ATD 2014 - the Bios Thread

[BillyShoe1721]

W Dany Heatley

3x NHL All Star Game Participant
6x Top 10 Goals(2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9)
3x Top 10 Points(4, 4, 9)
6th in goals, 1st in assists, 1st in points 06-07 playoffs
01-02 Calder Trophy Winner
4x Top 8 AS Voting LW(2, 4, 4, 8)
4x Top 4 AS Voting RW(1, 4, 4, 5)
2x Top 12 Hart Voting(11, 12)
3 Selke Votes in 06-07, 07-08

VsX Scores: 97, 92, 86, 77, 75, 74, 65, 65, 55

...In his first full season with Atlanta, Heatley teamed up with Ilya Kovalchuk to become one of the most dangerous tandems in the NHL. Heatley finished the season with 26 goals and 41 assists for 67 points, leading all rookie scorers on his way to the Calder Trophy as the league's top first year player.

Heatley showed no signs of a sophomore jinx in 2002-03 proving that he was not a star on the rise, but a star who had already arrived. Heatley scored more goals, recorded more assists and more total points than his rookie year, cementing him as a top 10 scorer in the NHL. His shining moment however, was the 2003 NHL All-Star game where amongst superstars like Mario Lemieux and Mike Modano, Heatley stole the show scoring four goals and an assist, and adding another goal in a shootout to capture All-Star MVP honours.

Coming off a career year in 2002-03, Heatley was involved in a serious car accident prior to the 2003-04 season which took the life of his Thrasher teammate Dan Snyder who was a passenger in the car at the time. After months of rehabilitation an injured knee suffered in the accident, Heatley returned to the ice in the latter stages of the season.

Following a three-year career with the Thrashers, Heatley was dealt to the Ottawa Senators in the summer of 2005 in a trade that brought Marian Hossa and Greg De Vries to Atlanta. Over the next two seasons with the Senators, Heatley would tally 100 goals and become the first NHL'er to score at least 50 goals in consecutive seasons since Pavel Bure did it in 1999-00. In his 2006-07 season, he recorded 105 points and set a new Senators franchise record. Later that season, he helped lead his club to an Eastern Conference Championship and a shot at the Stanley Cup. However, despite the Senators best efforts, the club finished three wins shy in the finals.

...A two-time gold medalist with Canada's World Championship team (2003-2004) and a two-time silver medalist (2005-2008) Heatley was named the tournament's Top Forward at the 2004 tournament and later that Summer helped Canada capture the World Cup title. Heatley made his first Winter Olympic appearance with Team Canada in 2006.

If you didn't know better, you'd swear Dany Heatley had just time-warped into the NHL from 1980. His smile is vintage Bobby Clarke, his hairstyle reminiscent of *** ******. But Dany's game is well-suited for the modern era. A power forward with quick hands and subtle stickhandling skills, he is the kind of player you build a team around. The Atlanta braintrust is doing just that, and so far Dany is making the Thrashers look like geniuses.

Projections for Dany when the season started were guarded. The Thrashers did not have a legitimate first-line center, which meant he would have to create his own scoring opportunities.... The Thrashers were awful in the early going, prompting Waddell to threaten banishment of anyone willing to accept Atlanta's losing ways. Dany didn't feel the GM's tongue-lashing was directed at him. In fact, he hated losing so much management worried that he would drive himself crazy... In the first half of the year, Dany saw action at left wing, right wing, center, and even handled the point on power plays... After just a few months in the league, Dany was being recognized as one of the top two-way players in hockey. Early comparisons to John LeClair evaporated when it was clear that Dany’s quickness and stickhandling skills were more evolved than the Philadelphia star's.

Dany began the 2002-03 season slowly. The league had adjusted to him, and now it was his turn to readjust. Enemy defenses keyed on his lone weakness, his skating speed, which was below average by NHL standards. Dany responded by becoming more aggressive and driving to the net with more authority. Backliners had no answer for this sudden evolution, and in no time Dany was back as his team's most effective offensive player... What Dany’s fellow Thrashers found most encouraging was that he did not slack off on defense. Adding to his stature as an excellent two-way player, Dany had a strong plus-minus rating, despite playing for a so-so team.

...On the ice, Dany has shown the ability to handle the emotional and physical toll of the Snyder tragedy... Dany is a terrific all-around, end-to-end player. The thing you hear hockey people rave about are his hands. They are quick, supple and strong—and enable him to do some pretty amazing things with the puck when defensemen think they have him bottled up. He shoots hard and with great accuracy, and has become a good playmaker since teaming up with flashy Ilya Kovalchuk.

Dany’s skating has never been a strong point, and may never be better than average for an NHL forward. But where his speed is lacking, his instincts more than make up for it. He can smell a scoring opportunity developing before anyone else on the ice, and he’s big enough to establish prime position in front of the net.

Although he has played all three positions on the front line, he is best suited for left wing because of his lefthanded shot. With a top-tier assist man, Dany could easily become a 50+ goal scorer. In the meantime, his job is to keep improving and convince his teammates that they can win the close games. In the end, that may be his most valuable contribution to a club that some day will go deep into the playoffs.

The scouting reports listed Heatley as a good skater with very strong puckhandling and passing skills, an accurate release, good intensity and mental toughness... He quickly earned the respect of Thrashers coach **** ******, who seemed most impressed by Heatley's instinctive leadership qualities. "He is the kind of player that says, 'Hey, jump on my back and I'll take you there,'" he was quoted as saying.

Owns a great shot, but can also set up his linemates. Has the size to compete in high-traffic areas, and is especially effective in the slot area. Is equally effective on either side of center.

Heatley resembles a no-maintenance power forward like the Philadelphia Flyers' John LeClair. At 6'3" and 205 pounds, Heatley is leaner than LeClair, but he has the same laconic manner and hard shot.

His chief assets are his willingness to shoot and his offensive instincts. He has a big point shot and is already a first unit powerplay man and a player who can take charge... The Thrashers didn't provide much support, so Heatley had to do everything himself. His all-around game is very advanced for a young player... He is a pure goalscorer, with an assortment of shots. He has learned to go get the puck and has to do a lot of the work himself. Just wait 'til he gets someone to get the puck to him... Heatley is rugged and likes to drive to the net... He hates losing.

Heatley, a left wing, is a steady, polished playmaker whom many see as Atlanta's future captain.

Heatley, who has a zest for the game and a hybrid style that marries superb puck skills with power-forward presence... Heatley's game, by contrast, has no obvious holes. "I've been watching him," says Colorado Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake. "Because of his size [6'3", 215 pounds] and skill, he's a combination of a lot of guys. Obviously, the comparison is to Mario Lemieux because there aren't a lot of guys that big who have that kind of talent with the puck. What amazes me is that it's only his second year in the league, but he wants the puck because he knows he can make plays." The Norris Trophy-winning defenseman had an excellent view of those skills at the All-Star Game, when, on Heatley's first goal, the Thrashers wing beat him with a nifty move that left Blake swimming and Western Conference goaltender Patrick Roy exposed to the subsequent wrist shot... Heatley, the second pick in the '00 draft, comes without bells or whistles but with a heavy shot , defensive smarts, the acute sense of responsibility that allows the Thrashers to use him on the point of the power play, and rare leadership qualities... Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock says that Heatley is the leading candidate to be the next great player—"He's so big and fearless that he can score in traffic but also can go flying down the wing and rip it through you from 45 feet."

A second-year player is simply not supposed to have his name up there in the stats with Mario Lemieux and Mike Modano... He is worth the price of admission.

It would take a committee of dozens about a dozen years to find anyone in the hockey world who doesn't believe there's hardware in Heatley's future... Heatley has already amassed a victim list longer than the combined efforts of every Nashville Predator who ever lived... "In between everything he has got going on this year, he came back and he's here, working out every day, he's in tremendous shape. there's not one thing he needs to work at. I can't say he needs to work on his stickhandling or his shooting," says GM Don Waddell...

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Heatley, the second pick over all in the 2000 draft, was the point man for the team's power play and a solid defensive player, as well as a potent scorer

Where to begin? Heatley has the size, speed and strength to become an NHL superstar, if he isn't one already. He is the complete package, featuring productivity and competitiveness... All he's missing is a supporting cast...

former All-Star Game MVP whose release is so quick it seems as if the puck is barely on his stick... "All three are very smart on the ice," says Philadelphia Flyers general manager Bob Clarke, who considers Heatley among hockey's five top players... "when he came into the room, the chemistry did improve. His personality, his talent, made him stand out. Because of his skill level, he has challenged players to step up with him."

Heatley is in a bonafide hockey market, he is healthy, and he is thriving... "He worked hard at training camp, got in shape right off the bat and he has been successful," ****** says... "I was hoping to play with Dany from the moment I heard we traded for him," Alfredsson says. "I know he's a special player and I knew it would be a lot of fun, especially on offense. He plays with a lot of creativity and he does things on the ice that make life easy for me."..."I thought he was a great shooter and really skilled 1-on-1, but the biggest thing I have found is he can create something out of nothing. His vision on the ice is good."

he makes the Senators' firepower truly scary, particularly on the power play.

While the star winger is still piling up the points, it's his play at both ends of the ice that has helped the Ottawa Senators re-emerge as a team to beat in the Eastern Conference despite its sub-par first half to the season.

"Because he scores a lot of goals, I think maybe people just look at him as being one-dimensional," Senators centre ***** ****** said Wednesday. "But he's a little more of a complete player than people think."

...But with a defence that's come under fire recently for blowing late-game leads, it's his commitment to being more responsible with and without the puck that has his coach and teammates singing his praises.

"He came here as a goal-scorer and a very good hockey player, but now he's an all-around hockey player," Senators coach ***** ****** said earlier this week.

Without Heatley - who's played all of Ottawa's 70 games, leads the team with 90 points and is a plus-26 - the Sens would likely be fighting for their playoff lives down the stretch instead.

Maybe it's because he's had so much success in front of goal that his other abilities have been overlooked.

However, in the second half of the season, Heatley's as likely to show up on replays for racing back into his own end to break up an odd-man rush as he is for firing off one of his one-timer cannons.

"I've always felt like I had the ability to do that, but you don't get recognized for it or a different part of your game overshadows that," Heatley said Wednesday.

...Heatley scored 10 times and set up 14 more goals in that run. More importantly, he helped the Senators shore up defensively by turning in a plus-17 rating and has continued that way since, even killing penalties in addition to his regular shift and power-play duties.

"As a scorer, you're usually labelled as poor defensively, but I think this year I've definitely tried to be a little better in our own end - especially starting in January, where we had to," Heatley said. "I like playing that way. It's a lot of fun."

With Dany Heatley parked in front of Brodeur and unwilling to budge, ****** took the puck from near the blue line into the left face-off circle, then fired a shot that clanged off the right post and went in at 12:06

In ******'s absence, Heatley took on more responsibility, establishing himself as much more than just a shooter, showing a willingness to get involved at both ends of the ice...

"He's a real dynamic player with the puck and a real good player without the puck," Senators coach ***** ****** said. "I don't know that I would have said that every day last year. But he's certainly become that."

In a modest role reversal Heatley, the only NHL player with 50 goals in each of the past two seasons, had a playoff-leading 15 assists through Monday while Alfredsson, the team's regular-season assist leader, had emerged as the top goal scorer, with 10. The most remarkable statistic belonged to ******, who, like Heatley, now works in all three zones

"Heatley has been successful as a goal-scorer wherever he has been," ****** said. "He is a very competitive guy.

"He is maturing and growing now. He is probably a better man than he was a few years ago — in his game and in his team play."

"Dany's the same way every night," said *******. "He's a great hockey player and a great goal-scorer. He find ways to get that puck to the net.

"I got to find ways to put it on his stick, and most of the time Heater'll put it away."

It's something the Canadian team hopes it can count on moving forward.

Coach Ken Hitchcock was an assistant with the Olympic team in 2006 and has noticed a change in the 27-year-old sniper since. Back then, Heatley might not have had his first and third goals, which he converted from in close.

"He's always been a good offensive player but he's really using quickness in small spaces to score now," said Hitchcock. "To me that's a difference in Dany Heatley from the last time we were together in the Olympics. He's improved a lot since even '06."

Losing to Russia left Dany Heatley in no mood to celebrate being named most valuable player at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.

"Not right now," the Ottawa Senators winger said after Russia downed Canada 5-4 in overtime in the final on Sunday at the Pepsi Colisee.

It was a second world championship MVP honour for Heatley, who also got it in 2004 in the Czech Republic, when he also led the event in scoring.

"Heater's one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, you can't say enough. … I'm so happy for him. A lot of things were said unfairly about Dan [about] the type of person he is — he's just a quality, quality person. He's just a great hockey player that I would have on my team and in my dressing room in a heartbeat."

"When the Senators went to the Stanley Cup finals [in 2007], Dany was the leading scorer in the playoffs," Wilson says. "He's Canada's alltime leading scorer at the World Championships.... [Producing in big spots] is not something you just hope he's going to do. He's done it."

"We do an awful lot of research into the people we bring here, and when you talk about Dany Heatley, he was one of the easiest players for me to do research on," Wilson said. "I'm from ottawa and there are a lot of people here in the community who are close friends and who I have great respect for. I was able to talk to people like Bob Nicholson, who's known Dany for a long time, and Steve Yzerman, and Peter Chiarelli."... The results they discovered were consistently positive. "I was consulted by Doug before we acquired Dany and when he asked me, the answer was a very quick yes", Thomas said. "He's had a couple bumps in the road, and when that happened, friends really came together and the sense of the good person came out from everyone you talked to. There's really nothing but good stories about him. What it comes down to is he wants the ball - and maybe that got him into trouble in Ottawa, but he wants the responsibility. You want players who want the responsibility of being the difference between winning and losing... Dany's a good guy. I've gotten to know him at the world championships the past couple of years, and he's a good teammate and a likeable person."

Heatley has emerged from the trade demand as productive and dangerous as ever... When he joined the Sharks, they envisioned he would score most of his goals in two ways - ripping it from the high slot off the rush, and getting passes from Thornton. But in reality, Heatley has becime less Mike Bossy and more Phil Esposito. the majority of his goals have had a fair bit of dirt and grease on them... "He gets his nose dirty. He goes there and he's not leaving. In probably 15 of his goals, the distance of his shot was no more than two feet."... He's perceived as a petulant jerk for demanding a trade from Ottawa last summer, but those who play with him have nothing but praise for him as a teammate... You have to create your own room in the Western Conference, and Heatley has managed to do that this season by being a gritty player and feeding off his linemates.

Most Points since the lockout:

Alex Ovechkin | 517
Joe Thornton | 504
Sidney Crosby | 485
Dany Heatley | 436
Pavel Datsyuk | 428

Most Goals since the lockout:

Alex Ovechkin | 264
Ilya Kovalchuk | 225
Dany Heatley | 217
Jarome Iginla | 191
Vincent Lecavalier | 178
Sidney Crosby | 177

Career Adjusted +/- Leaders, Active Players, through 2007-08

PLAYER | GP | Adj2+/- | /GP
SELANNE, TEEMU | 1067 | 328 | 0.31
LIDSTROM, NICKLAS | 1252 | 247 | 0.20
TKACHUK, KEITH | 1055 | 238 | 0.23
MODANO, MIKE | 1320 | 227 | 0.17
THORNTON, JOE | 754 | 215 | 0.29
(undrafted) | 701 | 211 | 0.30
IGINLA, JAROME | 860 | 207 | 0.24
LEHTINEN, JERE | 769 | 201 | 0.26
KARIYA, PAUL | 903 | 200 | 0.22
ELIAS, PATRIK | 745 | 193 | 0.26
(undrafted) | 527 | 193 | 0.37
PRONGER, CHRIS | 940 | 188 | 0.20
(undrafted) | 609 | 187 | 0.31
CHELIOS, CHRIS | 1616 | 169 | 0.10
ALFREDSSON, DANIEL | 853 | 168 | 0.20
GONCHAR, SERGEI | 904 | 166 | 0.18
HEATLEY, DANY | 425 | 166 | 0.39

Heatley's responsible defensive play appears to have been underrated for much of his career. No one talks about him as anything but a goal-scorer, but he puts up more assists than most pure goal-scorers and already finds himself in some pretty good company for adjusted +/-, with a lot of hockey still left to be played. Whether it has been through controlling the puck in the offensive zone, or backchecking dilligently, Heatley has had a good effect on his team's even strength goal differential.

