Bill Dineen

This is Bill Dineen. He was a speedy depth winger with the Detroit Red Wings (and briefly with the Chicago Black Hawks) in the 1950s. He was a teammate of Gordie Howe back then, which is ironic in that both established great family dynasties. Dineen, in fact, played a big role in establishing the Howe family legend.

Dineen, nicknamed Willie and Foxy, was born in Arvida, Quebec. His father, Matt, was a star defenseman with the University of McGill who later tried out for, but never played with, the Montreal Maroons. He became a civil engineer instead.

Bill played his youth and junior hockey in Ontario, starring with the Ottawa St. Pats and the St. Michael's (Toronto) Majors. Education was important to Bill's father, hence his playing at the legendary St. Mikes. The University of Michigan also offered a scholarship and a chance to play, but Bill wanted pursue his NHL dreams.

In 1953 Dineen jumped directly from junior to the NHL - no easy task in those days of the Original Six. Many star players had to apprentice in the minor leagues before making the jump. Dineen was no star, but he established himself as a useful NHL player with the powerful Detroit Red Wings. He helped Howe and the Wings win Stanley Cups in 1953 and 1954.

Dineen's rookie season was something special. He finished as a runner up for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year to Camille Henry of the New York Rangers. But Dineen finished ahead of the much hyped Jean Beliveau in rookie of the year voting. Dineen scored 17 goals, and possibly could have hit the impressive 20 goal level. However the Wings, under orders from boss Jack Adams, benched Dineen late in the season. Had Dineen reached 20 goals the Wings would have had to pay him a $6,000 bonus. The cheap Wings had no intention of allowing that to happen.

Perhaps his confidence was shaken by the undeserved benching, because he was never quite the same player again. He played 23 playoff games over the next two seasons but only picked up one assist. His offensive numbers over the next 4 seasons steadily declined, even though the Wings dynasty had begun to fall apart and were looking for bigger contributions from newcomers.

On December 17th, 1957 Dineen was traded to Chicago by Detroit with Billy Dea, Lorne Ferguson and Earl Reibel for Nick Mickoski, Bob Bailey, Hec Lalande and Jack McIntyre. It was a huge shuffle but Dineen couldn't find his game in Chicago either. After that season he was down in the minor leagues.

Dineen continued to play hockey, toiling in the minor leagues while riding the buses and scraping by with puny pay checks. Dineen stilled loved hockey, but you have to wonder if he ever wished he followed his father's desire for education and have a steady job. Dineen had a growing family - 6 boys and 1 girl - and quite simply had to keep playing hockey for the pay check to help keep his family afloat.

Dineen eventually retired in 1971, 13 years after his last stint in the NHL. He then turned to a long life of coaching, mostly in the minor leagues.

In 1972 Dineen got a big break. He was asked to coach the new WHA team the Houston Aeros. He knew he wanted an 18 year old youngster named Mark Howe. Mark of course was the son of Dineen's old teammate Gordie Howe. Dineen immediately set about acquiring the WHA rights to Mark and Gordie's other hockey playing son, Marty. Then he approached Gordie with the idea of coming out of retirement to play with his sons. Houston badly needed some sort of draw if hockey was to succeed in the Texan city. Gordie agreed to return to the ice, and counts playing with his sons as his career highlight.

The legend of the Howe family is well known. But Dineen's own family is quite the story. Three of his sons played in the NHL - Peter, Gord and most noticeably Kevin, who was a NHL standout for years.

Interestingly Bill Dineen, too, returned to the NHL in the 1991-92 season, as he was surprisingly named as Paul Holmgren's replacement as Philadelphia's head coach. He would coach the Flyers for the remainder of the season and the entire season following that before being fired himself.

Dineen's hiring was a surprise in that he was essentially a career minor leaguer, both as a player and as a coach. But no one was more surprised than Kevin Dineen, then playing for the Flyers, that his dad would now be his NHL coach!

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Darren McCarty

The Detroit Red Wings were a team best known for their high skill level and beautiful theory of how hockey should be played. With the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov, they were a beautiful team to watch.

In stark contrast to many of his teammates, Darren McCarty provided the necessary grit and toughness needed come playoffs. He was big, mean, tough and fearless. He fit in perfectly with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby on the famous Grind Line, energizing the team with his physical intensity, fierce forechecking and determined backchecking. He even added a few goals, none more pretty than this:



He was an awkward skater and not a great fighter, but he was such a valuable contributor to four Stanley Cup championships in Detroit. His teammates never wavered in their belief that McCarty would be there for them if trouble was ever brewing. They also knew that he could be counted on to rattle their own cage if the team ever needed to be shaken from a sluggish game.

In 758 games, he recorded 127 goals, 288 points and 1,477 penalty minutes. Over 174 playoff contests, McCarty racked up 23 goals and 49 points.

