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Frank Musil
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.
Friday
Danny Grant
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.
Basil McRae
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.
Sunday
Neal Broten
Minnesota is known as "The State of Hockey." With notoriously frigid winters and countless frozen lakes, ponds and streams to play on, hockey was as natural to Minnesotans as it was for Canadians. For the longest time, hockey in the United States was more or less affiliated with Minnesota. The life of smaller towns revolved around the rinks and ponds. High school hockey has as much interest as the pro game. And the college rivalries are as intense as any pro rivalry.
Like many families in Roseau, Minnesota, hockey was a birthright for the Broten family. Neal and his brothers Aaron and Paul would all be state high school and college stars, and go onto the National Hockey League.
But few would argue that Neal was not the best. In fact, in a state that has produced more hockey superstars than virtually every other state in the country, most consider Neal to be the best player the state has ever produced.
Neal had been skating and playing hockey since as long as he could remember. He grew up playing shinny, mastering his puck handling and skating skills. He went on to become a high school sensation in his hometown of Roseau, just minutes away from the Canadian border. After that he embarked upon one of the most successful college careers in hockey history with the University of Minnesota. He scored 38 goals and 104 assists for 142 points in just 76 career games.
Broten started with the U of M in 1978-79 but took the 1979-80 season off to play with the US National Team. As America's up and coming superstar, Olympic coach Herb Brooks included the 20 year old the now-famous 1980 "Miracle on Ice" Olympic team. Brooks, who coached Broten at the University of Minnesota, was not concerned about his lack of experience or size. He knew that his incredible skill package was undeniably impressive. He called Broten the greatest athlete he ever coached at the University.
The fabulous "Miracle on ice" story is well known to even non-hockey fans. A bunch of upstart US college kids knocked off the might Soviet Union national team, considered by many to be the most powerful hockey team of all time. In a showdown of politics, societies and idealogies as much of sport, the Americans pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in athletic history. Broten contributed nicley with 2 goals and 3 points in 7 Olympic contests.
Neal returned to University the following season. Playing on a line with brother Aaron, Neal was considered the best player in all of college hockey, winning the Hobey Baker award.
At the completion of his school year he immediately joined the NHL's Minnesota North Stars, who drafted him 42nd overall back in 1979. Broten scored twice in three games to finish he season, and then played in 19 playoff games as the North Stars surprisingly made a Cinderella run at the Stanley Cup, only to fall short to the New York Islanders. Broten added speed and creativity to the team, as well as 1 goal and 8 points in the playoffs.
Broten started his official NHL rookie season of 1981-82 by representing the United States in the 1981 Canada Cup tournament. He played well, scoring 3 goals in 6 games. He then went on to have a great rookie season, scoring a career high 38 goals as well as 60 assists for 98 points.
Broten would enjoy 11 more productive seasons in Minnesota, including a career high 76 assists and 105 points in 1985-86. By scoring 100 points, he became the first American born player to score 100 points in National Hockey League history. But never managed to take his game to the next level of superstar point scorer like the Gretzkys, Lemieuxs, Hawerchucks and Yzermans of his day. Other than that unexpected run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981, the North Stars never really accomplished much during Broten's long tenure either. As such the understated Broten was forever in the shadows of other stars, except in Minny where the whole state revered him.
Another highlight in Broten's storied career in Minnesota came in 1991 as the North Stars again went on a Cinderella-like run at the Stanley Cup, this time to once again fall short to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Broten played exceptionally, scoring 22 points in 23 games..
However 1993 would be a bad year for Minnesota hockey and it's favorite son. The North Stars franchise was moved to Dallas. There was much speculation that Neal, coming off of two sub-par years, would retire and remain in Minnesota. However Neal went south with the rest of his team. By this time Broten was no longer the steady point producer that he was best known for. He was a wily veteran who became more a defensive forward/penalty killer. He spent a season and a half in Dallas before being traded to New Jersey for Corey Millen. He spent a little over a season and a half in Jersey, and picked up a Stanley Cup ring in 1995, allowing him to join Ken Morrow as the only 1980 Olympians to win the Stanley Cup. Broten would briefly join the Los Angeles Kings, but 19 games later he was traded back to the Dallas Stars where he finished his career in 1997.
Broten, a super skater and playmaker, played just one game shy of 1100 in the NHL. He scored 289 times while setting up 634 others for a career total of 923 points. He added another 35 goals and 98 points in 135 playoff games. He retired as the franchise's all time record holder (since broken) for career games, points, goals, assists and playoff games. His jersey #7 retired in 1998 by the Stars. Two years later he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
Minnesota's favorite son now lives on a horse farm with his wife Sally in River Falls, Wisconsin.