 

[King Forsberg]

Shea Weber

NHL

NHL First Team All Star - 2011, 2012
NHL All Star Game Participant - 2009, 2011, 2012
Nashville Predators Captain - 2010-Present

World Championships

WC All Star Team - 2009
WC Best Defenseman - 2009
WC Top Scoring Defenseman - 2009
WC Most Assists by Defenseman - 2009
WC Top 3 Player on Team - 2009
Team Canada Alternate Captain - 2009

Olympics

Selected to Team Canada - 2010, 2014 (Alternate Captain)
Olympic All Star Team - 2010
Led Team Canada in points - 2014

Team Awards

World Championship Silver Medal 2009
World Championship Gold Medal 2007
Olympic Gold Medal 2010, 2014

Norris Record

2008-2009: 4th
2009-2010: 7th
2010-2011: 2nd
2011-2012: 2nd
2012-2013: 8th

All Star Record

2008-2009 - 5th
2009-2010 - 7th
2010-2011 - 2nd
2011-2012 - 2nd
2012-2013 - 7th

Defenseman Scoring

2006-2007 - 27th (6th in goals)
2008-2009 - 9th (T-2nd in goals)
2009-2010 - 17th (4th in goals)
2010-2011 - 10th (4th in goals)
2011-2012 - 6th (1st in goals)
2012-2013 - 9th (5th in goals)
2013-2014 - 3rd (1st in goals)

Team Scoring (Scoring amongst team defensemen)

2006-2007 - 8th (2nd)
2008-2009 - 3rd (1st)
2009-2010 - 6th (1st)
2010-2011 - 4th (1st)
2011-2012 - 4th (1st)
2012-2013 - 1st (1st)
2013-2014 - 1st (1st)

Minutes Played Per Game

2010-2011 - 8th
2011-2012 - 5th
2012-2013 - 6th
2013-2014 - 4th

Originally posted by Barry Trotz
He's one of the best at his position plain and simple, ... He's our building block, and he's a difference maker in this business. There aren't too many guys at his level

Originally posted by Jeff Langridge
...Adding Weber would immediately give them a superstar on the blue line.

"I don't play my best players penalty killing when we play Nashville," Babcock said. "Just flat out because I'm scared to break their leg or their ankle. He just shoots it that hard."

 

[tony d]

Right Winger Joe Mullen

Biographical Information courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mullejo01.html

Position: RW ▪ Shoots: Right
Height: 5-9 ▪ Weight: 180 lbs.
Born: February 26, 1957 in New York, New York

Stats on Mullen courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mullejo01.html:

-502 G 561 A for 1063 Pts in 1062 Games
-3 Time All Star
-2 Time Lady Byng Winner
-103 Pts in 146 career playoff games
-2000 Hall of Fame Inductee
-2 time playoff goals leader

Legends Of Hockey

One of the deans of American-born NHL players, Joe Mullen was respected wherever he laced up his skates. Standing 5'9", he wasn't big by league standards, but his will to compete and battle through injuries was formidable. He was a reliable scorer who combined patience, anticipation and a quick release to top the 40-goal mark six times in his career. Mullen earned a permanent place in hockey history by becoming the first American player to score 500 goals and 1,000 points in the NHL.

Joe Pelletier:

Joey Mullen quietly spent his career as one of the most complete players in the National Hockey League. He excelled at the finesse game as he was an outstanding skater and super sniper. He was dangerous with the puck, and consistent. He was a 35-45 goal threat almost every year in his prime. But he was very conscious of his defensive responsibilities and played a tough game despite his small size. The ultimate team player who never sought the individual spotlight.

Final Thoughts:

Glad to get Mullen, got him mostly for his ability to score goals but he also has a good 2 way game that should help the team a lot.

 

[papershoes]

Larry Robinson

Height: 6’4’’
Weight: 225 lbs
Position: Defence
Shoots: Left
Birth: June 2, 1951 (Winchester, ON)

Awards & Honours
NHL
- Stanley Cup (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986)
- Norris Trophy (1977, 1980)
- Conn Smythe Trophy (1978)
- 1st Team All-Star (1977, 1979, 1980)
- 2nd Team All-Star (1978, 1981, 1986)
- Hockey Hall of Fame (1995)

International
- Canada Cup (1976, 1981, 1984)
- IIHF World Championship (1981)
- IIHF Best Defenceman World Championship (1981)

Statistics
Top 10’s
Assists – 3rd (1977), 6th (1980), 9th (1986)

Top 10’s Among Defencemen
Points – 1st (1977), 2nd (1980), 3rd (1986), 5th (1975), 5th (1978), 7th (1979)
Goals – 4th (1977), 7th (1986), 8th (1975), 8th (1979), 10th (1980)
Assists – 1st (1977), 1st (1980), 2nd (1986), 4th (1978), 5th (1975), 6th (1979), 10th (1982), 10th (1983)

Top 10 Award Voting
Norris Trophy – 1st (1977), 1st (1980), 2nd (1979), 3rd (1978), 3rd (1981), 3rd (1986), 4th (1987), 5th (1982)
Hart Trophy – 5th (1977), 6th (1981), 7th (1980)
All-Star – 1st (1977), 1st (1980), 2nd (1979), 3rd (1978), 3rd (1981), 3rd (1986), 5th (1987), 6th (1981), 8th (1976)

Interesting Notes & Rankings
- #32 on History of Hockey list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players (2008 edition)
- #31 on History of Hockey list of the 70 Greatest Hockey Players (2009 edition)
- #9 on History of Hockey list of 60 Greatest Defencemen (2012 edition)
- #6 Red Fisher list of 10 Greatest Montreal Canadiens (2005)
- #7 in “The Hockey News Habs Heroes: The Greatest Canadiens Ever From 1-100”
- #10 Best Offensive Defencemen (The Hockey News Book of Lists)
- #5 Best Defensive Defencemen (The Hockey News Book of Lists)
- Voted in 1984 by fans as starting defenceman on all-time Canadiens team (alongside Plante, Harvey, Beliveau, Richard, and Moore)

Quotes

Nobody had the slightest idea that Pollock's fourth choice, No. 20 overall, would develop into the second-best defenceman in Canadiens history.

Who would have thought he would play a leadership role on six Stanley Cup teams in his 17 seasons with the Canadiens, win the Norris Trophy twice and the Conn Smythe in 1978, following the third of the team's four consecutive championship seasons?

Robinson was the complete package in every facet of the game. He was a physical presence, as unflinching as a tree while punishing people with his bodychecks.

Known as "Big Bird," Robinson often dwarfed opposing players with his 6'4", 225-pound frame. Despite his imposing size, he was passed over three times by the Canadiens in the 1971 Amateur Draft. When they finally did take him as their fourth pick, he was only the 20th player selected overall. Ironically, two decades later, there were only two players from that draft active in the league - Robinson and Guy Lafleur - both Canadiens and both Hall of Famers.

Not only was Robinson a great defensive player, he was also very good with the puck. He held the NHL record for most playoff games at 227, until surpassed by Mark Messier, and the most consecutive years in the playoffs with 20. He also became a veritable regular in All-Star games, playing in 10 of them. His final NHL totals were impressive: 208 goals, 750 assists and 958 regular-season points as well as 144 points in 227 playoff games.
Internationally, Robinson represented Team Canada in the 1976, 1981 and 1984 Canada Cup tournaments. All three were Canadian victories. In 1981 he represented Canada in the World Championship and was named to the tournament All-Star team.

…was a rock-steady tower of strength for a dynasty, the best defenceman on arguably the greatest team in hockey history.

If you wanted to play a skill game, Robinson certainly wouldn't have looked out of place. If you wanted to impose a shutdown defensive philosophy on the game, Robinson could do that too… and if you wanted to play down and dirty, Robinson could do that too.

"He was the rare player whose effect on a game was far greater than any statistical or concrete contribution he might make. When he came onto the ice, the attitude of the play seemed to change. Standing in back of him, I could feel it, I could see it change, growing more restrained, more respectful, as if it was waiting for him to see what he would do. Nowhere was this more clear, or more important, than against the Flyers or the Bruins. They held him in such awe, treating him with an embarrassing, almost fawning, respect, that they seemed even to abandon their style of play when he was around, and with it any hope of winning. Each time we played them, I knew that an outraged Fred Shero or Don Cherry would send out players to hunt him, to hammer him into the boards with elbows and sticks, to fight with him if he would let them until, bruised and sweating, his mystique could only come crashing down. But they never did." – Ken Dryden, The Game

"We were leading 2-1 midway through the third when Dorny led a rush up Philadelphia's right side. I was playing left defence and I angled towards him, trying to get a hip into him. He was just inside our blue line when I got my hip into him. Bang into the boards he went, and down he went. When he got up, he was looking at the boards curiously ... we had broken the boards, as it turned out. There was this big dent near the top. Players on both teams skated by the area, sneaking looks and shaking their heads.” – Larry Robinson

"When Larry arrived, he gave our team a whole new dimension. He was big, he was strong, he could skate, he could score goals and he could fight. When he arrived, I became more of a defensive defenseman. Offensively, with Larry around, I was able to pick my spots.” – Serge Savard

"You could say Larry was a dream player: he had the size, the shot, the skating, the ability - and he was easy to manage. He was good for the team in every way. He made it easy to play with him." – Serge Savard

“If anything don't want to be known as a great player. I want to be known as a great teammate.” – Larry Robinson


... a work in progress

 

[ImporterExporter]

William Hollett!!!

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

First Team All-Star (1945)
Second Team All-Star (1943)

Red Wings captain from 1943 to 1946

Scoring:
Goals – 10th(1942)

Points among Defensemen – 1st(1939), 1st(1940), 1st(1943), 1st(1945), 2nd(1935), 2nd(1941), 2nd(1942), 4th(1944), 9th(1937)

Play-off Points – 3rd(1943), 4th(1941), 5th(1945)

Play-off Points among Defensemen – 1st(1939), 1st(1941), 1st(1943), 1st(1945), 2nd(1940), 5th(1938), 5th(1946)

Hollett’s prime lasted from 1939 to 1945. Here’s where he ranks within that time frame:
1st in Points among Defesemen
1st in Goals among Defensemen
2nd in Assists among Defensemen

1st in Play-off Points among Defensemen
2nd in Play-off Goals among Defensemen
1st in Play-off Assists among Defensemen

He retired the most prolific scoring defensive the NHL had ever seen.

“He was a high scoring defenseman overshadowed by other great blue liners of his time.
Names like Eddie Shore (who was often Hollett's defensive partner), Dit Clapper and Art Coulter dominated the era. However it was he who was often topped the offensive leader board from the point. In fact, in 1944-45 while with the Detroit Red Wings, he became the first defenseman to score 20 goals in one season.

…dubbed Flash because of his great speed on skates…an extraodinary offensive presence from the rear and he had great versatility…also take turns as a forward while on the penalty kill…his performance in the 1945 playoffs were quite legendary in Detroit...†– Greatest Hockey Legends

Quote:
“…offensively-gifted defensemen like him and Wally Stanowski helped shatter that stereotype, jumping into the rush and contributing to their team's offense.†– Legends of Hockey

Quote:
“…he developed rapidly into a superb rushing defenseman under the tutelage of Eddie Shore and Dit Clapper. He was an excellent stickhander and before long his goal production began to mount. He became very adept at setting up scoring plays as his assist total indicates.†– The Trail of the Stanley Cup

Quote:
“He impressed everyone with a destructive body check that sent King Clancy to the ice.†– Who’s Who in Hockey

Quote:
"Since joining the Bruins, Hollett has been used both as a defenceman and forward. A free skater with plenty of weight to back it up, and a fine shot, Hollett is a tireless performer."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...fQtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BNwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2358,4474981

Quote:
"The hard working Hollett enabled his closely checked force to break a 1-1 deadlock...."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...hAvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-tsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4255,2791246

Quote:
A fight too.
"And in addition to sparking hockey, Flash Hollett of Boston, and Sweeney Schriner of the Leafs, mixed in some fisticuffs"....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...=a_0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8NsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4169,92643

Quote:
"So old No.2 this season will be on the stalwart back of Bill "Flash" Hollett...."Flash" certainly isn't another Shore, but is about the greatest one man gang in hockey today.....He's played every position on the Bruin team except goal....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...hxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sKQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1743,5225059

Quote:
"As the Canadiens desperately tried to clear the puck out of their zone, Flash Hollett intercepted it right on the blueline and fired it back on Gardiner. Herbie Cain was right at the goal mouth. He stopped the puck and tucked it under Gardiner, as Bert flopped to the ice."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...I8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sZgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6872,2924424

Quote:
Hollett rates as the NHL's most versatile player, slightly above Busher Jackson, also of the Bruins.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...DPwpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=32YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3079,349223

Quote:
"Flash Hollett crashed the Candien starting lineup to make the first sqaud but the big fellow, a prolific scorer and Detroits spark, belongs on any all star aggregation..."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...kf0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=79sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3972,682359

Quote:
"Earl Siebert was badly cut after a collision with Flash Hollet behind Detroits net..."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...3otAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vpgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3878,3722760

Quote:
George Mantha, who's job it was to stick to Bobby Bauer like a leetch Saturday, came out of the game with one side of his face and forehead scratched as a result of being sent headfirst into the boards by Flash Hollett..."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...I8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sZgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3563,2921692

Quote:
"The second period fights brought major penalties to Bill Hollett and Bill Benson for one scrap...."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...5Y0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=h2gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1087,4906956

Quote:
"The Shore-Watson episode occurred during the deadlocked play and the count remained even until 14:46 of the third frame when Hollett hooked a loose puck in the centre zone and swung inside the defence. Dave Kerr came out as Hollett fired feebly but the puck slipped between the goalies padded legs and ended in his cage"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...nctAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6634,3383266

Quote:
"Hollett played on the front and rear lines during the lively game and his assist, which came after he recovered a puck fired at Teno by Gordon Pettinger, was made while operating on defence."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...CQgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gWoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2646,3769763

Quote:
"Fast Detroit defenceman Bill Hollett led the late thrusts and centre Jud McAtee stood out in the checking game in the first two periods"

Quote:
"The triumph, built by the first period tally of Jack Crawford and the third frame sharp shooting by Bill Hollett and Eddie Shore.....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...SQgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gWoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1299,6107448

Quote:
"Lionel Conacher leaned heavily on Bill Hollett, when the Cape Breton ace tried to shake his way through Montreal's defence. A minute later Hollett made a great end to end dash beating the Big Train cold."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...CEUuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=888,2816441

Quote:
"Late in the period Bill Hollett sprinted through the Ranger defence and laid a pass on Conacher's stick for the fifth and last tally".

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...BIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4132,2085914

Quote:

"Living up to all the advanced notices about him, Bill Hollett made good. He missed a couple of goals by inches. He is a big fellow, shoots from the left side and plays left defence

...."
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...ewuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H9sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1052,3501296

Quote:

"King Clancy only played half the game for the Leafs as he was feeling unwell but the Red Horner, Day and Hollett held up the defensive end of the Leafs play in competent style...."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...30uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6418,2391876

Quote:

"Encouraging to the Ottawa cause was the splendid showing of Bill Hollett, recently recruited from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The "Busher" made good with local critics and the stamp of approval was placed on him by coach Boucher"..........

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...ewuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H9sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077,3496597

Quote:

"Bill Hollett played a hard, aggressive game and is a prime favorite with the fans. "Headline" made a good play for the first Ottawa goal, putting Syd Howe in scoring position...."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...-wuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H9sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2644,2816832

Quote:

"Hollett and Starr were each given five minutes in the first period when they traded punches

...."
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...EswAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bKgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4224,2447404

 

[Johnny Engine]

Most detailed of compliment bio agitate the star forward opposed to Esa Tikkanen!

