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It's official! In October GreatestHockeyLegends.com, now entering it's 4th season, had the third busiest month in site history!
When you combine sister site HockeyBookReviews.com I blew away my previous best for readership.
A big thank you goes out to my loyal readers.
Barry Gibbs is the reason this website exists.
When I was 5 years old, my father took me to the local landfill to drop off some tree branches and grass clippings. While he unloaded the debris, I was awestruck with this small piece of cardboard I found in the dirt.
It was a Barry Gibbs hockey card. O-Pee-Chee card number 304 of the 1979-80 hockey card set, pictured to the right.
Before that I don't recall having any hockey memories. But from that moment on I was enthralled by the game, and the players who made it great. I picked up the card and read the teasing of information about him on the back. I had to know more.
Realizing that this was card #304, I concluded there must have been at least 303 other cards out there. I was somehow able to gather a bunch of them, though not all. I got sick on the bubble gum trying too! But I was hooked on hockey - and learning about the players that captured my imagination on these small pieces of cardboard.
Ever since, I've been trying to learn as much as I can about hockey players, most of whom I've never seen play. I've read books and listened to interviews and tv shows. I digested anything I could. And it all started with that trip to the dump!.
This website is my way of sharing what I learn with the world. It is not just a hobby, but a passion - a labor of love.
By the way, Gibbs was a hard hitting, unheralded defenseman who played 800 games with Boston, Minnesota, Atlanta, St. Louis and Los Angeles, mostly in the 1970s.
Brad Palmer was a promising prospect who quickly disappeared.
Brad was a first round pick (16th overall in 1980) of the Minnesota North Stars after a fine junior career with the Victoria Cougars of the WHL. A native of nearby Duncan BC, Brad was a good skater who had a very heavy though not always accurate shot.
Brad joined the North Stars after completing the Junior season in 80-81, and played a big role in the North Stars Cinderella run to the 1981 Stanley Cup finals. After scoring 4 goals and 4 assists in 23 regular season NHL games, Brad scored 8 goals and 13 points in 19 playoff games. Things looked bright for the Stars. They had unexpectedly reach the Cup finals and boasted one of the best collection of young players in the league - Smith, Ciccarelli, Young, Hartsburg, Broten and yes, Brad Palmer.
In his first full season with Minnesota, 1981-82, he notched a respectable 22 goals and 45 points However the 1982 Entry Draft drastically affected Palmer's budding career. A young phenom named Brian Bellows was considered to be the best player available and was widely expected to go 1st overall to the Boston Bruins, who acquired the pick from the Colorado Rockies. The North Stars however drastically covetted Bellows and were prepared to do whatever it took to get him in a Minnesota uniform. The Stars first acquired the 2nd overall pick from Detroit in one trade. Then they traded Palmer along with Dave Donnelly to the Boston Bruins in exchange for "future considerations." Palmer and Donnelly were essentially given to the Bruins in exchange for Boston's promise not to select Bellows. Instead, Gord Kluzak went first overall in that Entry Draft.
Kluzak was a fine defenseman but had his career robbed by serious knee injuries. Donnelly never amounted to much, and Palmer quickly fizzled out in Boston. Bellows went on to a career spanning over 1000 games, nearly 500 goals and 1000 points. Needless to say it wasn't a great deal for the Bruins.
It wasn't a great deal for Palmer either. He had a tough time in his first year in Beantown. After tallying only 6 goals in the 82-83 season, Brad found himself in Hershey of the AHL for the 83-84 season. There was no interest in his services at the NHL level so he moved to Europe to play in the 84-85 season. He played in Switzerland that year and later played in Finland and Austria before retiring from hockey in 1990.
Life as a professional athlete is not necessarily easy. Sure, the money is ridiculously good, but the demands are high, and the security is low.
It was a lot worse back in the 1960s when salaries were puny by today's standards. Managers and coaches were better able to control players lives, especially where they played. There was no such thing as a no trade clause back then.
Take Danny O'Shea, for example. He was a 6'1" 190lb center blessed with size and skating. He was described as temperamental and moody, although history looks back at him as just another in a long line of unfulfilled destinies of greatness.
O'Shea, a junior star in Oshawa who also skated for Canada at the 1967 Worlds and 1968 Olympics, never could get comfortable playing in the NHL. He spent three seasons in Minnesota, two in Chicago, two in St. Louis and 1 in the WHA, never really finding a good fit.
O'Shea blamed the lack of security. He constantly lived under the fear of being traded or demoted.