Monday
Dennis Hextall
Dennis Hextall was the third member in a family that has produced four NHL players spanning three generations. Dennis and his brother Bryan Jr. played during in the 60's and 70's making reasonably big names for themselves. Father Bryan Sr. played with the New York Rangers for 11 seasons (1936-48) earning the Stanley Cup with the Broadway Blues in the 1939-40 season. The fourth and final member of the Hextall NHL clan is Bryan's son Ron Hextall, goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Dennis grew up in Manitoba and played his way through the youth leagues before moving on to play junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings. In his final season with Brandon, Hextall fell just one point shy of winning the scoring title. In the playoffs that year he scored 19 goals in 19 games.
From junior, Hextall was offered a college scholarship from four U.S. colleges and selected the University of North Dakota partially due to it's close location to his home.
In his three year's in college, the UND team won their league one year, placed second in another and made it to the NCAA tournament yet another. Following his final college season, Hextall made a jump that only one other college player had done before him - he signed a NHL contract with the Rangers. The only player to have made it to the NHL through the U.S. college avenue prior was Red Berenson who played for the University of Michigan.
Hextall played a few years in the Rangers' system (mostly playing minor pro) before he was sent bouncing around the league. Feeling more like a human pinball than a hockey player, Dennis went from New York to Montreal to Los Angeles to Oakland and finally ended up in Minnesota where his career began to take shape.
The summer following his scoring 2 goals and 31 assists for the Golden Seals in Oakland, Hextall was sent to Minnesota in a trade that saw Walt McKechnie and Joey Johnston head west. His first year with the North Stars, Hextall tore up his knee and didn't play much. Then things started clicking.
The next year, Dennis led the team in scoring from start to finish (30G-52A) and the Stars finished in second place. Hextall remained with the Stars for over four seasons and scored 84 goals and 196 assists in 330 games played.
Just when the Stars began their downturn, Hextall was sent to the Detroit Red Wings in 1976 for Bill Hogaboam and a second round draft pick. Hextall remained with the Red Wings the 78-79. During that season, Dennis was sent to the Washington Capitals before retiring from the game the next season and moving back to the Detroit area.
The only thing in his career that Hextall regrets is not winning the Stanley Cup. Coming into the game during the expansion time, like many of the game's players of that era, Hextall was bounced around between mediocre teams and never had a real chance at winning the NHL's Holy Grail.
While he was offered several coaching and front office management positions following his retirement, Hextall decided against it. One such offer was from the Red Wings as they were in the process of firing Wayne Maxner. With the team's turmoil under owner Bruce Norris' reign, Hextall decided it wasn't in his best interest.
The following year, Fred Shero contacted Dennis about the Rangers bench boss position. The offer was a three-year contract to be GM and coach of their AHL affiliate New Haven for two years then moving up to the parent club. Hextall once again declined.
Over his 13 seasons in the NHL, Hextall played in 681 games, scoring 153 goals and adding 350 assists with 1398 penalty minutes.
Today, Hextall remains a member for the Detroit community where he continues to play charity games with the Red Wings Alumni.
Saturday
Craig Hartsburg
Craig Hartsburg was an elite NHL defenseman who had his career derailed by injuries. His medical chart includes games lost due to a broken leg, multiple knee operations, herniated discs in his back, pulled groins, hernia, separated shoulder and finally an infected ankle that finally forced him to retire.
Before the injuries riddled him, Hartsburg was a wonderful rushing defenseman. He was an excellent skater, extremely mobile laterally in particular. He would often rush the puck out of the zone, sometimes recklessly and leading to injury susceptibility.
As his career progressed he reigned in his rushing game and proved to be a fantastic passing defenseman, clearing the zone with proficiency but starting the transition offense expertly as well. He also knew how to quarterback a power play. His vision and creativity allowed him to move the puck into the slimmest of passing lanes, and he naturally knew when to pinch to keep the zone.
But his low, hard shot was his real weapon. He wasn't the hardest shooting point man, but always got the puck through traffic and on the net. His shot was also always perfect for tipping and rebounds.
Despite what his penalty minutes may suggest, Hartsburg was not known as a physical defenseman. He was strong and big, and used that to his advantage to defend. He was not a big splashy hitter, instead relying more on muscles and angles to steer opponents to the boards where he would pin them.
Hartsburg was very sound defensively, playing his defensive angles well and reading the rush well back into his own zone. His active stick broke up a lot of oncoming breaks.
Despite his skills package, Hartsburg is often forgotten about in discussions revolving around the top defensemen of the 1980s. Lost time due to injury certainly have something to do with that, as does Minnesota's lack of success after 1981. If it wasn't for his extremely successful coaching career, modern fans may never have heard of this great defender from the 1980s.