Vitals (from Hockey Reference)

Position: LW ▪ Shoots: Left
Height: 6-1 ▪ Weight: 190 lbs.
Born: January 25, 1965 (Age 49) in Helsinki, Finland
Draft: Edmonton, 4th round (82nd overall), 1983 NHL Entry

Career totals:
Regular season:
GP: 877 G: 244 A: 386 P:630
Playoffs:
GP: 186 G: 72 A: 60 P: 132

Championships
(Minimum 1 playoff game)
1985 Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
1987 Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
1988 Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
1990 Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
1994 New York Rangers (NHL)

Short-Handed Goals
1988-89 NHL 8 (3)
1989-90 NHL 4 (5)
1992-93 NHL 4 (7)
Career NHL 29 (20)

Selke finishes:
1989: 2
1990: 3
1991: 2
1995: 2

Postseason All-Star Team finishes:
1987: 3
1989: 5
1991: 4

Tikk Talk:

From the Hockey Hall of Fame website:

During his career, Tikkanen has played all three forward positions, but he was predominantly a winger before his role-switching also made him a center.

Two years later, when the Oilers were looking for a third man to round out the team's first line, he got the opportunity to play alongside Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri. The three seasons between 1986 and 1989, when he occupied left wing on the line with his famous teammates, were his most productive in the NHL, earning him 78, 74 and 78 points respectively.

With the departure of Gretzky from the Oilers, Tikkanen's role became even more important. In 1990, when the Alberta team captured the Cup a fourth time, their first without the illustrious number 99, Tikkanen had a truly great series with 24 points in 22 playoff games.

From Joe Pelletier:

Tik was one of hockey's most colorful characters. He was one of those guys you love to have on your team, but you can't stand playing against him. He's a pest, an aggravator and a troublemaker, yet at the same time an electric teammate who brought tons of life to a team. He shadowed the opposition's best forwards and at the same time came up with big goals himself.

He was perhaps as perfect a defensive specialist who ever played in the NHL. An aggressive forechecker with great anticipatory skills, Tik literally shadowed the opposition's superstar on a nightly basis. Not only did he successfully smother that player, but he aggravated the hell out of him too. He would do almost anything - yapping his not-always-clean mouth, using his stick in a unceremonious fashion, or physical abuse bordering on mugging charges. He hounded his assignment relentlessly. The better the name, the better Tik played. Not only did this get the superstar off of his game, but it got the whole opposition off of their game. The team became more worried about protecting their superstar and getting even with Tikkanen.

Tik play all forward positions plus the point on the power play (although he was best known as a LW).

Tikkanen provided grit, leadership and energy, as well as timely goals and big wins.

...Tik became known as a great playoff player.

The Gretzky-Jari Kurri combination never really had that perfect left winger until Tikkanen came along. He had the speed and offensive savvy to keep up with Gretzky and Kurri, but also was more than willing to sacrifice and do the dirty work by going into the corners and playing defensively responsible hockey.

…Tikkanen became Gretzky's shadow. He was quite effective, often agitating The Great One. He also became a big part of the Oiler's post-Gretzky success. He scored 13 goals and 24 points in 22 playoff games in 1990 to help the Oilers capture the Cup despite not having Number 99.

David Staples - Edmonton Journal

Few players have ever killed penalties so well as the tandem of Tikkanen and Kurri during the Oilers run to the Stanley Cup in 1990.

Their kill started with superlative forechecking, which was marked by smarts and tenacity, not raw aggression. Tikkanen read the play as it formed, then churned up the ice, attacking the puck carrier at a vulnerable moment, jabbing with his stick and elbow, directing the attacker towards the boards, and towards the waiting Kurri. Kurri sat back, the steel teeth in the trap, ready to spring forward and sweep away the puck.

If the Oilers zone ever was gained, things didn’t get any easier for the attackers. In their own zone, at the top of the defensive box — doing what is surely one of the two or three most difficult jobs for a forward in hockey — Tikkanen and Kurri were at their most effective.

They moved in unison, as if they were plastic soccer players attached to the same metal rod in a game of foosball. They shifted back and forth as one as the attackers tried to move the puck. They rarely chased hard after the puck carrier, but instead blocked passing and shooting lanes.

The two were completely in sync, not necessarily aggressive, but agile, calculated and smothering, closing down all of the most dangerous options for the man with the puck, forcing him to make a weak pass to another player outside of the slot...

A fantastic Sports Illustrated feature, December 23, 1991

The most annoying hockey player in the world...the master of the sudden elbow; of kicking the skates out from under opponents; of using his stick, when the referee's glance is elsewhere, as a blackjack.

Tikkanen's speed, soft hands and blistering shot were developed in Finland. His NHL survival skills were picked up during that memorable semester abroad…Tikkanen decided he needed a crash course in NHL-style hockey...The end result of that indoctrination in Saskatchewan is that Tikkanen is now the least European European in the NHL or, as teammate Kevin Lowe describes him, "a Finn from Flin Flon."

…guys…are asking another question: What do we have to do to get this yapping, snaggletoothed Scandinavian oddment out of our drawers? Tikkanen ... has evolved into the game's most effective "shadow"—200 pounds of Liquid Paper. Put him on the ice with the other team's superstar and watch that superstar disappear.

XXX: "You can belt Tikky, can knock him down, make him dizzy, but he never stays down." XXX attributes this to Tikkanen's stubbornness and to his ideal hockey frame, which Kings coach XXX has likened to "a bowling ball with ears."

Tikkanen subjects his victims to a relentless stream of polyglot nonsense. "We call it Tikspeak," says XXX. "Since he makes no sense, there's no possible response. That bugs guys." Indeed, despite his ample English vocabulary, Tikkanen's knowledge of verb tenses and syntax remains sketchy. Thus the second halves of his spoken sentences become a kind of lost-and-found for loose articles and free-floating pronouns, as in: "Shadowing these guys doing my part job win Stanley Cup was best for team, and I do to try exactly my thing."

XXX: "He's excellent at getting under guys' skins. When you're thinking about how badly you want to hurt him, you're not thinking about what you've got to do to win."

Tikkanen's offensive skills have come into the spotlight since Gretzky was traded in 1988. With Mark Messier missing 27 games as a result of various injuries last season, Tikkanen led the Oilers in scoring, with 27 goals and 42 assists...He has become the cornerstone of the Oilers.

"We needed somebody to distract those guys from Wayne, and that's exactly what happened," recalls XXX.

"He was always going 6,000 rpms," says XXX. "With Tik, it wasn't, Well, we got a game today, it was, Yahoo! Hockey game! For Tik, there were no unimportant games."

...shutting down superstars has become a cottage industry for Tikkanen... "[Denis Savard] was flying," Tikkanen recalls, "so they put me on him. After while, he looking around all the time, maybe a little bit scared. Here is coming that crazy Finn!"

…XXX's totals were no goals, no assists, one free ride to the hospital. So dehydrated and exhausted had he become in trying to dislodge Tikkanen in Game 1…that XXX needed medical attention.

...Gretzky had only five shots in the first four games and two puny even-strength assists for the entire series. The Great One's tormentor, meanwhile, complemented his own pestiferous defense with four goals, including another game-winner in overtime. "Tikky has now proven what we've known for a while," said Messier after the series. "He's the best two-way player in the league. It's not even close."

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Bill Cowley, C

Bill "Cowboy" Cowley was one of the top playmaking forwards in NHL history - three times in his 13-year career he led the NHL in assists. He always seemed to know where his linemates were positioned. An unselfish player who always aimed to set up a colleague for a goal before taking a shot himself, and he rarely jeopardized his team's fortunes by taking a penalty. Because of his ability to see the whole ice, he was arguably the Wayne Gretzky of his era.
...
The Bruins, a team stacked with experienced forwards, originally used him as a left winger, but his swift skating and precise passes forced them to move him to center.

• 1st Team All Star (1938, 1941, 1943, 1944)
• 2nd Team All Star (1945)
• "3rd Team All Star" (1940)
  
• Hart Trophy Winner (1941, 1943)
  
• Stanley Cup (1939, 1941)
  
• Led the playoffs in scoring and was awarded the "Retroactive Conn Smythe" (1939)

• Points finishes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th*, 5th, 7th*, 8th
• Goals finishes: 5th, 8th*, 9th*, 10th, 10th
• Assist finishes: 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd*, 3rd, 5th*, 6th, 7th
• In 1940-41, Cowley became the first player to score enough assists to win the scoring title based on assists alone (he was also 10th in goals). Wayne Gretzky would be the next (and only other) player to accomplish this feat in the NHL.

*1944 and 1945 War years

On the "By the Numbers" board, Sturminator has been working out a system to remove the asterixes of the war years, and it looks reasonable to me. These are the top regular season point producing centers, based off their VsX 7 year score. As always, VsX doesn't take team situation into account, and occasionally, a player's team situation is extreme (see Esposito, Phil).

7 year VsX score (1926-2013) - drafted centers only, adjustments made for war years

Rank | Player | Rank
1 | Wayne Gretzky | 155.1
2 | Phil Esposito | 123.4
3 | Mario Lemieux | 120.4
4 | Jean Beliveau | 108.9
5 | Stan Mikita | 108.1
6 | Marcel Dionne | 103.2
7 | Howie Morenz | 102.8
8 | Joe Sakic | 97.9
9 | Bill Cowley | 97.4
10 | Frank Boucher | 95.4
11| Steve Yzerman | 93.5
12| Bryan Trottier | 93.5
13 | Joe Thornton | 93.3
14 | Syl Apps Sr | 93
15 | Peter Forsberg | 90.9
17 | Sidney Crosby |90.5
18 | Adam Oates | 90.2
20 | Mark Messier | 89.5
21 | Max Bentley | 89.4

The Best playmaker of his era

Bill Cowley of Boston is the smoothest play-maker in hockey, the finest craftsman of modern times. He is in the business of creating scoring opportunities for his line-mates, even scoring, occasionally, a goal or two himself. He hasn't the speed of Sylvanus Apps, the Leafs' one-man tornado, but he's a better play-maker. He hasn't the spectacular qualities of Morenz. Rather, he's a combination of these two, plus a dash of Nighbor.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=5328,2600732&dq=bill+cowley&hl=en

I had a 100% record: two backchecks in my career, and no goals scored

I'm sure the "dash of Nighbor" was referring to Cowley's playmaking, not his, um "spotless" record at backchecking.

The "best individual achievement" in Canadian sport during 1941 turned out to be a double today with Theo Dubois' sweep of the North American sculling championships tying Bill Cowley's capture of the National Hockey League scoring championship for the honor. ... Cowley, still at the very peak of his form at 29, swept the scoring championship with 62 points and established a record of 45 assists in taking the title.
Cowley was awarded the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player and most of the writers naming him on their ballot (for the Canadian Award) coupled this with his winning of the scoring championship. He has few peers, if any, as a center player and has been at or near the top of the scorers in an attempt to retain his title this season.

Calgary Herald, Dec 24th, 1942

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Nov. 5, 1943

Manager Lester Patrick predicted the fans will find that in going in on the goal, Boucher will be the second-best play maker in the league, shaded only by Bill Cowley of Boston Bruins.

Bill Cowley, master play-maker of hockey, is back at centre with Lorne Carr of Toronto and Speedy Doug Bentley of Chicago on his wings. Here is a line which even in pre-war days would be able to hold its own.

Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 1960

Cowley given credit for Roy Conacher's 1939 goal scoring title

Of course, he was one hell of a hockey player. He "made" more wingers than anyone I can think of. I can remember talking with Lorne Duguid and I said to him, "If you see Bill Cowley, thank him. He kept me in the league." And Roy Conacher � Cowley made Roy Conacher the scoring champion one year. Cowley was the center-ice man and he'd pass it � he'd be fooling around and he'd get them in position and bang! into the net!

http://ventsenator.narod.ru/OldScoresNewGoals/3/TheCapitalCity.htm

Young Roy Canacher can share his laurels with Bill Cowley, the tireless Bruin centre whom sports writers ranked the best in the league a year ago...somehow or other back of all those goals and the rapid rise to fame of the blond wingman lies the steadying and helping hand of the veteran Cowley.

Art Ross moved Bill in between Conacher and Mel Hill and overnight young Roy started to hit the headlines. League statistics of February 5, first after the new line was formed, showed Conacher with nine goals for three months work. The latest records, February 27, gave him 18, doubling his total in less than a month. And back of almost all those goals was the playmaking Cowley.

Bill Cowley held responsible for Roy Conacher's rapid rise

Cowley "Made More Wings than Boeing"

The extremely smooth and accurate passing center was said to have "made more wings than Boeing."

http://books.google.com/books?id=J-...&q=cowley made more wings than boeing&f=false

Cowley was Scottie Bowman's idol as a kid:

It was a player in Boston named Bill Cowley. The games were on the radio when I was living in Montreal as a kid. We used to get the Boston games in clear, and I used to follow them, and I just happened to like the way Cowley sounded. Besides, he was a great centerman, and in fact, a playmaker. I got to meet him later because he owned a junior team.

The reason I followed him is because Boston was my team then. I was impressed with him and at the time they said, "He makes more wings, meaning wingers, than Boeing." I got a kick out of that.

They had another centerman, Milt Schmidt, who was probably the best they had, but I happened to gravitate towards Cowley. That's a long time ago, probably sixty-five years. He was my hero at the time. Bill Cowley. My parents got me a jersey with his number on it, number ten.

How to Succeed in the Game of Life: 34 Interviews with the World's Greatest Coaches

'Those goals of mine were just little things along the way,' Hill said, 'Cowley who really knows how to lay down a pass, handed me the puck and I batted it in.'

The Leader-Post, Oct 25, 1939

Bill Cowley hit the headlines again with six point. The best play-maker in the big time for years, Bill now is making super-man forwards out of Buzz Boll and Art Jackson.

The fellow has been a star on various lines. Wingmen taking passes from Cowley find the path to the goal an open one. He knows how to lay down a pass and Boll and Jackson are just two more wingers who will find their scoring output increasing as members of the Cowley unit.

The Calgary Herald, April 8, 1943

One of the smoothest skaters ever to hit the National Hockey League, Bill Cowley, will return to the puck wars for a one-night stand according to officials of next Wednesday night's March of Dimes Game at the Auditorium.
Cowley, who "made" more wingers than enough with his deft passing, joins a familiar list for the game...

The Montreal Gazette, June 12, 1968

Never noted as a great goal scorer, Cowley was acknowledged as one of the slickest playmakers the league has ever produced.

For more on the Bruins' play with and without Cowley, see this post

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Keith Tkachuk, LW

2x 2nd All-Star Team (1995, 1998)
2x "3rd" All-Star Team (1996, 1997)
10th in Hart Trophy voting in 1997

Goal finishes: 1, 6, 7, 7, 10
Point finishes: 11, 12, 13, 15

Tied for 3rd in scoring at 2004 World Cup, also tied for team lead in scoring

Captain of Jets 1994-1995
Captain of Coyotes 1997-2001

In only his second NHL season, Tkachuk has joined the ranks of the league's top power left wings. Like Brendan Shanahan, Adam Graves and Kevin Stevens, Tkachuk is at his best when he uses his power and scoring touch in tight. The scary thing is that Tkachuk is better than they were at an earlier age.

He has improved his one-step quickness and agility. He is powerful and balanced, and often drives through bigger defensemen. The Jets were terribly weak on face-offs until they started using Tkachuk on draws. When he doesn't win outright, he will tie up the opposing centre and fight for the puck.

Tkachuk isn't intimidated by the size or reputation of his foe. He gets under a lot of skins, and gets into battles on the ice and at the benches. He will yap and aggravate.

Tkachuk was named the youngest captain in the NHL for his grit, heart and maturity...Watching him play, it's remarkable to think he's only 22 years old, and won't be 23 until very late in the season.

Tkachuk is among the NHL's elite power forwards, arguably the best power left wing in the game today. He's at his best when he uses his strength and scoring touch in tight.

In front of the net, Tkachuk will bang and crash but he also has soft hands for picking pucks out of skates and flicking strong wrist shots....He has a quick release. He looks at the net, not down at his stick, and finds the openings.