"Every player on every team wants to know where he stands. You can't play well if you're playing out of position and if the axe is hanging over your head. You can't play well if your mind is all mixed up. I'd been traded twice in two years. I just wanted to know if I figured in the team's plans."
O'Shea never really recovered from the trade that took him from his first NHL home, Minnesota.
"I expected to remain in Minnesota. Trades are part of sports, but the traded to Chicago shocked me and before I could recover I was on my way again (to St. Louis)."
All worries of life in the big leagues were put in perspective for O'Shea in July of 1973 when the 28 year old suffered a heart attack. NHL doctors would not grant O'Shea clearance to play hockey again, fearing his heart was not healthy enough. After sitting out an entire season he ended up playing the 1974-75 season with Minnesota in the WHA.
Hometown hero Scott Bjugstad was a promising high school prospect in a few sports. He was a great tennis player, and he was so good in soccer he was named to the US High School soccer first all star team in 1978.
But Minnesota is like Canada, and the game everyone dreams of is hockey. Scott, along side his brother Mike, was a dominant hockey star at Irondale high school in New Brighton.
After re-writing the Irondale high school record book, Bjugstad made the natural jump to the University of Minnesota in 1979. In his 4 year collegiate career he played in two NCAA final fours and was the 1982-83 WCHA scoring champion. That same year he was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the best college hockey player in the country.
After 4 years in school, majoring in Business, Scott joined the United States national team in 1983-84 and participated in the Olympics. Despite featuring burgeoning talent like Pat Lafontaine, Chris Chelios, and Ed Olczyk, the Americans finished a distant 7th place.
Following the Olympics Scott joined the Minnesota North Stars, who had drafted him 181st overall in 1981. In his welcome moment to the NHL, he broke his nose in his very first game!
For the next year and a half was a very quiet player - scoring just 11 goals in 77 contests. He had played center all his life and was often shifted to the left wing.
However Bjugstad's fortune's took a turn for the better in 1985-86. Playing on the top line with Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli, Bjugstad exploded for 43 goals and 76 points, including three hat tricks. Suddenly the NHL had a new scoring star in its stable.
Or did it? Many people dismissed Bjugstad's accomplishments as an overachievement. No way would he score that many goals on a line without Broten and Ciccarelli, they said.
"I don't want to sound cocky, but a lot of people have played with those two and haven't scored 43. It's given me a lot of confidence that I'm clicking with this line," Bjugstad responded.
The confidence didn't last long. With immense pressure on him to repeat his exploits, Bjugstad failed miserably in the follow up year. He went from scoring 43 goals to just 4. Often he was a healthy scratch and even spent some time in the minor leagues. A pulled abdominal muscle eventually ended his nightmare season.
"It was so weird. One year, I felt I was going to score even before I shot the puck. The next year, I knew it wasn't going to go in no matter what I did," explained Bjugstad, who struggled to find an answer to his woes.
Entering his 4th year, Bjugstad was looking to rebuild his game, reputation and psyche. Reunited with Broten and Ciccarelli, Bjugstad got off to a solid start, scoring 4 goals and 10 points in the first 11 games. However injuries limited Scott to just 22 more games that season.
On December 1988 the North Stars moved Bjugstad to Pittsburgh. The Pens had hoped that maybe Bjugstad could connect as Mario Lemieux's left wing. However the experiment didn't work, as Scott scored just 3 goals in 24 games. The following season he signed with Los Angeles. He tore up the AHL with 45 goals in 47 games in 1989-90, but played just 11 games in the NHL, scoring 1 goal. Over the next two injury plagued years, he scored 4 NHL goals in 53 games.
Scott eventually had enough of all the bruises and broken bones, and retired during the 1992-93 season. In 317 NHL games he had 76 goals, 68 assists and 144 points.
Bjugstad's 43 goal season was a career year, not something that anyone could have expected even if he had been able to remain healthy for the whole season. He had a hard, accurate shot which he released quickly. He was not overly agile on his skates, and didn't have the strongest anticipation skills, which significantly hurt his game. He also played smaller than he actually was, and was never a notable defensive player.
In retirement Bjugstad returned to his roots and became a prolific high school coach in Minnesota. In fact, in 2000 he was named Minnesota high school coach of the year. He also opened his own shooting school to better aid young scorers.
Don Beaupre entered the NHL with a bang.
In his first season, Don was an All-Star, helped the North Stars win the Norris Division and advance to the Stanley Cup finals where they fell just short against the New York Islanders. It was the start of a pro career that young goalies usually only dream of.
None of the teams Don played for ever reached that lofty status again. But Don said that the first NHL season was a blessing in disguise.
