ATD2021 Bio Thread

[BenchBrawl]

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[Dreakmur]

Charlie Conacher !!!

Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (1932)

Retro Conn Smythe Trophy (1932)

3 x First Team All-Star (1934, 1935, 1936)
2 x Second Team All-Star (1932, 1933)

Hart voting - 2nd(1935), 4th(1936)
All-Star voting - 1st(1934), 1st(1935), 1st(1936), 2nd(1932), 2nd(1933), 3rd(1931), 5th(1940)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 1st(1934), 1st(1935), 3rd(1931), 4th(1932), 4th(1936), 16th(1933)
Goals - 1st(1931), 1st(1932), 1st(1934), 1st(1935), 1st(1936), 17th(1930), 17th(1933)
Assists - 5th(1934), 14th(1933), 14th(1935), 15th(1940)

Points among Defensemen - 2nd(1940), 2nd(1941)

Play-off Points - 1st(1935), 2nd(1932), 6th(1939), 7th(1936), 8th(1934)
Play-off Goals - 1st(1932), 2nd(1936), 5th(1934)
Play-off Assists - 1st(1935), 4th(1939), 6th(1932), 7th(1934)

Play-off Points among Defensemen - 5th(1941)


5-Year Peak: 1932 to 1936
1st in Points, 113% of second place Busher Jackson
1st in Goals, 124% of second place Marty Barry
9th in Assists, 73% of second place Joe Primeau

1st in Play-off Points
2nd in Play-off Goals
2nd in play-off Assists

10-Year Peak: 1931 to 1940
3rd in Points, 97% of second place Marty Barry
1st in Goals, 106% of second place Nels Stewart
10th in Assists, 84% of second place Art Chapman

1st in Play-off Points
1st in Play-off Goals
1st in Play-off Assists​

Scoring Percentages:
Points - 121(1934), 121(1935), 100(1931), 96(1932), 95(1936), 75(1933), 65(1940), 50(1939), 50(1941), 47(1930)
Points among Defensemen - 100(1940), 100(1941)

Best 6 Seasons - 638

In his time, Charlie "The Big Bomber" Conacher had the hardest shot in hockey, a notorious blast that eluded goaltenders and dented rink boards. As a member of one of the most dangerous lines in hockey history, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Kid Line of the 1930s, right wing Conacher and left wing Harvey "Busher" Jackson were the beneficiaries of center Joe Primeau's slick passes as the threesome found itself near the top of the scoring lists for the better part of a decade.

....

With his linemates' help, Conacher became the best right wing in the game over the next half-decade. He was a daring and explosive scorer who used his size 6'1" and 200 pounds in his heyday - to his advantage. He could beat goalies equally well with his booming shot or with a deft move from close range. Once he got moving, he was famous for bowling over anyone between him and the net - and then often the net itself as he crossed the goal line just a few seconds after the puck.

Five times between 1930 and 1936, Conacher either led or tied for the league lead in goal-scoring. He was a Second Team All-Star in his second and third years in the league and a First Team selection for three consecutive seasons beginning in 1933-34. He also helped the Leafs win the Stanley Cup in 1932.

Conacher's style of play - which featured all-out attacks - didn't lend itself to a long career and injuries began to wear the big man down.

Charlie was a big man and his hustling style netted him quite a few penalties as well as injuries while scuffling along the boards.

At Christmas of that year, 1926, Red Horner was moved up to the Maple Leafs, and hard-working Conacher took over the captaincy of the Marlboros. He may not have been the team's greatest player, at that time, but he displayed qualities of leadership to a marked degree.

...

Throughout his career, Charlie Conacher was plagued by injury. Every season he was visited by what he termed the Conacher Jinx. I the summer of 1930 an old kidney condition, the result of strenuous play and his fall from the Huntley Street bridge, returned to haunt him. The doctors had only one remedy. They removed the kidney. But it wasn't as simple as that, for the medical men looked doubtful when Charlie spoke of playing hockey the following fall. "If you do, young man, we can't be responsible," they warned him.

But hockey was his life, and this strapping right-winger determined not to worry. "I'll just stick around for a while, Doc," he smiled, "and see how it goes." Conacher played for ten more seasons, off and on, and his weakened body took the strain of his rugged style of play. Always a marked man, he stood the stunning body-checks, the falls and the boardings which his frame brought upon him. As one friend expressed it: "The trouble with big Charlie is, he thinks he's a truck, so he takes on the other team in a personal, hand-to-hand battle!"

Conacher, determination piled six-foot-one inches high, was the owner of the hardest shot in the league. A five-time all-star, the 'Bomber' delivered four seasons of more than 30 goals.

There was no doubt that Charlie was ready to play in the National Hockey League, and he debuted with the Maple Leafs on November 14, 1929, just shy of his twentieth birthday. By this time, he sported a powerful stride and a shot that was quickly considered the hardest in the league at that time. He was big, strong and fearless, and during an era when people were looking for heroes, Charlie provided fans with exactly that. In his first game, he scored on his first shift, causing newspaper accounts to state that he "made a splendid impression in his pro debut and was one of the best men on the ice."

....

Dubbed 'The Big Bomber' for his booming shot, Charlie terrorized opposing netminders and, in the process, scored a league-best 31 goals in 1930-31, yet another season hampered by injury. This time, a broken wrist took him out of action during much of December that season. The brash twenty-year-old put up with little nonsense on-ice. "It was like that in the old days. You had to be able to take it," declared Ed Fitkin in his book, 'The Gashouse Gang of Hockey.' "What amazed the veterans was the fact that 20-year-iold Conacher not only could take it but he could dish it out, as well. They began to treat him with a respect seldom before afforded a newcomer." Long-time season ticket holder Tom Gaston, now deceased, recalled that "he was just like a tank. Chuck was big and strong – not many guys would mess with him."

 

[Professor What]

Maurice Richard

Awards and Accomplishments

8x Stanley Cup Champion
First player to score 50 goals in a season
First player to score 500 career goals
1x NHL PIM leader
8x First Team All-Star, 6x Second Team All-Star
5x Playoff goals leader
2x Playoff points leader
2x Playoff PIM leader
Hart voting: 1,2,2,3,3,3,8
Goal finishes: 1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,4,4,5,6
Assist finishes: 6,7,9,10
Point finishes: 2,2,2,2,2,3,3,4,5,6,7
Captain of the Canadiens 1956-1960

When a trophy is named after a player, it speaks volumes about his impact on the game, and the award for the goal scoring title being named after Maurice “Rocket” Richard makes perfect sense. Though the war years no doubt played a role in his scoring 50 goals in 1955-45, it does nothing to change the fact that he was the first 40-goal scorer in 15 years or that he outpaced his closest competitor by 18 goals. “The Rocket” would break the 40 goal barrier twice more in his career, in a full strength league, in an era when only he, Gordie Howe, and Jean Beliveau were achieving the feat. Richard was an intense player with a mean streak, who was once suspended for punching an official, which sparked a riot that only calmed after the well-loved Richard went on the radio to ask for calm. One of the greatest right wings of all time, he fared well in all-star voting, even with Mr. Hockey as competition.

Quotes (click on names for original links)

Josh Beneteau: “Richard retired in 1960 at age 39 with multiple records to his name. At the time, he was still the all-time goal-scoring leader with 544 goals, a record that stood until Gordie Howe broke it in the 1963–64 season. His record for most career playoff goals — 82 — wasn’t broken until Mike Bossy reached 83 in the 1985–86 post-season. Richard was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season and the first to score 400 and 500 goals. Although he is now 31st on the all-time list, his legacy as a goal-scorer will never be forgotten thanks to the award bearing his name, which goes to the player who scores the most goals each season.”

Stan Fischler: “Richard’s intimidating qualities included his physique and his super-intensity. Goalies, such as Hall of Famer Glenn Hall, were frightened by Rocket’s eyes when he barreled in from right wing. ‘His eyes were all lit up,’ said Hall, ‘flashing and gleaming like a pinball machine. It was terrifying.’”

Ron Flatter: “Although injuries limited Richard to 48 games in the 1951-52 regular season, "The Rocket" fired off perhaps his most storied game in the 1952 Stanley Cup semifinals. In the second period of Game 7, Richard collided with Bruins defenseman Bill Quackenbush and fell head first to the ice. A hushed Forum crowd watched as Richard was carried out unconscious. He should have been done for the night. He wasn't. With four minutes left and the score tied, Richard, with a big bandage covering six stitches and blood dripping down his face, made one of his famous rink-length dashes. He skated around three Bruins, including Quackenbush, before scoring an amazing, series-winning goal.”
“‘“The Rocket” was more than a hockey player,’ Irvin said. ‘It was his fury, his desire and his intensity that motivated the Canadiens.’”

Richard Goldstein: “Streaking down the right wing at the old Montreal Forum, muscling or feinting his way past defensemen, then unleashing the finest shot in hockey, Rocket Richard epitomized the elan that brought the Canadiens the sobriquet the Flying Frenchmen. ‘When Maurice is worked up, his eyes gleam like headlights,’ Frank Selke, the Canadiens general manager during the Richard years, once remarked. ‘Not a glow, but a piercing intensity. Goalies have said he's like a car coming at you at night. He is terrifying.’ Gordie Howe, the Detroit Red Wings star who vied with Richard for acclaim as hockey's greatest star of the postwar decades, said: ‘There was nobody like him for putting the puck in. He was so accurate with his shot -- and determined. You could see it in those crazy eyes. They'd open right up like sockets or camera lenses as he was going in on goal.’”

Legends of Hockey: “Richard scored 32 goals in 46 games during his first full season, then contributed 12 scores in nine contests to lead Montreal to the Stanley Cup over Chicago in 1944. This included the first of his three career record hat tricks in the finals. Teamed with Elmer Lach and Toe Blake on the dreaded Punch Line, Richard became the NHL's first 50-goal shooter in 1944-45. This feat was accomplished in 50 games, a performance that wouldn't be equaled until Mike Bossy did it in 1980-81. On December 28, 1944, Richard became the first player in NHL history to score eight points in one game. This remained the league standard until Darryl Sittler's 10-point night in 1976. The Rocket went on to top the NHL in goal-scoring four more times in his career. He also gained a place on the NHL All-Star Team 14 consecutive times from 1944 to 1957, and eight of these selections were for the First All-Star Team.”

Joe Pelletier: “In a playoff game, the Bruins Leo Labine knocked Richard unconscious and doctors said he was done for the series. Richard refused to be hospitalized and returned to the game as the teams battled. Rocket Richard scored the game winning goal.”

 

[Professor What]

Ted Lindsay

Awards and Accomplishments
4x Stanley Cup Champion
Retired as career PIM leader and goals by a left wing
1x NHL PIM leader
8x First Team All-Star, 1x Second Team All-Star
1x Playoff goals leader
2x Playoff assists leader
1x Playoff points leader
Hart voting: 4,7,10
Goal finishes: 1,2,2,3,5,6,6,6,6,9
Assist finishes: 1,1,3,3,3,4,7,9
Point finishes: 1,2,2,3,3,3,7,9
Captain of the Red Wings 1952-1956

At 5’8” and about 160 pounds, Ted Lindsay wouldn’t seem a likely candidate to be one of the roughest, toughest players of old-time hockey, but his nickname, “Terrible Ted,” and his penalty minute numbers put the lie to that. Adding high level goal scoring and playmaking to his physical play, Lindsay was one of the most dangerous players of his era. Lindsay was impactful off the ice as well, as the leader of the first attempt to form a player’s union, leading to the player’s MVP award being renamed in his honor. Lindsay never cared about being liked – only winning. He once told NHL.com, “My hatred was sincere. I hated everybody. I had no friends. I wasn't there to make friends. I was there to win. It wasn't necessary that I score, but I figured I could be an integral part without scoring. I had ability, I had talent and I didn't have an ego that I thought I was great. I realized I had to earn it. That was my purpose -- to be the best that there was at the left wing position."

Quotes (click on names for original sources)

Peter Gammons: “Scarface was only 5'8" and weighed maybe 160 pounds in full gear, but he was the NHL's career penalty-minute leader until Bryan Watson rubbed him out two seasons ago. Scarface retired in 1960, then four years later he unretired and rejoined the Red Wings. NHL President Clarence Campbell called the return of Scarface "a black day for hockey." True to his old form, Scarface, at age 39, was second in the NHL in penalty minutes that season—and then Terrible Ted Lindsay finally retired for good.”

Ted Kulfan: “‘He was tough as nails,’ linemate and fellow Hall of Famer Gordie Howe said of Lindsay during an interview in 2009 for the book, ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,’ written by Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. Howe died in 2016. ‘Mean and aggressive. He would take care of a guy who was trying to go out of his way to get me, and I would do likewise for him. We got along real well.’”

Legends of Hockey: “Nicknames sometimes say a great deal about the person they are attached to. Ted Lindsay's moniker – ‘Terrible Ted’ - tells only half of his story. Lindsay was indeed a rough, often mean competitor who spent more time in the penalty box than any player in his time. He was only 5'8" and 160 pounds but could hold his own in fights and in the corners with much larger opponents. But Lindsay was also a gifted offensive player, a natural goal scorer who set records for a left wing and made up one third of Detroit's famous Production Line in the 1940s and 1950s. Nine times he was an All-Star, eight of those selections to the First Team. Such a combination, in such a small, powerful package, hadn't been seen in the National Hockey League before the arrival of Terrible Ted Lindsay, and it hasn't been seen since.”

Jim Matheson: “Lindsay had almost as many stitches (more than 700) as points (851 in 1,068 career games) as an eight-time first-team all-star, the five-foot-eight, 163-pound left-winger to Gordie Howe and centre Sid Abel on four Detroit Stanley Cup winners. At his size (40 pounds less than Howe), he was a bull terrier, always in the fight. ‘He used to say he never put his stick down,’ Hall said with a laugh when asked about his face being a road-map of surgical repair. ‘He wasn’t very big, but he sure played big. He was tough.’”

Kevin Skiver: “As a player, Lindsay played a violent style that vilified him among opposing teams and fans. One of his more infamous moments came in 1956, when Lindsay and Howe were threatened by a Maple Leafs fan when the Red Wings-Maple Leafs rivalry was its peak. The fan said not to ‘worry about Howe and Lindsay tonight. I'm going to shoot them.’ Lindsay and Howe would go on to dominate the Leafs, and Lindsay skated around the ice holding his stick like a machine gun in a brazen display of cockiness.”

Dave Stubbs: “He was nicknamed "Terrible Ted" for his wrecking-ball style of play; he took on all comers, no matter that at 5-foot-8, 160 pounds -- in thick-soled shoes and after a big meal -- he was dwarfed by many of the foes he challenged.”

 

[Professor What]

Bill Gadsby

Awards and Accomplishments
Second player to reach 1,000 career games
First defenseman to reach 500 career points
3x First Team All-Star, 4x Second Team All-Star
Norris voting: 2,2,3,4,5 (twice runner-up to Doug Harvey)
Hart voting: 6
Goal finishes (among defensemen): 1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,5,6,6,9,9,10
Point finishes (among defensemen): 1,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,5,5,5,5,6,9
Captain of the Black Hawks 1952-54

Bill Gadsby was a rugged defenseman with a reputation at both ends of the ice. One of the premier offensive defensemen in the original six years, Gadsby shifted sharply to the defensive side of play in his later years with Detroit. Apparently, his success wasn’t reliant on playing a particular style of play, as evidenced by his all-star selections and Norris Trophy votes that stretched from age 25 until age 37. As impressive as his record is, it becomes more so when viewed through the prism of having Doug Harvey and Red Kelley, two of the greatest blueliners the game has ever seen as his competition. Gadsby was renowned for his toughness, persevering through polio and 600-650 stitches, was known as a brutal checker, and one of the elite shot blockers that the sport has ever seen. All that was due to Gadsby’s dedication and work ethic. As he himself said in his autobiography The Grateful Gadsby, “If I have a pulse, I believe I should play.”

Quotes (click on the names for the original sources)

Ken Campbell: “When he wasn’t hurt, Gadsby was one of the best two-way players of his era. He blocked shots and went head-to-head against the best players in the game, all the while being a force at the other end of the ice. His 46 assists for the Rangers in 1958-59 stood as the league record until Bobby Orr shattered it with 87 assists 11 years later.”

Bill Dow: “Former Red Wing and Hall of Fame defenseman Bill Gadsby will always be remembered for his hard hitting play and remarkable ability to block shots in front of the net, a rare skill deeply appreciated by his lucky goaltenders.”

Stan Fischler: “Gadsby, who died at age 88 on Thursday, was the quintessential defenseman of his time. He was a devastating body checker, savvy in his end and a superior offensive force as well. Goaltenders such as Rangers Hall of Famer Gump Worsley loved Gadsby because he responsibly took care of his turf and would block shots when necessary.”

Bobby Hull: “I've encountered very few tough guys in the league, so far. But I'd have to rate Bill Gadsby of the New York Rangers as the toughest I've come across. He's always ready to give a hip for a hip, with a shoulder thrown in for interest. He's not a pugnacious player, but he plays the game with everything he's got.”

Grant Kerr: “There are few premium shot blockers in the mould of former National Hockey League standouts Bobby Baun, Bill Gadsby, Rod Langway and Bob Goldham. They were scarred and darn proud of it.”

Gregg Krupa: “Opposing forwards on the attack all knew to note Gadsby’s position. The considerable threat of his poke-checking ability was outdone only by his fierceness. He featured a hip-check of the old school that, perfectly timed, could separate a forward from the puck and the ice.”

Gregg Krupa: “A terrific shot-blocker and fine defender, in an era before Bobby Orr permanently altered the role of defensemen and hooked stick blades changed the nature of offense in the NHL, Gadsby was a terrific offensive defenseman.”

Joe Pelletier: “Bill played his last five seasons with the Wings before retiring after the 1965-66 season. He played more of a defensive role in his final days, but he didn't care as he finally had a chance to play with a good team. The Wings went to the Cup finals in 3 of Bill's 5 years, though they never did capture the Cup.”