Tkachuk is volatile and mean as a scorpion. He takes bad penalties...He will have to avoid foolish penalties. He can be tough without buying a time-share in the penalty box.

Tkachuk can dictate the physical tempo of a game with his work in the corners and along the boards.

From the hash marks in, Tkachuk is one of the most dangerous forwards in the NHL. Making the crease smaller will increase his effectiveness and his production, because the trenches are where Tkachuk does his best work.

He plays through pain, wearing a flak jacket to protect fractured ribs through the playoffs.

Ask acquaintances of Winnipeg Jet left wing Keith Tkachuk's to describe him, and watch the pattern emerge.
"Definite mean streak," says Jet general manager Mike Smith.
"Hits to hurt people," says coach John Paddock.
"He's no cheap-shot artist," says defenseman and captain Dean Kennedy, "but he likes to hurt guys."

That inclination qualified the 6'2", 215-pound Tkachuk (pronounced kuh-CHUK) as a novelty when he arrived in Winnipeg two seasons ago. With a roster top-heavy with small, speedy players, the Jets were easily bullied. Smith wised up last year, trading for tough guys Kris King and Tie Domi.

But his team's most effective grinder was already on board. Winnipeg picked Tkachuk, now 21, in the first round of the 1990 draft, expecting him to blossom sometime after the '94 Olympics. He is ahead of schedule.

The Jets see Tkachuk as a power forward in the Rick Tocchet-Cam Neely mold. Says Paddock, "He'll score 35 to 40 goals a year, get 200 penalty minutes and bang everything in sight."

Last season Tkachuk had a spell where he was skating on a line with Teemu Selanne and Alexei Zhamnov, and he began to get too fancy. Smith took him aside in St. Louis and said, "Teemu and Alexei are ballet dancers. You're a construction worker. Don't forget it."
Tkachuk hasn't.

He spent part of last summer's vacation establishing himself as the game's preeminent power forward, helping lead the U.S. to the gold medal in the World Cup of Hockey in September. In that tournament the 6'2", 210-pound left wing scored five goals in seven games and struck a blow, literally, for countless NHL players. In an early-round game against Canada, Tkachuk squared off with Colorado Avalanche winger Claude Lemieux, one of the league's most despised players. In the ensuing fracas, Tkachuk broke Lemieux's nose. Says Phoenix winger Jim McKenzie, "There were a lot of toothless smiles around the league."

Although Tkachuk doesn't drop his gloves as much as he used to—with his fierce reputation, his fistic talents are tested less often—he merrily performs hockey's most unpleasant chores, working the corners and positioning himself in front of the opponents' net, a bull's-eye painted on his back. For such an adept pugilist, he has surprisingly soft hands. He is exceptionally strong, and he's tough to knock off the puck, a trait center Bob Corkum attributes to Tkachuk's "low center of gravity."

Center Craig Janney elaborates: "He's got a big ass."

Coach Jim Schoenfeld has a solid collection of forwards, but none who can, like Tkachuk or the Roenick of five years ago, take over a game.

Struck hard in the face with a stick blade, Tkachuk reflexively put a hand to his mouth, then casually checked his open palm, fully expecting to locate his teeth there. Then he simply skated on, unaffected, as if it were all a trick of animation, a fact borne out by the logo on his jersey.

Despite those distractions [potential trade because of contract], as well as injuries to his left knee, neck and back, Tkachuk had 16 goals and 16 assists in 34 games. He can carry a team as few players can, and Roenick says Tkachuk's ability to disrupt a defense "makes me a better player."

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Patrik Elias, LW/C

Hart Trophy voting: 6th (2001)
LW All-Star Team voting: 1st (2001), 3rd (2004 - also received 15 AST votes at center this year)
Selke Trophy voting: 8th (2001)

Point finishes: 3rd (2001), 6th (2004), 10th (2012), 20th (2009)
Goal finishes: 4th (2004), 10th (2001), 11th (2000)
Assist finishes: 7th (2012), 9th (2001), 19th (2004)
Led Devils in scoring 8 times

Playoff point finishes: 2nd (2001), 3rd (2000), 10th (2003)
Playoff goal finishes: 4th (2001), 7th (2000)
Playoff assist finishes: 1st (2000), 3rd (2001)

79.2 seven year weighted VsX score which ranks 26th among LWs

Devils captain 2007

Assets: Sees the ice incredibly well, skates superbly and plays a clever game of hockey. Has terrific hand/eye coordination, good goal-scoring instincts and excellent puck-distribution skills. Can play both wing and center.

Flaws: Is somewhat soft in the corners and can be accused of playing a peripheral game at times. Has become more prone to injury over time, which has led to a bit of a decline in production. Isn't a physical player at all.

Career Potential: Versatile, savvy scoring forward.

"I really believe he’s among the top players in the league. And a top player in the league, they do a lot of stuff for their team,'' Lemaire said of Elias. "Maybe I’m a little tough on him, but he’s got so much talent. So much. He does things that other guys can’t do.''

Lemaire admitted he sets the bar high for Elias, as far as what he expects from him, but he doesn't apologize for that.

"I want him to be a leader every game,'' he said. "I want him to control the game every game. I know he won’t do it, nobody does it – but I’d like eight games out of 10 that he does it.''

But when Lemaire was asked about Elias playing center, versus wing, he was blunt in saying Elias is "okay'' at center, and said, "maybe not'' when asked if Elias was good enough at center to remain there when the injured Dainius Zubrus returns to the lineup.

"Again, the expectations,'' he said. "I think on the wing it would help (Elias) to achieve these expectations. He’s going to have more freedom, because the centerman is busy in our own end – he’s got a lot of work to do. And Patrik plays the game – he understands the game extremely well. He knows the weaknesses on the other side, he knows where to go – he feels that the puck’s going to go there, that’s where he goes. And that’s why, sometimes, he’s out of position. But he’s got a reason for it. He just knows what’s coming. And I think he would be even more effective – not that he’s not effective at center – but I feel he would be more effective on the wing.''

Jacques Lemaire called Patrik Elias the Devils' best player this season.

Elias explained that is because he is healthy after a difficult 2009-10 campaign that started with offseason hip and groin surgery and was then interrupted in January with a concussion.

"I told him he's playing better than last year. He's working harder than last year," Lemaire said today. "Not only with me. With Johnny MacLean, too. He's the best player on this team so far from the start of the season to now."

That's high praise.

Elias told Lemaire last season was a struggle because he had hip and groin surgery if the summer and missed the first 13 games of the season. Then, when Elias was finally getting back into form, he suffered a hit from Ryan Wilson during a Jan. 16 game in Colorado and did not play Jan. 18-Feb. 5.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Gordie Drillon, RW

​

Drillon's style of hockey was to park himself in front of the net and tip shots and swat at rebounds, and not worry about back-checking. "I spent ten years playing in the slot before anyone invented a name for it," he said later.

Hall of Fame goaltender and teammate Turk Broda knew of Drillon's goal-scoring abilities firsthand during Leaf practices. "I don't think there's a player in hockey who can shoot the puck more accurately," Broda once said. "Even if you leave him an opening the size of the puck, he'll hit it every time."

• 1st Team All Star (1938, 1939)
• 2nd Team All Star (1942)
• "3rd Team All Star" (1940, 1941)
• Awarded the Retroactive Conn Smythe by the HHOF/SIHR research group in a losing effort (1939)
• 4th in Hart voting (1938)
• Lady Byng voting: 1, 2, 2, 2, 4

Top 20 finishes

Goals: 1, 4, 4, 3, 5, 7, 15
Assists: 3, 10, 12, 18
Points: 1, 2, 4, 8, 13, 15, 17

Drillon's career was cut short by World War 2, but during his 7 year career, he finished top 7 in goals 6 times (and 15th the other time), and was never lower than 17th in overall points.

Drillon was an extremely one-dimensional player - a cherrypicker who camped out Phil Esposito style in front of the net and relied on his center (Syl Apps) for puck possession (Drillon was known for "cleaning up Apps' garbage") and his left wing to backcheck.

I think Peter Forsberg is the perfect center for Drillon to succeed at doing what he does best. Forsberg, like Apps, is a dominant possession player, doing it with stickhandling rather than Apps' pure speed. Forsberg wasn't the goal scorer that Apps was, but Apps didn't fully get to show his goal scoring until he played without Drillon anyway. And Forsberg is a much better defensive player than Apps.

We used to think that Drillon was slow (probably because of the Esposito comparison) but numerous sources indicate he was a great skater. He just didn't use it for anything other than scoring.

Top-7 weighted VsX for Right Wings (1926-2012):

Rank | Player | Rank
1 | Gordie Howe | 127.2
2 | Jaromir Jagr | 114.6
3 | Maurice Richard | 105.7
4 | Guy Lafleur | 104.9
5 | Andy Bathgate | 104
6 | Charlie Conacher | 97.1
7 | Bill Cook | 96.6
8 | Mike Bossy | 94.4
9 | Teemu Selanne | 92.9
10 | Bernie Geoffrion | 91.4
11 | Mark Recchi | 88.6
12 | Brett Hull | 88.2
13 | Jari Kurri | 88.1
14 | Gordie Drillon | 88.1
15 | Martin St. Louis | 87.7
16 | Jarome Iginla | 87
17 | Pavel Bure | 86
18 | Bryan Hextall | 84.5
19 | Marian Hossa | 82.6
20 | Daniel Alfredsson | 82.6
21 | Theoren Fleury | 82.3

Style of play

Drillon earned $7,000 in 1937-38—including bonuses—when he was tops in the league with 52 points in 48 games. The broad-framed forward did it by pioneering in-the-slot play, becoming the first to park himself in front of the opposition’s net and stay put, deflecting pucks, banging in rebounds and generally causing havoc without taking penalties. Three times he produced at a point-per-game level in an era when scoring was kept to a relative minimum—leading the Leafs in goals four times—and his accuracy was praised by his peers. Leafs goaltender Turk Broda once said, “Even if you leave him an opening the size of the puck, he’d hit it every time.â€

Despite playing just seven years in the NHL before enlisting with the RCAF during the Second World War, the Moncton native had a lasting impact on a generation of fans. Upon Drillon’s death in 1986, the Toronto Star‘s John Robertson remembered pretending to be Drillon as a child, “drifting down right wing like a big blue submarine.â€

The popular winger once said he “had no trouble getting up for a game,†because Conn Smythe—always Mr. Smythe to Drillon—would walk into the dressing room waving two railroad tickets and shouting, “Two going down, two coming up.†Drillon made sure he was never handed one of those one-way tickets to the minors by staying after practice with Syl Apps for hours on end. The centre would park just inside the blueline, firing pucks to Drillon who’d be looking for the tip-in. Smythe even roomed the two linemates together on the road because Apps, a noted teetotaler, kept the affable, beer-loving Drillon in check. Later in life, Apps called Drillon the best he ever played with.

Drillon’s legendary scoring punch was paired with a defensive disinterest during a Leafs era that preached defence first. On opening night at Maple Leaf Gardens one season, Drillon skated past Broda and tapped him on the pads during warm-ups. “See ya in the spring,†Broda called after him.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/24-7/greatest-maple-leafs-no-26-gordie-drillon/

Gordie Drillon was a fast skater:

A fast-skating aggressive player, the clean cut youngster [Drillon] has 28 scoring points to his credit made up of 14 goals and 14 assists.

Gordon Drillon is about as gorgeous a figure on a hockey rink as any rooter could ask to see...the [Maple Leaf] can whirl up and down the ice at a high speed.

But speaking of fast forwards, Gordon Drillon was a good one - a good big one.

Gordon Drillon of the Maple Leafs can move fast on skates.

(article about Apps being the fastest Leaf and him going to the competition being held against the fastest of each team)
...
It may surprise you to know that Apps was only one-fifth of a second faster than Gordie Drillon, whose severest critics picture as hockey's stationary forward, rather than a galloping giselle on the blades.
...

Gordie Drillon, speedy right winger, who holds the all-time Stanley Cup scoring record of 22 goals.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6091,4664566&dq=gordie+drillon+speedy&hl=en

Drillon was a non-factor defensively, but was he uniquely bad?

Here's a report about the breakup of the Busher Jackson - Syl Apps - Gordie Drillon line due to lack of defense:

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.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AJ&pg=1484,3132687&dq=bob+davidson+apps&hl=en

 

[SchultzSquared*]

Joseph Philippe "Phil" Watson, LW/C/RW

Watson's the swiftest skater in the league; there's no catching him once he's said good-bye with the puck on his stick.

Achievements/Awards

2nd All-Star Team- 1941-42, New York Rangers

Stanley Cup- 1940, New York Rangers (NHL)
Stanley Cup- 1944, Montreal Canadiens (NHL)

Awards Voting

NHL 1st/2nd All-Star Team

1939-40: 9th (C)
1941-42: 2nd (C)
1943-44: 6th (C)
1944-45: 5th (RW)

Contemporary Quotes

Phil is the spark plug of the Rangers. When they are slipping into that smug coma that sometimes grips teams, he can snap them out of it as no one else can.

Watson loves to fight. He doesn't start all, or even most, of the fights he gets into; but he's never been known to stop one. He's a 155-pound parcel of dynamite just asking to be detonated

"Phil's the most eccentric, dynamic, unstoppable player I've coached in a lifetime of hockey"

"I'm afraid the boys don't have much left... only Watson looks normal... he's got so much speed the big fellows just can't body check him."

The [new] lines gets better every time out and the guy who is sparking it is Phil Watson. He has [his new line mates] skating as they had never skated before. If they hadn't had switched into high, he'd have made them look bad.

Most impressive member of the visiting team was Watson, whose speed and neat stickhandling brought the fans to their feet several times.

Notable Numbers

Season|Assists|League Rank
1937-38|25|4th
1938-39|22|10th
1939-40|28|2th
1940-41|25|4th
1941-42 | 37 | 1st

​

 

[Dreakmur]

Frank Foyston !!!


Awards and Achievements:
3 x Stanley Cup Champion (1914, 1917, 1925)

PCHL "Champion, All-Round Player" (1917)

6 x P.C.H.A. First Team All-Star (1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924)
2 x P.C.H.A. Second Team All-Star (1919, 1922)


Offensive Accomplishments:
NHA Points - 11th(1915), 16th(1914)
NHA Goals - 12th(1914), 13th(1915)
NHA Assists - 3rd(1915)

PCHA Points - 2nd(1920), 3rd(1917), 3rd(1921), 4th(1919), 4th(1922), 4th(1923), 4th(1924), 10th(1918)
PCHA Goals - 1st(1920), 1st(1921), 2nd(1922), 3rd(1917), 4th(1919), 4th(1924), 5th(1923), 10th(1918)
PCHA Assists - 5th(1922), 6th(1924), 7th(1917), 7th(1923), 9th(1921), 11th(1919), 12th(1918), 12th(1920)


Play-off Points – 1st(1914), 1st(1920), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 5th(1925)
Play-off Goals – 1st(1914), 1st(1920), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 5th(1925)


Consolidated Scoring Finishes:
Consolidated Points - 3rd(1920), 5th(1917), 6th(1921), 7th(1919), 13th(1922), 16th(1915), 16th(1923), 18th(1924), 20th(1918)
Consolidated Goals - 1st(1920), 3rd(1921), 5th(1917), 7th(1919), 11th(1922), 15th(1924), 17th(1914), 17th(1918), 18th(1923), 20th(1915)
Consolidated Assists - 4th(1915), 13th(1922), 18th(1923), 19th(1917)


Scoring Percentages:
Points – 98(1920), 96(1921), 80(1917), 73(1922), 72(1924), 67(1919), 63(1915), 62(1923)

Best 6 Seasons: 486

Frank Foyston was a consistent, albeit underrated, star for many years with the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans. He was usually among the top scorers in the league and was widely considered one of the best all-around hockeyists of the period from 1910 to 1930.