"When I got drafted, before I went to training camp my parents had a party for me and a bunch of friends came over and stuff like that," Don said. "It was kind of a good luck party, and I really shouldn’t have made it that year. I wasn’t thinking I should or shouldn’t make it, it was just the next step and you go and see what happens. If I was thinking, 'Boy, I really have to go and make it,' I probably wouldn’t have. The pressure would have probably got to me. Being naive probably helped my chances then."
Don enjoyed a pretty good junior career with the Sudbury Wolves and made the First All-Star Team in 1980. His fine play prompted Minnesota North Stars to pick him 37th overall that year.
Don's rookie season in the NHL was sensational and he played like a seasoned veteran. As mentioned previously, he made the All-Star team, helped the North Stars win the Norris Division and also helped them reach the Stanley Cup finals.
"That was quite a year," Don admitted. "Just to make it to the NHL, we won a few games, I made the All-Star team out in Los Angeles and I'd never been there before, and we were in the finals. It was quite a year, no doubt, and I never had anything like that again."
Don played in two of the games in the finals (Gilles Meloche played in the other three). Don earned the lone North Stars victory when his team was facing elimination, down 3-0. They eventually lost the series in five games as Don played in the fifth and final game.
"We had a lot of young guys with energy and enthusiasm, and we had a pretty good group of guys," he said. "Perhaps the difference between winning and not was that most of the talent was in the young and inexperienced guys. We had older guys with a lot of heart, but most of the talent was in the guys 25 and under, so maybe that was the difference."
Don spent seven fairly successful seasons in Minnesota although none as good as his rookie season. He was then placed on waivers and sent to the minors early on in the 1988-89 season. It didn't sit well with Don who demanded a trade. His wish was granted and Don was traded to Washington for rights to Claudio Scremin on November 1, 1988.
At first, Don was sent down to the minors and it seemed that his situation wasn't going to improve since Clint Malarchuk and Pete Peeters were between the pipes in Washington .
"That took some of the excitement away," Don said. "I knew I had to put in my time, but it was tough, it was probably the toughest point of my career. Pete Peeters and Clint Malarchuk were there. I had to unseat them. You could play as well as you could, but if they are playing well for the Caps you aren’t going to get a shot. It was tough, because the rumor was that a couple of teams wanted to make a trade for me because they had injuries, and the Caps didn’t want to make any deals. It was pretty frustrating."
But soon Don got another chance and seized it. He not only made his way back to the NHL, but went on to make his mark in the Capitals' record book. Don held the franchise record in career wins (128) until Olaf Kolzig broke that mark.
The Capitals had a strong team defensively with a defense-first mentality, anchored by blueline stalwart Rod Langway.
"No doubt, those were some of the most fun times in my career," Don said. "I was playing all the time, we were winning in a tough division, it was real satisfying for me.
"I had five shutouts in one year [league leading in 1990-91], and I struggled to get one in every other year I think. It was fun to play with guys like Rod Langway and Mike Gartner, real good players and respected players. It was a good experience, and I really enjoyed living in Washington D.C., too."
Don's 2.64 GAA in 1990-91 was a career best and he played in his second All-Star game in 1992. Don was eventually traded to the lowly Ottawa Senators in 1995. There he played a total of 71 games between 1995 and 96 and was then traded to the NY Islanders who the same day shipped him to Toronto. Don finished his playing career by playing the majority of his games for St.John's Maple Leafs (AHL). He also saw time with Utah Grizzlies (IHL) and the Maple Leafs.
"I was fortunate to play 17 years professionally, and it went by quick," Don said. "The NHL was done with me, and I think I was pretty much done with it and could leave it behind.
Today Don lives in Minnesota, where he and a partner run a construction equipment rental business called Power Lift Inc. The company rents man-lifts, scissor-lifts, booms and other heavy gear used in construction.
"We started with about 78 machines and now we have 350 in a year and a half, and things are going OK," Don said. "It was rough early with the capital expenditure to buy the equipment, but it's going OK, we’re happy. It’s been a good learning experience to not only get involved in a business regularly, but to help run it."
This is Frank Musil. He split his career pretty evenly between the Minnesota North Stars and the Calgary Flames, also skating parts of a couple of seasons with Edmonton and Ottawa later on in his career. I best remember him as a Flame personally.
I remember Musil as a big, physical defender, combining strong skating and balance with a desire to play physically and unafraid. He even had a bit of a mean streak.
Musil was mostly a defensive-minded defenseman, more often than not making the correct safe play to get the puck out of the zone.
He made few contributions in the offensive zone. He had all the tools, just not the toolbox. He was a good skater with speed and mobility. He could handle the puck well under pressure. He had no great shot to brag about, but he he occassionally would slip down low for a back door goal.
