Great american players pre-1980

[Danny46]

It is undeniable that the USA olympic gold in 1980 was responsible for the number of great american players that came after, inspiring a lot of americans in playing hockey. But I wanna know is who were the best american hockey players before 1980? I know Frank Brimsek story but not a lot more...

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[MXD]

Cecil Dillon. Then Rod Langway, who may, or not, fit the 1980 deadline.

 

[Pominville Knows]

Robbie Ftorek at least peaked before 1980, but is more of an honorable mention i guess. He showed a little during his injury plagued career in the NHL after his WHA days that suggests he might have been a 90 point player if he had spent his best years in the NHL. Instead he was a four time end-of-season all-star in the pirate league, and once the MVP.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Mark Howe was born in the States, Michigan...not sure if he counts.
A few guys played for the Olympic teams but I'm not familiar enough with them, or in the case of Herb Brooks and John Cunniff I only knew them as coaches. Maybe brothers Roger and Bill (father of Dave, grandfather of Brock Nelson) Christian? *side note, they started the Christian brothers stick company.
Gary Sargent looked like he had a brief career (back problems) but decent numbers.

 

[JackSlater]

I don't know that there were any great American players before 1980 outside of Brimsek. Even Dillon was raised primarily in Canada. Ftorek and McNab were quality players by 1980 at least and Howe was on his way to being great. I also don't know that the 1980 Olympics was exactly responsible for the great generation of Americans that followed. I've read that Orr and his impact in the New England region was a big factor, and looking at when the American stars of the 90s grew up they clearly would have begun playing hockey before 1980. I don't doubt that the 1980 Olympics encouraged those players to continue with hockey and did generate some bump in American player production down the road.

 

[sr edler]

Hobey Baker, Raymie Skilton, Coddy Winters. I don't buy that Joe Linder was that good, by the way, but perhaps he was.

 

[decma]

Maybe not great, but Reed Larson was pretty good.
Paul Holmgren as well.

 

[tony d]

Really wasn't that many great American players before thee 80's and the Gold win. The good ones have all been mentioned.

 

[Doctor No]

Mike Curran may not rise to the level of "great", but he's definitely underrated primarily because he played in the WHA instead of the NHL.

 

[Spirit of McMullen]

Robbie Ftorek at least peaked before 1980, but is more of an honorable mention i guess. He showed a little during his injury plagued career in the NHL after his WHA days that suggests he might have been a 90 point player if he had spent his best years in the NHL. Instead he was a four time end-of-season all-star in the pirate league, and once the MVP.

Yeah good point about the injury issue. Had a good initial jump to the NHL and then like 1 decent season right after.

But as far as any possible legacy, other than being a hot head coach with several teams, he will definitely not be know as being a friend of the pine:

 

[VanIslander]

Mr. Zero was the one.

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

John Mayasich and Bill Cleary from the 1960 gold medal team.

Moose Goheen is a hall-of-famer.

 

[ForsbergForever]

Bill Nyrop was a great defensive defenseman with the Habs from 1975-1978. He was also captain of Team USA for the 1976 Canada Cup. It's a shame he retired so young and then died so young as well.

 

[Ofuzz]

Tom Williams had a solid career with the Bruins in the 60's before spending his last few years with expansion teams in Minnesota/California and finally the hapless Capitals. 430 points in 663 games. Born in Duluth.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Some from the 1930s and 1940s. Mike Karakas, Doc Romnes, Carl Voss, Cully Dahlstrom (Calder Trophy), Bill Moe. Taffy Abel in the 1920s was the first American to make it as a regular.

 

[The Panther]

Hobey Baker is yer man.

 

[Big Phil]

Brimsek was already mentioned, but if you want to get a glimpse into how many great American players there were in the 1970s the best barometer might be to look at the roster of their 1976 Canada Cup team.

The best names there are Robbie Ftorek, Craig Patrick, Lee Fogolin, Mike Milbury..............so yeah, not really a bunch of house hold names and most of them were better known for what they did after their playing careers. Milbury is still probably best known to this day for beating a fan with a shoe as well as his Islander timeline as GM.