Floyd Smith

Many Sabres fans know Floyd Smith. He was the coach of the magical 1974-75 Buffalo team that marched tot he Stanley Cup finals before bowing out in a classic playoff battle with the Philadelphia Flyers.
But not a lot of fan remember that Floyd Smith played for the Sabres as well.

A serviceable though rather unmemorable utility forward, Smith carved out a lengthy professional career. He turned pro in 1955 but spent most of his time in the minor leagues. He did get a couple of chances to play with both the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers, but it wasn't until he joined the Detroit Red Wings organization in 1962-63 that he earned a full time NHL job. He found a home on a line with two of hockey's biggest names - Norm Ullman and Paul Henderson.

All three members of that line, along with Doug Barrie, were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968. The deal was one of the biggest in NHL history, as the Wings got Frank Mahovlich, Carl Brewer, Pete Stemkowski and Garry Unger in return. Smith, Ullman and Henderson continued to play together in Toronto

When the Buffalo Sabres hired former Toronto boss Punch Imlach to create their team for the 1970-71 season, Smith was one of the players Imlach went out and acquired Smith and named him as the Sabres first team captain. He was a good choice. He was a very upbeat guy in the locker room. He was quiet and humble, but not afraid to say something when the situation warranted it.

Smith hung up the blades early in the 1971-72 season and became a very successful coach with the Sabres affiliate team in Cincinnati. He would be promoted to the Sabres in 1974, taking the place of Imlach himself. Smith remained with the Sabres through 1977 before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs for the rest of his hockey career. He would serve in a variety of roles including coach, scout and GM.

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Johnny Wilson

Johnny Wilson's 12-year National Hockey League career extended over three decades (1949-62). The left winger broke into the NHL in 1949-50 season with the Detroit Red Wings after playing junior hockey across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario with the Windsor Hettche Spitfires in the International Hockey League.

Wilson played from 1947-49 with the Spits where he compiled 43 points (26G-17A) in 29 games played. After 4 games in the 1948-49 season with Windsor, Wilson was sent to the Omaha Knights of the USHL where he played 70 games that year, scoring 41 goals and 39 assists with 46 penalty minutes.

One of the things that Wilson says helped keep him and his teammates focused on making the NHL during their days with the Spitfires was that he and his teammates would receive passes to go to Olympia on Sunday nights and watched the guys at the big club play. In addition, guys like Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe use to come and watch them play in Windsor. Wilson credits the attention with providing a boost to his professional career.

In the 1949-50 season, Wilson played one game with the Red Wings before being sent to Indianapolis for more experience. He played the remainder of that season and part of the next with the Indy Capitals before making the NHL club. During his time at Indy, Wilson played in 112 games scoring 94 points (59G-35A).

Later in the 51-52 season, Wilson was called up to the Detroit club and played in 28 games. While he only managed 4 goals and 5 assists, Wilson's NHL career started to take off.

Johnny remained a wearer of the Winged Wheel until after the 1954-55 season when he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. This was a familiar trade route for many Detroit and Chicago players as the same family, the Norris', owned both teams. Wilson was part of a 7-man trade that year as he, Tony Leswick, Glen Skov and Benny Woit were sent to the Windy City for Dave Creighton, Bucky Hollingsworth and Jerry Toppazzinni.

Wilson would play 140 games with the Hawks over the next two seasons before being sent back to Detroit in a deal that saw an out of favor Ted Lindsay head for Chicago. Lindsay was being punished for his involvement in attempting to start the NHL Players Union, and team management wanted him out of Detroit.

After another two seasons with the Wings, Wilson was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Barry Cullen. After scoring 31 points in 70 games for the Leafs that year, he was sent to the New York Rangers the next season. After two seasons in New York, Wilson decided that he had had enough.

Wilson stated that New York was a tough place to play because you traveled a lot and didn't have the same luxuries that he had at Detroit and other cities. Since the team leased ice time from Madison Square Gardens, they would practice at another rink, which caused some problems. In addition, the Gardens didn't own the parking lot that they players used and it cost to park for every game. That added to having to cross four tunnels to get downtown and the costs of babysitting, and playing the game was starting to become expensive.