Ken Shea: “While playing with the Hawks, Gadsby established himself as a terrific competitor who was equally adept at leading a rush as he was on the defensive aspects of the game.”

Dave Stubbs: “‘It scared the hell out of me, seeing the blood coming out of Tim's mouth and ear. I thought he was dead,’ Gadsby began, studying the cup when I mentioned Horton's name. In his fourth season with Toronto, Horton was rushing the puck, head down, on March 12, 1955 when he swept into neutral ice at Maple Leaf Gardens. He never saw the express train wearing the New York Rangers jersey. Gadsby's devastating, clean, open-ice hit of Horton broke the Maple Leaf's jaw and right leg, knocking him unconscious and ultimately setting his career back two seasons. That bodycheck is commonly regarded as the most punishing of any ever dished out in pre-expansion hockey, largely viewed as every bit the equal of the catastrophic work decades later of New Jersey Devils defenseman Scott Stevens. Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe chased Gadsby down a Gardens corridor that night, Toronto's star rearguard having been taken to a hospital where for days he'd lie in traction and be fed intravenously. ‘Thank God it wasn't a dirty check,’ Gadsby recalled, NHL senior referee Bill Chadwick having told him amid the chaos it was the hardest hit he'd ever witnessed.”

 

[ResilientBeast]

Newsy Lalonde (under construction)
​

Quotes will be organized chronologically and by what they illustrate

Checking
The Globe 24 Mar 1919

CANADIENS WIN FROM SEATTLE

Newsy Lalonde gave a great exhibition of skating and scored all four of the Canadiens' points. Lalonde was the star of both teams. The leader of the visitors was a fiend on the defense and was impossible to stop when he gained possession of the rubber.

The Globe 31 Mar 1919:

SEATTLE LOSE IN OVEARTIME: Canadiens Cut Down Threegoal Lead and Win 4 to 3 FRANK FOYSTON INJURED Lalonde Plays Sensational Game and is Main Factor in Victory

The Frenchmen are in much better shape, Corbeau being the only member of the visitors to show any effects. Cleghorn scored the first Canadien goal, but it was the great and only Lalonde who was responsible for the Montreal win. Urging his team on, Lalonde was not only a tower of strength on the defense, but he scored the second and tieing goals himself.

Playmaking
The Globe 07 Mar 1919

CANADIENS TO GO TO COAST: Beat Ottawa in Final Game of Play-off by Score 4 to 2 FOUR GAMES OUT OF FIVE Frenchmen Better Than Senators at All Stages of Game

Although Lalonde only scored once for his team, he engineered every attack and the goals scored by Cleghorn and Malone came from passes from Lalonde after he had stick-handled inside the opposing defence.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Cyclone Taylor (under construction)​

 

[Dreakmur]

Scott Niedermayer !!!


Awards and Achievements:
4 x Stanley Cup Champion (1995, 2000, 2003, 2007)

2 x Olympic Gold Medalist (2002, 2010)
World Cup Gold Medalist (2005)
World Championship Gold Medalist (2004)

Conn Smythe Trophy (2007)
Norris Trophy (2004)

3 x First Team All-Star (2004, 2006, 2007)
Second Team All-Star (1998)

Hart - 7th(2007), 8th(2006), 9th(2004)
Norris - 1st(2004), 2nd(2006), 2nd(2007), 5th(1998), 9th(2009), 10th(2008), 12th(1999), 13th(2013)
All-Star voting - 1st(2004), 2nd(2006), 2nd(2007), 4th(1998), 9th(2009), 12th(1999), 12th(2003)

Offensive Accomplishments:
Points among Defensemen - 1st(2007), 2nd(1998), 2nd(2004), 3rd(2009), 6th(2006), 11th(2010), 12th(1999)
Even Strength Points among Defensemen - 2nd(1998), 2nd(2007), 3rd(1999), 3rd(2004), 4th(2003), 9th(2002), 12th(2001), 14th(1994)

Play-off Points - 1st(2003), 3rd(2007), 4th(2006), 5th(1995), 6th(2009)

World Cup Points among Defensemen - 5th(1997), 10th(2004)
Olympic Points among Defensemen - 9th(2010)
World Championship Points among Defensemen - 2nd(2004)


5-Year Peak: 2004 to 2009
2nd in Points among Defensemen, 87% of first place Niklas Lidstrom
7th in Goals among Defensemen, 81% of second place Zdeno Chara
4th in Assists among Defensemen, 97% of second place Sergei Gonchar

5th in Play-off Points among Defensemen

10-Year Peak: 1998 to 2008
5th in Points among Defensemen, 85% of second place Sergei Gonchar
5th in Goals among Defensemen, 71% of second place Sergei Gonchar
5th in Assists among Defensemen, 86% of second place Sergei Zubov

5th in Play-offs Points among Defensemen, 76% of Chris Pronger​

Scoring Percentages:
Points among Defensemen - 103(2007), 100(1998), 100(2004), 92(2009), 89(2006), 81(1999), 81(2010), 61(1997), 61(2000), 61(2001), 58(2003), 56(2002), 52(1994)

Best 6 Seasons - 565

Even Strength Points among Defensemen - 100(1998), 100(2007), 96(2004), 94(2003), 92(1999), 83(2000), 83(2006), 80(2000), 79(2002), 72(2009), 67(1994), 55(1997), 51(1993)

Best 6 Seasons - 565





He led his team in ice time 10 times:
Ice Time / Game - 1st(1998), 1st(1999), 1st(2000), 1st(2001), 1st(2002), 1st(2003), 1st(2004), 1st(2006), 1st(2007), 1st(2010), 2nd(2009), 3rd(2008)

Time on ice wasn't officially tracked until 1998, so it's not certain where he ranked prior to that. Based on goals for and goals against totals, it is reasonable to think he might have led New Jersey in 1995 and 1996 as well. All the other seasons, seem unlikely.

He could skate like no other who's worn the uniform. His resume validates a will to win. His effort - tireless. A team player, because the Devils know no other way. He takes the most pride in this moniker - champion.

....

Scott Niedermyer combines supreme skill and character to forge one of the most successful careers by a defenseman in NHL history. One of the greatest skaters the game has ever seen, Niedermayer was a complete player who excelled at both ends of the ice. Alongside Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko, he anchored a defensive core that was instrumental in the Devils' run to three Stanley Cup championships.

....

He made an instant impression on his team mates, earning their resect with his work ethic and attitude.

....

While Stevens delivered crushing hits, and Deneyko cleared the crease, Niedermayer possessed grace and speed as he rushed the puck up the ice and kept opponents in check.

I wish I could skate like that... Just once, I'd love to see what it would feel like to fly around and be so smooth and effortless the way he skated.

....

Just a great skater. Effortless skater. He could go all night - play all night, big minutes. I don't know if there's ever gonna be someone like that again, that can play the way he could.

....

Big game player. The bigger the game, the better he played, and he always seemed to be the difference in a big game.

Probably the best skater I've seen in my life. So effortless and so smooth on the ice.

The guy was just a winner, and those things you don't teach. He's gonna go to the Hall of Fame. He's a legend already.

He played the game with talent, skill, and intelligence. The one common denominator was that Scott never changed. Scott came to play every night.

....

Scottie was integral in all aspects of the game - the offensive part of it, the defensive end of it, the shutdown end of it, and the taking chances end of it that you needed.

....

Scottie was one of the most complete. His size was not indicative of strength. It was a pleasure to watch him play too because he could excite you and he could electrify you.

He's a guy that could skate so freely, and was so quick, he could move up and come back and not make any mistakes.

....

He had no fear of taking a chance.

The ability of skating was a big part of his game. He was able to create a lot of offense because of it, and it never really hurt his defensive game, because he was always able to get back. He was so quick, and so mobile that players had a hard time reading him.

....

He took charge of games by himself and was able to be a good leader.

Everybody seen that he played both ends of the rink. He was a great team guy - always positive. He never got rattled. He kept everybody else calm and on track.

Once he got the puck, nobody could get it off him because he was such a good skater, and so strong. He very rarely got knocked off his feet, and was in control.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Milt Schmidt

''I was not a Lady Bing player. I lost that at the opening face-off, after the first minute of the opening game!'' - Milt Schmidt

SUMMARY

Position: Center
Shoots: Left-handed
Height/Weight: 6-0, 185 lbs.
VsX7*: 86.9 (*affected by missing three prime years to WWII)
VsX10*: 78.8 (*affected by missing three prime years to WWII)
AST record: 1, 1, 1, 2
Hart record: 1, 2, 4, 4, 5
Art Ross Trophy winner in 1940.
Hart Trophy winner in 1951.
Stanley Cup championships: 1939 and 1941.
Retro-Conn Smythe winner in the 1941 playoffs. (SOURCE)
Captain of the Bruins from 1950-1951 to 1954-1955.
His #15 jersey was immediately retired by Boston after his retirement. He was the 4th Bruins to receive that honor, after Eddie Shore, Lionel Hitchman and Dit Clapper

GENERAL QUOTES, COLUMNS & ARTICLES

''There's no doubt that Milt Schmidt was the best center I have ever played against. He was a good scorer too'' - Maurice Richard

Red Storey was asked to pick his All-Time NHL All-Star team: Bill Durnan in goals, King Clancy and Eddie Shore at defense and Howie Morenz, Ted Lindsay and Gordie as the forwards: ''Now I'll pick you another team that'd knock the socks off that one. Give me five Milt Schmidts up front and put my grandmother in goal and we'd never lose'' - Red Storey

''Not only a great player, but a gentleman. On the ice or off the ice, he was always the same guy. Milt Schmidt always going to have my respect.'' - Bernard Geoffrion

''You talk to the old timers who played against him like Ted Kennedy, Syl Apps Sr. and other guys who played against him, about how hard he played, how tough he was. He wasn't that big, and you think he was a little dirty guy, but you looked up and see they were seasons when he only had 12 minutes of penalties.'' - Frank Orr, journalist

''I was not a Lady Bing player. I lost that at the opening face-off, after the first minute of the opening game!'' - Milt Schmidt

''You touch that guy, I gotta tell you this he got your number. And you know those years when we were playing 14 games against each others, seven our of town, seven at home, he had plenty of time.'' - Bernard Geoffrion

''The man who made the Krauts work was Milt Schmidt, the big center'' -
''He was a player that seems so dominant in that ERA of being, not only a good, talented player but a very tough hockey player at the same time. He could take it, but he could also dish it out.'' - Dick Irvin

''Milt was tall and very strong, bigger than me. He had a favorite trick: He’d push the puck between my skates and then he’d just run right over me. They were a great line to play against.'' - Elmer Lach

"I would dare say that the biggest charge that I got out of playing hockey was winning that first Stanley Cup." - Milt Schmidt

"I wasn't the biggest guy in the world, but I was pretty aggressive," - Milt Schmidt

''As a center, you rarely see a fast skater. He was a playmaker he had everything: Milt Schmidt could shoot, tough, nobody touched Milt Schmidt!'' - Bernard Geoffrion

''Milt was the best player in the League when I came up''- Elmer Lach

"Milt Schmidt was the [Mark] Messier of his era, and that's really giving a lot of credit to Messier," said Dick Johnson, a sports historian and curator of The Sports Museum of New England.

Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol.2
Schmidt was by far the most aggressive and physically imposing of the three. During his career he suffered so many ailments it was hard to keep track: a broken jaw courtesy of Mac Colville; torn cartilage in his ribs; and ligament damage to both knees courtesy, most notably, of Bill Barilko. All were the result of his style of play.

Although he played 16 years in the NHL, Schmidt missed much time during the height of his career when he left the team to join the air force, a stint that lasted three and a half seasons.

(In 1939, first game of the Stanley Cup final) The Kraut Line was dominant in Game One, with Milt Schmidt engineering both Bruins goals, in a 2-1 victory.

Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol.2
Milt Schmidt began his spectacular career with the Boston Bruins in 1937. He became the great playmaking centre of the ''Kraut'' line. He was very much to the fore in 1939 when the Bruins swept top to the championship and won the Stanley Cup. Despite missing several games during the season with an ankle cut he was a standout in the playoffs. He became the policeman of the Boston front line, and in consequence, his penalty record stepped up. Schmidt was a rugged and skilled stick-handler with leadership qualities.

Who's Who in Hockey
The saddest part of Milt Schmidt's career was that the majestic center excelled in the National Hockey League in the pretelevision era.

Comparable to Gordie Howe in style, Milt's fearlessness and multiple talents escaped the realm of of videotape, but not legend.

Ultimate Hockey
The ''oaken-hearted'' Schmidt was a superb playmaker, known for creating brilliant scoring plays at breakneck speeds. Despite being one of the more aggressive players in the NHL, he played the game clean and hard

Peak Years 1939-43
Comparable Recent Players- Mark Messier
In a Word- LION

Best All-Around Player Of The 1940's

Jack Crawford:
"You know who was something like the Rocket? Milt Schmidt.

Those three fellows on the Kraut Line were all different in temperament. Woody Dumart would parade up and down his wing all night. He had a placid temperament and it was hard to get him annoyed. Bobby Bauer was a very smart hockey player at right wing. He used to work out plays for the line, and he was the playmaker too. He paid strict attention to his knitting and he hardly ever got a penalty. Why he won the Lady Byng Trophy too.

Milt was the fireball of the line. He was a wonderful skater, a great bodychecker, and a fine all-round player. But he had a temper. Nobody ever gave him the works and got away with it. When a game exploded, Milt was right in the middle of it."

Jim Coleman - Edmonton Journal - Nov 2 1979
(Coleman completed an article to name his Top 10 best players of all-time)

His list was:

Howie Morenz
Bobby Hull
Eddie Shore
Gordie Howe
Milt Schmidt
Jean Beliveau
Maurice Richard
Eddie Gerard
Bobby Orr
Dit Clapper

Milt Schmidt: Another born leader. Schmidt probably was the hardest-hitting centreman the sport ever has known. He seldom received All-Star recognition and he was the NHL point leader in only one season. Still, he was the "heart" of the Boston team. As a defensive centreman, he was unexcelled. Just ask the men who played against him.

Bill Westwick (The Ottawa Journal - 16 Apr 1956)
Milt Schmidt Rates As All-Time Great

[...]

Schmidt, now coach of the Bruins, pivoted a pair of talented wings in Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer. They lent their talents to the successful Allan Cup bid of Ottawa Air Force Flyers in 1941. They made an ideal combination with Schmidt's tremendous all-around play, Dumart's heavy shot and the foxy generalship of Bauer.

Schmidt lasted the longest, and there was talk of him donning the skates and pads again this season when the Bruins were floundering. He didn't, but the chances are he would have helped.

NOBODY EVER DISCOVERED WEAKNESS

There may have been some weakness in Schmidt's hockey armor, but nobody we've ever met made the discovery. He was a strong, free-wheeling skater. His stickhandling was characterized by plenty of drive. He could shoot and make a good pass. As a bodychecker among forwards he had few peers. All these hockey requisites he combined with a great competitive spirit devoted to a team effort that made him a terrific performer.

Schmidt, by the way, had no greater admirer than the late Alf Smith, himself one of the all-time stars among forwards. Smith classed him as fine a hockey player as he had ever seen, and Alf mingled with many a good one and saw a lot more.

Schmidt had a rather impish way about him when firing a bodycheck. There never was much telegraphing on his part, and he could come up and throw as devastating a body belt as anybody who ever played.

It should be a good all-around show to judge by past performances. The absence of heavy checking usually permits some of the smoother stickhandling and shooting which was quite evident in last year's program.

Frank Boucher in March 1948 (Dink Carroll - Montreal Gazette, 19 Mar 1948)
"The best left-winger in the league today is Ted Lindsay," says Boucher, and none will give him an argument there. "Milt Schmidt is the best all-around forward when he's right and a coming-up player is Howe of Detroit. Poile may be picked for right wing on the All-Star team, but for me he's a one-year player."

[...]

Boucher hopes Buddy O'Connor will make the All-Stars, thought he admits it's hardly likely.

"He's a great little fellow and he's had a wonderful year," he said. "But I don't think he'll ever have another like it. That's why I hope he makes it this year. But Lach and Schmidt and Max Bentley may be picked ahead of him."

Dink Carroll (The Montreal Gazette - April 4th, 1952) — "Says Lynn Patrick..."
Says Lynn Patrick (Schmidt's coach from 1951 to 1955)

[...]

HE PICKS MILT SCHMIDT

Now that he had picked his top netminder, how about widenin it out to include all positions? Who is the best hockey player he ever saw?

"I'm something of a Johnny-Come-Lately to hockey", he demurred. "That's the kind of a question you should ask Lester or Art Ross. They've seen them all and I've only seen the real moderns. Why, I didn't even see Howie Morenz until he was almost through. If you insist on pinning me down, I'll say the greatest two-way hockey player I've ever seen is Milt Schmidt. There have been guys who could do certains things better than Milt—Bill Cowley was a better playmaker—but I never saw as good an all-around player as Schmidt."

Dink Carroll - Montreal Gazette Dec 23, 1954
The trio went on to become one of hockey's greatest lines. Milt had blazing speed and fine all-around ability, Bobby had the brains and Woody the brawn and the shot. They dominated the league for several seasons [...]

Art Ross has called Milt the "greatest of modern centres," which is the kind of statement that always starts an argument. There have been a number of great ones and Milt certainly belongs in a bracket with them. At one time or another he has won all the honors the NHL has to offer, from the Hart Trophy to being named on the All-Star team.

A year ago last October, there was a dinner here before the All-Star game. Lynn Patrick, then coach of the Bruins, made a speech in which he said that Milt was slated to succeed him but he didn't think Milt would be as successful in that role as he (Lynn) had been.

"The reason," Lynn explained, "is that when we're in a jam I can look down the bench and say, "Hurry up, Milt. Get out there!"". That's something he won't be able to do when he's a coach.

The Caledonian-Record 23 Dec 1954
MILT SCHMIDT RETIRES TO COACH BRUINS

Bruins Center For 16 Seasons One of Hockey's Greatest

[...]

