1968-69
OFF-SEASON
Extremely quiet off-season especially compared to last season. No major retirements or trades. New players joining the league are few with Curt Bennett in St Louis, Guy Charron in Montreal and Gerry Hart with the Detroit Red Wings being the biggest names.
Just before the season started Minnesota and Los Angeles made a small deal. The North Stars add veteran forward John Ferguson who had 16 points and 90 penalty minutes in 67 games with Los Angeles last season. In return the Kings acquire goaltender Charlie Hodge, who was in the minors last year. Hodge is a veteran of 295 NHL games mainly with Boston and is 66-190-25 in his career. He likely won't see much action in LA as he will sit third on the Kings goaltending depth chart behind Gerry Cheevers and Roger Crozier.
Some free agent signings including:
Los Angeles signed Vic Hadfield as a free agent. The 27 year old has been stuck in the Chicago farm system his entire career and has yet to play an NHL game. Philadelphia signed 25 year old Bill 'Cowboy" Flett who who was in the same boot as Hadfield, having spent the previous 5 years in Toronto's farm system.
2 more games were added to the schedule so each team now plays 76.
REGULAR SEASON
In the second year the gap between the Original Six and the expansion clubs was even wider as for the first time ever 4 teams finished with over 100 points and the last place team in the East had 91. Meanwhile no one in the West had a even a sniff at winning record and the first place Penguins, with 63 points in 76 games, were the only team in the division to win more than 20 games on the season.
Chicago's big guns had another record setting year as Stan Mikita smashed the marks he set last year for points with 169 and assists with an amazing 116. Bobby Hull scored a record 66 goals, 9 more than he had in a record-breaking season a year ago. The 50 goal club - a mark previously reached only once by Hull and twice by Dickie Moore - added 4 members this year alone as, in addition to Hull's 66, Mikita had 53, Chicago's Phil Esposito had 52 and the Habs Yvan Cournoyer tallied 50.
At the age of 41 Gordie Howe keeps on rolling. The Red Wing great had a career high 119 points including two 6 point game in a pair of wins over St Louis in January. In 1,414 career games Howe has 1,107 points, good for 5th all-time.
Jean Beliveau became the first player to earn 1,500 points in NHL play. The Montreal centre established the milestone on March 2nd with a goal the Habs 4-2 win over Detroit. The 37 year old Beliveau finished the season with 1506 points including 560 goals in 1280 games. Detroit's Alex Delvecchio is second all-time with 1,274 points. The 36 year old Delvecchio had 41 goals and 107 points this season.
Beliveau is also closing in on Maurice Richard's record 595 goals. However, the player to watch in that category is clearly Chicago's Golden Jet, Bobby Hull. Hull moved past the 400 goal mark this season and now has 424 goals in just 788 games. With 123 goals in the last two seasons alone, it is quite possible the 30 year old Hull could pass Richard in just 3 years.
Here is a Bobby Orr update. Now just turning 21 Orr is a veteran of 3 NHL seasons and has increased his point total each year, finishing with 22 goals and 52 assists for 74 points this season. His Bruins finished 5th this year and are getting decent goaltending from young Bernie Parent but a lack of offense has been their undoing. Derek Sanderson led the team with 88 points followed by J.P. Parise with 76 and then Orr's 74. Don Marcotte with 61 and Bill Goldsworthy at 53 are the only other Bruins with over 45 points on the year. By comparison the Chicago Black Hawks had 10 players with at least 45 points and six over 80 points. Unless Boston can add some goal scorers I can't see Orr challenging for an Art Ross Trophy at any point in his career.
Code:
EAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 76 59 10 7 125
Montreal Canadiens 76 56 15 5 117
Detroit Red Wings 76 54 14 8 116
Toronto Maple Leafs 76 52 19 5 109
Boston Bruins 76 40 24 12 92
New York Rangers 76 41 26 9 91
WEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 76 28 41 7 63
Minnesota North Stars 76 20 50 6 46
Philadelphia Flyers 76 18 51 7 43
St Louis Blues 76 18 54 4 40
Los Angeles Kings 76 15 51 10 40
Oakland Seals 76 11 57 8 30
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Stan Mikita CHI 76 53 116 169
Bobby Hull CHI 70 66 75 141
Johnny Bucyk DET 76 40 81 121
Gordie Howe DET 76 41 78 119
Phil Esposito CHI 76 52 57 109
Alex Delvecchio DET 76 41 66 107
Yvan Cournoyer MON 76 50 48 98
Norm Ullman NYR 76 31 66 97
Fred Stanfield CHI 76 41 54 95
Garry Unger TOR 76 39 56 95
Rod Gilbert NYR 75 38 57 95
PLAYOFFS
While each of the West Division matchups in the opening round ended in 6 games both East Division battles went the full seven games. In the 2-3 matchup Minnesota knocked out Philadelphia while first place Pittsburgh took care of 4th seed St Louis.