Wilson was able to have the honor of helping to bring along a couple of players to help carry the torch for the Rangers. His final season in the NHL (61-62) marked the first time in a number of years that the Rangers had made the playoffs, and Wilson broke in a couple of young guys named Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert. In that post season, they nearly knocked off Toronto but were eventually eliminated by the Leafs.

Had Wilson remained in the NHL, he could have probably played quite a few more years as, unknown to him at the time, expansion loomed on the horizon. Players that did stick around, like Howe and Alex Delvecchio, were able to almost indefinitely extend their careers.

After being out of the game for a few years, Wilson decided that he missed the ice and took a coaching position with the Detroit Red Wings. Wilson coached 145 games in Detroit over two seasons (71-73), and posted a 67-56-22 record.

Wilson also coached the Michigan Stags franchise, which played in downtown Detroit at Cobo Arena during the 1974-75 season. The Stags had relocated to Detroit from Los Angeles where their moniker was the Sharks. The troubled franchise didn't find the Detroit market to be financially better and they packed up in mid season and headed to Baltimore, where they eventually folded for good.

Following his Michigan-Baltimore experience, Wilson headed to Cleveland where he coached another WHA franchise called the Crusaders. When Johnny got to Cleveland, he found that they were running out of money as well. The team shortly disbanded.

Out of a job, Wilson heard about a NHL team that was moving from Kansas City to Colorado and was looking for a head coach. After making a phone call to Muncie Campbell, Wilson was named the bench boss of the Rockies.

Once his hockey days were all said and done Wilson returned to live in the Detroit area, holding a sales job with a local company. He was also an active member of the Detroit Red Wing Alumni and played numerous charity games each season in and around Michigan.

On December 27th, 2011 Johnny Wilson passed away at the age of 82. He had suffered a long battle with a lung disease.

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Bobby Connors

Bobby Connors was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1904 but grew up in Port Arthur, Ontario playing the great Canadian game.

Connors was quite the player in Port Arthur and later in Niagara Falls as an amateur player. In 1927 he finally turned pro, appearing in 7 games with the NHL's New York Americans.

Connors had moved to Detroit in 1927-28, finding early success on the Cougars (later renamed Red Wings) top line with Herbie Lewis and Larry Aurie. The speedy winger finished his only complete NHL season with 13 goals in 41 games.

In 1929-30 Connors game fell to reserve status, playing rarely and scoring just three times in 31 games. He last later demoted to the minor leagues.

The picture above shows him in a jersey of the Seattle Eskimos of the PCHL. He played out west for the 1930-31 season before he was suspended for the rest of the regular season for a viscious stick attack on Doug Brennan of the Vancouver Lions. Newspaper reports suggest the PCHL was increasingly unhappy with Connors thuggery that season. He literally broke his old, heavy, solid wood hockey stick over Brennan's forehead.

Uncertain of his future in hockey Connors returned home to Port Arthur, but no one could have guessed what would happen next. Connors life came to a tragic end in July, 1931. The 27 year old broke his neck and fractured his skull diving into shallow waters near his home town of Port Arthur. He was paralyzed from the neck down and died a day later.

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Pete Bellefeuille

This photo is of Pete (Pierre) "The Fleeting Frenchman" Bellefeuille. He played 92 NHL games in the late 1920s with Detroit and Toronto, scoring 25 goals and 4 assists.

The right winger from Trois Rivieres, Quebec was more or less utilized as a substitute back then. In those days the best players played most of the game, and were spotted by bench players here and there for short breaks. Bellefeuille spent a lot of time sitting on the bench.

When given a chance to play at the minor league level Bellefeuille was a regular scorer. He also played the game with an edge, if his penalty minutes are to be a clue into his temperament.

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Stan McCabe

Born in Ottawa in 1908, Stan McCabe became a well known hockey player in Detroit.

After playing senior seasons in Ottawa and North Bay, McCabe moved to Detroit in 1927 and made it his life long home. He started with two and a half seasons with the Detroit Olympics of the Can-Pro league, but joined the Detroit Cougars (later renamed  Falcons then Red Wings) when they arrived in the National Hockey League.

