1960-61 NHL Regular Season
The season begins celebrating the longevity of three players.
Detroit’s Ted Lindsay, and
Chicago’s Gus Mortson and
Allan Stanley all played their 1000th game in October. They are the third, fourth and fifth players to hit that milestone, behind
Milt Schmidt, and
Doug Harvey, who is still playing. In terms of quality, I’d say
Lindsay will be a HOFer,
Stanely is borderline, and
Mortson will be remembered as a very good player.
Lindsay, Stanley, and Mortson
Doug Harvey has fallen to a 2.5 star player this season. It’s a dramatic drop.
Harvey claims something is wrong though!
The
Toronto Maple Leafs are officially done with the rebuild. Their youth have matured enough for me to say they are now a dangerous team. The best line in hockey also wears Blue and White.
Henri Richard, a do everything kind of player, now centers
Frank Mahovlich, and
Andy Bathgate. Both wingers will challenge for the scoring title this year, and for many in the future. Expect
Jean Ratelle and
JP Parise to join
Bobby Hull on the 2nd line next year, when this team should really take off!!
Mahovlich, Richard and Bathgate
There is no news story, but whatever was bothering
Doug Harvey, it seems to be in the past. He’s back to a 4 star player now. I thought it was worth mentioning.
Harvey back to normal
At the trade deadline,
Detroit deals one of the top scorers in hockey.
Detroit trades 23 year old
Murray Oliver, who was centering
Gordie Howe to
Montreal.
Oliver found some very nice chemistry with
Howe, getting 48 points in 49 games when the trade took place. The
Wings gets 25 year old
Bill Hay back. He’s a 3rd line grinder type player who is having a career year. His 27 points is a career high already.
Hay is a solid player, but he isn’t worth
Detroit’s first line center!
Montreal just got deeper!
Oliver to Montreal!
In the same game, a 6-1
Detroit win over
NY,
Gordie Howe and
Ted Lindsay each scored their 900th career point!! That’s something!
Howe did it in his 855th game, while
Lindsay took a bit longer, accomplishing the feat in his 1030th game!
900 points!
Final Standings
The playoff race never really existed this year.
New York and
Chicago were never in it. That 6 point gap between 4th and 5th place is deceiving. Ny was never really in it. The
Rangers, after finally making the playoffs last year, show it was somewhat of a fluke, falling back to golf season in March.
Toronto’s goal difference show’s what they are lacking. A true top pairing defenseman. If only they hadn’t traded
Tim Horton. Lets look back.
Toronto traded
Horton for
Marcel Pronovost, a very good dman in his own right. They then traded
Pronovost for
Sid Abel and
Pete Goegan.
Goegan is a 27 year old who is
Toronto’s #7 defenseman.
Abel played 56 games in
Toronto, scoring 10 goals before retiring. So,
Tim Horton got
Toronto Pete Goegan……damn…
No records set this year, but young players are starting to emerge as stars!