His enthusiastic and sometimes reckless style of play resulted in at least a dozen fractures, including a broken jaw, collar bone, rib, nose and hands. He has incurred shoulder separation, wrist and groin injuries and has two chronically balky knees. It took a total of some 200 stitches to close the cuts he suffered over the years.

Sports Illustrated — January 28, 1957: The Old Kraut Revives The Bruins:
A tall young man, Schmidt weighed about 125 pounds at the time of his first tryout. That was too light for pro hockey, so he went back to Kitchener for a final year of junior hockey and some general fattening up. The next year, when he was 18 and somewhat sturdier in physique than Deacon Waite, hockey's renowned "Dancing Hairpin," Schmidt joined Bauer and Dumart as a member of the Providence Reds, the Bruins' main farm club. In Providence they were placed on the same line at Ross's instigation. By the beginning of the '37-38 season, the Krauts had graduated en masse to the Bruins. There they stayed and played their unforgettable precise and imaginative hockey for 4½ years until they enlisted, as a trio, in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The trio fought the war together, and when it was over returned to the Bruins and put in two more seasons as a line before their partnership was dissolved by Bauer's decision to retire and to enter his father-in-law's business, the Canada Skate Co. Bobby is undoubtedly the only NHL player who ever chose to retire after a season in which he scored 30 goals, the equivalent of batting .350. Dumart remained an active player with the Bruins until 1954, when he was 37 years old. The previous spring, in a playoff series in which a mediocre Boston team unaccountably overwhelmed the Red Wings, Dumart turned in a last superlative performance when, with a tremendous exhibition of all-round defensive play, he held the great Gordon Howe in check game after game as Howe has never been checked before or since. Schmidtty hung on as a player until midway through the '54-55 season when, unable to do the things he could once do on ice, he accepted the coaching job that had been held waiting for him for many seasons.

(credit: overpass)

Sports Illustrated — January 28, 1957: The Old Kraut Revives The Bruins
The spearhead of the Krauts, to be sure, was Schmidt, three-time All-League center, top league scorer in 1939-40, and as late as the 1950-51 season winner of the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. "Schmidt was the fastest playmaker of all times," Art Ross has remarked. "By that I mean that no player ever skated at the tilt Schmidtty did and was still able to make the play." Because of his full-throttle style of attack, when Schmidt was body-checked by a rugged defenseman on the lines of "Black Jack" Stewart, the impact was more like a crash than a mere check. For all his sinew, Schmidt suffered an almost endless succession of injuries, which included broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken nose, severe injuries to his knees and a recurrent wry neck. An incredible competitor, he almost always managed to get onto the ice somehow and play. Against the Leafs, for example, in one playoff series, when both his knees were so banged up from repeated injuries that he literally couldn't bend them, he had his legs taped from the ankle to the thigh and then had himself lifted off the table and "onto his skates." Not infrequently, Schmidt's injuries resulted from shuddering collisions with the metal goal posts. In a playoff game against Les Canadiens in 1947, just such a collision was the inevitable aftermath of one of the most spectacular of his countless spectacular goals. With the Canadiens trailing by a goal and pressing hard for the equalizer, Schmidt broke up a Montreal power play by getting the tip of his blade onto a pass that was being fed back from a corner to Butch Bouchard stationed at one of the points just inside the Boston blue line. He flipped the puck over Bouchard's stick, wheeled in a flash and corralled the loose puck at center ice a step ahead of Bouchard and one other pursuing Canadien. Usually, in a circumstance like this when a player in Schmidt's position has the chance for a breakaway, either he is overtaken by the defending players or else, in outskating them, he is simply going too fast to control himself and the puck at the same time. Schmidt, however, managed to stay in the clear with a terrific burst of speed and still retain partial control of the puck as he swept, more than a little off balance from his effort, into Montreal territory with only the goalie, Bill Durnan, to beat. Instead of just settling for getting a shot off and calling it a good play at that, Schmidt somehow poised himself just long enough to snap a hard low shot into the left-hand corner of the cage. Then, careening way out of control at almost the same instant, he tumbled over himself onto the ice and went sliding head-first against the goal post and off the goal post into the cage itself. After a few repairs, he was back in the game again, never sparing himself. As a coach, Schmidtty has never asked his players to do anything he didn't do himself, in spades, and this explains his success to a considerable measure.

(credit: overpass)

Sports Illustrated — May 19, 1986: And They All Say "This Is It?"
"I can see it all," Schmidt says, sitting in a loge seat on a quiet weekday afternoon. "A man asked me recently if I ever dream. I'm dreaming right now. I look out there and I see things happening. Games. Particular plays. I'm in that corner, knocked on my butt by Ott Heller, God bless his soul, he's gone now. He knocked me down not once, but twice, and I somehow still have the puck. I get up and score. I don't know now how I did that.

"Elmer Lach. I get knocked down and my skate catches him right across the side of the face. I can see the blood. See it. Teeder Kennedy. My neck is sore, and I get into a fight with him by that bench, and he starts twisting my neck. Do you know how, when you're hurt, the adrenaline gets going? You get stronger? I throw him to the ice, and he separates his shoulder and has a concussion, and his eyes are spinning in his head. I can see that, as if it just happened."

(credit: overpass)

Dink Carroll (The Montreal Gazette - March 10, 1952)
Milt Schmidt, Syl Apps, Teeder Kennedy, Sid Abel, and even Howie Morenz are not classified in the trade as great playmakers, though acknowledged as great hockey players.

"They belong to the 'driving' type of player, Dick Irvin said. "Fellows like Schmidt, Kennedy, and Abel go into the corners and get the puck out to their wings." Apps used to hit the defense at top speed and Drillion would come behind and pick up his garbage. Apps used to get sore when I told him that Drillion profited from his mistakes.

Howie Morenz wasn't a good playmaker, said Elmer Ferguson. "Aurel Joliat was the playmaker on that line and the greatest playmaking left-winger of all time. Just like Bobby Bauer at right wing was the playmaker for the Kraut Line."

(credit: TheDevilMadeMe)

Lewiston Evening Journal, April 14, 1941
As goes Brimsek so goes the Bruins was the watchword and little Frank came thru (sic)...When you start adding up the credits for the Stanley Cup this year the cool goalie is the answer...

Watching the whole series - from Toronto thru Detroit - there is only one logical hero and that is Brimsek... You can name more of them and the one on the tip of your tongue is Milt Schmidt...That great center was tremendous and so was Jack Crawford."

(credit: TheDevilMadeMe)

The Globe and Mail, Nov. 19, 1949

(credit: Mike Farkas)

Montreal Gazette - 23 Mar 1961
Milt Proved Shore Wrong

In the fall of 1936, Eddie Shore eyed a young rookie at the Boston Bruins training camp and said: "Son, you skate around those nets again."

Milt Schmidt, a kid with light in his eyes and admiration for the bow-legged Shore, then nearing the end of a flaming big league career, did as he was told. "Son," the big man drawled, "the way you skate you aren't going to stay in this league for two years."

The incident was recalled during a bull session last week when Schmidt brought the Bruins to Toronto for the final home appearance of the Maple Leafs in the 70-game NHL schedule. Schmidt was in a reminiscing mood.

"Shore wanted me to skate as if I'd just got off a horse and couldn't close my legs or straighten my knees," he said. "After that practice I even left the rink with my legs so far spread apart that I practically took up the whole sidewalk."

That was 25 years and many memories ago and now the word is going around that Milt is finished as coach of the Bruins after missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third time since he took over in the 1954-55 season.

Milt never did adopt Shore's unique style of skating and the two-year NHL career the great defensemen predicted fir him blossomed into one of the longest in the big time. Milt, centre and captain of the Bruins, finally yielded to time and quit as a player to take over the coaching duties of the club mid-way through the 1954-55 season.

He left a great record behind him. He had built up a reputation as a fierce competitor, playmaker and a guy handy to have around when trouble started on the ice and in any situation — when his team was shorthanded, the opposition was shorthanded or when the heat was on for sorely-needed scoring punch.

[...]

One of the greatest honors he received went to him in his final year as a player. At that time, sports writers and sportscasters in the six NHL cities named him the craftiest player in the league.

The poll was conducted by CP (Canadian Press?) and two selectors said he was better than the ice cuties of years ago — Frank Nighbor, one of the greatest defensive centres of all-time with the old Ottawa Senators, the late Nels (Old Poison) Stewart of Montreal Maroons, and Newsy Lalonde, fire-brand Maroons old-timer.

Not bad for a fellow who was pushed to hockey when his mother decided that football was too rough for her boy.

Lynn Patrick, whom Schmidt succeeded as coach, called him the greatest two-way player who ever lived.

"He never plays a bad game. And he never has a bad practice. Even in the workouts, he hates to lose," Patrick said eight years ago.

A CAREER TOUR

1936-37: Age 18, played 26 games
1937-38:
1938-39: SC champion
1939-40: Art Ross winner, 1st AST, 4th in Hart
1940-41: SC champion, Retro Conn Smythe winner
1941-42: played 36 games out of 48
1942-43: Missed the season due to WWII (Age 24)
1943-44: Missed the season due to WWII (Age 25)
1944-45: Missed the season due to WWII (Age 26)
1945-46: SC Finals (defeated by MTL), led Boston in playoff scoring (8 pts in 10 games)
1946-47: 1st AST, 2nd in Hart, 4th in points
1947-48: played 33 games out of 60
1948-49: played 44 games out of 60, including 15 games as a defenseman
1949-50: 5th in Hart
1950-51: Hart Trophy winner, 1st AST, 4th in points, (Captain)
1951-52: 2nd AST, 4th in Hart, 10th in points, (Captain)
1952-53: SC Finals (defeated by MTL), (Captain)
1953-54: (Captain)
1954-55: Age 36, played 23 games only before becoming coach, (Captain)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Photo: The Boston Globe, 23 Dec 1954)

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Georges Vezina

​

CAREER SUMMARY (copy and paste from Dreakmur's 2018 profile)

Awards and Accomplishments:
Inaugural Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1916, 1924)
6 x Stanley Cup Finalist (1914, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1925)
5 x NHA Champion (1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1925)

Ranked #75 on The Hockey News' list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

6 x Retro Vezina Winner (1911, 1912, 1914, 1918, 1924, 1925)
Ultimate Hockey's "Best Goaltender" of the 1910s.
​

Statistical Accomplishments:​

Goals Against Average - 1st(1911), 1st(1912), 1st(1914), 1st(1918), 1st(1924), 1st(1925), 2nd(1913), 2nd(1915), 2nd(1916), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 2nd(1922), 2nd(1923)

Consolidated GAA - 1st(1911), 1st(1912), 1st(1914), 1st(1924), 1st(1925), 2nd(1918), 3rd(1916), 3rd(1917), 3rd(1922), 3rd(1923)
​

Play-off Results:​

1914 - lost cup challenge to Toronto and Hap Holmes
1916 - won cup challenge over Portland and Tom Murray
1917 - won play-off series over Ottawa and Clint Benedict
1917 - lost cup challenge to Vancouver and Hugh Lehman
1918 - lost play-off series to Toronto and Hap Holmes
1919 - cup challenge cancelled after 2-2-1 due to flu epidemic vs Seattle and Hap Holmes
1923 - lost play-off series to Ottawa and Clint Benedict
1924 - won play-off series over Ottawa and Clint Benedict
1924 - won cup challenge over Calgary and Charlie Reid
1925 - won play-off series over Toronto and John Ross Roach
1925 - lost cup challenge to Victoria and Hap Holmes

​

I. CONTEMPORARY OPINIONS

Attempting to create a chronology, based mostly on newspaper accounts. This post focuses on accounts from Vezina's career. I'll make another post on what people where saying about him in the decades after they retired

1910s: Vezina was considered the best goalie in the NHA/NHL and likely the world

There ???(I assume "is a") strong possibility that the National Hockey assiciation will this year be without the services of its most brilliant goalkeeper, Vezina of the Canadiens.

This paper was poorly scanned, but it was about a proposed deal that when Lalonde was playing out West, Vezina would be traded straight up for him to bring Lalonde back to Montreal.

During the intermission he hustled George Vezina, recognized as the best goal-keeper in the NHA, into one of the Guards uniforms.

This was from an a game where NHA all-stars played an army team. For the third period, the coach of the army team (Vezina's coach on the Habs.) snuck Vezina into the army teams goal. Here is the scoring per period:
1st: 4-1 NHA
2nd: 5-1 NHA
3rd: 3-1 Army

George Vezina, the brilliant goal-keeper of the Canadiens, often said to be as good as two men, jumped into prominence when he joined the Habitants in 1911. Born in Chicoutimi twenty-eight years ago, Vezina started playing goals when a youngster. Manager George Kennedy witnessed a game in which he was playing in 1910, and immediately signed him up. Ever since he has played in front of the nets for the Flying Frenchmen, and today is one of the highest payed goal-tenders in the business.

Vezina, George: Goalkeeper, 28 years old, and from Chicoutimi. Joined the Canadiens in 1910 and made good on the jump. The most consistent goalkeeper in the N.H.A. and as clean a player as the game knows. His success is largely consequent upon the fact that he attends stricktly to business all the time, and never tries to pull any funny stuff.

...the goaltenders, who have demonstrated that they can stop the hard shots a la George Vezina and Hugh Lehman.

From a Regina paper, infers that Lehman is the class of the West and Vezina of the East.

Georges Vezina, goalkeeper of the Montreal Canadiens, who is conceded to be the best net guardian in the game.

early 1920s: Opinion seems to be split between Benedict and Vezina:

Another development at Ottawa was the signing of Clint Benedict to occupy the nets for the Ottawa team during the forthcoming season Clint is generally regarded as the second best to George Vezina of the Flying Frenchmen.

The Senators and Benedict continued their roll into the 1920-1921 season. For the second consecutive year, Benedict was lauded as the best netminder in the NHL, even though Ottawa had dropped to second in the standings.

He certainly impressed a young rookie who joined the Senators before the 1921-1922 season – Francis “King” Clancy.
“He was superb. A lot of people say that Georges Vezina was the greatest goaltender in those early days of hockey, but if you look at the records you’ll see that Clint Benedict…had a better average.”

-Great Goaltenders: Stars of Hockey’s Golden Age by Jim Barber (note that Clancy appears to be referred to GAA).

Months before Vezina became ill, a panel of hockey experts voted him the best goaltender of all-time:

In 1925, MacLean's magazine asked Charlie H. Good, the Sporting Editor for the Toronto Daily News until that paper folded in 1919, to compile All-Time All-Star teams for their March 15, 1925 edition of the magazine. Good called upon his friends in the hockey world to help him with the list. The list of participants reads like a who's-who of the early hockey world:

Charles H. Good, W. A. Hewitt, Lester Patrick, J.F. Ahern, Tommy Gorman, W. J. Morrison, Lou Marsh, Bruce Boreham, K.G. H. McConnell, Roy Halpin, Ross Mackay, Harry Scott, O. F. Young, Art Ross, Frank Shaughnessey, James T. Sutherland, Bill Tackabery, Basil O'Meara, Ed. Baker, "Dusty" Rhodes, Walter McMullin, E. W.Ferguson, Joe Kincaid, and W. A. Boys, M.P.

The selected Vezina 1st Team All-Time-All-Star goalie. Percy LeSueur (of the previous generation) was 2nd team. Vezina's contemporaries Clint Benedict and Hugh Lehman were tied for 3rd Team

The March 17, 1925 Morning Leader report on MacLean's 1st Team makes one suspect that extra credit was given to deceased players. Noteably, Vezina, Cleghorn, and Nighbor were the only still-living players on the 1st Team:

Number One Team- Goal, Georges Vezina; defence, Sprague Cleghorn and Hod Stuart (deceased); center, Frank Nighbor; right wing, Allan, Scotty Davidson; left wing, Tommy Phillips (deceased)"

This timing is important because Vezina would not start to show signs of illness until the following October, was not diagnosed with tuberculosis until Nov 28, 1925, and did not die until March 26, 1926 (source = wikipedia).

So the MacLean's All-Time All-Star list is entirely untainted by Vezina's early death.

II. LEGACY

I'm focusing on opinions of people through the early 1950s - what people who saw them play thought about them after their careers.

The belief that Vezina was the best of his era seems fairly widespread

When you talk about goaltenders, you have to start with Georges Vezina. By an almost unanimous vote of hockey people, he was the greatest the game has ever had. I remember him fairly well.

In 1918 when I broke into the National League with Toronto, Vezina was with Les Canadians. He was near the end of his career, but was still a marvel in the nets, as I found out the first time I skated in on him.

I thought I had him beat, I thought I had a cinch goal, but he had figured exactly what I was going to do, and brushed aside the shot, as easily as you'd strike a match.

Vezina was a big fellow... I'd say he was about five feet 11 inches tall, without his skates on and he looked even taller in uniform because he always wore a red and blue toque. He had big hands and he used an exceptionally long stick.
...
He played a stand-up game, sliding from post to post, making save that seemed impossible by outguessing the puck carriers.

That was his strong point. Like all great goalers, he studied the styles of every forward in the league. He could sense what one of them would do under a given set of circumstances and was usually prepared. He guess wrong sometimes, of course, but not often.
...
I played against Vezina for three or four years. Many times he broke my heart by turning back what looked like a certain score. He was a real master. He had perfect co-ordination and an uncanny instinct.

Jack Adams then went on to say that due to changes in the nature of the position, Vezina might not actually be any more effective than the best recent goalies (Charlie Gardiner, John Ross Roach, and Tiny Thompson were named). Marty Barry was present for the interview and this is his reaction:

Adams was now striking at one of the legends of hockey. Marty Barry, sitting on a rubber table next to the Honey Walker, was startled. Never before had he heard anyone question Vezina's superiority. He was too surprised to interrupt and Adams went on (about the changes in the game making a goalie's job harder since Vezina's time)
...
"I see what you mean," said Barry, only half convinced.