Foyston was often cited as the finest player in the PCHA. Bold and clever around the enemy net, his stickhandling wizardry and superior shootin enabled him to become one of the first men to hit the 200-goal mark. He was on the winning side in three Stanley Cup finals - with Toronto in 1914, Seattle in 1917, and Victoria in 1925.

An exceptional scorer and playmaker, Frank C. Foyston was capable of dominating a game from center, rover or either of the wing positions. He was a supreme natural talent who earned accolades and fame wherever he played. While playing in the top leagues on the continent, Foyston was one of the first players to score over 200 career goals.

…the Mets moved to the top of the league in 1916-17.
Foyston, a forward who split his time between center and right wing, was the second
leading scorer on the team with 36 goals in only 24 games, winning the league MVP award in the process.

Toronto was finally on top. Its club not only was the best, but seemed as complete as a team could be. A local panel picked Jack Walker as the most valuable man over the season. Frank Foyston was judged the star of the final series.

Frank Foyston, the ex-Eaton star, was the best man on the ice for Toronto, and looks like a real find.

Frank Foyston was the most useful man for the victors, and went end to end, despite the rough passage that was given him by the Victoria defense,

The closing minutes of play were enlivened by a little fracas with Frank Foyston, captain of the Seattle team, and Clem Loughlin of Portland, as the principals. Their intention to clout each other with their clubs was frustrated by the referee, who chased them off the ice and fined then $2 each.

Tommorow night, when the Seattle and Vancouver hockey teams meet in Seattle, “Frank Foyston†night will be celebrated in the Seattle arena in honor of Captain Foyston of the Metropolitans, who recently joined the world’s champions.

The Popular Seattle Leader will be welcomed officially by the fans with floral tributes, special music and other stunts.

Last season Foyston was voted the most valuable player in the Pacifica Coast Hockey association, and was presented with a gold medal by the association in recognition of his work.

You missed one of the all-time greats if you never saw Frank Foyston perform with a hockey stick. He wielded if like Fritz Kreisler his bow, Willie Mays his bat, and Arnold Palmer his two-iron.

Frank Foyston of the Seattle Metropolitans was declared the Champion All-Around Hockey Player in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in 1917, preceding the first Hart trophy in the NHL by seven years.
The award was voted on by four scorers chosen from the press, and a cup was presented at the end of the season. The first recipient, Foyston, was judged according to his “clean play, stamina, scoring ability, popularity with teammates, and all around work embodying speed, judgment, and onsistency.â€

 

[tony d]

Defenseman Mike Ramsey

Biographical Information courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/r/ramsemi01.html

Position: D ▪ Shoots: Left
Height: 6-3 ▪ Weight: 195 lbs.
Born: December 3, 1960 (Age 53) in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stats courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/r/ramsemi01.html:

-4 time All Star
-48th All Time in Career Plus Minus with Plus 248
-29th All Time in Defensive Point Shares

Joe Pelletier:

Points production doesn't paint the proper picture of Mike Ramsey. He never scored more than 9 goals in a single season, and scored only 79 in a career that spanned 1070 games and 18 NHL season. He never scored more than 40 points in a season, and had only 345 in his career.

But make no mistake, Ramsey was a star. he was a perennial All Star candidate and 5 times as a Sabre he represented the team at the mid-season celebration, including in 1987 when the NHL put together a team of 20 players to take on the Soviets in Rendez-Vous '87. He also twice represented the United States in the Canada Cups, once in 1984 and once in 1987. He also played in the 1982 World Championships, but usually couldn't compete in that tournament as he was too busy leading the Sabres into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Ramsey was a very intelligent defenseman with a great understanding of the game. He was always in great position and always made a solid play and clearing the zone dependably. He also was an honest physical player - very tough in front of his net and a good open ice hitter. He was also recognized as one of the game's best shot blockers. His work ethic, dependability, and importance to the team made him a natural choice to serve as the Sabres captain after undrafted's departure in 1990.

Comments:

Ramsey wasn't in my original plans to pick yesterday but when I saw him sitting there, I had to get him, such a great defensive stalwart for a long time, he'll be a good fit with the Racers.

 

[tony d]

Centre Dave Poulin

Biographical Information courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/p/poulida02.html

Position: C ▪ Shoots: Left
Height: 5-11 ▪ Weight: 190 lbs.
Born: December 17, 1958 (Age 55) in Timmins, Ontario

Stats On Poulin courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/p/poulida02.html

-205 G 325 A for 530 Pts in 724 Career Games
-5 Top 10 Finishes in Career Short Handed Goals
-73 Points in 129 Career Playoff Games
-39 Career Short Handed Goals Rank him 6th all time
-1987 Selke Trophy Winner

Philly.Com The Philadelphia Inquirer January 11 1986

Still, Poulin would be valuable if he scored as little as the Capitals' captain, the resolute Langway. It's true that there are many Flyers whose maturity exceeds their years, but it might be most true of the 27-year-old Poulin, who speaks with an upbeat rationality that some veteran coaches would be advised to imitate.

"He's always positive," teammate Rick Tocchet said. "And when the captain is always positive, you always think positive.

"I don't think I've heard Dave express a negative thought in the year and a half that I've been here," Tocchet added. "It's tough to be that way sometimes, when you're on a losing streak. But when you're looking for the short end of the stick, he's saying, 'Don't worry about it. Keep going.' "

Poulin's style as captain is usually one-on-one.

"He's not a rah-rah guy in front of the whole team," Craven said. "That wouldn't work in this sport."

Joe Pelletier:

ave Poulin was one of the best hockey players of the 1980s. Problem was not many people knew it then, and few remember that now.

Poulin was a great hockey player. He didn't score many goals and when he did they weren't pretty. He was an unheralded defensive center who was always shadowing the opposition's top gun. He was always on the ice when the game was on the line, taking key faceoffs and blocking point shots. He was the ultimate team player who was never fully appreciated by the fans or media when he played, and will likely be forgotten about over time.

Final Thoughts:

Another player I'm glad to get. Poulin should provide some good 2 way hockey to the Racers, glad to have him.

 

[ImporterExporter]

The Pittsburgh Hornets are absolutely thrilled to be able to welcome a legend without equal in almost any major North American sport: If there was a coaching Mount Rushmore, he'd certainly deserve a spot on it.


Scotty Bowman Head Coach

As head coach, Bowman has won a record nine Stanley Cups; five with the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979), one with the Penguins (1992) and three with the Red Wings (1997, 1998, and 2002). He has also won four Stanley Cups as a member of an organization's front office. He was director of player development for the 1991 Penguins, Consultant with the 2008 Detroit Red Wings, and Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations for the 2010 and 2013 Chicago Blackhawks. Bowman won the Jack Adams Award in 1977 and 1996. In the 1976–77 season he won a record 60 games, breaking his own record of 58 wins the year before. He broke his own record again in the 1995–1996 season, with 62 wins. His 8 losses in 1976–77 are a modern record. His teams also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals a record 13 times and the semi-finals a record 16 times. In thirty years of NHL head coaching, Bowman never suffered a losing record over an entire season.


Bowman's records include:


Regular season games coached: 2,141

Regular season wins: 1,244

Playoff games coached: 353

Playoff wins: 223

Stanley Cups: 9

Most Wins, Single Season: 62, by the 1995–96 Detroit Red Wings

Most Points, Single Season: 132, by the 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens

Fewest Losses, Single Season: 8, by the 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens

Greatest Goal Differential, Single Season: +216, by the 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens

Best Power Play Percentage in a Season: 31.88%, by the 1977–78 Montreal Canadiens

Longest Winning Streak, Single Season
Overall: 17 games, by 1992–93 Pittsburgh Penguins

Away: 12 games, by 2005–06 Detroit Red Wings

Longest Undefeated Streak, Single Season:
Home: 34 games, by 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens
Away: 23 games, by 1974–75 Montreal Canadiens

Hockey Poll, 2004

A panel of 41 writers were asked their opinions on various great debates in hockey. Multiple choices were not provided so as not to color the outcome.

Coach Votes
Scotty Bowman 40
Al Arbour 1


Fans' choice

Winning nine Stanley Cups with three teams made Bowman a great coach, but spending five decades behind the bench of a continually changing game made him a legend.

Coach Votes
Scotty Bowman 81.6%
Toe Blake 6.8%
Al Arbour 5.5%
Bob Johnson 3.2%
Dick Irvin 1.1%

-The Hockey News, 2004


Quotes and Notes:

"Abrupt, straightforward, without flair or charm, he seems cold and abrasive, sometimes obnoxious, controversial but never colorful. He is not Vince Lombardi, tough and gruff with a heart of gold. His players don't sit around telling hateful-affectionate stories about him.... He is complex, confusing, misunderstood, unclear in every way but one. He is a brilliant coach, the best of his time."

—KEN DRYDEN, 1983
The Game

"The players are different now. And I found out you can do things differently"

—SCOTTY BOWMAN, 1993

Bowman is a bottom-line guy—high on results, low on posturing. At the end of the day he's interested in two things: Did we win? and, What can I do to help us win tomorrow? Some coaches teach; others inspire. Bowman wins. It's his nature.

-EM Swift SI.com 1993

His playing career over, Bowman turned to coaching. First 12-and 13-year-olds, then 14 and 15. By the time he was 22, Bowman was coaching 20-year-olds at the Junior B level. It paid him $250 a year, so to make a living he took a job at a paint company five minutes from the Forum. Every day he took an early lunch, 11 a.m. to noon, so he could walk down and watch Dick Irvin's Canadiens practice.

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

People noticed him, marveled at how Bowman commanded respect from players nearly his own age. In 1956 the Junior Canadiens moved from Montreal to Ottawa, and the team's coach and general manager, Sam Pollock, asked the 23-year-old Bowman to be his assistant.

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

If you threw something different at a team, almost anything, it got the players out of rhythm, slowed them down, kept them off balance. No matter how clever the opposing coach was, it took his team some time to react to the changes. And by that time Bowman, always a step ahead, might have altered his strategy again. It was a good way to play when you were outmanned. "I found out that if you're going to win games, you had better be ready to adapt," he says.

"When the puck is dropped, there has never been anyone who could run a bench better than Scotty," Toronto general manager Cliff Fletcher, an assistant general manager in St. Louis during the Bowman years, once said. "He was always-three or four moves ahead of the opposition. So his players knew they only had to be as good as the other team. Scotty would make the difference."

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

He insisted his players keep their own plus-minus records in a notebook—this is some 20 years before the NHL began keeping that statistic—and occasionally checked to see if the notebooks were up to date. "He was known then as a very bright, innovative young hockey man," Craig says, "and he was the first guy my dad hired."

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

Lynn Patrick put Bowman in charge of the Blues' defensemen. The team won just four of its first 15 games but was leading the Philadelphia Flyers by a goal in its next outing when Bowman advised Patrick to have a certain player skip a shift. Patrick ignored the advice, and with that player on the ice the Flyers scored and went on to win the game. At two o'clock the next morning Bowman got a call from Patrick. "I've always prided myself in having the right players on the ice at the right time," Lynn said. "I think this coaching business has passed me by."

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

"People didn't know how good Bowman was," the late Dan Kelly, the team's broadcaster, once recounted. "He was the first guy to use videotape to scout other teams. He knew more about the other team than the guy coaching them. That was a secret to his success."

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

In the first round of the '71 playoffs, the Blues were ousted by the Minnesota North Stars. The next day the owner's son, Sid Salomon III, informed Bowman that he wanted neither Arbour nor Fletcher back the next season. Bowman replied that if they were leaving, he was too, and he resigned. In retrospect Salomon's gaffe may have been the worst front-office move in hockey history. Twenty-three years later St. Louis is still awaiting its first Stanley Cup, while Fletcher, Arbour and Bowman have, among them, been associated with 12 Cup champions on four different teams. And counting

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

"He was an intense, intense individual," says Doug Risebrough, a forward on those Montreal teams and now general manager of the Calgary Flames. "He treated every game as if it was the most important game of the year, and he expected everyone to treat it the same way."

-EM Swift, SI.com 1993

When the Detroit Red Wings won the 2002 Stanley Cup, Scotty Bowman lifted the object of his obsession, carried it around the arena and skated off into the sunset. He had nothing more to accomplish.

"What a way for the greatest coach in the history of the sport to exit," said GM Ken Holland as he looked on.

-The Hockey News 2004

He won nine Cups as a coach, one more than his mentor Toe Blake, who won seven of his eight at a time when Original Six teams had to survive only two rounds, not four.

-The Hockey News, 2004

He took his first job in the 1960s when the NHL had only 12 teams and players were making real-world money. When he retired, it was the 21st century, the league had ballooned to 30 teams and players were multi-millionaires. He found ways to succeed in five different decades.

-The Hockey News, 2004

When the Wings had five talented Russians in the 1990s, he put them on one unit, the "Russian Five," to take advantage of their native, puck-possession style in a North American, dump-and-chase league.

-The Hockey News, 2004

Playing for Bowman is an act of faith. "After warmups for Game 6 against Dallas [in this year's semifinals], he decided to change his lines," Detroit left wing Brendan Shanahan says. "With any other coach, you'd think, What the hell is he doing? This could cost us the series. But I don't think anybody in the room popped his head up. He pulled me and Stevie [Yzerman, the Red Wings captain] into his office and asked us if it would be O.K. if he played me on the right and Stevie on the left with Sergei [Fedorov]. I said, 'Sure.' I hadn't played right wing in about nine years, but I was thinking that if Scotty thinks it's a good idea, I think it's a good idea." Detroit won that game 2-0 to close out Dallas.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

This is also Scotty: the best coach or manager of a team in any of North America's major pro sports. Ever. In proclaiming Bowman the best, we compared not only apples to apples, like Bowman to Blake, but also apples to plums like Bowman to Red Auerbach and Joe McCarthy, and apples to peaches like Bowman to George Halas and Paul Brown (boxes, right and page 71). But before we pepper you with the numbers, you must accept two premises: 1) winning championships with multiple teams as Bowman has is more difficult than winning them with a single franchise as most other storied coaches and managers have done, and 2) coaching a team has never been more complex or perilous than it is today. The financial stakes are higher. The pressure is greater. The seasons are longer. In 30-team leagues in a 500-channel universe, the job of guiding $6 million-a-year players for itchy owners who have one eye on the standings and the other on a stadium referendum is more taxing than the task faced by (to mention two baseball skippers of yore) either the gruff John McGraw or the lovable Casey Stengel. Winning championships in the modern era is the ultimate tiebreaker.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

Tom Landry never could adapt. Vince Lombardi never had to, and neither did Blake. Among the legends—and SI examined the most accomplished coaches in each sport—only Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Glen Sather have won as many as four championships in the past 15 years. What's more, no one has duplicated Bowman's successes in so many cities and with so many generations of athletes.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

The bedouin Bowman has won Cups with three clubs (the Pittsburgh Penguins as well as Montreal and Detroit); reached the finals three times with another, the St Louis Blues; and holds the record for most playoff wins in every one of his stops (the above four plus the Buffalo Sabres). He has won with Flying Frenchmen and the Russian Revolution. He has won with offense in Pittsburgh. He has won with defense in Montreal and Detroit. He has won championships over a 25-year span, and only Papa Bear Halas, whose first NFL title came in 1921 and last in '63, won them over a longer period of time. "He started coaching guys who had summer jobs and crew cuts, and now he's coaching guys with Ferraris, earrings, blond streaks and agents," Shanahan says. "I read something like that about Don Shula once. I immediately thought of Scotty" The difference: Bowman has won eight titles in 26 years; Shula won two in 33.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

Championships: Auerbach surpasses Bowman with nine (article written before Bowman's 9th) and Blake ties him with eight, but all except the last of Blake's Cups required winning only two series (compared to three or four in the case of each of Bowman's Cups). Similarly, Auerbach's Boston Celtics didn't have to keep peeling back layer after playoff layer to prevail. Indeed, for all his championships, Auerbach won 99 postseason games in 20 years, barely half of the 194 that Bowman has won in his 26 years. Bowman's eight championships equal the combined totals of Walter Alston, John McGraw and Billy Martin in baseball; of Lombardi and Bill Walsh in football; of Riley, Red Holzman and Chuck Daly in basketball; and of Al Arbour, Jack Adams and Mike Keenan in hockey. Or if you prefer the parlor version of the game, Bowman one-ups the Browns (Paul and Larry) 8-7; grinds up the Chucks ( Daly, Noll and Knox) 8-6; and downs the Beers ( Bud Grant and Miller Huggins) 8-3.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

"His adaptability is amazing, and he can try anything he pleases," says Shutt. There's nothing worse in coaching than worrying about what the press or the fans are going to say. Other coaches don't have the credibility to try stuff. Scotty has the latitude.

