Team Toe Blake selects, as
Centre #2, Milt Schmidt
Born in
Kitchener, Ontario, Schmidt's early years were spent there, where he attended
King Edward Public School. In high school, he briefly attended
Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, but dropped out at age 14 in order to work in order to support his family (his father had become too ill to work regularly), and took a job at a shoe factory.He made 18 cents per hour while working there and claimed that he knew the value of the dollar.(NHL Network January 2009)
[1] He continued playing junior hockey with the Kitchener Empires and Kitchener Greenshirts. Schmidt was a childhood friend of fellow Hall of Famers
Woody Dumart and
Bobby Bauer.
Schmidt played junior hockey with Dumart and Bauer in
Kitchener, Ontario before their rights were all acquired by the Bruins in 1935.
[2] After playing a final year of junior hockey in
Kitchener, Ontario, and half a year with the Bruins'
AHL Providence Reds farm team, Schmidt would be called up to the Bruins during the
1937 season. He would quickly prove himself as a hardnosed center, a skilled stickhandler and smooth playmaker.
Schmidt and his childhood friends Bauer and Dumart would be teamed together in the NHL as well. They formed the famous
Kraut Line, and were a strong and dependable line for the Bruins for most of the following fifteen seasons. They were a key ingredient to the Bruins' success as they rampaged to the regular season title and a hard fought
Stanley Cup victory in
1939. The following season would be Schmidt's true coming out party, as he led the league in scoring and guided the Bruins to another first place finish and the third most goals in team history to date.
The
1941 season saw Schmidt spearhead the Bruins to their second Cup win in three years. However, the powerhouse Brown and Gold were decimated by
World War II the following year as Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart enlisted in the Canadian military and superstar American goaltender
Frank Brimsek enlisted with the American Coast Guard. The Kraut Line found success playing hockey for the Ottawa
RCAF team by winning the
Allan Cup before heading overseas. Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart would end up missing three productive NHL seasons due to their service in the War.
Schmidt returned for the beginning of the
1946 season. He resumed his starring ways and finished fourth in league scoring in
1947. Named captain in
1951, Schmidt won the
Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player that year. He retired as a player partway through the
1954–1955 to take over head coaching duties, replacing
Lynn Patrick
- Stanley Cup champion - all with Boston (1939, 1941 player), (1970, 1972 Manager)
- Finished his career with 229 goals and 346 assists for 575 points in 776 games.
- At the time of his retirement, was third in NHL history in points scored and second in assists.
- Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1940, 1947 and 1951.
- Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1952.
- Played in All-Star Game in 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1952.
- Won the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in 1996.
- Was the last active NHL player who played during the 1930s.
- In 1998, he was ranked number 27 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.