The Sunday Sun, Feb 1, 1936

I think it's clear that rightly or wrongly by 1936 - 10 years after Vezina's death - "conventional wisdom" considered him the best goalie of the era - better than Clint Benedict, Hugh Lehman, or Hap Holmes.

Later, in 1953:

Jack Adams said he thought that the only old-timer who might measure up to the to the modern goalers was the immortal Georges Vezina himself.
...
But Vezina played in the days of parallel passing and kitty-bar-the-door when a lot of shots were fired from far out. We doubt if he would be as successful today unless he changed his style. But we think that Vezina, Clint Benedict, George Haimsworth, Roy Worters, and other great goalers of the past would be about to adapt to the changing conditions. They were only as good as they had to be.

Montreal Gazette, Mar 9, 1953

There are some who would picked Benedict, however

The boys were talking about goaltending greats in the aftergame discussion at Cornell last night and Jim McCafffrey was firm in his stand that Benedict was tops.... JP is willing to settle for Frank Brimsek among the present-day puck stoppers and calls Jack Crawford the best defenseman of all...

Ottawa Cititzen, March 10, 1943

In 1948, Kenny McKenize, hockey journalist and co-founder of The Hockey News called Benedict the greatest goaltender of all-time. He recalled a save Benedict made on Duke Keats that made Keats "so mad that he couldn't speak for 2 hours after the game."

Vancouver Sun, Oct 13, 1948

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion

I. Bernard Geoffrion regularly missed small parts of the regular season due to various minor injuries, but it didn’t matter at all because Montreal was basically guaranteed to make the playoffs​

In my opinion, given Geoffrion’s team situation, his per-game numbers are a greater indicator of just how good he was. Here’s a quick and dirty measure showing Geoffrion’s per-game numbers were significantly better than his seasonal numbers:

Top 10 Finishes

Goals: 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 8, 9
Assists: 6, 6, 6, 7, 10
Points: 1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7

Goals-Per-Game: 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8
Assists-Per-Game: 2, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9
Points-Per-Game: 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10

Geoffrion's Points-per-game finishes are nearly identical to Bathgate's

Geoffrion vs Bathgate "per-game" finishes

I find the idea expressed by others in this thread that Geoffrion was a better per-game player than his season-end point totals indicate because he was regularly injured in the regular season to be worth looking at further, especially since he generally was healthy in the playoffs and performed well there.

Anyway, here are Geoffrion's "per-game" finishes compared to Bathgate

Geoffrion points-per-game: 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th
Bathgate points-per-game: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 6th

*Their regular season points-per-game finishes are nearly identical*

Geoffrion goals-per-game: 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 6th, 8th
Bathgate goals-per-game: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 9th, 10th

Geoffrion assists-per-game: 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th
Bathgate assists-per-game: 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th

_______________

Conclusion: Perhaps it is not accurate to say that Bathgate was better in the regular season and Geoffrion better in the playoffs. It looks more accurate to say that Bathgate was healthier in the regular season and Geoffrion was better in the playoffs.

2 additional points:

Of course Geoffrion shouldn't get credit for games not played, but I do think that the fact that he generally always brought it in the playoffs is supporting evidence that his "per game" rates in the regular season were a good indication of his actual talent.
Bathgate should get some credit for remaining remarkably healthy. He only missed 5 games total in 10 seasons between 1954-55 and 1963-64.

II. In the playoffs, Geoffrion was generally healthy, and he brought it big time

A. Geoffrion was the leading playoff scorer of the dynasty that won 5 Cups in a row from 1956-1960

Leading playoff scorers 1956-1960, sorted by points, points-per-game also listed

68 Bernie Geoffrion 1.39
57 Dickie Moore 1.16
55 Jean Beliveau 1.34
47 Henri Richard 0.96
44 Maurice Richard 1.07
40 Doug Harvey 0.82
39 Bert Olmstead 0.76

In terms of individual seasons, Geoffrion led the playoffs in goals and points in 1957 (11 goals in 10 games!!!!) and in assists and points in 1960.

B. Geoffrion was among the leaders in playoff scoring in the 3 years before the dynasty (Montreal won 1 Cup, Detroit won 2)

Leading playoff scorers 1953-1955, sorted by points, points-per-game also listed

36 Gordie Howe 1.24
35 Ted Lindsay 1.21
34 Bernie Geoffrion 0.97
30 Alex Delvecchio 1.03
24 Dickie Moore 0.69
23 Jean Beliveau 1.05

(M Richard had an uncharacteristically weak playoffs in 1954 and was suspended for 1955).

C. Overall, Geoffrion scored 10+ points in the playoffs for 8 straight seasons from 1953-1960, back when the playoffs were only two rounds long (his team went to the finals in every year of this time frame). He scored 3 points in 4 playoff games in 1961 (not great, but not terrible) after winning his only Hart Trophy, then declined rapidly in both the regular season and the playoffs.

D. In every season from 52-53 to 59-60, which is a span of 8 consecutive seasons including 6 championships, Bernard Geoffrion was Top 3 in playoff scoring on his team (I got this idea from @BenchBrawl)

52-53
Geoffrion 10
M Richard 8
Lach 7

53-54
Moore 13
Geoffrion 11
Beliveau 10

54-55
Geoffrion 13
Beliveau 13
Curry 12

55-56
Beliveau 19
Geoffrion/M Richard/Olmstead 14

56-57
Geoffrion 18
Beliveau 12
M Richard 11

57-58
M Richard 15
Beliveau 12
Geoffrion/Harvey/Richard 11

58-59
Moore 17
Bonin 15
Geoffrion 13

59-60
H Richard 12
Geoffrion 12
Moore 10

E. Geoffrion is #5 all-time on @seventieslord’s 5-year playoff VsX formula:

# | Name | VsX5P 1 | Wayne Gretzky | 685 2 | Gordie Howe | 583 3 | Maurice Richard | 575 4 | Jean Beliveau | 559 5 | Bernie Geoffrion | 550 6 | Phil Esposito | 549 7 | Joe Sakic | 543 8 | Guy Lafleur | 528 9 | Mario Lemieux | 518 10 | Ted Kennedy | 517 [TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

III. GENERAL INFO (copied from Bench Brawl's 2017 profile)

Red Fisher's Top 10 Montreal Canadiens Skaters since the 50s

1.Jean Beliveau
2.Maurice Richard
3.Guy Lafleur
4.Doug Harvey
5.Henri Richard
6.Larry Robinson
7.Bernard Geoffrion
8.Bob Gainey
9.Dickie Moore
10.Serge Savard

I was a natural as a stick-handler, I was a natural as a shooter, I could put the puck in the net, that's something I had as a talent. A lot of people are great hockey players but they cannot find the net. I could find the net every angle, I want to be humble when I say that. But I always did have confidence when somebody would score two goals, I would say to myself I'm gonna get three. I had to be not better, but I wanted to prove the public, my organization, my teammates that I can play this game of hockey, and you know what I think I did.

With Maurice Richard headlining a who's who of hockey, the Montreal Canadiens had an outstanding power play for years. But when Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion perfected his slap shot from the point, the NHL was forced to take action. With Richard, Jean Beliveau and Dickie Moore up front and Doug Harvey and Geoffrion on the points, the Canadiens often scored two or even three goals during a single minor penalty, so the rules were changed to allow the penalized player back on the ice after a power play goal was scored.

It was "Boom Boom's" dynamic shot that became his trademark. He perfected the now-common slap shot. Firing little discs of frozen rubber at speeds upwards of 100 mph put fear into the hearts of enemy goaltenders as never seen before.

Geoffrion was more than just a heavy shooter. His all-out style of play and unquenchable desire to win enabled him to win the Calder Trophy in 1952 and the Hart Trophy in 1961. He led the league in scoring twice and was name to the First All Star Team in 1961 and the Second in 1955 and 1960. The fact that he made three post-season All Star teams is actually quite amazing. Geoffrion was a right winger in the same era as Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe.

The number five holds a special place in the hearts of Montreal Canadiens fans who remember the late 1950s for two reasons: the number of consecutive Stanley Cup Championships and the flamboyant right winger with the thunderous shot who wore it on his back.

Drive and desire were the key elements of Geoffrion’s game. He played with his heart on his sleeve and thrived on pressure, coming up with highlight performances when the stakes were at their highest. Throwing caution to the wind, he played an “all-out, all the time†game, the only way he knew how.

While his legend was built around his nose for the net and his booming slap shot, Geoffrion was also a skilled passer and playmaker, usually picking up at least as many - if not more - assists as goals.

Bernie Geoffrion, nicknamed "Boom Boom," gained NHL fame for his hard shot and feisty temperament. Born and raised in Montreal, he played right wing for the Montreal Canadiens' dynasty teams in the 1950s and 1960s alongside Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Jean Beliveau. The powerful combination brought the Stanley Cup home to Montreal an amazing six times during Geoffrion's time there, and he also won the league scoring title twice and the Hart Trophy in 1961.

Many claim Geoffrion invented and perfected the slapshot - not bad for a kid who was once told by the assistant coach of a junior hockey team that he'd never make it in big-time hockey.

Geoffrion was almost voted captain (by his teammates) instead of Béliveau, indicating that he was seen as a leader.

"So I'm in a cast when the boys are having the vote. Toe's fedora is being passed around the room, and we're dropping the little papers into it. You could vote for Dickie, for Boom (Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion), for Tom Johnson or for me. By then, I had been 33 days in a cast. I never thought for a second anybody would vote for me. I voted for Dickie." (said Béliveau)

There was a tie for most votes into the fedora during the first ballot, a draw between Beliveau and Geoffrion. The next vote was just between those two Montreal greats.

Once again, the players tossed "little papers" into Blake's fedora. Minutes later, an exercised Geoffrion stormed out of the room and into my view.

"What's the problem?" I asked him.

"Those ******** picked Beliveau," he snapped.

"Yeah, Boom was a little upset," Beliveau said in his Longueuil home. "But ah, you know Boom. He was upset that day, but the next morning he was all right.

IV. NEWSPAPERS

(french in red, translations by @BenchBrawl )

Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion a joué en dépit d'un ''charlie horse''.Il a compté deux buts...

Bernard ''Boom Boom'' Geoffrion played despite suffering from a charley horse (muscle spasm).He scored two goals...

Le Devoir - Google News Archive Search

Titre: Bernard Geoffrion est la grande vedette des vainqueurs en participant à tous les buts de son club.
[...]
Bernard Geoffrion a [...] trompé la vigilence de Lorne Worsley sur un lancer du revers et donner une avance d'un but au bleu-blanc-rouge.

Title: Bernard Geoffrion is the great star of the winning team by participating to every goals
[...]
Bernard Geoffrion scored against Lorne Worsley with a backhand shot to give the lead to Montreal

]...quand Geoffrion, après avoir accepté une passe de Doug Harvey, laissa partir un boulet d'une cinquantaine de pieds environ.[/COLOR]

...when Geoffrion, who accepted a pass from Doug Harvey, made a big slapshot from approximately 50 feets

Le Devoir - Google News Archive Search

Bernard Geoffrion continue d'être une constante menace pour les cerbères ennemis et il fabrique de très beaux jeux

Bernard Geoffrion continues to be a constant threat for goalies and he fabricates/makes some beautiful plays

Le Bien Public - Google News Archive Search

who hasn't had a bad year since he hit the NHL[/B], is heading for one of his greatest seasons in the game.He's scoring at the rate of a goal a game.

The News and Eastern Townships Advocate - Google News Archive Search

Below is an opinion piece by a certain Roger Meloche about Geoffrion and Béliveau when they were playing in junior

Geoffrion perd son temps

L'an dernier nous avions écrit que Bernard Geoffrion perdait son temps dans la ligue junior.Nous le répétons encore! Il déclasse complètement les autres juniors sauf Jean Béliveau peut-être, et la preuve est qu'il a compté sept buts en une seule partie cette semaine.C'est ridicule de faire jouer un homme avec des enfants.

[...]

Bernard est un colosse; il est rapide, habile et ambitieux et il possède un des lancers les plus terribles du hockey tout entier.

Geoffrion is wasting his time

Last year we wrote that Bernard Geoffrion was wasting his time in the junior league.We're writing it again! He completely outclasses the other junior players except maybe Jean Béliveau, and the proof of that is that he scored seven goals in a single game this week.It's ridiculous to make a man play with children.

[...]

Geoffrion is a strong/big man; he is fast, skilled and ambitious and he possesses one of the scariest shot in all of hockey.

La Patrie - Google News Archive Search

Geoffrion died on the exact same day his #5 jersey was retired by the Montreal Canadiens.The #5 was retired again about 8 years later by the Canadiens to honor defenseman Guy Lapointe.

Legendary Montreal Canadiens forward Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion has died at the age of 75.

Word of his death came early Saturday, the exact date the Canadiens had set to raise Geoffrion's No. 5 to the rafters prior to their game against the New York Rangers at Bell Centre.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/bernie-geoffrion-dead-at-75-1.605615

V. VIDEOS (from BenchBrawl's 2017 profile)

With our "software upgrade," I can no longer embed more than 3 videos. Ugh. So I used direct links for the last 3 instead:

Legends of Hockey



Highlights & Biography





The slapshot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUKz7oZcMww

Savage stick fight, Geoffrion had a short fuse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7afgy7-2pg

Geoffrion attacks a Detroit player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjxabgUI4bo

 

[BenchBrawl]

.

 

[Dreakmur]

Brad Marchand !!!


Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (2011)

Canada Cup Gold Medal (2016)
World Championship Gold Medal (2017)

2 x First Team All-Star (2017, 2021)
2 x Second Team All-Star (2019, 2020)

Hart voting - 5th(2019), 5th(2021), 7th(2017), 9th(2020), 11th(2018)
Selke voting - 9th(2020), 9th(2021) 11th(2018), 12th(2017)

All-Star voting - 1st(2017), 1st(2021), 2nd(2019), 2nd(2020), 4th(2018), 5th(2016)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 3rd(2021), (5th(2017), 5th(2019), 6th(2020), 13th(2018)
Goals - 4th(2017), 6th(2016), 6th(2021), 17th(2018), 18th(2013), 18th(2019)
Assists - 5th(2020), 8th(2019), 10th(2021), 15th(2017)

Short-Handed Points - 1st(2021), 3rd(2016), 3rd(2017), 3rd(2019), 4th(2014), 5th(2011), 6th(2018), 10th(2015)
Short-Handed Goals - 1st(2014), 2nd(2021), 3rd(2011), 3rd(2016), 5th(2017), 9th(2019)

World Cup Points - 2nd(2017)
World Cup Goals - 1st(2017)

Play-off Points - 1st(2019), 6th(2011)
Play-off Goals - 2nd(2011), 5th(2019)
Play-off Assists - 4th(2019), 7th(2016)

5-Year Peak: 2016 to 2020
4th in Points, 90% of second place Patrick Kane
4th in Goals, 95% of second place Patrick Kane
11th in Assists, 87% of second place Blake Wheeler

1st in Short-Handed Points, 139% of second place JG Pageau
4th in Non-Power Play Points, 91% of second place Connor McDavid

8th in Play-off Points
6th in Play-off Assists

10-Year Peak: 2011 to 2020
13th in Points, 85% of second place Sidney Crosby
5th in Goals, 83% of second place Steven Stamkos

1st in Short-Handed Points, 147% of second place Patrice Bergeron
2nd in Non-Power Play Points, 92% of second place Patrick Kane

4th in Play-off Points
5th in Play-off Goals
5th in Play-off Assists

Scoring Percentages:
Even Strength Points - 91(2021), 88(2018), 85(2017), 85(2020), 77(2012), 77(2016), 75(2013), 74(2019), 72(2014), 63(2015), 52(2011)
Best 6 Seasons - 503

Owns very good scoring instincts and hockey sense. Is a world-class agitator and sparkplug type who plays way bigger than his 5-9 frame suggests. Is effective on special teams. Confident with the puck, he produces in the clutch. Plays over the edge sometimes.

 

[Dreakmur]

Pat Stapleton !!!


Awards and Achievements:
3 x Second Team All-Star (1966. 1971, 1972)

Dennis A. Murphy Trophy (1974)
WHA First Team All-Star (1974)
WHA Second Team All-Star (1976)

Norris voting - 3rd(1966), 4th(1971), 4th(1972), 7th(1970), 10th(1969)
All-Star voting - 4th(1966), 4th(1971), 4th(1982), 7th(1970), 8th(1967), 12th(1969), 13th(1968), 13th(1973)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points among Defensemen - 2nd(1969), 3rd(1966), 4th(1968), 4th(1970), 4th(1971), 6th(1967), 9th(1972)

Play-off Points among Defensemen - 1st(1971), 1st(1973), 2nd(1966), 5th(1968), 6th(1967), 8th(1972)


5-Year Peak: 1966 to 1970
3rd in Points among Defensemen, 95% of second place Brad Park
2nd in Play-off Points among Defensemen

10-Year Peak: 1964 to 1973
2nd in Points among Defensemen, 53% of first place Bobby Orr
3rd in Play-off Points among Defensemen


Scoring Percentages:
Points among Defensemen - 122(1969), 97(1966), 95(1970), 91(1971), 88(1968), 83(1967), 72(1972), 57(1973)​

Best 6 Seasons - 576

Stapleton was voted to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1966 and duplicated this honor in 1971 and 1972. He played with the Hawks until the end of the 1972-73 season and helped the squad reach the Stanley Cup finals in 1971 and 1973. His quick hands and lightning reflexes, combined with a hard, accurate shot, made him one of the more effective point men in the NHL. Defensively, he was a master of the poke-check and was able to consistently steer opponents away from the goal.

Stapleton and defense partner Bill White developed into one of the NHL's elite tandems. They were the key to the Hawks winning four straight West Division crowns, and in the 1972 Summit Series against the USSR they were teamed in seven of the eight games. Stapleton was on the ice when Paul Henderson scored the dramatic series-winning goal with 34 seconds left in the third period. Amid all the celebrations, he grabbed the historic puck, a treasure he preserves at home to this day. Stapleton and White were also known for their pranks that helped keep the Chicago and Canada teams loose.