-Michael Farber, SI.com 1998

Among the believers, it might surprise some to learn, is Guy Lafleur, who frequently feuded with Bowman during Montreal's dynasty in the late 1970s.

"Scotty is responsible for my career," Lafleur said. "He asked me to push myself, to extend myself every day. I hated Scotty in my first two years. He kept me on the bench. Today, I say I'm pleased to have played for Scotty. He turned my career around."

-Keith Gave, Chicago Tribune 1993

"He doesn't have files", said fellow GM Jimmy Develano of the Red Wings. "He keeps it all in his head. He's like a computer. There's no doubt he knows more about the other teams in the NHL than anyone else".

-Barry Miller, AP 1984

"The most impressive thing about Scotty is his ability to adjust over the years. A lot of coaches are regimented. If you look at all Scotty's teams, from St Louis, Montreal, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, every one of them has been different. And he was flexible enough to start in the 60's, 70's, 80's and into the 90's"

-Ron Wilson, Who's Who in Hockey

"The thing that made Scotty so successful, is that he was always on top of everything. Ask him about any team in the league-their penalty killing, their power play, which player has how many blocked shots-and he knew exactly how many. When i was in Detroit, we were always prepared for every team that we played, and he knew exactly what they would do. It's impossible to get anything by him

"
-Chris Osgood, Who's Who in Hockey

"The St Louis Blues team that Scotty Bowman coached in the late 1960's, was a mediocre, rag tag team. Now for him, to do what he did, bringing them to the finals, and being competitive, that's like rumpelstiltskin, of fairy tale fame, weaving straw into gold."

-Stan Fischler, Legends of Hockey

"He realized that there was only one team that was going to beat us. And that was ourselves."

-Steve Shutt, Legends of Hockey

"When he was around us, there was a lot of respect from everybody in the room. Scotty knows the game inside and out. He knows the strategy, he knows all the players, he knows all the stats, from way back in the 40's probably. And he is just a very special human being. I feel very fortunate that i had the oppurtunity to play for him and learn from him on a daily basis."

-Mario Lemieux, Legends of Hockey

"Scotty was a guy who knew what the players wanted more than anything was to win. That they wanted easy practices, an smiling coach, an arm around the shoulder, but they could live without those things. What they couldn't live without, was winning. And the players sensed that he decisions he made and the actions he took, were going to give us as players a better chance of winning. And so however he made those decisions. However abrupt and belligerent he could be, he was an acceptable guy, because he was going to help us win....and we knew it"

-Ken Dryden, Legends of Hockey

"I remember the reporters here in Montreal just in awe of how many times he would mix his lines. He had the other team so baffled they didn't know who was coming out, and when, and why. But that was Scotty. I don't think i've ever seen anyone handle his lines. And be mixing lines and be mixing players, and be in control of the game, as Scotty is. He's number 1 behind the bench."

-Larry Robinson, Legends of Hockey

"He has such a command of the game, and such a great command of his team that you are in awe," coach Paul Maurice said after Bowman beat his Carolina Hurricanes in the finals
Much, much more to come.....

-David Wilkens, Notable Sports Figures 2004

He was unsurpassed at mixing and matching his lineups. He made strategic changes at dizzying speed to keep the other team guessing. "Bowman's the best," Scott Andrea wrote for the Knight Ridder News Service, "because he was able to adapt his game to the different era, teams, players and styles so well."

-David Wilkens, Notable Sports Figures 2004

Brett Hull paid this tribute to Bowman: "It's like being coached by Red Auerbach or Bear Bryant. These are people who only came along once in a lifetime and to say he was your coach … it's hard to put into words."

-David Wilkens, Notable Sports Figures 2004

Bowman worked well with Pittsburgh coach Bob Johnson, who was as upbeat and outgoing as Bowman was aloof and non-communicative. Johnson led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 1991, but the following summer he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Bowman was named interim coach and quickly realized that his demanding, disciplinarian style would not work with a team accustomed to Johnson's positive, laid back, nonconfrontational ways. The game had changed in the two decades since Bowman began his reign with the Canadiens, and he would have to change, as well. "I was aware that if I coached the way I had in the past it wouldn't have had the same results," he said. "I knew I had to be different." In the '92 playoffs, the Penguins won eleven straight games, a post-season record, and claimed their second straight Stanley Cup. It was Bowman's sixth as head coach.

-David Wilkens, Notable Sports Figures 2004

 

[BillyShoe1721]

The Philadelphia Flyers select RW Larry Aurie

1x 1st Team All Star
3x "3rd Team" All Star
1x Stanley Cup Champion
2x Top 10 Goals (1, 8)
3x Top 10 Assists (3, 6, 8)
2x Top 10 Points (3, 4)
Led 1933-34 playoffs in assists, points

VsX Scores: 98, 96, 85, 81, 52, 46, 43, 42

Voted Fourth Best Stickhandler in 1934 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...W4NAAAAIBAJ&dq=worters morenz&pg=1894,1369940)

Busher Jackson... names Larry Aurie of the Red Wings the hardest-checking right-winger in the league

One of the greatest two-way forwards in the National League, the mighty mite, 139 pound right winger veteran of the ice lanes is the last member of the club that introduced major league hockey to Detroit in 1927. A fighter throughout every game, Aurie always was ready to trade punches with the biggest players in the circuit when aroused.

Lewis... and Larry Aurie, the two way terrors who sparked the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup.

He was XXXXXX' favourite player and he gained the respect of his opponents with his aggressiveness, intelligence and scoring touch.

Little Larry Aurie caught Jack's attention early in the pre-season training sessions and before the 1927-28 campaign was halfway completed, xxx was proudly calling the gutty forward, "Hockey's best two-way player."

Although one of the smallest men ever to play, he was one of the toughest of the era as well.

Aurie, a fearless and talented right wing, played for Detroit from 1927 through 1939. Through his tireless, selfless play, he thoroughly impressed then-owner James Norris. In fact, Norris’ admiration of Aurie motivated him to retire Aurie’s jersey No. 6 in 1938. Aurie became the first-ever Red Wing to be honored in this manner.

Adams scouted Aurie as a fiery competitor who excelled despite a size disadvantage (5-6, 148). Aurie was both a deft scorer and great puck-handler - earning the nickname `The Little Rag Man’ for his crowd-pleasing ability to ‘rag’ the puck while killing penalties. He was highly respected throughout the league.

Aside from being one of the team’s offensive catalysts, Aurie was also often double-shifted as the team’s best defensive forward. He also had the tiresome duty of defusing their opponents’ top line, killed penalties routinely and was an intimidating physical presence in spite of his size - thus earning his other nickname: “Little Sampsonâ€.

According to Charles L. Coleman in his book “The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Volume 2â€, the Red Wings’ decline in 1937-38 was largely due to Aurie’s ankle injury. Coleman wrote that “Aurie had not recovered the form he had before breaking his ankle ... Without a healthy Aurie, the team collapsedâ€.

“Larry was a big cog in the wheel of our first championship teamsâ€, said teammate Pete Kelly, reached at his home in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1997. “He was on our production line’ and was a key to those championships.â€

In Dec. 1952, an article appeared in the Red Wing Hockey Magazine – the Wings’ game program at the time. The article was written to eulogize both Aurie and Norris, who had also died in Dec. 1952 just prior to Aurie’s death. It read: “It was, perhaps, merciful that Mr. Norris was spared the sudden, shocking, and untimely passing of Larry Aurie.

“Larry was one of Mr. Norris’ favorite players. That was manifested when Aurie’s jersey, bearing number six, was retired from the active numbers when Larry left the Red Wing lineup for the last time.

“Perhaps, much of the admiration which Norris held for Larry lay in Aurie’s type. He was a typical Red Wing. A great two-way hockey player, he continually battled the handicap of size to become the first Detroit forward to ever win All-Star recognition from the league. He was a unanimous choice for the original Detroit Hall of Hockey Fame and the first member of it to die.

http://kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/ilitch_celebrates_yzerman_desecrates_aurie

Larry Aurie was one of the smallest players to ever play the game Only 5-feet-6, 148 pounds, he established himself as one of Detroit's earliest hockey stars, combining a deft scoring touch with excellent speed and puck handling skills.

The other trait that was an Aurie trademark was his fiery competitiveness. He was nicknamed "Little Dempsey" after the heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey. Like modern day Theoren Fleury, Aurie was a fiesty, scrappy right winger who played with full out heart and desire. That made him not only a favorite of the fans, but of his coach and his boss.

"Aurie would fight a tiger to win and was a damn good hockey player. He was very small, only 145 pounds, but very strong. He would stand in front of the net and take on players 50 to 60 pounds heavier and handled it well. Much like (Dino) Ciccarelli, only Larry could fight. He would drop his stick at the drop of a hat."

http://redwingslegends.blogspot.com/2007/01/larry-aurie.html

Aurie was a scorer who (ragged) the puck to kill penalties (thus the nickname), a team leader and memebr of the Wings top line with Marty Barry and Herbie Lewis.

Although one of the smallest men ever to play, he was one of the toughest of the era as well.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11886

Barry, Aurie, and Lewis opposed Primeau, Conacher, and xxx to open the last period. The rival combinations were in action less than three minutes. Aurie had the only shot on goal for either line

Six minutes before the close Primeau, Conacher, and Harvey Jackson, a famous Toronto forward-line combination of other seasons, was facing the Barry, Aurie, Lewis line

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ow8_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jk4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5830,2145781

Barry, Aurie, and Lewis opposed Conacher, Primeau, and xxx when the forward lines switched for the first time

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=79312461#post79312461

Larry Aurie was hardly a heavyweight, but he was a champion. And by the mid 1930s, he had become one of the most popular Red Wings. The 5'6" Aurie weighed in at 148 pounds, but his grit weighed a ton.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wp...d=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=larry aurie&f=false

They called Aurie "Little Dempsey". Although only 5'6" and 148 pounds, he was a fearless competitor, a team leader on Detroit's first two Stanley Cup champions and team owner James Norris's favourite player.

http://books.google.com/books?id=OR...d=0CEgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=larry aurie&f=false

For much of his career in the franchise's early days, Larry Aurie was the most dangerous shot-maker and scorer, despite his size - 5'6" and 148 pounds. A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Aurie came to the team, originally named the Detroit Cougars. He had the reputation of being a quick, fast, exceptionally aggressive, rugged right winger with an accurate shot, beloved by the fans and depended on by the team because of his scoring ability.

http://books.google.com/books?id=MG...d=0CFUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=larry aurie&f=false

One of the smallest men (5'6" 148 pounds) in the NHL but one of the toughest, he was called "Little Dempsey" for his fistic skills.

...Aurie, who had a knack for killing penalties, was a player-coach in Pittsburgh in 1939.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6k...y+aurie&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EUMEU-X9CaS_sQSK0IKIAg&

ved=0CCgQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=larry%20aurie&f=false

Because of Larry's tremendous work ethic and team leadership, Jack Adams decreed that the Red Wing #6 was gone forever.

http://books.google.com/books?id=gj...0CDgQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=larry aurie&f=false

...he was Jack Adams's favorite player, and he gained the respect of his opponents with his aggressiveness, intelligence, and scoring touch.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Yk...0CDMQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=larry aurie&f=false

His flaming competitive spirit has gained Larry Aurie designation as "the Ty Cobb of Detroit hockey."

Aurie packs 140 pounds off aggressiveness on a 5'6" frame.

Jack Adams, who has been Aurie's manager ever since Detroit's first big league hockey game in 1927, says Aurie is the best "two-way player" in the business.

When the Red Wings are shorthanded, Aurie is usually on the ice because he is tops at ragging and freezing the puck. When opponents are penalized and a Detroit power play starts, Larry is in the front line of the attack.

"Pound for pound," Adams says "he has more courage than any player hockey ever has known."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...xxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qqQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1065,4617116

Fans here adored Aurie for the way in which he would willingly mix it with bigger foes. He was also terrific at ragging the puck and could keep the house at Olympia on its feet for minutes at a time in sheer delight with him.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...UkpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UmgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1829,7311331

 

[Dreakmur]

Dean Prentice !!!


Awards and Achievements:
2nd Team All-Star (1960)

All-Star voting – 2nd(1960), 3rd(1956), 3rd(1962), 5th(1963), 5th(1965)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points – 10th(1960), 12th(1962), 18th(1957), 18th(1963), 19th(1956), 20th(1967)
Goals – 4th(1960), 8th(1956), 12th(1967), 13th(1964), 13th(1968), 14th(1957), 15th(1962), 18th(1955), 18th(1961)
Assists – 8th(1962), 14th(1960), 14th(1963), 15th(1959), 15th(1966)

Play-off Points – 4th(1966)
Play-off Goals – 3rd(1966)
Play-off Assists – 5th(1966)


5 Year Peak: 1959 to 1963
13th in Points, 71% of 2nd place Gordie Howe
14th in Goals, 70% of 2nd place Andy Bathgate
12th in Assists, 71% of 2nd place Gordie Howe

10 Year Peak: 1959 to 1968
11th in Points, 65% of 2nd place Bobby Hull
12th in Goals, 66% of 2nd place Gordie Howe
12th in Assists, 66% of 2nd place Andy Bathgate


Scoring Percenages:
Points - 83(1960), 71(1962), 65(1963), 65(1968), 60(1959), 59(1956), 59(1970), 56(1966), 55(1957), 50(1961), 50(1964), 50(1967)

Best 6 Seasons: 403​

 

[Dreakmur]

Herbie Lewis !!!


Awards and Achievements:
2x Stanley Cup Champion (1936, 1937)

All-Star voting – 3rd(1937), 4th(1936)


Offensive Accomplishments:
Points – 6th(1935), 9th(1936), 14th(1933), 15th(1934), 15th(1937)
Goals – 7th(1933), 13th(1934), 15th(1936), 17th(1930), 18th(1935), 20th(1931)
Assists – 4th(1935), 4th(1936), 13th(1937)

Play-off Points – 2nd(1936), 3rd(1934), 7th(1936)
Play-off Goals – 1st(1934), 1st(1936), 10th(1936)
Play-off Assists – 5th(1936), 5th(1937), 7th(1934)


5 Year Peak: 1933 to 1938
7th in Points, 91% of 2nd place Marty Barry
11th in Goals, 74% of 2nd place Nels Stewart
3rd in Assists, 99% of 2nd place Paul Thompson

10 Year Peak: 1929 to 1938
13th in Points, 87% of 2nd place Frank Boucher
11th in Goals, 71% of 2nd place Charlie Conacher
7th in Assists, 85% of 2nd place Joe Primeau


Scoring Percentages:
Points - 93(1936), 91(1935), 77(1933), 72(1934), 71(1937), 70(1938)

Best 6 Seasons: 474​

 

[BillyShoe1721]

D Jim Schoenfeld

2x NHL All Star Game Participant
7x Top 13 AS Voting (4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
4x Top 12 Norris Voting (3, 7, 10, 12)
Buffalo Sabres Captain, 1974-77
Killed 56% of his team's penalties over his 719 game career(8th all time, and they were very good PK units)

Not exactly known for his offensive game, that was okay to the Sabres. Schoenfeld was brought in to protect his net, make his goaltender’s life easier and dominate in his own zone. Of course, getting a bit of mentoring from the legendary Tim Horton probably helped Schoenfeld a bit.

An aggressive and physical player, Schoenfeld was not only remembered for his solid on-ice play but for also being one to drop the gloves more than occasionally. It’s no surprise that, combine with his hard-nosed style and leadership abilities, Schoenfeld became the NHL’s youngest captain in September of 1974, just 22 years old.

