There was only one Eddie Shore. Probably best described as the Ty Cobb of hockey. No one today or in the intervening years compares to him. They broke the mold when they made him and it wasn't accidental.
Absolutely fearless and tough as nails is an understatement. The outstanding player of his era and probably the meanest of all time. There are all kinds of tales about him. Unlike a lot of legendary figures, most of the Shore stories are true.
Made as much as $7500 bucks a season when the average player was lucky to get half that much, still pretty good coin in the thirties. Lost every tooth in his head and picked up over 700 staitches on his face alone. Sewed his own ear back on when he was unsatisfied with a doctor's work. Used cocoa butter to get rid of scars, a secret he shared with Johnny Bower, who swears it works.
Not a sociable fellow at all. One teammate (there are still a few around) told me that the team would go one way after a game in search of cigars an saloons and Shore would go the other, alone. Didn't like or seek out human contact.
Knew where the real money was to be had and bought himself a hockey team and decided he was going to run it, play for it and still suit up for the Bruins, something that didn't go over well with the Boston organization. Was traded to the NY Americans, left the NHl shortly after that to run the Springfield Indians of the AHL.
Shore ran his teams (owned at least four of them over the years, some concurrently, in a number of leagues) in much the same way that third-world countries have been run, as an absolute dictatorship. He was the absolute ruler and what he said went, no matter what the subject at hand may have been.
He knew it all and did it all. Sold tickets and parked cars in full uniform, dashing into the rink in time to put his skates on and play the blue line. Collected players, often having close to two fulll rosters worth under contract. He knew everything about the game and was not one to tend towards modesty. Coached the team and put his ideas to work. Had the guys tapdance to improve balance and mobility. Insisted that the only way to skate was his way.
He knew how to manipulate players too, well, in the chiropractic sense of the word. more than one player was rushedd to certified medical practitioners following Shore's massaging. Also administered a powerful panacea known as Martel's Solution. Ken Schinkel was the unfortunate recipient of a half-dose after he was foolish enough to admit to being under the weather in Shore's presence. He lost 14 pounds overnight, in a manner that could be put through the eye of a needle.
Always addressed his players formally. No first names or nicknames. Always Mr. This or Mr. That. Knew when the wives got in the way too. On one occasion he summoned them and told them that they were being too generous with the "favors" they granted their husbands and ordered them to stop being quite so accomodating.
One player, after a championship season where he led the team in scoring went in to "negotiate" his contract for the upcoming winter expecting a raise of some kind after the season he'd put in. Shore began the debate by saying "Mr. Soandso, how much am I going to cut you this year?".
To save money on hotels his team would aften dress on the train and take a cab to the rink from the station. They'd play the game and cab it back to the train station, still in their uniforms. Always tight with his money, Shore refused to tip cabbies more than 15 cents. In pretty short order cabbies learned to shun the Indians. no problem, decided Shore. The streetcar was even cheaper than a fleet of cabs. Twenty guys in full battle dress and the team gear was loaded onto the public transit system on more than one occasion.
Shore was responsible or the appearance of the no-trade contract when players began insisting that they have it written into their agreement that they couldn't be sold or traded to Shore. You'll notice that I didn't say Springfield. Having spoken to numerous guys who played for him I've noticed that while they were trade to another team or signed with a particular organization or had their contract bought by another outfit, it was almost always "then Eddie Shore bought me" as if the middle years of the last century were still an era when one man could own another.
One guy said " I played for Eddie Shore for four years. Some guys were unlucky, they stayed a little longer.
Players were suspended without pay on a whim, Guys not dressing had to perform other functions for the team. selling tickets, changing light bulbs and blowing up balloons were some of the more pleasant reassignments. Every now and then the circus would come through town, or an ice show( He owned a big chunk of either The Ice Capades or The Ice Follies at one time). Cost money to hire a spotlight operator or someone to clean up after the elephants. Why waste it on salaries when there were perfectly good hockey players hanging around?
The way Shore ran his chattel came to a head when his squad went on strike, refusing to play another game until things changed. They hired a young Toronto lawyer to plead their case. Alan Eagleson later went on to some notoriety in hockey circles.
Well into his fifties, Shore would regularly take to the ice in practice, inflicting embarrassing lessons and no small amount of bruising on players half his age. In his early seventies he got into a fight with a guy less than half his age at the NHL meetings, reprtedly winning the fight on a decision.
Most of the guys who I've been fortunate enough to speak to who did time with Shore did not like the experience. Many of them credit Shore with making NHLers of them, insisting that they improve when other coaches had given up on them. He also had a lot of his guys go on to coach in the NHL.
He did allow local kids to skate for free one afternoon a week.
Hope this helps you get a bit of a picture of Eddie Shore. About all I can remember without consulting research materials.