The tiny left winger played the 1929-30 and 1930-31 seasons in the NHL, scoring 9 goals and 4 assists in 69 games. He returned to the Olympics (now of the IHL) for the 1931-32 season.

McCabe attempted to return to the NHL in 1932-33, but the Montreal Maroons claimed him from Detroit on waivers. The obedient McCabe left Michigan for five seasons, all for the paycheck. He would only play in 9 games with the Maroons (his final games of his NHL career) and instead bounced around from Quebec, Windsor, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Oakland and Spokane in various leagues.

McCabe ended those vagabond days by returning to Detroit in 1937, playing with the MOHL Detroit Pontiacs for a couple of seasons before hanging up the blades.

McCabe stayed in the game as an on-ice official, working the lines for many NHL games, mostly out of Detroit. He also worked for Ford at one of their factories, rising all the way to foreman.

In 1958 Stan McCabe died of a heart attack. He was just 50 years old.

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Dave Gatherum

On October 11, 1953 Dave Gatherum made his debut in the National Hockey League. Thanks to an injury to Detroit's regular goaltender Terry Sawchuk, the Red Wings summoned Gatherum from the Quebec Senior League for 3 games. He went 2-0-1

In his very first game Gatherum became the 7th NHL goaltender to record a shutout in his first career game as the Red Wings won 3-0 over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

He stretched his shutout to streak to 100 minutes and 21 seconds, setting a NHL record for longest shutout sequence by a goaltender from start of career. In fact, his three games he allowed only three goals.

Not bad, eh? 2-0-1 with the a GAA of 1.00 with 1 shutout. You would think that would earn him another trial. But Sawchuk returned and Gatherum was released and never surfaced in the NHL again.

Gatherum returned to Quebec to play senior hockey. He later moved to Edmonton then to British Columbia where he starred with the Kelowna Packers for several seasons.

In 2009 a pretty cool story emerged. The Detroit Red Wings acknowledge Gatherum's contributions 55 years earlier by giving him a Stanley Cup ring. The Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1954. Though Gatherum had played just 3 games and was not around in the playoffs, they gave him a Stanley Cup ring 5 decades later.

The box arrived at his Thunder Bay home completely unannounced with a note from Mike and Marian Illitch:

"We are very pleased to be able to acknowledge your past Stanley Cup Championship by presenting you with a 2008 championship ring. We sincerely thank you for the pride you brought to the team, the city of Detroit, and the State of Michigan, and we congratulate you on your accomplishment.


Mike and Marian."

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Emil Hanson

In 1932-33 the Detroit Red Wings signed a fellow named Emil Hanson to a contract. They would use him for only 7 contests (0 points). But in doing so they signed the first and, as of 2011, only player born in South Dakota.

Aside from those handful of games Hanson made a good living playing hockey in the AHA with teams in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He was known for his versatility, playing both on defense and on the wings.

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Frank "Frosty" Carson

This good looking fellow here is Frank "Frosty" Carson, brother of fellow NHLers Bill and Gerry. He's pictured here in a New York Americans jersey from the 1930-31 season, his only season with the Amerks. He was better know for playing with the Montreal Maroons from 1925 through 1928 (winning the Stanley Cup in 1926) and the Detroit Falcons/Red Wings from 1931 through 1934.

Born in Bracebridge, Ontario, Carson was from quite the hockey family. Like his brothers Bill and Gerry, "Frosty" was a heck of an amateur player. This sturdy winger was a "lion-hearted" hockey sensation in Stratford, playing junior with the Midgets and senior with the Indians.

Carson retired from hockey in 1934 and worked for Industrial Acceptance Corporation in the Chatham/Windsor region. In 1950 he settled in Crumlin, Ontario (near London) where he operated a grocery/hardware store. He died of a heart attack in 1957, just 55 years old.

In 2004 the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound inducted this local legend, saying he was "a determined competitor and a consummate team player. He was a smooth and graceful skater and possessed great puck handling skills. He never took or invited too many penalties. He was somewhat of a philosopher and looked upon hockey as a lot of fun and a good trade. He was always held in very high regard for his integrity and perseverance from all those who had contact with him."