Schoeny was a fan-favorite in Buffalo not only for his penchant to beat people up in dramatic fashion but because he was fearless in front of his net, blocking shots whenever needed, and constantly hustling.

http://thefarmclub.net/2013/07/26/18-greatest-buffalo-sabres-of-all-time-jim-schoenfeld/

He was known for his fisticuffs more than his scoring prowess, amassing 532 penalty minutes in his first four seasons in with the Sabres. He had a career high in points with 36 in the 1979-80 season, where four of his nine goals were scored on the power play. He also played in the All-Star Game this year, as well as the 1977 Game.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=14250

Jim Schoenfeld was a goaltender's best friend. A dominating defenseman in his own zone, Schoenfeld was a more unheralded version of Rod Langway in many ways.

The highest rated defenseman in the 1972 Entry Draft, Schoenfeld was drafted 5th overall by the young Buffalo Sabres franchise. Although they realized that Schoenfeld wouldn't do a whole lot offensively, they realized just how special this player truly was.

Schoeny was as tough as they come, and he solidified that reputation early in his career. On December 13, 1972 of his rookie season, Jim got into three fights in a game against the Big Bad Boston Bruins. Jim tangled with Bobby Orr first, which of course would make him a marked man instantly. Carol Vadnais and Wayne Cashman, two of the more rugged Bruins, would go at it with Schoenfeld by the end of the game. The fight with Cashman was particularly memorable as the two crashed against the Zamboni entrance doors. The doors opened up unexpectedly as the two exited the ice.

While Schoeny could handle his own against any of the NHL's toughest customers, don't think he was your stereotypical 1970's goons. He was a fan favorite in Buffalo because of his bone crunching bodychecks, his fearless shot blocking, his tenacity in front of his own net and his constant hustle and work ethic.

http://sabreslegends.blogspot.com/2007/06/jim-schoenfeld.html

Schoenfeld brought an aggressive and physical approach to the game, and soon earned a reputation as a tough customer. All NHL rookies face baptism by fire, and Jim was challenged often by bellicose veterans. However, he never backed down from a confrontation. Few Sabre fans will ever forget the 1972 December evening when Schoeny took Bruins’ Wayne Cashman “outside,†and, for good measure, man-handled two other big, bad Bruins in the same contest.

However, Jim desires to be remembered not for pugilistic encounters, but for the stellar defensive play, on-ice leadership, and inspirational qualities which endeared him to fans and teammates alike.

http://buffalosportshallfame.com/member/jim-schoenfeld/

The rugged blueliner, who originally was a Buffalo 1st round pick in 1972 had his best season in 1979-80, with a +60 rating and 36 points, enjoying a ten year run as the Sabres' defensive sage.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wp...CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=jim schoenfeld&f=false

Schoenfeld had been a first round pick in 1972, and his physical style and much needed toughness helped take the Sabres to the playoffs during his first season.

Throughout the 1970s, Schoenfeld was a leader on and off the ice.

Schoenfeld was never a dirty player, but when he came into the league he was tough, would back up from nobody...When we got Jerry Korab and he and Schoenfeld were out on that blueline together, they'd take on anybody. Nobody wanted any part of them. If something started in a corner, or a fight in front of our net, they'd look at each other and then just wade in. That made a hell of a difference, lifted everybody, the knowledge that when trouble brewed these two 6' 200 pounders were coming in like there was no tomorrow.

http://books.google.com/books?id=At...CE8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=jim schoenfeld&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=At...CE8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=jim schoenfeld&f=false

 

[ImporterExporter]

Red Dutton

Awards and Acheivements:
2 x WCHL First Team All-Star (1922, 1924)

WCHL/WHL Scoring:
Points – 8th(1922)
Goals – 7th(1922)
Assists – 9th(1924)

Points among Defensemen – 2nd(1922), 9th(1923), 3rd(1924), 6th(1925), 2nd(1926)
Goals among Defensemen – 2nd(1922), 9th(1923), 4th(1924), 8th(1925), 2nd(1926)
Assists among Defensemen – 2nd(1922), 4th(1923), 2nd(1924), 8th(1925), 6th(1926)

NHL Scoring:
Points among Defensemen – 7th(1928), 8th(1930), 7th(1931), 8th(1936)
Goals among Defensemen – 9th(1928), 3rd(1936)
Assists among Defensemen – 10th(1927), 4th(1928), 8th(1929), 4th(1930), 5th(1931), 9th(1934), 10th(1936

"Two seasons later, in 1923–24, Dutton and the Tigers won the WCHL championship. He assisted on the championship winning goal in a 2–0 victory over the Regina Capitals by carrying the puck the length of the ice before passing to Cully Wilson who scored."

-Wikipedia

"while Dutton's performance as a regular defence player is vouched for by the fact that in five games the Americans have been scored on once."

-Montreal Gazette, 1930
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...hQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SYwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6454,3543631

"Dutton may have thought back to the days when he was dealing out some of the most magnificent butt ends, the finest body checks noted in hockey"

Dutton used to operate as a defence partner of Herb Gardiner back in Calgary. They were the wildest checking defenceman of their time."

-Toronto Daily Star, 1945
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...kA8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dysMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4620,5631516

"At 2:53 Red Dutton raced through everybody and, fooling ******, gave ***** a perfect pass, which was rammed home to its fullest advantage."

-Montreal Gazette, 1931
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...70tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UIwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4880,2956821

"Red Dutton is vastly improved and is playing the type of hockey that made him a leader in the west 2 years ago"

-Ottawa Citizen, 1927
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...lcuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rdkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3338,5173240

"Red Dutton, the most improved defence player in hockey, and the durable Siebert help to form a flashy and hard checking defence."

-Ottawa Citizen, 1928
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tzk0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=kvUIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1333,5073190&hl=en

"Dutton was also prominent in breaking up the Maroons attack."

-Montreal Gazette, 1935
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...JAuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QpkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3866,2493405

"As at Ottawa, **** and Dutton HAD TO DO SIXTY MINTUES ON THE ICE. They held up well under the conditions."

-Montreal Gazette, 1927
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...X0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AYwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6646,2916963

"But there were few occasions when the front rank could pass the poke checking of Hooley Smith or the sturdy blocking of Red Dutton"

-Montreal Gazette, 1929
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...Ym8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IowFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3060,125121

"But it was the defence trio of Babe Siebert, Red Dutton, and ***** who were sound from start to finish.......as a block, Dutton was IMPASSABLE."

-Montreal Gazette, 1928
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...m4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9osFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3875,4671406

Wounds Don't Bother:
"Red Dutton, the big defense man of the New York Americans hockey team does heavy blocking depite the fact that he still has sphrapnel in his side received during the World War."

-The Spokesman-Review, 1931
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...hlWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B-MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2628,6542912

"Brydge and Dutton AS USUAL provided sturdy protection for Worters who showed no signs of his recent illness in turning in his custumary standout game."

-Montreal Gazette, 1933
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...xYvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TqgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4655,2243701

"Red Dutton is a first class defenceman, one of the best, and he is also credited with being possessed with managerial ability"

-Ottawa Citizen, 1935
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...E0UuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1071,723134

"Oatman, Montreal spare missed the net when he took a pass out in front of ****, another spare, Dutton foiled Boucher's effort"

-Pittsburgh Press, 1928
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...lzkbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LEoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3565,719026

"Stewart took a pass from Seibert, but shot wide. Boucher got away, but Dutton stopped him".

-Pittsburgh Press, 1928
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...lzkbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LEoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3565,719026

"Morenz took Jouliats pass, but was SMOTHERED BY DUTTON WHEN HE ATTEMPTED TO SHOOT".

-Ottawa Citizen, 1928

"Red Horner, Toronto's defenceman, probably had no pleasant thoughts of Red Dutton, the New York American's manager who body checked him last night in such a manner that Horner bounced into the air and landed on the back of his head. He received a concussion and lacerations. After five stitches had been taken in the wound, he was removed to the hospital for x-ray examination."

-The Telegraph, 1936
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n..._QdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l6QMAAAAIBAJ&pg=964,3264185

"Dutton is a stiff checker regardless of the recipient. It seemed as though the manager put a little added zest into last nights block when he realized he was about to clash with a player famous for his leaning towards winding sticks around a players ears and other cute little tricks"

The Telegraph, 1936
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n..._QdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l6QMAAAAIBAJ&pg=964,3264185

"Too see Herb Gardiner, of Canadiens, and Red Dutton, of Maroons, handing it to one another in games between these two it is hard to realize that off the ice they are the closest of friends. Smart hockey players and willing workers are both of these brainy defenceman, who used to partner as the guards for the old Calgary Tigers"

-The Montreal Gazette, 1928
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...Mm8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9YsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6674,122590

"Flat Walsh has a habit of goaltending in the most unorthodox fashion and getting away with it. Once in the final session, he skated up nearly to the blue line to fling himself in front of Martin Barry who was racing for the puck. On two other occasions Red Dutton had to dash into the goal to hold the fort until Flat returned and each time the Bruins failed to score"

-The Montreal Gazette, 1930
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...XAtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M4wFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4245,4018765

"Red Dutton, twice led the NHL in penalty minutes, and once, in tandem with his pal Herb Gardiner, put speed king Howie Morenz in hospital with some crunching body work as the cagey Canadiens legend tried to split the defence."

-The Calgary Herald, 1986
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g3dkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ln8NAAAAIBAJ&dq=red-dutton&pg=5615,2729543


-I think we have a plethora of information spanning the better part of a decade that paints a picture of just how good Dutton was as a defenceman. Not only was he able to pitch in offensively he was thought of a first rate player in his own end and was extremely smart. I find it telling that a man who never won a Stanley Cup or put up massive offensive numbers was able to make the Hall of Fame. I think that speaks to the level of defence he played, at least to some extent. There are many quotes above from numerous sources and seasons talking about how stout and responsible Dutton was in his own end which is what he needs to focus on playing on a line with Flash Hollett. He would not have made many of the plays noted above by being a head hunter and straying out of position all the time. Yes, he was a very physical player but he also shut down opposing team/players numerous times. He seems to be a Scott Stevens type with less offensive production (which is not a problem as a pair with Hollett).

One of the coolest articles i've ever dug up. A funny "confrontation" between King Clancy and Dutton.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...UA8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dysMAAAAIBAJ&pg=734,10629112

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Building off TDMM's bio
LW Jiri Holik

5x Top 5 in Golden Stick Voting: 2nd (1973), 2nd (1974), 3rd (1969), 3rd (1975), 5th (1971)

Domestic scoring finishes: 6th (1973), 7th (1969), 7th (1970), 9th (1967)
International scoring finishes: 8th (1967) 8th (1976), 10th (1974), 11th (1969), 11th (1973), 12th (1970), 12th (1971)

Holik's voting record compared to his scoring finishes supports the evidence we have that he was a strong two-way player.

- 8th All-Time in scoring in IIHF tournaments (#2 Czech behind Martinec)
- A member of 14 straight National Teams at the World Championships (1964-1977)
- Inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999
- 4 Olympic Medals (2 Silver, 2 Bronze)
- 12 World Championship Medals (3 Gold, 5 Silver, 4 Bronze)

Holik's Golden Stick voting compared to other CSSR great forwards. These figures are the percentage of votes received for the Golden Stick and the work was done by Sturminator.

Vladimir Martinec__: 16.4, 16.3, 15.3, 11.8, 8.5, 7.5, 7.4, 7.0, 5.9, 5.6, 5.0, 1.0

Milan Novy________: 15.3, 13.6, 13.4, 11.4, 10.5, 7.8, 6.3, 4.2, 2.1, 0.9

Vaclav Nedomansky: 13.5, 13.5, 10.9, 9.4, 8.6, 6.5

Jiri Holik_________: 14.5, 13.8, 11.5, 6.5, 6.4, 6.3, 6.3, 5.2, 2.8, 0.4

Ivan Hlinka_______: 16.3, 11.5, 9.5, 7.6, 5.6, 5.1, 5.1, 5.0, 4.5, 2.7, 0.4

Here's the average percentage of votes they received over their six best seasons.

|Average
Martinec|12.6
Novy|12
Nedomansky|10.4
Holik|9.8
Hlinka|9.3

One of the best Czechoslovakian players ever. Holds a national record in games played to team Czechoslovakia (319). Was an elegant skater, excellent 2-way player, exceptionally reliable team player.

Thanks to Reds for translating this quote

Jiri Holik, an excellent defensive left winger, was indispensable.

http://historie.hokej.cz/index.php?view=clanek&lng=CZ&id=0&menu_id=328&open_id=349

An exceptional hockey player and a philosopher-poet who had it all figured out, Jiri Holik enjoyed the company of others and was a pleasure to talk to. He was an elegant, calm and peace-loving man, a lover of nature and the arts. His hot-blooded, willful brother Jaroslav, who was two years his senior, had a completely different personality.

As a person, Holik had all the bases covered, and as an excellent skater, he had the entire rink covered. He was such a reliable left winger that for 14 years no on could imagine the Czechoslovakian national team without him. Yet, surprisingly, he never won the Golden Stick Award as the best player in his country. Twice he came in second and once he was third.

For a long time he held a record on the national team for the greatest number of starts-at 319. Only in the 1980s did German defenseman Udo Kiessling make a point of exceeding his total by one match. "I don't desire any records. They only stemmed out of the fact that I had been with hockey for so long. I don't even know if that was good," was his response.

In the 1974 World Championship, he captained the national team. But he didn't stay very long in that role. "The constant meets were getting to me. I was married with children. During nice weather, I had to struggle somewhere near the ice. In April we finished, but come May, there was the practice camp. The federation president at the time, Zdenek Andrst, would say, 'Guys, finish playing and then you will go on that well-deserved vacation.' When I got my invitation, I replied that I was enjoying my well-deserved vacation. I quit as captain, but at the time I wasn't a leader type anyway."

He could have left Jihlava several times for bigger and better things-he and Jan Suchy once got an offer from Detroit. "At that time I thought communism would never come to an end. I didn't have the courage to emigrate like Vaclav Nedomansky, who did so at 30. It took a certain personality."

Jiri Holik starred the old Czechoslovakia
...
Jiri was an artistic scorer and an elegant skater
...
Holik and national team teammate Jan Suchy were once contacted by the Detroit Red Wings in the early 1970s, with the possibility of defecting. Another Czech named Vaclav Nedomansky already had jumped shipped, but ultimately they could not leave their families behind.

 

[SchultzSquared*]

David James "Dave" Burrows

He was one of the survivors of a dying breed- the defensive defenseman- and his perfection made him one of the most popular players in Penguins history.

Biography

Position: D ▪ Shoots: Left
Height: 6-1 ▪ Weight: 190 lbs.
Born: January 11, 1949 (Age 65) in Toronto, Ontario
​

Achievements/Awards

NHL All-Star Game- 1974
NHL All-Star Game- 1976
NHL All-Star Game- 1980

Contemporary Quotes

Among the handful of superior defensive specialists in the league, Burrows lends a touch of class to the Pittsburgh blueline. He kills penalties with aplomb, is capable of playing the left or right side and is smart enough that, even with a less than ideal shot, he can man the point position on the powerplay.

...Dave Burrows, whose performances are always so effortless, so consistently excellent that platitudes elude him far more often that goal-bound pucks.

Perhaps Burrows' lone handicap is the same consistency that makes him one of pro hockey's top defensemen. If there were a few off nights, then his magnificence could be more easily measured, more readily appreciated.

Take last night for example. Burrows scored his second goal in two nights, had an assist on Syl Apps' game-winner late in the second period and blocked three possible Los Angeles goals in the Penguins' 6-4 triumph.

Since it was obvious at the time that several jobs depended on the Penguins winning a couple of games, Dave Burrows was a tired man during December and January.

...

His shifts were longer, he killed most penalties, he played regularly on the powerplay for the first time in his career, and he was on the ice during all critical situations. In a close game, he would play nearly 40 minutes.

Coach Marc Boileau has said that as long as Burrows is fresh, he will be on the ice.

