Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Bruins legend Milt Schmidt, 1951 NHL MVP, dies at 98
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BOSTON - Milt Schmidt, the hockey hall of famer who led Boston to two Stanley Cup championships as the centre of the “Kraut Line,” served Canada in World War II and returned to the NHL to win its MVP award and two more titles as the Bruins general manager, has died, Bruins spokesman Matt Chmura said Wednesday.
He was 98 and he had been the oldest living NHL player.
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A native of Kitchener, Ontario, who was born on March 5, 1918, Milton Conrad Schmidt played with Bauer and Dumart in the junior leagues before they were reunited as the “Kraut Line” in the NHL for the 1936-37 season.
With the three players of German heritage, the Bruins won NHL championships in 1939 and again in ’41, when Schmidt led playoff run with 5 goals and 6 assists in 11 playoff games.
During the war against Germany, Schmidt considered changing his name — to Smith — but decided against it. (The Bruins held a contest that came up with the suggested “Buddy Line,” but it didn’t stick.)
Schmidt missed three full seasons during the war, but returned to score career highs of 27 goals and 62 points in the 1946-47 season. He won the 1951 Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player after totalling 61 points in 62 games.
Schmidt played four more seasons before retiring at the age of 36 with 229 goals, 346 assists and 466 penalty minutes to his credit. He also scored 25 goals and assisted 48 more in 86 playoff games.
Taking over as coach in 1955, Schmidt’s teams reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1957 and ’58. But he had left the bench and taken over as general manager when the young phenom Bobby Orr made his debut in 1966.
At the trade deadline that season, Schmidt orchestrated the trade that brought Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to Boston from the Chicago Blackhawks. With the future hall of famers Orr and Esposito, the Bruins went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and again two years later.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Schmidt talks about the famous trade he made that turned around the Bruins franchise..
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Schmidt took time out from his bridge game to reminisce on the transformative deal
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The phone rang in Schmidt’s office the last day before the roster freeze, and it was Ivan calling from Key Biscayne, Fla., trying to make a deal.
“I said, ‘Tommy, Hap Emms and I have been after you for months, and we haven’t been successful,’ ” Schmidt said. “He said, ‘Listen to me now.’ ”
Schmidt did. Ivan was calling with names Chicago hadn’t offered before: Esposito, Hodge, Stanfield.
Schmidt called Emms, who advised his successor not to do the deal. Emms coveted Marotte. Undaunted, Schmidt called Bruins president Weston Adams Sr.
“I called Weston Adams Sr., who was sick in bed at the time,” recalled Schmidt. “I told him about the names. Finally, he said, ‘Milt, if you think this is going to help our hockey club, go ahead and do it.’
“That’s all I needed. If he would have said no, that was it.”
Francis Rosa’s 1967 Globe story on the trade had pictures of each of the men involved in the deal with a description. The one under Esposito said “playmaker.”
He had been that centering Bobby Hull’s line in Chicago. But in Boston, Esposito became a goal scorer of such high repute he inspired the famous — and sacrilegious — bumper stickers that read, “Jesus saves. Esposito scores on the rebound.”
“He was one guy, when Tommy Ivan mentioned his name, I almost fell through the floor,” said Schmidt. “He was never mentioned before.
“Ivan said, ‘He can’t get along with Billy Reay, our coach, and he’s causing a little problem there.’ I said, ‘I think I can put up with that problem.’
“All I can say is thank goodness for Billy Reay.”
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The trade worked out better for Boston than Schmidt or anyone else could have ever imagined.
“By far,” said Schmidt. “I never realized it was going to work out that way.”
There have been other great Boston sports trades, but Schmidt’s grand theft dynasty created a cultural touchstone of a team that still resonates with fans nearly five decades after the swap.
"You give me five guys named Milt Schmidt, I'll put my grandmother in the net and we'll beat all of them…that's how good he was." Red Storey, Hockey Hall of Famer
My personal favourite.
When everyone found out that the Kraut line, is going to Europe to fight in WW2, they were playing against the Montreal Canadiens, after the Boston Bruin beat the Montreal Canadiens 8-1, the Montreal Canadiens carried the Kraut line off the ice.
Just cause I just posted this in the Gilmour thread the other day:
1968 season, the Blackhawks trade outspoken Esposito as well as Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to the Bruins for Gilles Marotte and Pit Martin.
Esposito immediately becomes an all-time great. He becomes the first player in league history to score 100 points in a season. He scores 126 points in 1969...the previous record was 97.
In 1971, Esposito sets an all-time league record with 152 points breaking his own previous 126 points. With the scoring of the 80's, it's easy to forget just how hard it use to be to break the 50 goal barrier. By 1970, there was only a single player in all of NHL history to score more than 50 goals in a season. That was Bobby Hull who had scored 58 (1969), 54 (1966) and 52 (1967). In 1971 Esposito scored 76. He annihilated the NHL all-time goal scoring record.
Okay, fine, but Esposito was only one player, that trade might not have had the same affect as the multi-players in the Gilmour trade.
The Bruins had acquired the 1st, 4th and 9th overall highest scoring players of the 1971 season in a single trade.
The Blackhawks lost to the Canadiens in the final that year...imagine if they had those three players? There's an incredible possibility that the Blackhawks lost out at an all-time great dynasty because of that trade.
Those are some really really cool stories. Hard to imagine sometimes how storied the original six clubs are compared to our little baby club that came to Calgary in 1980.
I wonder if the term Kraut line would fly these days?
I often wondered what it must have been like for a player to come back from the hell that was WWII and go back to playing hockey for a living. It must have been quite the experience and humbling experience to come back to.
I really respect all the soldiers that fought, but particularly the ones that gave up a great career for a few years. Being a German Canadian, he likely could have played the conscientious objector card.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Bruins legend Milt Schmidt, 1951 NHL MVP, dies at 98