He had become an outstanding defensive player, who did provided strong support for the Chicago goalies. "Whitey" was a very good puck handler who launched many Chicago offensive "counterattacks" with fast, accurate passes to the Black Hawk forwards.

He was named to Team Canada 1972 and went into the Canadian line-up to stay after the debacle of Game 1. Along with defensive partner Bill White, "Whitey" was probably Team Canada's finest defensemen during the series. He was always Head Coach Harry Sinden's first choice on defense when it came to protect a lead in the final minutes.

He was one of Head Coach Billy Harris's first choices for Team Canada 1974. Pat was named captain of the team and along with defensive partner J.C. Tremblay would be the defenseman Harris would use in almost every crucial situation. He played in every game of the Summit picking up 2 assists, and solidifying his reputation as being one of the finest players in the world.

As Chicago opened hostilities with Montreal this week for possession of the Stanley Cup, it was perhaps fitting that some of the Black Hawks' largest hopes lay with the smallest defense-man on the ice. What Chicago could not accomplish in the same situation in 1965 and 1971 with the bullets of Bobby Hull it was now attempting with teamwork and defense and the breakaways that could develop through the alertness of that defense. In the Chicago scheme of things no man was more important than 5'7" Pat Stapleton, the team's unfrocked captain but a most conscientious worker.

Although Stapleton was a dominant force in the game, his contribution was largely missing from the statistics. He was credited with one assist; in fact, he initiated the passing plays that led to each Chicago goal. And though officially he scored only six points in the five games with the Rangers, he was on the ice when Chicago got 12 of its 15 goals.

"Finding the puck was never any problem," mumbled Captain Vic Had-field of the Rangers. " Stapleton always had it. Trouble was, we couldn't get it away from him," Stapleton and lanky Bill White have formed hockey's best defensive pair the last three seasons, and in cup games they always play at least 40 of the 60 minutes. White contentedly anchors himself to the Chicago blue line, but the irascible Stapleton roves throughout center ice on search-and-destroy missions, anticipating plays and then darting in front of opposing forwards to filch the puck from them. "We completed more passes to Stapleton than to any of our own guys," mourned one confused Ranger.

Once Stapleton steals the puck he either headmans it to one of his streaking forwards or cruises to the opposition blue line and fires it at the goaltender. "Most people think I'm an offensive defenseman, but I'm not," Stapleton says. "An offensive defenseman is someone like Bobby Orr who carries the puck in deep. Me? I rarely, if ever, take the puck more than a stride or two across the blue line before getting rid of it."

"If Stapleton plays against Montreal the way he played against us," says New York Coach Emile Francis, "the Black Hawks will beat the Canadiens." Stapleton did his part in Sunday's opener in Montreal by firing lead passes that were converted into three Chicago goals. The defensive part of the equation didn't quite work out, though. After being up 2-0 and 3-2, in the end Chicago was routed 8-3 because it could not cope with the Canadiens' speed and close-in passes.

Regardless of how the Black Hawks ultimately fare against the Canadiens, there is a strong possibility that the 32-year-old Stapleton will not play for them next season. His relationship with Chicago management deteriorated after Coach Billy Reay snipped the captain's C from his jersey three years ago when he had the audacity to hold out for a better contract.

Hoping that Stapleton would grow a few inches, Boston sent him to Portland of the Western League for two years. "I learned how to play the game out there," he says. "I had always tried to muscle people and, of course, it never worked. In Portland I learned how to finesse them, how to box them away from the goal without getting run over." In his second season with Portland, Stapleton scored 29 goals and 57 assists and was voted the league's top defenseman.

Then he was named captain of the Black Hawks, a move Bobby Hull applauded by saying, "He is our inspiration."

Stapleton was paying his price in stitches. Doctors have sewn more than 600 of them into his face. "When you're little," Stapleton says resignedly, "you get a lot of sticks in your face that other players get in their chest." Pucks, too.

Valery Kharlamov, the star forward on the Soviet Union's national hockey team, said Tuesday he was impressed with the work of defencemen Brad Park and Pat Stapleton in the Team Canada-Russia hockey series last fall.

...He then noted that both Stapleton and Park saw "all the ice very clearly."

 

[ResilientBeast]

Mickey MacKay
​

1) In all games under eastern rules (Stanely Cup finals in 1915/1918/1921/1922) or the PCHA/WCHL finals prior to the end of the rover in the PCHA, MacKay played RW/LW (according to Trail, The Globe and Mail, and The Calgary Herald).

2) After Taylor retired, the Millionaires/Maroons lucked into getting Frank Boucher from out east. This coincided with the rover being removed from the PCHA. Mackay would spend his remaining time out west playing a little C (Boucher was the regular C), D (including in the 22-23 season for a sizable chunk) and W
1914-15 - C, eastern rules LW (according to Trail)
1915-16 - C
1916-17 - C
1917-18 - C, eastern rules RW/LW
1918-19 - R
1920-21- R
1921-22 - R, part time W. Eastern rules C
1922-23 - MacKay starts the season on D, plays about 8-10 games from there (early Nov-early Jan) before playing wing/RW regularly beside Boucher
1923-24 - W
1924-25 - W
1925-26 - W
1926-27 - Chicago is doing some weird stuff with their roster if you look at the personnel it kinda makes sense (when they get picked we can talk about it) C/W
1927-28 - W/C

Mickey Ion's 1925 All Star team selection notes the following
The Calgary Herald March 17, 1925

Ion selects his all-star lineup

Ion explains that the following team is selected purely on a competitive basis....
MacKay is shifted to center.....

As shown below in the statistics section, 3 of his strongest seasons he played wing

Awards and Achievements:
2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1915, 1929)

Bolded are from seasons he was definitely a winger
5 x PCHA First Team All-Star (1915, 1917, 1919, 1922, 1923)
3 x PCHA Second Team All-Star (1916, 1918, 1921)
WCHL First Team All-Star (1925)

Scoring:
PCHA Points – 2nd(1915), 2nd(1922), 2nd(1923), 3rd(1924), 6th(1917), 9th(1918), 10th(1916), 10th(1919), 10th(1921)
PCHA Goals – 1st(1915), 1st(1924), 2nd(1923), 5th(1922), 6th(1917), 9th(1918), 9th(1921), 10th(1919)
PCHA Assists – 1st(1922), 2nd(1915), 2nd(1923), 3rd(1916), 6th(1924), 8th(1921)

WCHL Points – 2nd(1925)
WCHL Goals – 1st(1925)

NHL Points – 13th(1927), 13th(1928)
NHL Goals – 12th(1928), 18th(1927)
NHL Assists – 8th(1927)

Following goals totals are courtesy of Trail Volume 1 when played under eastern rules
1915 Finals as a winger - March 24th 1 goal - Only game played under western rules
1918 Finals as a winger - March 20th 1 goal, March 26th 0 goals, March 30th 0 goals*
1921 Finals as a winger - March 24th 1 goal, March 31st 0 goals
1922 WCHL/PCHA as a winger March 11th 0 goals
1922 Finals as a winger March 17th 1 goal, March 23rd 0 goals, March 28th 0 goals

*Trail notes the following "Mickey was again the outstanding star and his play was reported as sensational"

I can't find a primary source crediting assists, but given the rules regarding forward passing and all the comments that note how the westerners were better at combination play when playing under PCHA rules I'm inclined to believe with modern rules MacKay would thrive.

Unless otherwise noted, he is listed at F (when C is listed) or across from a notable RW or LW while Frank Boucher is listed across from the C​

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]08 Mar 1923: 16.
Towards the close of the game the Cougars rallied and Frederickson, who had been dogged and checked to death by MacKay and Boucher finally outstripped his rivals by some fast skating and broke through…..

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]06 Nov 1924: 4.
Vancouver fans sat back and howled for forwards that could score while Skinner, Frank Boucher and the MacKay followed instructions to the letter, paid more attention to back checking than to attacking saw their goal averages suffer but the games won until the team found itself in the final for the Stanley Cup.

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]26 Mar 1921: 30.
….Scarcely a minute later MacKay hooked the rubber away from Nighbor……

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]13 Mar 1922: 12.
Cook, Duncan and MacKay herded the raiders into the trap and blocked them on some dangerous runs. They formed a wonderful trio in front of the Vancouver goal….
None of their (Vancouver) forwards wasted time or energy trying to fight their way through to the Regina cage and run the chance of the Caps breaking away and plunging past a weakened barricade.

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]09 Jan 1923: 14.
MacKay listed across from Lalonde just as F
The forwards back checked in amazing style and broke up play after play before it had hardly got underway. Without a doubt the Vancouver machine is the greatest that has ever appeared here…..

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]17 Feb 1925: 13.
The maroons continued their strong defensive tactics, seemingly content to the let the waves of prairie rushes break on the phalanx of Moran, Duncan and MacKay

The Calgary Daily Herald (1908-1939); Calgary, Alberta [Calgary, Alberta]20 Mar 1923: 16.
At the face-off Cy Dennny seized the puck and got as far as the Vancouver blue line where MacKay’s hook check cut short his progresss…Ottawa came back strongly with brilliant two men and three men attacks which went to pieces on MacKay’s defence.

08 Mar 1923

18 Dec 1925

the globe and mail 01 Apr 1921

March 20, 1923

January 22, 1925

 

[ResilientBeast]

Gordon Roberts
​

Overall stats

- Top-10 in goals 7 times (1st*, 2nd*, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd*, 8th, 9th) *-PCHA
- Top-10 in assists 3 times (2nd, 4th, 10th)
- Top-10 in points 7 times (2nd*, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd*, 5th*, 6th, 10th) *-PCHA

New quotes from the Calgary Herald

Feb 25, 1915

"The business of picking an N.H.A all star team
........Punch Broadbent of Ottawa and Gordon Roberts of the Wanderers are easily the pick of the wings....

Feb 22, 1912

"Checked to death" would be a fitting summing up of the disaster that befell the Frenchmen last night. A disaster which settles them more firmly in the cellar of the association, while at the same time giving the victors a clear lead in the race for the championship. Every man on the Wanderers team set out to hold his opponent and succeeded admirably, having enough speed to the good to score nine goals. In respect the work or Gordon Roberts was particularly credible. On the assumption that Canadiens were a one man team and that the key to their success was the work of Pitre, Wanderers deputed the big winger to put Didier in the bag. In this Roberts succeed, and kept the heretofore scorer tied up just as effectively as Marks did in the Quebec Game

Dec 5, 1912

Even in Montreal, in the ranks of the Wanderers Gordon Roberts a native of Ottawa, holds forth and shines like a meteor amongst a galaxy of stars. Toronto saw in Ottawa material that would make them holders of the Stnaley cup, and immediately tried to transplant half the available surplus hockey material to the cultured banks of the Don

New quotes from the Globe and Mail

Mar 05, 1914

Roberts and Hyland were the most effective of the forwards. The former while he tallied but one goal proved a stumbling block to the Toronto defence. His consistent back-checking spoilt may Toronto rushes.

Jan 18, 1916

Gordie Roberts strikes official with his stick
....
Wanderers played great hockey at times. With Odie and Sprague Cleghorn and Roberts as the outstanding stars, while Ottawa were off colour apparently suffering from the effects of the Saturday game against the Canadiens.

.....
Gerard scored for Ottawa from ...... side shot but Wanderers disputed the goal and Roberts struck Umpire Butterworth on the chin with his stick inflicting a nasty gash. He was not penalized....

Mar 09, 1910

Then minutes after the start of the first half Ray Millar and Roberts mixed things up, other joining in. Millar and Roberts were balanced for the remainder of the match

Jan 29, 1914
Listed at cover-point

Gordon Roberts was easily the best of the visitors. His shooting was deadly and Hebert in goal was caught napping several times on long shots from the side which lodged in the corner of the net. He was played on the defence by the Montrealers and even under this disadvantage was a decided improvement over several Wanderer defence men seen in action this season

Old quotes from TDMMs 2014 bio


Robert's shot was legendary (all quotes were in Nalyd Psycho's profile):

Gordie Roberts as he was known in the bygone days of hockey was probably the greatest left-hand shot the game ever knew. Some say Babe Dye or Harry Cameron were just as good as Roberts when with Toronto St. Pats. Others say Roberts stood alone.

All hockey addicts and who isn't, remeber Gordie Roberts who carried more smoke in his left hand than probably any hockey player that ever laced on a skate. Roberts was a great left wing, one of the greatest that ever shuffled down the left side and let fly without telegraphing at some hapless goal tend who crossed his path.

Clint Banadict once swore by the beard of his grandfather that Roberts could curve a puck and he always had that reputation.

He had a swaying style of skating and he hunched his shoulders as he loomed up before the defence and just let blaze a shoulder high shot that had a habit of streaking down below the waist.

Malcolm Brice, one of the brightest little men that ever tapped a typewriter in sport and a sport editor who stood at "tops" when he ran the old Free Press sheet here, always maintained Roberts had the hardest and most deceptive shot in hockey.

Roberts was big and strong. While he didn't have the temperament to get as violent as some of his contemporaries, he was not out of his element when things got rough:

Montreal boss George Kennedy told a story of a game against the Montreal Wanderers in which Pitre was being tripped and butt-ended by rugged winger Gordon Roberts.

Kennedy screamed at Pitre, "Are you afraid of Roberts?"

"No, sure not," was Pitre's surprised response.

"Well, why don't you hit him back?" Kennedy snapped.

"How can I hit back?" Pitre asked. "Roberts, he is very polite, very nice. Each time I fall, he helps me get up and apologizes and says it is an accident ... can I hit a man who is apologizing to me? No, never, it is not done."

(1911 NHA season) After the Wanderers' poor performance, their new owner Sam Lichtenhein was quoted as saying he would fire some of the players. Nobody was fired but Art Ross was signed and Gordon Roberts added some strength.

(1916 NHA season) Gordie Roberts continued his rough work and drew a match penalty and a $15 fine for cutting Frank Nighbor over the eye when the Senators defeated the Redbands on Feb 23rd. Roberts was greeted by a shower of bottles from Ottawa fans on his next visit to the Capital.

(1918 PCHA season) Ernie Johnson still played a rugged game that drew many penalties. In a game against Seattle, Roberts charged him and drew a penalty. Ernie automatically joined Roberts in the box and was more than surprised when referee Ion waved him back on the ice.

Horse-strong... one of the original power forwards... In a word: Fighter.

Roberts - A Power Forward?

A source of discussion in recent drafts has been whether Gord Roberts was a pre-merger power forward. Here is the evidence supporting this:

(quotes provided above)

Players who we call "power forwards" are usually bigger players, and they tend to put up more PIMs than the average finesse player. Let's look at Roberts' size and PIMs compared to other pre-merger star forwards:

Drafted pre-merger star forwards who played against Gord Roberts:

This was a sum of all PIMs earned in all regular season games in the ECAHA, ECHA, CHA, NHA, NHL, PCHA, WCHL, WHL, and playoff games for those leagues and Stanley Cup matches.

The "Top-3 in goals" column was added just as an indication of how many truly elite goal-scoring seasons each player had.

Conclusion: Roberts was 2 1/2 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than the average star forward in his leagues. He also took 39% more PIMs than the average star forward. Only two star forwards matched his height (Pitre and Crawford) and only three (Cleghorn, Broadbent, Pitre) exceeded his weight. Known "power forwards" Lalonde, Dunderdale, Broadbent and Adams had more PIM/GP than Roberts as well as the surprisingly gritty Harry Hyland. Roberts still finished 6th/20 in this category. (the chart is sorted by PIM/GP)

Aside from Lalonde, whose toughness is legendary despite his average size, Roberts' combination of size, physicality and goal-scoring prowess are unequalled among pre-merger star forwards.

Roberts seems to have been at least a plus defensive player

Ottawa was the defending Stanley Cup champions and, during the season, were challenged for the trophy by the Alberta champion Edmonton Hockey Club in January 1910.[5] The Ottawa Citizen described Roberts as being the star of the first game. The paper praised his defensive checking in addition to his four goals scored in an 8–4 victory.[6] He added three goals in the second game as Ottawa retained control of the Stanley Cup by a 21–11 aggregate score.[7]

Here are the quotes from the paper:

Every time the Westerners broke away they found either Walsh and Ridpath or Roberts and Stuart skating between them to intercept the pass or take the puck away. Coupled with this wonderful following back of the Ottawa forwards...

Gordon Roberts, the former Emmett player, however, was the real sensation of the night. Roberts stacked up against the great "Hay" Millar, and what he didn't do to the curly haired broncho buster from the wild and wooly isn't worth mentioning. Suffice to say that Roberts checked Millar to a standstill, and in addition notched no less than four of the Ottawa goals-a phenominal performance for a youngster. Roberts' stickhandling, his shooting and following back were beautiful, he driving two of Ottawa's goals past Winchester in the last half from very difficult angles.

Now being an amazing backchecker during one Stanley Cup final series doesn't mean he was that way for his whole career (and I doubt he was; otherwise the information would be easier to find). But I think Roberts can be considered a plus defensive player..

With a cherrypicker like Gordie Drillon on RW, I wanted a LW who was at least willing to backcheck, and I think Gord Roberts will do that.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Syl Apps, C

(building on previous bios and information by EagleBelfour, chaosrevolver, TDMM, Dreakmur and others)

"Syl Apps, the Maple Leafs' brilliant center, is a three-way player- on the attack, setting up plays and scoring. On defense, Apps is a remarkable back checker."