Despite a promising array of talents, Musil seemed content to play ultra-safe on every play. He would always force a puck carrier wide rather than step up and take control. He would unfailingly fall back off the blue line rather than contain the point. He would carry the puck only a few strides, just enough to get to center ice and dump it in.
As one reporter put it, he was a reactive player rather than an active player.
I never really minded, because he was consistent and reliable. But I can understand being a fan of the North Stars or Flames being frustrated when they can see the talent was there and expected a little more.
Frantisek Musil was born in beautiful Paradubice. He would later play with Dukla Jihlava where he met the famous Holik family, legends in Czechoslovakia. Jaroslav and Jiri were brothers on the national team in the 1970s, and later returned home as coaches. Jaroslav had two kids - Bobby Holik, who of course you know as the long time NHLer, and Andrea Holikova, a world class tennis player. Frank would one day marry Andrea.
Drafted by the North Stars 38th overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, Musil had helped his country win gold at the 1985 World Championships. Back in 1983 he helped the national team win silver at the worlds even though he was still a junior player. At the World Junior championships he help
Musil had no real hopes of being allowed to leave Communist Czechoslovakia until maybe late in his career. So Musil took matters into his own hands. He obtained a holiday visa and travelled to Yugoslavia with a girlfriend. Musil then met with Minnesota GM Lou Nanne and player agent Ritch Winter, who had arranged for an American work visa. Winter and Nanne used the work visa to fool the border guards, who were unaware that Musil was a defecting hockey star. The North Stars had been working on this secret plan for 3 years, waiting for Musil to complete his mandatory army service so that he would not be known as a deserter. With the working visa completely legit, Musil technically never actually defected.
Frank Musil would go on to play in 797 NHL games, scoring 36 goals and 144 points. With a changed political world he was able to return home and even play for his country again, helping the Czechs win a bronze medal at the 1992 World Championships.
Last I heard Musil was back home coaching as well as scouting for the Edmonton Oilers. He had finished his career in Edmonton, albeit very painfully. He missed an entire season due to a spinal cord injury in a training camp practice. He made it back in the middle of the following season, but the nerve damage in his neck and arm ultimately forced him to retire.
On an interesting note, Musil had a penchant for taking odd jobs in the summer time when he was still playing the NHL. He sold cars in Minnesota, and later worked a slaughter house in Alberta. He may have not made millions every season, but he certainly was paid well enough to have not worked.
I guess on or off the ice, Frank Musil just did not know how to stop working hard.
Danny Grant never got the credit he deserved for being a good hockey player.
A rare NHL player from New Brunswick, he was a junior star in Peterborough. He would sign professionally in the Montreal Canadiens system, but was never able to crack the Hab's vaunted line up.
Always thinking of the future, in 1968 the Habs moved Grant to Minnesota as part of a package for the North Stars' first round pick four years later in 1972. Montreal would select Dave Gardner, who would play 350 NHL games, but only 36 with Montreal. Meanwhile, Grant became a star with the North Stars.
Grant immediately cracked the Minnesota line up, scoring a team-leading 34 goals and earning NHL rookie of the year honours in the 1968-69 season. The 34 goals became the modern day rookie record (since bettered).
Grant would continue to be a top marksman for the North Stars over the following five seasons, only once failing to notch at least 29 goals in a campaign. Though defined by his wrist shot, he was also noted as a clever and durable winger, once playing in 566 consecutive games.
Grant did have his critics. He was not the swiftest of skaters, and he had to rely of hard work rather than glitzy skill that other teams' stars seemed to have. The North Stars had some pretty weak teams back then, which probably contributed to Grant's labelling as a one-way, offense only forward.
Looking to shake up the roster, the North Stars traded Grant to Detroit in exchange for defensive forward and Minnesota native Henry Boucha. What a lop-sided trade that turned out to be. Boucha would last only one season with the North Stars. Grant, on the other hand, erupted for his best NHL season yet.
Playing along side Marcel Dionne, Grant exploded for 50 goals and 87 points. He also was lauded for his defensive effort, and even became a regular on the penalty kill unit.
Still the critics persisted. Grant's success was directly a result of playing with Dionne. Grant did call Dionne the best linemate he ever had, but Dionne also had a great respect for Grant, once calling him the "the best left winger I ever played with. He was always working, had a great shot and was always near the net."
In the summer of 1975 the Red Wings lost their superstar as Dionne headed west to Los Angeles. Grant, by now named captain of the Wings, was left without his set up man, but a far bigger blow came late in 1975 when he suffered a torn right thigh muscle requiring season ending surgery.