In the East Toronto surprised the 3-time defending Stanley Cup champion Black Hawks with wins in Chicago in both Games One and Two but Chicago evened the series with road wins in Games Three and Four. The road team prevailed in each of the next two games setting the stage for the winner take all Game Seven at the Chicago Stadium. Chicago struck quickly when Fred Stanfield scored 45 seconds into the game and by the end of the first period it was 3-0 as the Black Hawks advanced with a 4-2 victory. The Hawks suffered a serious loss early in the series when Stan Mikita suffered a broken kneecap, ending his playoffs.
Montreal and Detroit alternated victories in their series with the third place Wings striking first. The Habs broke that trend on home ice in Game Seven as they followed up a Game Six win in Detroit with a 5-4 victory in the deciding game. Gilles Tremblay and 21 year old rookie Mickey Redmond led the way for Montreal with 2 goals and an assist each in the final game.
In the semi-finals Montreal swept Pittsburgh in 4 straight games while Chicago dropped the first game to Minnesota before winning the next 4 in a row. Jean Beliveau had an 8 point game (4G 4A) in Montreal's 10-2 win over Pittsburgh in Game Two. The 8 points is one shy of the playoff record of 9 set by Detroit's Carl Liscombe. Pittsburgh was outscored 30-4 in the 4 games.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Chicago would be looking for a 4th straight Stanley Cup championship as the Hawks face Montreal in the finals. The teams have met 3 times before with the Cup on the line. Montreal won in 1961 and 1963 while Chicago prevailed in 1966, which was the first Cup win in franchise history.
Fred Stanfield, inserted on the Hawks big line with Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull in place of the injured Stan Mikita, came up big in Game One. The 24 year old had 4 assists while Hull had 2 goals and 2 helpers as the Hawks took the series opener at home by a 5-4 score. The Habs lost Mickey Redmond for the series with a shoulder injury in the game. The 21 year old had 10 points in 10 playoff contests.
Game Two was all about Jacques Plante as the 40 year old veteran made 46 saves to earn his 16th career playoff shutout in a 2-0 Montreal win. The game was scoreless until Donnie Marshall got the Habs on the board 2 minutes into the third period. Gilles Tremblay would add an insurance goal 11 minutes later.
Young Montreal winger Danny Grant was the hero in Game Three as the 23 year old scored 3 times including a pair in the final 10 minutes to snap a tie and help Montreal to a 6-3 victory. Yvan Cournoyer and Jacques Laperriere also played a big role, garning a goal and 3 assists each.
Montreal moves to within one victory of the Stanley Cup with a 4-3 win in Game Four. Grant scored again but the big story was another 23 year old Canadiens forward as Jacques Lemaire continued his amazing playoff run with 2 goals and an assist. In 15 games so far this post-season, Lemaire has 12 goals and 22 points after getting just 22 goals and 50 points in 70 regular season games.
The Hawks reign comes to an end as Montreal wins the Stanley Cup with a 4-3 victory in Game Five. Yvan Cournoyer led the Montreal offense with 2 goals in the game, giving him a playoff high 18 goals and 33 points and was an obvious choice for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Veteran Jean Beliveau finished second in playoff scoring with 27 points while Jacques Lemaire was third with 23.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (76GP 53-116-169)
VEZINA TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (47-8-4, 1.79)
NORRIS TROPHY: Pierre Pilote Chicago (71GP 23-67-90)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (76GP 53-116-169)
CALDER TROPHY: Bill Flett Philadelphia (69GP 22-20-42)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Jacques Plante Montreal Eddie Johnston Chicago
D Pierre Pilote Chicago Bill White Toronto
D J Laperriere Montreal Bobby Orr Boston
C Stan Mikita Chicago Gordie Howe Detroit
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Johnny Bucyk Detroit
RW Phil Esposito Chicago Yvan Cournoyer Montreal
Chicago is a dominant team that might win a few more Cups. 3 or 4 years from now had Mikita stayed healthy in the playoffs this year we might have been looking at Chicago challenging the Leafs run in the 1930's of 8 straight Cups.