Height: 6'0"
Weight: 185 lbs
Shot: Left

Stanley Cup Champion 3 times (1942, 1947, 1948)

Hart record: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5
All Star Voting: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5
Lady Byng: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4

Calder Trophy: 1937
Retro Conn Smythe: 1942
Hockey Hall of Fame: 1961

Toronto Maple Leafs Captain: 1941-43, 1946-48
Missed 2 full seasons to WW2: 1944 + 1945
Missed 21 games in 1943 and 10 games in 1946 to WW2


Regular Season

Top 10 Finishes:
Points: 2, 2, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12, 12
Goals: 4, 5, 5, 6, 10, 11, 11, 12, 13, 15
Assists: 1, 1, 6, 6, 11, 14, 14,
Points Per Game: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8

VsX 7 year: 92.4


Notable Playoffs

1938 Cup Runner-up: 7 GP – 1G –4A – 5 Pts (t-2nd on Team/t-8th in NHL)
1939 Cup Runner-up: 10 GP – 2G – 6A – 8 Pts (2nd on Team/5th in NHL)
1940 Cup Runner-up: 10 GP – 5G – 2A – 7 Pts (1st on Team/t-3rd in NHL)
1942 Cup Win: 13 GP – 5G – 9A – 14 Pts (1st on team/ t-1st in NHL)
1947 Cup Win: 11 GP – 5G – 1A – 6 Pts (t-3rd on Team/t-8th in NHL)
1948 Cup Win: 9 GP – 4G – 4A – 8 Pts (3rd on Team/t-4th in NHL)


Quotations, Perspective and Contemporary Opinions:
​

Defense:

Early in his career Conn Smythe broke up the line of Jackson-Apps-Drillon because they were a poor line defensively - Jackson is dropped back a line and Drillon apparently would have been if a suitable replacement was available. However, there is no mention of Apps being a candidate to move back a line.

Breaks Up Line

Even before the fans had a chance to howl, Smythe had decided to do something about the Leafs' lack of back-checking, particularly on its high-scoring line of Harvey Jackson, Syl Apps and Gordon Drillon.

He has broken up the combination that has scored 39 of the Leafs' 96 goals this season, the trio that bagged almost half the Leafs' markers last season. Jackson is being dropped back to a line composed of the big left winger, Buzz Boll and Bill Thoms. Bob Davidson will move up to work with Apps and Drillon.

It is emphasized that Jackson is not the only culprit on the highest scoring line and that the only reason he is being dropped back is that a right wing substitute wasn't available for Drillon. It seems Drillon, the league's leading point scorer, is no more a two way man than Jackson.
....
But Apps, Drillon and Jackson were never quite the back-checkers Smythe wanted, and while they scored plenty of goals, the opposition got many, while the Dynamiters were on the ice. The shift will give the No. 1 line back-checking and add scoring punch to the 2nd line.

A couple of years later Cooney Weiland of Boston says he would have reversed the all-star selections and taken Apps over Cowley because Apps was a little bit better backchecker - which is a low standard to clear - but at least we can take from this Apps wasn't as poor. Cowley beat him by 20 points during that season!

Cooney Weiland, chosen by newspapermen of Canadian and Unitet States National Hockey League cities as coach for The Canadian Press all-star team released yesterday, said tonight he had been given a great - if mythical - team with which to work. Then he confessed that it differs a little from the squad he would have picked himself.

The Boston coach said he is an Apps-man. Throughout the balloting Bill Cowley of Boston and Syl Apps of Toronto monopolized attention in their battle for the center position. Cowley eventually was chosen, with Apps placed on the second squad, but Weiland said he would have reversed that order. "Both are marvelous attackers, but Apps is a little bit better back-checker." he explained.

A year later, perhaps due to the demands of Hap Day, Syl Apps is a described as a "three-way player":

...
Syl Apps, the Maple Leafs' brilliant center, is a three-way player- on the attack, setting up plays and scoring. On defense, Apps is a remarkable back checker."

Two years ago, Art Ross, manager of the Bruins, called Milt Schmidt of the sauerkraut line the greatest center of all time. He is Apps size and type, exceptionally fast, a dangerous scorer.

Playing through physical hockey:

In his first NHL season with the Leafs, he won the Calder Trophy, the first Leaf so honored, and his career continued to flourish. During that first year, many players thought he was too nice and not tough at all. Flash Hollett discovered this belief was mistaken one night when he high-sticked Apps, knocking out two teeth. Apps dropped his gloves and pummeled Hollett, but he got into only two other skirmishes in his whole career.

...
Coilville Impervious to Ice Bumping-off

That may be the A's plan tonight; but even if they could hold battered Johnson and little Ramrod Murray intact long enough to keep it up Dutton and his plotters would not have much faith in such tactics. Neil Coilville, like his rugged contemporary, Syl Apps of the Leafs - another high scoring pivot - can really take it.
...

Morenz was a forceful, driving skater with just enough meanness in him to work his way in for a lot of extra points. Apps is more complacent. Morenz used to leave a couple of men sprawled behind him and everybody else sore at him. The other night Apps went through to score a goal against Detroit with blood streaming from his face. I looked over to the Detroit bench and just about every player there work an expression that indicated he liked the remarkable way Syl performed the play.

Best Player / Value to the Leafs:

This National league season may see the anomalous circumstance of a player awarded the Hart tropy because he missed the last half ot eh schedule. The player is Syl Apps of Toronto, out with a broken leg since Jan 30. During the past three or four seasons Apps has been probably the most publicized player in the major league.
Many expert observers have said he is the best player in hockey today and some rate him with the all-time greats. Yet Apps has never won the Hart trophy, awared annually to the player voted the "most valuable" to his club. Last year, for example, Syl was an inspirational leader as Toronto won the Stanley Cup but the Hart trophy when to Tommy Anderson of the last-place Brooklyn Americans. Not that Cowboy Anderson didn't deserve recognition. He did.

Some voters may not consider Apps eligible for the trophy because he didn't finish out the season, but Baz O'Meara of The Montreal Star, says he cast his vote for Syl and explains: "We couldn't get away from Apps after noting the state of collapse that overtook the Leafs when he was forced to the sidelines."

...
Adams ranks the Maple Leafs as the most dangerous team after the Bruins. They finished second last season and their two youthful finds, Center Billy Taylor and Defenseman Walter Stanowski, will have the benefit of an additional year of experience. Of course they will not be harmed by the presence of Syl Apps, who Mr. Adams regards as the best hockey player he ever saw.

...
The loss of Apps is a serious blow to the Leafs. Named to the center position in the Canadian Press All-Star NHL team last season, he was on the way to an even greater winter and already had provoked a heated discussion among coaches and newspapermen about whether he is the best center of all time.

Maple Leafs' Coach Also Says Apps Greatest Player - Gives Judgement

Silver-thatched Dick Irvin, who played hockey against both Cyclone Taylor and Howie Morenz contended Tuesday night that "Syl Apps goes by the players faster than either of those centres ever did."

Irvin is Apps' coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He played centre opposite Taylor in Western Canada and opposite Morenz in the National league.

So Irvin deserves a voice in the controversy inspired by the declaration of Jack Adams, manager of Detroit Red Wings, that Apps is "the best player who ever had skates on."

"Here's my judgement," Irvin said, "and Taylor and Morenz have both gone by my in my day."

Means Something

"Syl Apps goes by the players of today faster than Taylor and Morenz went by me. That isn't the whole argument but it's something. As for comparing Apps directly with Taylor, that's almost impossible because conditions are entirely different. In Taylor's day there were seven men to a side and that made an entirely different sort of game. But anyone who is comparing Apps with Taylor and Morenz may be doing it a little prematurely. I'm sure Apps hasn't reached his peak. He is 10 pounds heavier today than ever before and is playing the best hockey of his career. Just give him another year, when he's 25, or two more, and watch him then." He called Apps the "picture player" and Taylor and Morenz great individualists. Those fellows weren't in it with Syl as a playmaker," Irvin contended. "Aurel Joliat got a lot of passes from Morenz, but nothing like the plays that Apps works with Gordon Drillon.

Morenz Standout

"I like to bring Morenz into the argument because he was such a standout among modern centres. Morenz was a forceful, driving skater with just enough meanness in him to work his way in for a lot of extra points. Apps is more complacent. Morenz used to leave a couple of men sprawled behind him and everybody else sore at him. The other night Apps went through to score a goal against Detroit with blood streaming from his face. I looked over to the Detroit bench and just about every player there work an expression that indicated he liked the remarkable way Syl performed the play."

At Boston Manager Art Ross of the Bruins went to bat for Eddie Shore, his great defenseman who is ending his playing career this season. "Shore, in my opinion, was the greatest hockey player of all time," Ross asserted. The Boston manager disputed claims of other National Hockey league managers that Syl Apps or Cyclone Taylor were the greatest as he came to bad for his mighty defence player. "I have seen most of the players others label as the greatest of all time," he said, "but none of htem could top Shore in any department of the game."

Eddie Greatest

"During the past 13 seasons I have seen Eddie do everything possible in hockey much better than any of the other 'greatests' could do. He was the fastest, the most aggressive, and on top of all his many other hockey gifts, he had a natural instinct to do the right thing at exactly the most opportune time."

Old timers, who saw Ross play at the beginning of the century, often have described him as the greatest defenceman of all time. Ross' stock answer has always been: "We had great hockey players in my day, much better than are around today, but when I compare myself with Shore, I am convinced I couldn't carry his stick, and I never saw anyone who could."

Lester Patrick Still Faithful to Taylor

Lester Patrick, manager of New York Rangers, took issue Tuesday with the statement of Manager Jack Adams of Detroit Red Wings that Syl Apps is "the best player who ever had stakes on."

Patrick said the Toronto centre undoubtedly is "the greatest in hockey today" but for an all-time ranking he still picked on top Fred "Cyclone" Taylor, the former Ottawa and Vancouver star now president of the Pacific Coast Hockey league. He mad that choice several years ago and Patrick said he had seen nothing to make him change his mind.

"When I pick Taylor ahead of Apps I'm taking into account not only their playing ability but their color on and off the ice," the Range boss added. "Taylor was just as fast, he was a great scorer and there was no comparison in the box-office appeal between the two. Taylor was one of the greatest drawing cards the game ever had. I don't think Adams ever say Taylor play. When Adams was playing, Taylor's career was finished. I think Adams' statement would have been more correct if he had said 'Apps was the greatest player he ever saw.'"

Perhaps never has a finer man played in the NHL than Syl Apps. A remarkably skilled hockey player, he was big and strong and possessed one of the best shots in the league. He never drank or smoked, never swore and was as loyal to his boss, Conn Smythe, as to his team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In his first NHL season with the Leafs, he won the Calder Trophy, the first Leaf so honored, and his career continued to flourish. During that first year, many players thought he was too nice and not tough at all. Flash Hollett discovered this belief was mistaken one night when he high-sticked Apps, knocking out two teeth. Apps dropped his gloves and pummeled Hollett, but he got into only two other skirmishes in his whole career. In 1941-42, he went the whole season without getting a single penalty and was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy for his gentlemanly play. At the end of that season, he led the Leafs to the most improbable Stanley Cup win in NHL history, a series against Detroit that he calls his career highlight. The Leafs lost the first three games of the finals to the Red Wings but somehow won the next four in a row to win the Cup, the only time this has happened.

Apps played on a line with Gord Drillon and Bob Davidson, and this unit quickly became the team's best line. He teamed with Harry Watson and Bill Ezinicki after the war, once again forming a powerful offensive unit. Watson and Ezinicki were ideal linemates for Apps because they could score goals and take advantage of Apps' ability to draw players to him before passing the puck.

Apps once crashed into the goal post during the 1942-43 season, breaking his leg. He missed almost half the season, and one day during his time off for his injury he went into owner Conn Smythe's office with a check for $1,000. "He was getting $6,000 for the season," Smythe recollected, "and he came to me and said, 'Conn, I'm making more than I deserve. I want to give you this check.' Well, I almost died of heart failure. Of course, I refused his check. I felt that anyone who thought in such terms was bound to square off what he thought was a debt the following season." At the end of that season, while in the prime of his career, he left the team to join the Canadian Army. There he stayed for two years until the war was over. When he resumed his career, he put the captain's "C" back on his sweater and promptly picked up where he left off.

"Apps had more to do with the image the Leafs in the 1940s as Canada's team - the good guys, the very good guys - than any other player," author Jack Batten wrote in his book "The Leafs in Autumn." "He looked so dashing on the ice, all that speed and skill. And off the ice, he was the last word in pure vessels, a teetotaler, a non-smoker, a Baptist steeped in moral propriety, the model team captain."

While there were several astonishing moments that spring, there was no surprise in the leadership of Syl Apps. He led the playoffs with 9 assists and tied with Don Grosso of the Red Wings with 14 playoff points. In the final alone, Apps scored 3 goals, assisted on 4 others and collected 7 points.
While the Conn Smythe Trophy was still more than two decades away from being introduced, a group of hockey historians with the Society of International Hockey Research (SIHR) judged that had there been such a trophy in 1941-42, it would have been presented to Syl Apps. He was named one of the Three Stars in four of the six semi-final games against the New York Rangers and helped turn the Stanley Cup final around with a goal and an assist in the pivotal fourth game and then scored two goals and added three assists in Toronto's 9-3 laugher over Detroit in Game Five.
Syl Apps enjoyed many pinnacles, but no finer moment than accepting the Stanley Cup on behalf of his Toronto Maple Leafs in the most dramatic comeback series ever to be played in the National Hockey League.

Playmaking:

He (Irvin) called Apps the "picture player" and Taylor and Morenz great individualists. Those fellows weren't in it with Syl as a playmaker," Irvin contended. "Aurel Joliat got a lot of passes from Morenz, but nothing like the plays that Apps works with Gordon Drillon.

...
Some of the critics have laid Drillon's great goal-getting feats in the past to passes provided by his team-mates, particularly his cenreman, Syl Apps, one of the game's great playmakers. This was in spite of the fact that Drillon has been improving steadily as a back-checker and a maker of plays himself.

...
The big question mark of the Leafs' hopes remain attached to the possibilities of Syl Apps taking his place between Gordie Drillon and Nick Metz to complete the line which has proved a nightmare to NHL goalies all season.

Syl Apps was the Bobby Orr of the pre-WWII era (except of course, that Bobby was a defenseman), and for some time beyond...long and lean, Syl developed a graceful skating style...thanks to Syl's crisp passes, Drillon led the NHL in scoring...

Speed:

Apps was renowned for his speed and grace as a player. He won the first NHL fastest skater competition in which the competitors had a flying start but carried the puck with them around their lap!

Apps and Lynn Patrick were the last two standing in a speed competition in the NHL in 1942. Apps ended up just barely beating Patrick.

Their times around the rink?

Lynn Patrick
Lap 1: 15s flat, Lap 2: 14 4/5s, Lap 3 (tiebreak): 15s flat

Syl Apps
Lap 1: 15s flat, Lap 2: 14 4/5s, Lap 3 (tiebreak): 14 4/5s.

A link to the Gazette article on the conest.


Misc:

I met a lot of important people: Winston Churchill, the Queen twice. But if anybody in this world had the right to think they were a little bit better than anybody else, Syl Apps did. But he didn’t. He was one of us. What a man.

"He's a Rembrandt on the ice, a Nijinsky at the goalmouth," Vince Lunny wrote in "Sport Magazine." "He plays with such grace and precision, you get the impression that every move is the execution of a mental image conceived long before he goes through the motions."

the greatest center I have ever seen

as fine a man as ever lived.

When you get into the stories of most players, they basically come off as human. They have their strengths and their faults, some tending more to one side than the other, as we all do. Syl Apps, though, reads as though he was something dreamed up by a comic-book writer. Tall, athletic, a beautiful skater with fantastic hands, he captained one of the most famous hockey teams on the planet to multiple championships. At the same time, he's the sort of ramrod-straight character who never so much as utters a curse word. He's Clark Kent as well as Superman. Jack Batten described him as "the Stainless Hero."

The six-foot, 185-pounds centre had a determination to go to the net. Apps was a clean player and would rarely display any temper, but woe to anyone who dared to challange him too strongly. His leadership skills were never more evident than when he led the Leafs back from a three-game-to-none deficit against Detroit.

Jack Adams, the Detroit manager, was particulary impressed with Apps whom he rated as even greater than Howie Morenz.

When one mentions the “prototypical” captain of a NHL team, the first name that often comes to mind for long-time hockey fans is Syl Apps…similarly, although Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur and Dave Keon are contenders for the title of the best skater in league history, once again, the choice of most experts is Syl Apps…Apps was a hard working but clean player, seldom putting his team at a disadvantage by taking penalties…in contrast, with that one do-or-die win under their belts, and Syl Apps’ highly focused leadership, the Maple Leafs were on fire…Apps’ skating abilities were legendary around the league. He was not only a graceful skater, he was also very fast…to raise funds to help him out, the Leafs held a contest at Maple Leaf Gardens to see who was the fastest skater in the league. Each NHL team sent their fastest skater to compete. Apps easily defeated great skaters like William “Flash” Hollett and Doug Bentley, to claim the crown as the NHL’s fastest man.

He represents what pro athletes should be. He was the Jean Beliveau of English Canada.

Everyone who ever wanted to play for the Leafs looked to Syl as their inspiration. He was a great, great man.

He is the greatest player ever to wear a Leafs uniform.

Syl Apps was probably the greatest player I ever played against. Syl was a player that you could concentrate on the game of hockey - you never had to worry about any dirtiness or anything like that.

I didn't realize how fast he could skate, the first time I played against him, and he got the puck at center ice and he came down, and he went by me on defense. Fortunately somebody went offside. He could really skate.

The Beliveau of his time - a smooth-skating, elegant player of extraordinary athletic ability, who had no fear of Smythe, and although he was highly skilled offensively, he spoke the defense-first gospel of coach Hap Day to his mates.