The injury would plague him for the rest of his days. He would come back in 1976-77, but never could find his game. He would score just twice in 42 games.
1977-78 saw Grant's wishes fulfilled as he was traded to Los Angeles. Grant had hope being reunited with Marcel Dionne could reignite his career, but the injuries still hampered his effectiveness. In two seasons in LA he was limited to 41 and 35 games, respectively, scoring just 10 times in each campaign.
Danny Grant's excellence was short lived, but exciting to witness. It is a pity that injuries decimated the career of this hard working, diligent sharp shooter.
When you think of Basil McRae you probably would quickly label him as an untalented goon who lasted as long as he did only because he was a good fighter.
Not true.
McRae was an honest hard working player who played with more effort than most every night. He was also an incredibly popular leader on and off the ice.
McRae had modest tangible hockey skills, average at best. He was an okay skater but had a good first stride which aided him in his strong forechecking game. He had decent hockey instincts, and was a more-than-willing physical presence. Thus Basil carved out a role as a decent checker.
Of course McRae's other role was as the team's tough guy. With 2457 career NHL PIM, it takes no genius to figure out that he spent a lot of time in the penalty box. Four years in a row he had well over 300 PIM. He had 352 in 1986-87, 382 in 1987-88, 365 in 1988-89 and a league leading 351 in 1989-90. McRae had a knack for fighting, a trait that may have run in the family. His brother Chris was a minor league tough guy who had a stint in the NHL. The McRaes were cousins of former Commonwealth Games flyweight boxing champion Walter Henry.
Although he rarely had an opportunity to do much with the puck, Basil had better stickhandling skills than most players with his PIM totals. Although he had a weak shot, Basil was occasionally able to create a scoring chance with the loose puck that he would fight so hard to get.
McRae was also a great leader. A charismatic guy in the dressing room, he was a coach's delite. He knew how to make rookies and newcomers feel right at home. He kept the guys loose with his jokes and antics. His enthusiastic love of the game rubbed off on his teammates, and his team was the all better for it.
McRae was the 87th overall draft selection of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1980 Entry Draft. A year later he turned pro with the Nordiques’ organization, splitting his two pro seasons between Quebec and the Fredericton Express of the AHL. Basil played in just 42 NHL games with Quebec before he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leaf for 1983-84 season.
Basil spent two uneventfull years with Toronto, again splitting his time between the Leafs and their AHL farm club (in St. Catharines). He appeared in just 4 games in two years with the Leafs before he was given his outright release.
Basil had a good last year in St. Catherines so the Detroit Red Wings signed him with the idea that he could fill in a minor league role. He played another strong season in the AHL, this time with the Adirondack Red Wings, before making the Detroit lineup full time in 1986-87.
Basil played the first 36 games in Detroit, scoring 2 goals and 4 assists with 193 PIM before he was traded back to the Quebec Nordiques. He finished the year strongly, scoring 9 goals and 14 assists in 33 games with the Nords, and adding another 149 PIM. He had a strong playoff too, scoring 3 times in 13 games and leading the whole league with 99 PIM!
It was a good time for Basil to show his stuff at the NHL level has his contract expired and he was again a free agent. The Nords let him go off to the Minnesota North Stars, where he is probably most associated with. Basil spent the next 5 seasons in Minny, where he was extremely popular with the fans and media.
McRae's best offensive season came in a Minnesota uniform in 1988-89 when he scored 12 goals, 19 assists and 31 points. However Basil's career highlite must have been the 1991 Cinderella Cup run the Stars embarked on.
"I remember that Stanley Cup drive in ’91 in Minnesota where we lost to Pittsburgh in six games in the Finals. That will always stick in my mind, especially the players that were on that team because we were definitely the underdogs every round and the only reason why we did as well as we did and advanced as well as we did is we were at that point the ultimate team. We really played as a team." said McRae.
After five seasons in Minnesota, Basil was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1992 Expansion Draft. He played in just 14 games with the Lightning before a trade to him to the St. Louis Blues.
McRae played parts of four seasons with the Blues before signing with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent for the 1996-97 campaign. Basil retired from pro hockey after that season with career NHL totals of 53 goals, 83 assists, 136 points and 2,457 penalty minutes in 576 regular season games while also adding 12 points and 349 penalty minutes in 78 playoff contests.
Basil McRae invested some of his NHL earnings into a junior hockey franchise, co-owning the London Knights with fellow former NHLer Dale Hunter. McRae, who attended classes at the University of St. Thomas during his off-seasons, became a financial advisor.
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