In 570 games, all with the North Stars, Hartsburg scored 98 goals, 315 assists and 413 points while collecting 818 penalty minutes.
Friday
Bill Masterton
Since 1968, the National Hockey League hands out the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the game of hockey. But very few fans know who Bill Masterton was.
Bill "Bat" Masterton only played 38 NHL games, collecting just 4 goals and 12 points with the expansion Minnesota North Stars back in the 1967-68 season. Unfortunately, BIl Masterton is a legend of hockey.
Born in Winnipeg but an American citizen, Masterton was in some ways ahead of his time. He starred in the NCAA, leading the Denver Pioneers to championships in 1960 and '61. In that final year, he scored an amazing 80 points in 32 games. Even so, a college player making the NHL was almost unheard of until the 1980s.
Masterton was one of 21 players named to the NCAA's 50th anniversary team in 1997. After graduation, Masterton played in the minor leagues for a few years and also obtained a master's degree from Denver. That led to a job in Minneapolis with Honeywell, a manufacturer of civil and military avionics and other aerospace products.
Remember this was the days of the Original Six, where the only thing scarcer than NHL jobs was good money. There were no million dollar contracts back then, so the steady income must have looked mighty appealing. Though Masterton was on the fast track in business, he still wanted to play hockey.
Masterton played for two more years with St. Paul of the USHL and spent a year on the U.S. national team. And when the NHL doubled in size in 1967 and expanded to Minneapolis, the 28 year old Masterton achieved his dream of playing in the National Hockey League. Almost a hometown hero, he even scored the first goal in franchise history.
On January 13th, 1968, the North Stars were playing the Oakland Seals. Early in the game Masterton led a solo rush into Oakland territory where he was greeted unceremoniously by Seals' defensemen Larry Cahan and Ron Harris. Both defenders nailed the smaller Masterton with very hard though clean body check. Masterton fell to the ice, hitting his helmetless head on the ice, instantly knocking him out cold.
Masterton never regained consciousness. For more than 30 hours doctors managed to keep him alive using respirators but the massive internal brain injuries were too immense. Early in the morning of January 15th, 1968, Masterton died.
Following the tragedy, the NHL governors in cooperation with the NHL Writers Association created the Bill Masterton Memorial trophy. It goes to a player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship and love of the game.
In the early years of this trophies existence, the silverware was given out to veteran players who got little recognition throughout their careers. In more recent years it is given out to players who have had to battle hardships due primarily to injury or illness and have successfully returned to the game of hockey.
Past winners include Mario Lemieux (cancer, back injuries), Tony Granato (emergency brain surgery, not hockey related), Tim Kerr (repeated shoulder and knee operations), Gord Kluzak (repeated knee operations) and Gary Roberts (serious spinal/neck injury).
Even Masterton's shocking death only slowly began to push forward the movement toward mandatory helmet use that finally was adopted in 1979 -- only for incoming players. The era of bareheaded players finally ended in 1997 with the retirement of the last grandfathered holdout, Craig MacTavish.
Masterton's retired uniform number 19 is among those on a banner that hangs from the ceiling at American Airlines Center, though Masterton never played for Dallas' Stars.
Thursday
Dave Gagner
During his prime, Dave Gagner was a skillful scorer whose game was aided by his great determination and grittiness. Standing just 5'10" and 180lbs, Dave played much bigger than his listed size. He was an aggressive and fearless little guy who was a 30+ goal threat when at his best. Twice he topped 40 goals.
An intelligent player, Gagner wasn't a great skater but knew how to shake his check to get open. A finisher more than a playmaker, Dave possessed a good shot with a quick release. An adequate-at-best defensive player, Gagner was an on-ice leader. He was an admirable NHLer, giving everything he had on every shift.
Despite being a high draft pick, Dave took a long time to justify his lofty selection. The 12th pick in the 1983 Entry Draft by the NY Ranger's, Dave played for the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo and finished the tournament as the team's third leading scorer. He followed that up with a tough adjustment to the pro ranks, alternating between the Rangers and their AHL affiliate during the 1984-85, 1985-86, and 1986-87 seasons.
The Chatham Ontario native moved on to Minnesota in 1987-88. Despite tearing up the IHL with 16 goals and 26 points in 14 games, Dave was still unable to make any impact at the NHL level, scoring just 8 goals in 51 games.
Things changed for the better for Dave in 1988-89. Voted as the North Stars' Most Improved Player, he exploded with 35 goals and 78 points, proving to be a top 2 line center.
So why did he finally succeed after so many failures in the past? Well, opportunity is the main reason. The North Stars brought in a new coach in Pierre Page that season and he immediately liked Gagner's spunk and energy. After a strong training camp, Page called him "the hardest worker in the National Hockey League." Under Page's coaching systems, Gagner was finally in a perfect fit, and finally was given a chance to succeed.