​

 

[BraveCanadian]

Paul Thompson, LW
(building off previous bios in the ATD)

Shoots: Left
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 180lbs
Born: 11/2/1906

Stanley Cup Champion 1928 (NY), 1934 & 1938 (Chicago)
NHL All-Star Team (2nd) 1936
NHL All-Star Team (1st) 1938
Hart Trophy Finalist 1938


Regular Season

7 year VsX: 82.6

4-Top 10 in goals: 3, 6, 7, 10
3-Top 10 in assists: 4, 7, 10
5-Top 10 in points: 2, 3, 8, 9, 10

2-Top 10 in ES goals: 8, 9
4-Top 10 in PP goals: 1, 1, 4, 7


Playoffs

Thompson was a meaningful contributor to the Blackhawks first two Stanley Cup championships:

1934 Stanley Cup Playoffs
T-3rd overall in Points (T-2nd on Team)
T-2nd overall in Goals (T-2nd on Team)
T-3rd overall in Assists ((T-2nd on Team)

1938 Stanley Cup Playoffs
T-2nd overall in Points (T-2nd on Team)
T-3rd overall in Goals (3rd on Team)
T-8th overall in Assists (T-4th on Team)


Quotations, Perspective, and Contemporary Opinions:
​

Early Career:

​

Thompson appears to have been a role player playing behind the Cooks and swapped to the right side. It was only when he got an opportunity to play more that he broke out:

...
There's the case of Paul Thompson, now considered the greatest left-winger in the National Hockey League. A few years ago, when the Cooks, Bill and Bun, and Frank Boucher were at the peak of their form, Paul was a member of the New York Rangers. He saw little action, only getting into games occasionally. Paul finally persuaded Patrick to sell him, and a deal was completed by which he went to Chicago. Ever since then, due to more action, he has been improving, until to-day he is an outstanding star.

Paul Thompson was one of the top players in the National Hockey League during the tough days of the 1930s. He led the Chicago Blackhawks in scoring six times in his eight seasons in the Windy City.

Often toiling on the second line notably with Murray Murdoch and Butch Keeling and sometimes with Alex Gray and Reg Mackey, Thompson's line always played second fiddle to the Frank Boucher-Bill Cook-Bun Cook trio that dominated the entire league in those days.

It wasn't until Thompson joined the Chicago Blackhawks that his offensive numbers took off. Traded for Art Somers and Vic Desjardins, Thompson slotted in nicely on the Hawks top line with Doc Romnes and Mush March. Thompson would twice top the 20 goal mark. In both of those seasons, 1934 and 1938, he led the Hawks to Stanley Cup championships.

A two time all star, Thompson totaled 153 goals and 179 assists for 332 points in his 582 game career. He would turn to coaching the Hawks in retirement, lasting 6 seasons.

"Paul Thompson was an excellent player," recalled former teammate Cully Dahlstrom. "He was great around the net and shooting the puck."

All around play:

Paul Thompson was a skillful left-winger during his 13 years in the NHL beginning in 1926-27. He was a well-rounded player who could check as well as contribute on offense in a career that yielded three Stanley Cups. The slick forward was also the younger brother of star netminder Tiny Thompson.

He was a solid role player for five years and helped the club win its first Stanley Cup in 1928. In October 1931, he was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks for Art Somers and Vic Desjardins.

Thompson hit the 20-goal mark twice during his eight years with the Hawks. In 1933-34, he formed an effective line with Doc Romnes and Mush March when Chicago won its first Stanley Cup. Four years later, he scored a personal-best 22 goals and notched four post-season markers to help the club win its second Cup of the decade. He retired during the 1938-39 season to coach the Hawks for the last 27 games of the schedule.

"Left wing goes to Paul Thompson of the Black Hawks. No doubt someone will ask, "Have you see the scoring averages lately?" Yes, Schriner is leading in both sections in scoring, but he's still a long way from being the hockey player that Paul Thompson is, to our way of thinking."

SWEENEY RISES
So it has come to a point where the names don't count. A sophomore from Calgary, Sweeney Schriner, of New York Americans, moved up to the head of the scoring in mid-January, although critics are hesitating to call Shriner a great player. They concede readily that he is a fast thinker, a deadly shot from close range.

Showing scant respect for the super-stars, Paul Thompson and Doc Romnes of Chicago Black Hawks, Bill Thoms and Buzz Boll of Toronto, Leroy Goldsworthy of Montreal Canadiens and other have come to establish themselves as equals. Little Aurel Joliet of Canadiens, veteran of 13 seasons is up with the leaders.

Only a year ago, Charlie Conacher was hockey's No. 1 individual. today he is top-salary man of the Leafs who is finding the going pretty tough. He shoots harder than anyone else, but he's checked harder than anyone else, too. He isn't as good a back checker as, for instance, Thoms, Boll, or Thompson.

"...it must be said that the selections of Cecil Dillon, Dave Schriner and Paul Thompson have been made only out of deference to their scoring records. Of the three, Thompson comes closest to being a team player, while Schriner is still a hockey player in the making. Of the three, Thompson is also the only one who gives conscious thought to his shots."

Not the easiest thing in the world to do is select a player to patrol the left wing when it is necessary to confine the selection to one and "Toe" Blake, Lyn Patrick, "Busher" Jackson, "Sweeney" Scheriner and Paul Thompsom loom up as candidates. The veteran of this group, and our choice for all-star rating is Paul Thompson, in his 12th year in the big time and spearhead of whatever attack the Chicago Black Hawks can be said to possess. A great team player, and a brilliant soloist when the occasion demands, Paul gets the call over the others for his day-in and day-out consistently good play.

Black Hawks exhibited a close, backchecking game as the first period opened. XXX and Paul Thompson fired long shots and then broke up Wing attacks with accurate pokechecks.

Conacher thought that when he went into the locker room between periods that I was going to go with him. [Along with linemates Paul Thompson and Butch Keeling] We shadowed them pretty good. When that line came on the ice, we had to go on against them.

...
Shore moved into step alongside "Dit" and when Paul Thomspon poke-checked the puck away from Aubrey Victor at the Chicago blue line, the Boston leader swooped on it.

Thompson scored 20 goals twice in Chicago and he scored 15 or more goals in 7 out of his 8 season with the Blackhawks. Thompson was a 2-time all-star but his biggest contribution during his playing days was being on both the 34 and 38 Stanley Cup winners in Chicago. Thompson was an all around good player that didn't shy away from any aspect of the game. He played physical, played in front of the net, and still had an excellent shot.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Bryan Hextall Sr., RW
(building off previous bios by BB, TDMM, and info from overpass)

Shoots: Left
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 180lbs
Born: 7/31/1913

Stanley Cup Champion in 1940
Scored the Championship Goal in Overtime
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969
All Star Team Finishes: 1st , 1st , 1st , 2nd (39-40, 40-41, 41-42, 42-43 in order)


Regular Season

7 Year VsX: 80.9
Top 10 Goals Finishes: 1st , 1st , 2nd , 5th , 5th , 10th
Top 10 Assist: 2nd
Top 10 Points: 1st , 2nd , 6th , 7th
Games Played: 1st , 1st , 1st , 2nd , 2nd , 2nd , 2nd , 2nd


Playoffs

Was second on the team in points and scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime (1940)


Quotations, Perspective, and Contemporary Opinions:
​

Hextall was a sniper, a punishing and durable power forward, and a willing combatant in the corner . Despite all his physical play, he took relatively few penalties. He was also a strong two-way player.

Hextall One of the Best Two-way Players

Coach Frank Boucher of New York Rangers calls his right wing star, Bryan Hextall, one of the greatest two-way hockey players to hit the National Hockey League in years. He points out that "Hexie" not only does a fine sniping chore, but is one of the toughest and most effective back-checkers in the game.

As any hockey player or fan who is the toughest fire-eater on ice today and they answer: "Bryan Hextall of the New York Rangers."

This Hex, as his friends call him, is really somthing in puck circles. Not only is he one of the National Hockey League's greatest right wings, but he is the most consistent scorer, and the leading "iron-man."

Bryan plays no favorites. He hands out more body-checks in a night than 99 per cent of the defense men. Nothing pleases him more than to get an opponent, preferably a well-proportioned one, in a corner and battle for the puck. Should the opponent choose to get rough you will invariably see Hextall skate out of the corner with the puck on the blade of his stick as his opponent slowly picks himself up from the ice.

There is no compromise in Hextall's makeup. He plays to win always. And he shoots just as hard as he checks. Bryan is the only player now in the game who has scored 20 or more goals in five conseecutive seasons, a feat comparable to batting .300 in baseball. He's well on his way to repeat the stunt for the sixth year.

Hex turned professional in Februrary, 1934, with the Vancouver Lions of the Pacific Coast Hockey league, and from his first start he has never missed a regular game, play-off, exhibition or practice.

The iron-muscled wheat farmer has played more than 550 NHL games. When the current campaign ends, he hopes to have worked in at least 580 skirmishes. That will mean his appearances in the first 21 contests next season will break Murry Murdoch's record of 600 consecutive league performances. "Mr. Durability" weighs 183 points, stands 5 feet, 10 inches tall and has particularly large bones, and he's plenty tough. Ask any pro hockey player.

...
Hextall, though playing on a club that has been hopelessly out of the running all seasons, is one of the truly great forwards in the NHL.

...
"That's when a power play is on," Lynn (Patrick) explaind. "Bryan gets a lot of his goals that way because he can really blast the puck without having to take much time to get set."

At 5-10, 195 pounds, Bryan Hextall Sr. was a bullish winger who could skate over an enemy defenseman without breaking stride. He played tough, but seldom fought. He didn't feel a man had to drop his gloves to prove himself on the ice.

Hextall was the best player on the best line in the league. Like Maurice Richard after him, he played his off wing, a LH shot on the right wing.

He had a late start, making the NHL at age 24. And he wasn't a star after 30 - he took two years off because of the war, and like many players his age had trouble getting back up to speed in the faster post-war NHL. As a result, he didn't have as many years as a star as some others - especially Bucyk and Shanahan - but he was a consistent scorer and an iron man during his short prime.

Hextall became a star in 1939-40 on the Rough House line with Phil Watson and Dutch Hiller. They played against other team's top lines all season, famously shutting down the Kraut line in the 1940 playoffs. Hextall led the league in regular season goals, and scored an overtime Cup-winning goal in the playoffs. He continued his scoring success in the next three seasons, forming the most dangerous scoring line in the league with Watson and Lynn Patrick.

1939-40 - The Rangers had three strong lines that played together all season. The team was incredibly healthy so changes weren't required because of injuries. All three lines scored at least 35 goals.


Hiller - Watson - Hextall (44 goals and checked top lines)
Shibicky - N Colville - M Colville (37 goals)
L Patrick - Smith - Macdonald (35 goals)

The lines were the same for the first half of the 1940-41 season, except that Alf Pike was in the lineup as a 10th forward and was in the mix with the third line. Phil Watson, who had been second to Cowley in league scoring for much of the first half, missed 8 games to injury and the lines became

Shibicky - Smith - Hextall
Patrick - N Colville - M Colville
Hiller - Pike - MacDonald

After Watson returned, he was back with Hextall on the top line, with first Shibicky and then Patrick. Hiller had a poor second half to the season and was banished to the third line and traded after the season.

Patrick played with Watson and Hextall in each of 1941-42 and 1942-43.

The two constants for the Rangers lines in Hextall's prime were:
1. Neil and Mac Colville played together
2. Bryan Hextall and Phil Watson played together.

Everything else changed at various times.

It's interesting that Watson was a RHS and Hextall a LHS, but Hextall played on his right. Can anyone think of any other great C-W combinations where they were on each other's backhands on the rush? Edit: I got one - Ovechkin and Backstrom.

He had a terrific burst of speed , was appropriately tough , and could stickhandle with the best of them.

Bryan Hextall was one of the highest skilled and most respected players ever to grace a sheet of NHL ice.

He was also one of hockey's hardest hitters. Herb Goren, a long time reporter for the New York Sun once said "He was the hardest bodychecking forward I had seen in more than forty years of watching hockey."

He scored 20 goals in 7 consecutive seasons back in the days when 20 goals was a benchmark of a very good player.

Hex may have continued on as the best right winger in hockey had his career not been interrupted by World War II. Hextall served in the Canadian military during the 1944-45 season. He would miss most of the 1945-46 season as well due to a serious stomach and liver disorder

The most famous goal Bryan scored immortalized him in New York sporting history forever, although he didn't know that at the time. Bryan scored the overtime winning goal of game six of the 1940 Stanley Cup game against Toronto

In 1939-40 and 1940-41 Hextall led all NHL snipers in goals scored. In 1941-42 he captured the Art Ross trophy as the league's leading point scorer. On four other occasions he was in the top ten of scoring. With three selections to the First All-Star team and another to the second All-Star team, it is obvious that Bryan Hextall was the dominant right winger of the era directly before the arrival of Rocket Richard and Gordie Howe.

He would become a permanent fixture with the Blueshirts the following year playing on his "off wing," many years before the tactic was to become common practice in the league. Hextall found that he had a better shooting angle, as a left-handed shot, by cutting in on goal from the right wing

Hextall was considered the dominant right winger of his day

Bryan Aldwyn Hextall was a key piece in the superb Rangers teams of the pre-World War II era that won the Stanley Cup in 1940

Bryan Sr. scored 20 or more goals in seven of his 12 NHL seasons. "A 20- goal season then was the equivalent of a 40-goal season today," Dennis Hextall said. "It was a different game. If you scored 20 then, you were a helluva player."

"Our father never talked about his career," said Dennis Hextall, now a manufacturers representative in Detroit. "He was a modest guy. If he had pushed himself (in the press) he could have been an NHL coach. But it wasn't his nature. He was low-key.

"Our father would come to our junior games," Dennis said, "and he'd curse us out if we fought. I had 20 goals and 20 major penalties (fighting) in one season. My father said, 'You'd have 30 (goals) if you didn't spend so much time in the box.'

"I told him, 'Dad, if something happens out there, I'm not gonna back away.' He understood, he just didn't like the cheap penalties. He said there was a difference between being tough and being dumb."

"He told me to quit taking dumb penalties," the Flyers' goalie said. "He told me to leave the fighting to the other players. I had a pretty short temper back then."

"He is a very clean-living individual and an excellent ambassador for professional hockey."

"I never realized how great my father was until I got to the NHL," Dennis Hextall said. "That's when I saw what it meant to be a first-team All-Star. He was the Gordie Howe of his era.

"I saw him play in a senior league back home (Manitoba). He was strong even then. He never slapped the puck, everything was with the wrists. He'd come in, snap those wrists . . . boom."

 

[Dreakmur]

Bobby Bauer !!!


Awards and Achievements:
2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1939, 1941)

3 x Lady Byng Trophy (1940, 1941, 1947)
4 x Second Team All-Star (1939, 1940, 1941, 1947)

Lady Byng voting - 1st(1940), 1st(1941), 1st(1947)
All-Star voting - 2nd(1939), 2nd(1940), 2nd(1941), 2nd(1947)

1942 Player Poll:
Bobby Bauer named Second Team All-Star

Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 2nd(1940), 7th(1947), 9th(1941), 16th(1938), 18th(1942)
Goals - 2nd(1947), 7th(1938), 8th(1940), 10th(1941), 16th(1939)
Assists - 4th(1940), 10th(1941), 14th(1947), 18th(1942)

Points - 5th(1946), 10th(1939)
Goals - 4th(1939), 5th(1946)
Assists - 8th(1946)


5-Year Peak: 1938 to 1942
11th in Points, 85% of second place Gordie Drillon
10th in Goals, 72% of second place Bryan Hextall
10th in Assists, 74% of second place Phil Watson


Scoring Percentages:
Points - 100(1940), 87(1947), 83(1941), 75(1938), 69(1939), 64(1942)
Best 6 Seasons - 478

World War II Factor:
1940 - 100
1941 - 83
1942 - 85 (per game)
1946 - 45 (per game)
1947 - 87

5-Year average: 80.0

Points - 100(1940), 87(1947), 85(1942), 83(1941), 80(1943), 80(1944), 80(1945), 75(1938), 69(1939)
Best 6 Seasons - 515

Bauer was almost identical in size to Cooney Weiland and the play of the slick and tricky winger resembled that of the former member of the "Dynamite Line" in many ways. He was a favourite of Art Ross who rated the "Krauts" line as tops.

Although a small player compared to his six-foot linemates, he could hustle and kept out of trouble as his penalty record shows.

Even though he was a skater, stick-handler, and play-maker par excellent, critics saw him as being a tad small for upper-level play.

The "Krauts" worked ideally together, despite being outwardly different. The eldest, Bobby Bauer was twenty-two years old, personable, poised, and the least self-conscious of the three when off the ice. Bobby was also smallest Kraut, at five foot eleven and 150 pounds, but this did not stop him from becoming the line's goal-getter, and his first season with the Bruins he netted twenty of them.

It was hard not to like Bobby Bauer, even if you had he misfortune of playing against the Kitchener Kid.

Bauer played the game according to Hoyle or whoever is was who wrote the rules that said THIS is the proper way to work in the National Hockey League.

He was an exemplary performer whose skill only was overshadowed by the fact that he played on the same line as his childhood chums, Mitl Schmidt and Woody Dumart.

....

Bauer emerged as the cleanest player of the group and had the silverware to prove it. He won the Lady Byng Trophy for good sportsmanship in 1940, 1941 and again in 1947.

Bobby Bauer successfully fused skilful play and sportsmanship during his 10 years with the Boston Bruins, earning much acclaim as the right winger on the famed Kraut Line with Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart.

The Kraut Line helped the Bruins dominate the NHL during the late-thirties and early-forties. Dumart, the line's leftwinger, owned a heavy shot. Schmidt, the centre, was a tenacious worker, equally adept at scoring, checking and leading the Bruins. Bauer, small by NHL standards at 5'6" and 155 pounds, was the clever playmaker.

Bobby Bauer was many things to many people. To his opponents of the late 30s and the early 40s, he was a gnat, a buzzing, flying, stinging gnat - too fast to swat, too tiny to hate and too skilled to ignore. To the Boston Bruins, he was the thinking part of the Kraut line.

He was always thinking and a very clever playmaker. Bobby was our team. He was my right arm.

....

I always maintained Bobby was the brains of our line. It's like winning the Stanley Cup all over again to have all three of us in there (the Hall of Fame).