"He is the best defenseman in hockey," Boileau said, "so why shouldn't he be on the ice?"

That statement is easy to make so long as the cast remains on Bobby Orr's leg, but becoming the Penguins' designated "Superdefenseman" is alright with Burrows.

"I enjoy playing a lot," he said. "I think every player enjoys as much ice time as he can get."

Boileau said he might even use Burrows on the point during the power play.

"He's cool out there," Boileau said, "and he anticipates well. The most important thing a point man can do on the power play is keep the puck in the attacking zone, and Burrows does that well."

Burrows said he enjoys playing 30 minutes a game, but admitted 40 minutes, like he played two seasons ago, might be too many, especially when the schedule gets crowded with games.

A defenseman like Burrows is the rugged, reliable bland part of the Penguins, the "jeep" of the team. His specialty is far less glamorous than scoring goals; no one counts how many shots he blocks.

...

Burrows blocks shots with enough confidence that he will probably be voted to the mid-season all-star team.

...

The only thing that might keep Burrows off the team is the Penguins' overall defensive record. Some voters might doubt there are any good defensemen on a team that steadily gives up five goals a game for three weeks.

The Penguins are surpassed in defensive ineptitude only by the Washington Capitals, Kansas City Scouts and New York Rangers. Burrows manages to rise above the record, a glittering example of a defenseman's defenseman.

After Thursday's 6-5 loss to the Boston Bruins, Penguin defenseman Dave Burrows was asked if he had any idea how many shots he stopped.

"Well, here's one," he said, pointing to a welt on his leg, "and here's another, and this one makes at least three."

At least three that hurt, but probably a total of ten shots ricocheted off Burrows in that game.

...

Not only do the Penguins have a hot goaltender in Jim Rutherford, but they have a hot defenseman in Burrows.

"Burrows was all over the ice that night," said Penguins assistant coach Fred Hucul, who is in charge of the defense.

It was only a couple of seasons back defenseman Dave Burrows blocked a shot with his ankle and sustained a fracture. Although he could barely walk, Burrows played every shift and the club passed it off as a slight sprain.

 

[tony d]

Head Coach Dick Irvin Sr.

Biographical Information courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/coaches/irvindi01c.html

DOB: July 19 1892

Stats on Irvin courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/coaches/irvindi01c.html

-Coached 1449 career games
-Career Record of 692-527-230
-4 Time Stanley Cup Champ
-Career Playoff Record of 100-88-2
-Coached from 1929-1956 inclusive

http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/coach/Dick-Irvin

When he was named head coach of the Canadiens in 1940-41, Dick Irvin Sr. was already an accomplished NHL bench boss. Montreal, however, was where he reached new professional heights.

With 11 years of coaching experience on his résumé from his two seasons with the Blackhawks and nine campaigns with the Maple Leafs, Irvin was hired by Canadiens GM Tommy Gorman and given the mandate to reverse the team’s fortunes.

Inheriting a Habs squad in the midst of a lengthy Stanley Cup drought that saw the team miss the playoffs in two of the previous four seasons, Irvin was determined to return the Canadiens to glory. He did exactly that when, under his tenure, the Habs responded by winning three Stanley Cups, including triumphs in 1944, 1946 and 1953.

Never afraid to make tough decisions, Irvin surprised many when he decided to entrust the Habs’ crease to undrafted instead of regular starter Jacques Plante during the 1953 Stanley Cup Finals. The move paid off, as undrafted twice blanked the Bruins on his way to securing Cup No. 7 for the Canadiens.

During his time in Montreal, Irvin had the pleasure of welcoming a young Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau to the NHL, while he also played a pivotal role in the early mentoring of such other future Hall of Famers as Emile Bouchard, Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore and Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion.

Irvin’s 15 seasons behind the Canadiens’ bench remain the longest tenure of any coach in franchise history.

Final Thoughts:

Glad to have Irvin as my coach. He seems like the kind of coach who will get the most out of any team, hope that happens with the Racers.

 

[tony d]

Wendel Clark

Biographical Info courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/clarkwe01.html

Position: LW/D ▪ Shoots: Left
Height: 5-11 ▪ Weight: 194 lbs.
Born: October 25, 1966 (Age 47) in Kelvington, Saskatchewan

Stats courtesy of http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/clarkwe01.html

-7 30 Goal Seasons
-3 Seasons of 10 or more Power Play Goals
-69 points in 95 career playoff games
-90th All Time in Career playoff penalty minutes
-2 Time All Star

Joe Pelletier:

As Wendel matured, the Leafs got much better. Wendel learned to rely on his skating and puckhandling abilities - he had an incredible wrist shot - and cut down on the rough tactics without giving them up altogether. He learned to pick his spots and rely on his sizeable reputation. Players seemed to be afraid of Clark despite his fragile history. He was able to take advantage of the extra space the opposition would give him, and return to his goal scoring ways.

As the 1990s came along, Wendel was named the 15th captain in team history, and the resurging Leafs, thanks in part to Doug Gilmour who ultimately replaced Clark as the emotional on ice leader of the club, became not only respectable, but a league power.

Clark was able to erase a poor 1992-93 performance with an excellent playoff - including 10 goals and 20 points as the Leafs fell just short to Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings en route to the Stanley Cup finals. Clark was at his best during these playoffs. Perhaps his signature moment came in game 2 of the series against the Kings. L.A.'s evil Marty McSorley dared to rock the Leaf's new leader Doug Gilmour with a vicious body check. Clark answered by challenging McSorley to one of the most famous bouts of all time. The two warriors slugged away until neither man could fight no more.

During the 1993-94 season Clark picked up right where had left off in the previous post season, scoring a career high 46 goals and 76 points. Again the Leafs almost made it to Stanley Cup finals, but came up short against their Canadian rivals in the Vancouver Canucks.

Sports Illustrated May 23 1994:

Conn Smythe would have loved Wendel Clark. Smythe, one of the early patriarchs of the NHL and the fellow who built Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, was fond of saying, "If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you can't beat 'em on the ice."

Clark, the Maple Leaf captain, has a style suited for either venue. His eight goals through two playoff rounds include a pair he scored last Saturday night in Toronto's 4-2 Game 7 win over the San Jose Sharks at the Gardens, a victory that advanced the Leafs to the Western Conference finals against the Vancouver Canucks. And when Clark isn't illuminating the little red lamp, he's lighting up opponents.

Ask Chicago's Chris Chelios, who crawled to the bench after being freight-trained by Clark during Game 6 of the Maple Leafs' first-round series against the Blackhawks. Ask San Jose's undrafted, who was bent into a horseshoe by Clark in front of the Shark bench in Game 4 of their series. So enthusiastically did Clark finish his check that Norton was left gazing up into his teammates' nostrils, then was helped off the ice, semiconscious.

Around the NHL, Clark is given wide berth even though he doesn't drop his gloves as often as he did when he first arrived in the league, nine years ago. "He can still fight like a *******," says Toronto assistant general manager Bill Watters. "He's just more selective." Adds Leaf defenseman undrafted, "There's not a guy in the league that wants a piece of him. Wendel isn't swinging for show. He's swinging to hurt you."

Final Thoughts:

Glad to have Clark. Guy was a warrior and played like 1, think he'll do wonders with the Racers.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Ken Morrow D

- 4-time Stanley Cup Champion (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983)
- 1980 Olympic Goal Medallist
- Member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame (1995)
- scored 17 goals and 88 assists for 105 points in 550 regular season games, adding 309 penalty minutes.
- scored 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points in 97 playoff games, adding 127 penalty minutes.

Top 10 Finishes:
Plus/Minus - 1x - (7)

Voting Record:

Norris Voting Record:

12th (81-82), 13th (83-84)

Quotes

Legends of Hockey

Quote:
After Morrow started playing with the Islanders, he quickly proved he was an NHL-caliber player. The team's front office felt so confident with him in the lineup that they traded veterans Bill Harrison and Dave Lewis to the L.A. Kings for Butch Goring, the last player the Isles needed to put together a Cup-winning team.

Morrow was never a great goal scorer. In his best season with the Islanders, he accumulated only 19 points from one goal and 18 assists, but he made a significant contribution to the game in many other ways. In the 1983-84 playoffs, for example, he registered only three points, but two of them were crucial to the team's success. One was the winning goal in overtime that eliminated the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs; the other was an assist on the game-winning goal by Mike Bossy in the fourth game of the semifinals against Montreal.

In all, Morrow played 10 seasons in the NHL and was a member of the New York Islanders dynasty teams of 1980 to 1983 that won the Stanley Cup four straight times. Plagued by knee problems late in his career, Morrow was forced into early retirement. After his playing career, Morrow coached with Flint and Kansas City of the International Hockey League.

-Greatest Hockey Legends

Quote:
Following the Olympics [Morrow] joined the Islanders for the rest of the NHL season. It turned out to be an incredible year for Morrow.

After winning a gold medal with the Olympic team, he helped the Islanders capture their first Stanley Cup. He was the first player to win an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same season. In fact, Morrow helped the Islanders capture three more Stanley Cups, four in all, from 1980 to 1983.

A sound defensive defenceman, former Islander Denis Potvin once called Morrow as "steady as the Empire State Building." He never put up big offensive numbers on a team that was stacked with future Hall of Famers like Potvin, Bossy and Trottier, but he seemed to have the uncanny knack of scoring big goals whenever his team needed them.

In fact, Morrow's career numbers only included 17 goals and 105 points in 550 regular season games. But during the post-season, he seemed to thrive as he recorded 11 goals and 33 points in 127 playoff contests. More importantly, three of his post-season goals were overtime goals, his most memorable being the overtime tally that eliminated the New York Rangers during the 1984 playoffs.

-Who's Who in Hockey

Quote:
Ken Morrow, the most underrated Islanders defenseman.

As a traditional defensive defenseman, Ken's goals were unlikely, but timely. Teamed alongside Hall of Famer Denis Potvin, Morrow developed an uncanny knack of scoring game-winning overtime goals.

Morrow patrolled the Long Island blue line for ten years, until the dissipation of the Islanders dynasty. His steadiness was recognized by Islanders brass.

-Los Angeles Times - Nov 9, 1983

Quote:
Ken Morrow, after helping thwart the Philadelphia Flyers on the defensive end for most of the game Tuesday night.

-Newsday - Oct 11, 1987

Quote:
power plays in the first two periods and [Ken Morrow] was among those who did a good job penalty-killing. ...

-Toronto Star - Feb 5, 1987

Quote:
Ken Morrow arrived and was excellent on the penalty-killing team when there was a lead to protect.

"Ken Morrow (perhaps the best player on the ice) smoothered a good shot by Al McAdam."

-The Evening Independent, 1981
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...rfILAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IVoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6908,810283

"I think Ken Morrow played outstanding, despite having minor surgery two days ago"

-Al Arbour, Montreal Gazette 1983
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...4c1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=PqUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1043,3668527

"The Islanders do have Denis Potvin, the most commanding presence on the blue line since Larry Robinson at his best. Though Potvin makes more defensive blunders than he should, he is one holy terror when the chips are down and especially on the power play. And often his recklessness is nullfied by his more defensive minded, but highly competent mates on defense like Ken Morrow and *****."

-Montreal Gazette, 1981
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...FgoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2121,570407

"Morrow's performance at Lake Placid convinced the Islanders General Manager, Bill Torrey, that he deserved an oppurtunity.

"I saw every game up there" Torrey recalls. "Every time the American team was in trouble, Ken Morrow went out on the ice"

-Star-News, 1980
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...NdOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RhMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4992,3058734

"This is the age of offense, where forwards fill the zone, defenseman carry the puck and pinch at the blue lines. Ken Morrow is an iconoclast.

His forte is defense. With his large reach and enormous strength, Morrow rides opponents off the puck and into the boards, and clears them from out in front of the goal."

-Toledo Blade, 1984
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...UBPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ywIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3179,7076656

"Then Morrow, the steadiest of New York's suberb defenseman, drilled a 45 footer past Moog, after a perfect set up by Brian Trottier, to make it 3-1.

The Islanders jumped ahead 1-0 with only 19 seconds remaining in the first period thanks mainly to Mike Bossy. The high scoring right wing displayed his defensive skills by sweeping away a bouncing puck that was headed into an open net with Billy Smith out of position. Morrow eventually cleard the puck to Bossy for a 2-1 break. Moog stopped Bossy's slapshot but ****** swept in for the rebound"

-The Evening News, 1983
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...91GAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oy0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4617,1801527

"He was the cool, steady defender in the USA uniform, sliding to block shots through many of those final 10 minutes as the Americans clung to a one goal lead over the Soviets."

-Sarasota Journal, 1980
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...P8cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wI4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6158,3238566

"Potvin, fellow defenseman, *****. ******, Ken Morrow and ***** - who played for the first time since hurting his knee against the Rangers - were perfect, as was Billy Smith. The defenseman blocked shots, deflected passes, and generally frustrated the highest scoring team in NHL history."

-The Telegraph, 1983
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...qYrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6PwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6598,2195049

"And when Gretzky has tried to bring the puck up himself, a steady defenseman such as Ken Morrow has stayed upright, not allowing himself to be influenced by Gretzky's reputation, and has invariably poked the puck away."

-Lakeland Ledger, 1984
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...KdOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YvsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6666,6138247

"The steady man on the team was Ken Morrow of Bowling Green. Morrow was drafted by the Islanders in 76, but chose to finish college and try out for the 80' team. At 23, 6'4'' 210 pounds, this gentle giant has grown into an excellent player."

-The Milwaukee Sentinel, 1980
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...3lQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_REEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6817,4795608

"In Ken Morrow's four year NHL career, the New York defenseman has developed a knack for overtime goals.

Morrow who was wooed by Brooks for the gold medal winning 1980 Olympic team because of his defensive skills, picked up a loose puck along the boards to the left side of Rangers goaltender Glen Hanlon and without hesitating ripped a blistering wrist shot under Hanlon's glove to the short side. It was his third overtime goal of his career.

It was Morrow's 10th playoff goal since joining the Islanders in 1980 immediately after the Olympic victory."

-The Bryan Times, 1984
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...d5djAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9FEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3854,873247

"and *****, ****** and Ken Morrow are the stay at home rear guards."

-Ottawa Citizen, 1981
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...JL4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=We4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6291,510060

"Edmonton pressured New York, but Ken Morrow - part of an Islanders defense that broke up certain potential scoring changes in the waning minutes - finally cleared the puck, skated past the red line and scored his second short handed goal of the series. That goal left the score: Morrow 2, Gretzky 0."

-Montreal Gazette, 1983
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...aBUyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RqUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=990,3763285

"Most defensive" defencemen of the ATD (modern era)

Metrics used here:
1. % of even strength goals for which the defenceman was awarded a point while on the ice. The lower the number, the more defensive the defenceman. The list is selected and sorted using this.
2. Penalty killing usage and power play usage are also listed. More PK and less PP = more defensive, in general.

Rk | Player | GP | ESP% | PK% | PP%
1 | Don Awrey | 842 | 0.17 | 45% | 4%
2 | Ken Daneyko | 1286 | 0.18 | 43% | 4%
3 | Ken Morrow | 550 | 0.18 | 48% | 1%
4 | Dave Burrows | 724 | 0.18 | 53% | 13%
5 | Jeff Beukeboom | 804 | 0.20 | 40% | 5%
6 | Brian Engblom | 659 | 0.20 | 40% | 16%
7 | Robyn Regehr | 744 | 0.21 | 48% | 16%
8 | Craig Ludwig | 1256 | 0.21 | 52% | 2%
9 | Normand Rochefort | 598 | 0.21 | 40% | 12%
10 | Terry Harper | 795 | 0.22 | 53% | 9%
11 | Kjell Samuelsson | 813 | 0.22 | 49% | 8%
12 | Bill Hajt | 854 | 0.22 | 57% | 5%
13 | Ed van Impe | 639 | 0.22 | 46% | 12%
14 | Ted Harris | 598 | 0.23 | 44% | 5%
15 | Andre Dupont | 810 | 0.23 | 39% | 14%

[/QUOTE]


Will add on much more tonight........