Eddie was truly an entertainer and a character in the game. Off hand I can't think of anyone like him in today's game. Clear the track!
Eddie is somewhat remembered by many as a sort of class clown, a fringe player and glove dropper, and yeah that was certainly part of who he was. He was so much more though, he was a true glue guy on those 60's cup teams, yeah he dropped the mitts when needed but he could score and broke 20 goals 5 times in his long career, he scored the winner in the 63 finals. He was one of the best skaters the Leafs had in those days and maybe ranked top 20 on the blades in the entire league. The guy came to play every night even the nights Imlach would bench him for clowning either on the bench or in the room before games or in between periods. If he was benched Eddie would come out early onto the freshly Zambonied ice and do a figure skating routine, this got him the moniker "The Entertainer," Imlach would be blowing a gasket at that stuff, the Gardens crowd would eventually start the "we want Shack" chant and wouldn't let up until Imlach relented and put Eddie in. The end result was almost always a goal and a Leafs team that suddenly came alive.
George Armstrong told a story of how it used to drive Imlach nut's that Eddie was a bit of a free wheeler when playing his regular shifts, coming off his wing to chase a puck carrier or crossing over to the opposite wing or centre postion on breakouts. So Imlach had a red line painted 12 feet off the boards for practice and told Eddie that he had to no matter the circumstances stay within that line. Eddie complied and did his best to give Punch what he wanted. After a week or so the coach finally put Eddie back in the starting line-up on his regular line with Army and Ron Stewart. On his first shift Eddie crossed the ice in the attacking zone to make a hit. Imlach was incensed and benched him for the rest of the period. During the intermission, Imlach still fuming tore a strip off of Eddie and demanded to know why he came off his wing, Eddie with a perfectly straight face looked up at Imlach and said "gee coach I didn't see any lines out there!" of course it cracked up the dressing room and kept the team loose.
Eddie couldn't sign his first pro contract nor his 2nd or 3rd, but eventually learned to both read and write and eventually became a staunch advocate for childhood literacy here in Canada.
I was lucky enough to meet him a few times and even have a pop or two with him, he was a really good guy and a lot of fun.
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Stutzle, you'd then have your own Mitch Marner but with elite speed