He had a knack for getting between the boards and the opposing winger and making a play. He had a good shot, was a good skater and stickhandler and he had a way of finding holes. He and Milt would pass the puck back and forth. I got a garbage goals.

If you dumped him into the boards he bounced back at you like a rubber ball.

Bauer was the little professor, the guy whose brains made the link click.

​

 

[tinyzombies]

Some stuff on Finnigan's defensive prowess from the French papers (work in progress):

Finnigan

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

RW/D, Ed Westfall

(This is mostly just @BraveCanadian 's bio with the damage from the server migration cleaned up)

Career Highlights

Stanley Cup Champion - 1970, 1972 (Bruins)
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy - 1976-77
NHL All Star Games - 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975
New York Islanders first Captain - 1972-1977
*Retro* Selke 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72 (judged by Ultimate Hockey)

Vitals:
Position: RW/D
Shoots: Right
Height: 6-1
Weight: 197 lbs.
Born: September 19, 1940 (Belleville, Ontario)

Regular Season​

With his strong defensive background he quickly established himself as a top defensive forward, combining intellect and speed to shut down the opposition's top gunners. Later on his career, the Bruins added a feisty face-off expert in Derek Sanderson. Sanderson centered Westfall as the two combined to be one of the greatest defensive checking units of all time. The two especially excelled as penalty killers, something that was very necessary on the old Big Bad Bruins teams.

Greatest Hockey Legends.com: Ed Westfall

One of the best penalty killing forwards of all-time

Over the course of a 1226 game career, Ed Westfall killed 60% of his team's penalties, #2 all-time among forwards, for teams 14% better than average.

The only two post-1960 forwards who killed a higher percentage of their team's penalties were both centers:

Charlie Burns - 74% for teams 10% worse than average over 679 games
Don Luce - 66% for teams 19% better than average over 894 games

Most used wingers on the PK since 1960 (min 600 games):

Ed Westfall - 60% for teams 14% better than average
Craig Ramsey - 59% for teams 23% better than average
Don Marshall - 56% for teams 5% better than average
Bill Collins - 54% for teams 4% worse than average
Dave Tippett - 51% for teams 12% better than average
Don Marcotte - 49% for teams 20% better than average
Jay Pandolfo - 49% for teams 10% better than average
Bob Pulford - 49% for teams 6% better than average
Ron Stewart - 48 % for teams 4% better than average
Bob Gainey - 45% for teams 17% better than average
Eric Nesterenko - 45% for teams 14% better than average
Kelly Miller - 45% for teams 15% better than average

With his speed and ability while penalty killing, Westfall was always a threat to score while down a man.

Shorthanded Goals:
1964-65 NHL 2 (6)
1965-66 NHL 1 (6)
1967-68 NHL 2 (5)
1968-69 NHL 4 (2)
1970-71 NHL 7 (2)
1976-77 NHL 3 (6)

A converted defenseman, Ed Westfall became one of the best defensive forwards in the league and a standout penalty killer. He was also talented enough to reach the 20 goal mark three times.

Playoffs

An example of what Westfall could do to an opposing star forward (Bobby Hull) in the playoffs:​

(The Bruins make it into the Finals by defeating the Hawks)
...
The Bruins' Ed Westfall had another outstanding game guarding Bobby Hull of the Black Hawks. He held Hull to only 4 shots on goal and Hull failed to score. For the series, Hull, who had 38 goals in the regular season, was held to nine shots, no goals and two assists.
...

Quotations & Perspectives:​

The Boston Bruins are in last place in the National Hockey League, but they appear to have found a formula to stop scoring leader Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks.
The formula: assign Ed Westfall, a converted defenseman, as Hull's virtual skating partner whenever the Bruins play the first-place Hawks.
...
Boston coach Milt Schmidt assigned the rugged Westfall to shadow Hull in a desperation move early in the season. In the last four games, Hull hasn't been able to score when Westfall has been on the ice.
...
Hull who leads the NHL with 32 goals and 55 points in 31 games, became irritated with Westfall's defensive tactics and received three minor penalties in the second period.
...

The Tuscaloosa News - Google News Archive Search

(as a veteran captain of the young up and coming Islanders)
...
"Good old 18," he said, motioning towards a teammate. "I don't think there's anything that shakes the old guy. Sometimes he looks like he's just floating out there; he's so smooth."
Trottier referred to Ed Westfall, a right winger who was playing junior hockey when the 20-year-old center was born.
...
"The old guy's still got some jets, doesn't he? Can you believe the way he broke away for that second goal?" Trottier asked.

Reading Eagle - Google News Archive Search

...
We had Eddie Westfall to stop Hull, something Eddie does better than anyone in the NHL. Eddie is smart. He doesn't aggravate Bobby. He doesn't stay too close to him. He circles around, but always is in position when Hull gets the puck.
...

...such ace penalty killers as Derek Sanderson and Ed Westfall...

Lewiston Evening Journal - Google News Archive Search

...And they lost Eddie Westfall, who with Sanderson formed the best penalty-killing unit this side of Valeri Kharlamov and Vladimir Petrov...

A handyman who can play either defense or up front...Teams with Sanderson to give Bruins an expert penalty killing team that set a league record for shorthanded goals last season...A fine checking forward who often inherits defensive assignments against high scorers like Chicago's Bobby Hull...Not a fast skater but is always working...Enjoyed his best scoring season last year with 25 goals-seven more than he ever had before-and 59 points, 17 more than ever before...Likes his role as a defensive specialist on the power-packed Bruins

One of the best penalty killers in NHL and not a bad right wing when taking his regular turn either...Vital cog on two Stanley Cup champion teams in last three years at Boston...Surprisingly left exposed in expansion draft when Bruins chose to protect youngsters instead...Came up to Bruins as a defenseman and can still take a turn there if needed...Defensive specialist who does a workmanlike checking job

A two-way player who is always a two-way captain, as Islanders' leader and pilot of his own plane...Takes pride in being club's elder statesman, although he says, "I look at all these kids we have and wonder where the last 12 years went,"...Scored seven shorthanded goals with '70-71 Bruins, has six Stanley Cup shorthanded goals.

Smart, poised veteran of 16 NHL seasons...Respected by teammates and rivals alike as true professional...Leads by example...Gave up Islanders' captaincy last season..."I felt I was being a good captain by stepping down because we're a young team and need a young captain," he says...Outstanding penalty killer, faceoff specialist, defensive forward...Can play right wing, center or defense...Has no immediate plans to retire..."When the top of the hill seems too far to climb, then I'll know it's time to retire," he says...

Class guy who has been described with every positive adjective...Remarkably conditioned despite 17 NHL seasons behind him...Still a superb penalty killer and more than an occasional right wing...Also top player at getting faceoffs...Has played every position but goal during career

...
Islander Captain Eddie Westfall and penalty-killing mate Lorne Henning shut out the vaunted Philadelphia power play...

With the emergence of Potvin, who scored 31 goals and 67 assists and won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman; the dazzle of the young line of Billy Harris, Clark Gillies and Rookie of the Year Bryan Trottier; the goaltending of Resch and Smith, who together yielded only 190 goals, second to Montreal; and the steadiness of Hart, Bert Marshall and Eddie Westfall, the once-abominable Islanders moved into the 100-point class last season. "People think we need a 50-goal scorer to win the cup," Hart says, "but I'm not so sure. We've got guys like Harris and Gillies who can score a lot—and a lot of guys who can score a little. The key is how we react now that we're no longer an underdog."

...Hull is pretty much accustomed to being followed about the rink. All season long he had been shadowed by experts like Claude Provost of Montreal and Ed Westfall of Boston....

 

[Voight]

Nicklas Backstrom

Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (2018)

Winter Olympics Silver Medal (2014)
World Championship Gold Medal (2006, 2017)
Viking Award - Best Swedish NHL Player (2009, 2015)

Hart voting - 9th(2010), 9th(2017)
Selke voting - 7th(2017), 10th(2010), 11th(2015), 12th(2016)

All-Star voting - 3rd(2017), 4th(2010), 6th(2015), 8th(2016), 9th(2009)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 4th(2010), 4th(2017), 6th(2018), 8th(2014), 9th(2009)
Assists - 1st(2015), 2nd(2017), 3rd(2009), 3rd(2010), 3rd(2013), 3rd(2014), 7th(2016)


Playoff Points - 3rd(2018), 9th(2009)
Playoff Assists - 2nd(2018), 7th(2009)

5-Year Peak: 2007 to 2012
16th in Points, 82% of second place Henrik Sedin
6th in Assists, 87% of second place Joe Thornton

5th in Power Play Points, 87% of first place Alex Ovechkin

**Missed half of the 2011-2012 season**

10-Year Peak: 2008 to 2018
5th in Points, 89% of second place Sidney Crosby
2nd in Assists, 98% of first place Henrik Sedin

2nd in Power Play Points, 95% of first place Alex Ovechkin

5th in Playoff Points
8th in Playoff Assists

The 22-year-old Swede signed a 10-year, $67 million deal Monday, a major investment in a player who has rapidly developed into one of the best centers in the NHL.

So how to evaluate someone’s season without the input of that someone himself? Numbers seem a reasonable place to start. For the first time in his career, Backstrom led the NHL with 60 assists. His 78 points ranked sixth, his 1.96 points-per-60 minutes at even strength led the Capitals and 53.9 percent shot-attempt rate graded second on the team, his best personal total since 2010-11.
He recorded Washington’s only hat trick of the season, against current Eastern Conference finalist Tampa Bay on Dec. 13 at home. He moved into first place on the Capitals’ all-time assists list, passing both Alex Ovechkin and Michal Pivonka with two on March 15 against Boston. On the same day he skated in his 500th career NHL game, he logged his 500th career NHL point, a milestone only five active players have reached faster. He did not, however, earn his first All-Star Game appearance.

“What doesn’t he do well?” Trotz said in March. “Not a whole lot. He’s one of those guys that’s so under-the-radar, he’s so efficient that sometimes you wonder, he just blends in, then he gets the puck and good things happen … He’s very efficient and very good. He’s quietly one of the leaders of our hockey team that doesn’t get a lot of praise.”

Backstrom is the only active player in the NHL that has recorded at least 50 assists in six consecutive seasons. Last season, he became the 26th player in NHL history and one of two active players (Joe Thornton, San Jose) to accomplish this feat. Of the 25 other players to reach this mark, 23 are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The other two, Thornton and Henrik Sedin, are not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame. Additionally, Backstrom is the only player in the NHL to record at least 20 goals and 50 assists in the last four consecutive seasons. Backstrom's 0.69 assists per game mark since 2014-15 are tied for fourth in the NHL among players with at least 100 games played during that span. In addition, his 668 career assists rank fourth among active players.

Since his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2007 against the Atlanta Thrashers, Backstrom leads the NHL with 668 assists despite ranking 17th in games played during that span. Additionally, Backstrom's 295 power play assists rank first during that span and his 368 power play points rank second only to Ovechkin's 389. Backstrom's 295 power play assists are tied for 40th on the NHL's all-time list. Backstrom has assisted on a franchise-high 255 of Ovechkin's 686 goals (37.2 percent). Only three players in NHL history have set up a teammate more: Wayne Gretzky (364; Jari Kurri), Bryan Trottier (310; Mike Bossy) and Henrik Sedin (280; Daniel Sedin).

In 60 international games for Sweden, including the World Championship (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2017) and the Olympics (2010, 2014), Backstrom has recorded 42 points (12g, 30a) to help Sweden win two World Championship Gold Medals and an Olympic Silver Medal. He ranks fifth in NHL history in assists among Swedish-born players and seventh in points.

 

[Dreakmur]

P.K. Subban !!!


Awards and Achievements:
Olympic Gold Medalist (2014)

Norris Trophy Winner (2013)

2 x First Team All-Star (2013, 2015)
Second Team All-Star (2018)

Norris voting - 1st(2013), 3rd(2015), 3rd(2018), 14th(2014), 14th(2016)
All-Star voting - 1st(2013), 2nd(2015), 3rd(2018), 13th(2014)

Offensive Accomplishments:
Point among Defensemen - 1st(2013), 2nd(2015), 6th(2014), 6th(2018), 9th(2016)
Power Play Points among Defensemen - 1st(2013), 6th(2018), 8th(2014), 8th(2016), 9th(2015), 16th(2017), 20th(2012)

Play-off Points - 4th(2014), 5th(2017), 7th(2018), 10th(2010)


5-Year Peak: 2013 to 2017
2nd in Points among Defensemen, 79% of first place Erik Karlsson
3rd in PP Points among Defensemen, 97% of second place Kevin Shattenkirk

2nd in Play-off Points among Defensemen

10-Year Peak: 2011 to 2020
8th in Points among Defensemen, 95% of second place Keith Yandle
3rd in PP Points among Defensemen, 84% of second place Erik Karlsson

5th in Play-off Points among Defensemen


Scoring Percentages
Points among Defensemen - 119(2013), 100(2015), 88(2018), 87(2014), 77(2016), 68(2012), 63(2017), 61(2011)
Best 6 Seasons: 539

Ranked 23 among all players and 6 among defensemen

The 2013 Norris Trophy winner won on the strength of his offensive and physical tools. Now he has to show he can play the truly hard minutes like the penalty kill and log big ice time.

Ranked 13 among all players and 4 among defensemen

His ability to make a difference in games has been well documented. Nobody soaks up the limelight better than Subban, and few players excel in it as spectacularly as he does.

Ranked 22 among all players and 6 among defensemen

Nobody embraces celebrity in the fishbowl that is Montreal better than Subban. What's even better is he wants to be a difference maker on the ice and relishes the challenge of big games.

Ranked 24 among all players and 4 among defensemen

He hits hard, shoots hard and skates effortlessly. Subban is one of the biggest personalities in the game, be he backs it up with his play in both ends.

Playing Time:
TOI - 1st(2012), 1st(2015), 1st(2016), 2nd(2013), 2nd(2014), 2nd(2017), 2nd(2018), 2nd(2020), 2nd(2021), 3rd(2011), 4th(2019)
ES TOI - 1st(2014), 1st(2015), 1st(2016), 2nd(2012), 2nd(2020), 2nd(2021), 3rd(2017), 4th(2011), 4th(2013), 4th(2018), 4th(2019)
PP TOI - 1st(2014), 1st(2015), 1st(2016), 1st(2018), 2nd(2011), 2nd(2012), 2nd(2013), 2nd(2017), 2nd(2019), 2nd(2020), 2nd(2021)
PK TOI - 1st(2016), 3rd(2011), 3rd(2012), 4th(2015), 4th(2017), 4th(2018)​

P.K. Subban is a spectacular puck-moving defenseman who can take big influence on a game with his end-to-end rushes. Is a very good skater and is able to shake of fore-checking forwards with quick stops or sharp turns and decent puck-control. Possesses a hard and accurate slap-shot, which is especially on the power play a weapon. Battles hard on every shift, but discipline is an issue as he takes stupid and often badly-timed penalties.

Has outstanding skating ability and excels at rushing up ice with the puck. Can quarterback a power play and also initiate a lot of contact. Displays a flair for the dramatic. Shoots the puck with aplomb and also gets under opponents' skin. Is adept at playing a shutdown role. Needs to simplify his game, since he has a tendency to run around in his own end from time to time. Also tries to do too much with the puck. On-ice antics may at times annoy his own teammates and the coaching staff. Could stand to become a bit more disciplined on the ice.

 

[Dreakmur]

Artemi Panarin !!!


Awards and Achievements:
First Team All-Star(2020)
2 x Second Team All-Star (2017, 2023)

Hart voting - 3rd(2020)
All-Star voting - 1st(2020), 2nd(2017), 2nd(2023), 3rd(2021) 4th(2016), 5th(2018)

IIHF Best Forward (2017)
IIHF All-Star (2017)
2 x IIHF Top-3 Players(2015, 2017)

KHL First Team All-Star(2015)

Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 2nd(2020), 4th(2024), 9th(2016), 11th(2017), 11th(1922), 13th(2021), 17th(2019), 17th(2023), 20th(2018)
Goals - 6th(2024), 13th(2020), 19th(2016)
Assists - 2nd(2020), 4th(2022), 8th(2021), 10th(2023), 11th(2024), 13th(2019), 15th(2016), 16th(2018)

Even Strength Points - 1st(2020), 5th(2017), 6th(2024), 7th(2018), 7th(2019), 9th(2016), 10th(2021), 18th(2022)

World Championship Points - 1st(2017), 2nd(2016), 12th(2015)
World Championship Goals - 3rd(2016), 8th(2015)
World Championship Assists - 1st(2017), 3rd(2016)

KHL Points - 4th(2015), 11th(2014)
KHL Goals - 5th(2015), 9th(2014)
KHL Assists - 6th(2015)

KHL Play-off Points - 3rd(2015)
KHL Play-off Goals - 9th(2015)
KHL Play-off Assists - 1st(2015)


5-Year Peak: 2016 to 2020
6th in Points, 89% of second place Patrick Kane
15th in Goals, 80% of second place Patrick Kane
5th in Assists, 90% of second place Blake Wheeler

3rd in ES Points, 96% of second place Connor McDavid


Scoring Percentages:
Even Strength Points - 108(2020), 92(2018), 87(2016), 87(2024), 86(2017), 86(2019), 76(2022), 75(2021), 74(2023)
Best 6 Seasons - 622

KHL Credit:
2015 - 4th in scoring, we'll say that's equal to 150th in the NHL, which would be a score of 47%
2014 - 11th in scoring, we'll say that's equal to 350th in the NHL, which would be a score of 24%

Adding those to his 5 NHL scores and 1 partial NHL season. he ends up with a 7 season score of 84.3




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Panarin is deadly thanks to his shot, his creativity and his intelligent two-way play.

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Is a supremely skilled winger who oozes creativity and is equally adept at setting up linemates and finishing off plays himself. His puck skills are off the charts and his shot is wicked. Is a true game-changing talent in the NHL. Does not have ideal size for the National Hockey League game, so he could stand to add more bulk and get physically stronger in order to continue to thrive at the highest level over an extended period of time.

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