3 From 1970 NHL Amateur Draft Now In Hockey Hall Of Fame

The 1970 NHL Amateur Draft was the first for the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks and saw 14 teams select 115 players over 14 rounds. 62 of the 115 players went on to play at least one game in the National Hockey League. Three of the 115 went on to have stellar NHL careers and eventually get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Gilbert Perreault - 1990

Gilbert Perreault getting chosen first overall by the expansion Buffalo Sabres came down to a spin of the wheel. In deciding which of the two new teams would choose first, Buffalo and Vancouver each took a spin of ‘crown and anchor’ type wheel with Buffalo winning. The Sabres took Perreault and the Canucks took defenseman Dale Tallon.

Perreault was coming off a dominant junior season in the OHA, scoring 51 goals and totalling 121 points in 54 games for the Montreal Junior Canadiens. He finished second in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy to Marcel Dionne of the St. Catherines Black Hawks, who finished with 132 points. Dionne would go second overall to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1971 draft.

Gilbert played his entire career with the Sabres, from 1970-71 to 1986-87. To this day, he is arguably the franchise’s greatest player. In his first season, he was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie while scoring 38 goals and assisting on 34 others. That, coupled with the Lady Byng Trophy he won in 1972-73 would be the only major individual awards Perreault would win. He finished his career with 512 goals and 1,326 points. Gilbert Perreault was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.

Darryl Sittler - 1989

Darryl Sittler was taken in the eighth position by the Toronto Maple Leafs after playing three years of junior hockey with the OHA’s London Knights. Although an immediate regular with Toronto, Sittler was a bit slower to start than his counterpart in Buffalo. In his first two seasons, Darryl contributed just 50 points in 123 regular season games.

Sittler played nearly 1,100 regular season games in the NHL between 1970-71 and 1984-85 with the Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings. Never a Stanley Cup winner and never the recipient of a major NHL individual award, Darryl did have two 100+ points seasons with Toronto and ended his career with 484 goals and 1,121 points. Darryl Sittler was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989.

Billy Smith - 1993

NHL teams rarely select goaltenders in the early rounds of the draft. Thus was the case with Billy Smith. The junior star with the Cornwall Royals of the QMJHL was taken down in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Kings, 59^th overall. Smith played just five games with the Kings in 1971-72 but became a regular with the New York Islanders in their inaugural season, 1972-73.

Smith was mostly New York’s number one goalie until he retired after the 1988-89 season. He viscously guarded between the pipes as the Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1979-80 to 1982-83. Billy was awarded the Vezina Trophy in 1981-82 and received the Conn Smythe Trophy the following season as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Billy Smith was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.

3 Toronto Maple Leafs With 300 or More PIM in a Single Season

Four times in the history of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs, a player has accumulated 300 or more minutes in penalties during one regular season. Despite Gary Bettman’s propaganda regarding the unpopularity of fighting in the NHL, two of the three players to top 300 PIM are pretty much considered legends by many Toronto hockey fans.

Tie Domi

Tie Domi holds the Toronto Maple Leafs record for the most PIM in a single season with 365 in 1997-98. Domi finished second in the NHL that season, seven PIM behind Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks. This was Tie’s career high, topping the 347 he sat out with the Winnipeg Jets in 1993-94.

Domi totaled 3,515 PIM during his NHL career, ranking him third all-time behind Dave Williams and Dale Hunter. Tie played 1,020 regular season NHL games between 1990-91 and 2005-06 with the New York Rangers, Jets and Maple Leafs. Originally, he was a second round pick of the Maple Leafs at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, 27^th overall.

Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams

Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams was the previous owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs record before Domi came along. Williams sat out 351 in 1977-78. This total was 54 behind league leader Dave ‘The Hammer’ Schultz, who split his season between the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins. Williams topped this total by seven PIM in 1986-87 with the Los Angeles Kings.

Dave is the all-time NHL penalty minutes leader with 3,966 in 962 games. Tiger played in the NHL from 1974-75 to 1987-88 with the Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Hartford Whalers. He was a second round pick of the Maple Leafs at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, 31^st overall.

Williams also topped 300 PIM in the previous season. In 1976-77, Dave led the National Hockey League with 338 PIM, 64 more than the next man, Dennis Polonich of the Detroit Red Wings.

Brian Curran

In 1989-90, a less than memorable Maple Leaf sat out 301 minutes in the sin bin. Brian Curran tied with Dave Manson of the Chicago Blackhawks for sixth place in the category. The NHL was led in 1989-90 by Basil McRae of the Minnesota North Stars with 351. Curran’s career high came in 1986-87 with the New York Islanders when he sat 356 minutes.

Brian totaled 1,461 PIM in 381 NHL games over his career. He played from 1983-84 to 1993-94 with the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Toronto, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals. He played with Toronto between 1987-88 and 1990-91. Originally, Curran was a second round pick of the Bruins in 1982, 22^nd overall.

1973 NHL Amateur Draft: 3 First Rounders Now in the Hockey Hall of Fame

In today’s National Hockey League, with advanced scouting and technology added to the fact that there are 30 teams and plenty of job openings, the first round picks at the NHL Entry Draft often, but not always, stick. In the 1970’s, it wasn’t so much the case. The fact that three of the top eight picks at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft are now in the Hockey Hall of Fame is quite astounding.

 

Bob Gainey

Bob Gainey was selected eighth overall in 1973 by the Montreal Canadiens. 20 years later, in 1992, Gainey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Also picked fourth overall in the WHA amateur draft in 1973 by the Minnesota Fighting Saints, Gainey chose the NHL route and was a regular on the league’s top team in 1973-74.

Bob was taken from the OHA’s Peterborough Petes after playing just one season, 1972-73. He played his entire NHL career with Montreal from 1973-74 to 1988-89, winning five Stanley Cups with the team. He was a four time Frank J. Selke Trophy winner as the league’s most defensive forward. In fact, he won the trophy in its first four years of existence and is the only four-time winner to date. Gainey’s number 23 was retired by the Canadiens in 2008.

 

Lanny McDonald

Lanny McDonald was taken fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of three first round picks by Toronto at the 1973 NHL Draft. Like Bob Gainey, McDonald was also taken in the first round of the WHA draft, 10^th overall by the Cleveland Crusaders. He had played two seasons of junior hockey in the WCHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 1971-72 and 1972-73. In his two seasons, Lanny contributed 114 and 139 points.

Over his NHL career that spanned from 1973-74 to 1988-89, McDonald played 1,111 regular season games with an additional 117 in the playoffs. He began with Toronto, made a stop with the Colorado Rockies then finished off his career with the Calgary Flames. With Calgary, he scored 66 goals in 1982-83 and won the Stanley Cup in 1985-86. He finished his career with exactly 500 goals and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Bob Gainey in 1992.

 

Denis Potvin

Denis Potvin was the first overall pick at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft, going to the New York Islanders. After five years of junior hockey with the OHA’s Ottawa 67’s, Potvin jumped right into a starring role with New York for the 1973-74 season, winning the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. Denis played his entire career with the Islanders, retiring after the 1987-88 season. He captained the team for eight years, from 1979-80 to 1986-87, including the team’s four year Stanley Cup championship run from 1979-80 to 1982-83.

In all, Potvin played 1,052 NHL games and scored 310 goals. He was a three time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman, winning in 1975-76, 1977-78 and 1978-79. In 1991, his number 5 was the first jersey number ever retired by the New York Islanders. Denis had a one year head start on Gainey and McDonald, being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.