them... has gained a new lease on life as a checking center, but at age 33, there's no telling when that lease expires.

He did pretty much as expected, giving a little bit of offense, a little bit of defense, and a lot of experience.

Proved to be one of Toronto's better forwards... a solid defensive center.