McCarty was an admirable character, but he faced his own troubles away from the rink. He loved live and lived it with much of the reckless abandon that he was famous for on the ice. He was renowned for his love heavy metal music and professional wrestling. Far more concerning was his increasing dependence of alcohol and growing financial difficulty. He eventually sought help for his alcoholism and filed for bankruptcy.

Much of his off ice struggles coincided with his father's death from cancer. He set up the McCarty Cancer Foundation which he created to assist in the battle against multiple myeloma, a terminal cancer that took his father's life in 1999.

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Slava Kozlov

In my estimation little Slava Kozlov is one of the most underrated players in hockey history. He played in the shadows of the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Brendan Shanahan in Detroit, and later Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley/Marian Hossa in Atlanta.

But in his own right Kozlov was a wonderful offensive player. The darting winger had a great knack for shaking his check at just the right time, seemingly materializing out of nowhere for scoring chances. Unlike so many Russian players (especially of his generation) he was never shy to shoot the puck. He had a quick release and loved to pick the top corners of the net.

A wonderful skater, he could be a frustrating player for some fans. He liked to hold the puck, often a little too long at times. While he was willing to take a hit to make a play, the 5'10" and 180lb winger/center generally did not thrive in physical contests.

Playing alongside Fedorov and Doug Brown the native of Voskresensk, Russia, helped the Red Wings capture back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 1997 and 1998 and once owned the Detroit franchise record with 12 game-winning goals in the playoffs. One of his biggest fans was coach Scotty Bowman, who described him as reliable - a trait the coaching legend valued highly.

The Red Wings moved Kozlov to Buffalo on July 1st, 2001 in exchange for goalie Dominik Hasek. Replacing Buffalo's most popular and greatest player would be anything but enviable. He was outspoken about his unhappiness in Buffalo, which hardly endeared him to the fans. And it went from bad to worse when he missed much of the second half of the season with a 75% tear of his Achilles tendon. The Sabres moved Kozlov to Atlanta in the summer of 2002.

It turned out to be a great move for Kozlov. He recovered from his foot injury fully and meshed perfectly with countryman Ilya Kovalchuk and later Marian Hossa, his long time Atlanta linemate. But the Thrashers just never had enough depth or luck, and only made the playoffs just once in Kozlov's tenure.

"I've very much enjoyed my time in Atlanta ever since I got traded from Buffalo," said Kozlov. "It's a good organization here, they've treated me really well."

But he desperately missed the NHL playoffs where Kozlov shined the brightest.

"The atmosphere at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit was unbelievable," he said. "I miss those times. I miss being in the playoffs. I think it's the greatest thing in hockey."

In his career Kozlov scored 20 or more goals 11 times. Five times he topped the 70 point mark. In total Kozlov scored 356 goals, 497 points and 853 points in 1192 NHL games. He added another 42 goals and 79 points in 118 Stanley Cup games - all but four of which came in his 7 full seasons in Detroit.

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Kirk Maltby

With 128 goals and 260 points in 1072 career NHL games, it is clear that Kirk Maltby did not survive all those NHL wars because of his offense. Although he was a 50 goal scorer in junior hockey, Maltby never scored more than 14 goals in a single NHL campaign.

"We have a handful of guys on our team that had to adjust their roles as hockey players from what got them drafted originally. And we've been able to adjust to it and accept it both mentally and physically," said a wise and mature Maltby later in his career.

Maltby was drafted by Edmonton but traded to Detroit in March, 1996 (in exchange for Dan McGillis). In Detroit Maltby, who scored just 3 goals in the season prior, was forced to accept a lesser (but no less important) role if he wanted a NHL paycheck. After all, Detroit featured such superstars as Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Keith Primeau, Brendan Shanahan and Igor Larionov.

Adjust he did, and he found a home for the next 13 seasons. He even earned four Stanley Cup championships in Detroit. He was also named as an elite role player for Team Canada in their 2004 World Cup of Hockey championship.

Maltby used his good speed to his advantage. He worked tirelessly in pursuit of pucks and puck carriers, and loved to flatten opponents with clean but emphatic hits that suggested he was much bigger than he actually was.

Skating was his forte, obviously in speed but also in balance. But he was also a great student of the game. He was very coachable, and as a result he came to understand the game expertly from the role player's vantage point.

A member of the Red Wings famous Grind Line with Kris Draper and Darren McCarty, Maltby was a great penalty killer, an opportunistic forechecker and a fearless shot blocker. He also was an agitating presence, suckering more than a few opponents into taking penalties against him.

"I know my role as a hockey player in this organization," says Maltby. "I think that's one of the reasons why our team has been so successful over the last 10 years, because we've got players that are willing to change their game or they know their roles and want to win for the best of the team and not from an individual standpoint."

Maltby was a big part of setting that championship example in Detroit.

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