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Howie Young

NHL president Clarence Campbell called Howie Young “"the worst detriment to the NHL to ever lace up a pair of skates." Frank Sinatra simply called him “Howie baby.”

Raised by his grandparents in what is now southeast Toronto, Howie was blessed with natural athleticism. He wanted to be a cowboy like his idol, John Wayne, until he saw his first game at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Despite the fact he was an alcoholic by age fifteen, his play and ferocious style attracted NHL scouts and at 18 he was invited to Canadiens' training camp. Unfortunately, his hard partying ways left him hung over and sick and the Habs sent him home.

He played first in the OHL, then for the QMJHL Chicoutimit Sagueneens, where he racked up 180 PIM in 50 games. After that, he played one season for the WHL New Westminster Royals. He saw little action with them, playing only four games. Finally after two seasons in the AHL and 330 PIM, Young broke into the Detroit Red Wings lineup for the 1960-61 season.

His crushing bodychecks and fast, smart play helped Detroit to the 1961 Staley Cup Finals, and in 1962-63, compiled a then-record 273 penalties in 64 games. The same year, he made the cover of Sports Illustrated, despite being extremely hungover at the photo shoot.

By this time, Young had been arrested several times for public drunkeness. Despite his winning smile and gregarious personality, his life was going downhill quickly. The Red Wings had run out of patience, and sent him to the Blackhawks, who had even less patience. After only 39 games, they traded him to the WHL Los Angeles Blades while retaining his NHL rights.

While playing for the Blades, Frank Sinatra called. Impressed by Young's good looks, Sinatra wanted the troubled hockey player to play a combat Marine in his movie None But the Brave. Young departed the team for the shoot in Hawaii, remaining drunk or hungover the entire time.

"Wild Thing" returned to the Blades, but his life was finally reaching its nadir in May 1965. His second marriage falling apart, he woke up in an L.A. jail cell after being arrested yet again. This time, he had been trying to break into his own apartment. Sitting in the jail cell, he vowed to get sober. Two days later, he joined AA.

“On the bench I would say, 'Please God, just get me through this game,' “ said Young, looking back. “Then it was, 'Hey, God, just get me through this period.' Finally, it was, 'God, just get me through this shift.' “

Sober and working to regain his fitness, he once again attracted the attention of the Red Wings, who brought him back for the 1966-67 season and posted a +16 in 1967-68. A reporter asked Gordie Howe what he thought of Young's transformation, to which Howe replied “He's still going around in circles – but different circles.”

Despite his remarkable turnaround, the Wings let Young go once again. He bounced around the WHL and AHL, spending the 1968-69 season with the Blackhawks and the 1970-71 season with the Canucks.

After several more years in the minor leagues, Young made one final major league appearance in the WHA with the Phoenix Roadrunners and Winnipeg Jets for the 1974-77 seasons. Three years later, he quit hockey and worked in the Southwest United states, doing everything from washing dishes to truck driving.

After a brief comeback, first with the IHL Flint Spirits and then ACHL New York Slapshots, he finally settled in New Mexico with his partner, China. In the predominately Navajo town of Thoreau, he owned a ranch and drove school buses, fulfilling his dream of being a cowboy. He also became active in the community, trying to raise money for a town rink, and his goal was to nurture the NHL's first Navajo player. “These kids are such natural athletes. All I've got to do is bring the ice, and they'll do the rest.”

Young died of pancreatic cancer on November 26, 1999 at age 62.

Howie Young is another example of a good hockey player ruined by personal demons. However unlike the John Kordics and Steve Durbanos of the world, Young could have really been somebody.

Jack Adams, the former Detroit Red Wing general manager, once described Young as having a "chance to become a second Eddie Shore."

"He could have been in the Hall of Fame," said Mike Nardella, a long time Blackhawks trainer "Howie could skate backward better than most could skate forward."

Jack Adams, the former Detroit Red Wing general manager, once described Young as having a "chance to become a second Eddie Shore."

Special thanks to Jennifer Conway and Patrick Houda

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