And succeed he did.
Dave had an incredible start to the year. 22 goals and 41 points by mid season. He slowed down a bit in the second half of the year but ended up with 35 goals and 78 points in what amounted to his first full NHL season.
Page would only coach the team one more year, but Gagner's success continued for many years to come. He followed up his breakthrough season with a 40 goal, 78 point 1988-89 season. He had a career high 82 points including a second consecutive 40 goal year in 1990-91. Which saw him win team MVP honors as well as an appearance in the All Star game.
He continued to be a consistent scoring threat, scoring 31, 33, and 32 goals in the following 3 years before slowing down a notch. He scored 14 goals in the lockout shortened 1995 season.
Half way through the 1995-96 season, after 14 goals in 45 games with the Stars, the team traded Dave to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a deal that was designed to strengthened the Leafs. The Leafs already had superstar Doug Gilmour on their lineup, and Gagner's style of play was similar. Though nowhere near as good defensively, Dave was a poor man's version of Gilmour - very spirited, fearless play with good offensive output.
Dave however wasn't able to supply as much offense in Toronto as was hoped. He scored 7 goals in 28 regular season games, as well as 15 assists. However he registered only 2 assists in 6 playoff games in a disappointing spring for the Leafs.
Toronto traded the grizzled veteran to Calgary come the 1996-97 season. He had a decent year in Calgary, scoring 27 goals and 60 points in the offensive drought of the late 1990s. It was good timing for Dave too, as he was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. As a result, Dave signed a lucrative contract with the offense hungry Florida Panthers.
Dave was never able to supply what was expected in Florida. Scoring 20 goals and 48 points for a player who signed for over 2 million dollars a year, Gagner was soon on the trading block. The trade came in the form of a blockbuster as Gagner was part of the Florida package sent to Vancouver for hold out star Pavel Bure!
Vancouver was weak at center and it was hoped that Gagner, in the last year of his contract, could step in and help out. Unfortunately Gagner, who was ultimately nothing more than a throw-in in the Bure deal in order to make financial sheets balance, Gagner was very ineffective. He scored just 2 goals in 33 games with the Canucks.
Following his awful year, no teams were interested in Gagner and he had little option but to retire.
"I'm very fortunate to have made a living playing the game I love. At this time, I would like to spend more time with my family and pursue other interests."
Dave will always be remembered as a solid NHLer, a hard worker and a great team guy.
Steve Payne
Steve Payne's last name is very fitting as he ended his career prematurely and in a lot of pain.
Payne, a big left winger with the Minnesota North Stars from 1978 through 1988, blew out his knee during the 1985-86 season. The final three seasons of his solid career were filled with surgeries, re-injuries to the knee, and frustration.
Steve was big at 6'2" and 205lbs. He was a bit like John Leclair, although he was criticized for underachieving. He broke through in his sophomore season in 1979-80 with a 42 goal campaign and a strong playoff with 14 points in 15 games. But he reached his true zenith in the playoffs of 1980-81. After a setback in the regular season with "just" 30 goals, he exploded with 17 goals and 29 points in 19 playoff games as he helped lead the Stars to a Cinderella appearance against the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup finals.
After seeing Payne play so masterfully at such a high level throughout the playoffs, great expectations were placed on his shoulders. If he could have played that way consistently over a full season, there'd be no doubt he'd be an all star and perhaps the game's best LW at that time.
But Steve failed to live up to the lofty expectations. He had a good but not great year in 1981-82 with 33 goals and 78 points. Come playoff time he again found the magic switch to turn his game up an extra notch. He scored 4 goals in 4 games, but unfortunately the North Stars came back to reality and were eliminated early in the playoffs.
Payne's production continued at the 30 goal level until his knee injury felled him.
Despite the injury, Payne tried very hard to return to the NHL. At one time he was as strong a skater as there was, though lacked agility. The knee injury all but removed what speed and agility he had. He remained strong on his skates, but checkers could knock him off the puck much easier.
Steve, who was at times lazy defensively, was never a great physical player despite his size. With the tremendous agony of the injury he became even more shy of contact, thus making him a perimeter player.
Steve also battled through a serious abdominal injury, but the worst injury of all came in a game against Washington on Nov. 14, 1987. Payne was hit from behind, suffering a neck injury that would only become more serious with time. The injury caused bone spurs to develop, and these spurs grew into his spinal cord. Doctors warned Payne That if he continued to play he would need career-ending spinal fusion surgery to repair the problem. Wisely, he retired rather than risk further damage
Payne could be compared to Claude Lemieux or a Trevor Linden. All three players found an extra gear come playoff time and were great playoff warriors. But in the regular season they generally played at a level below, thus for some leaving something to be desired.
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