Kelly Hrudey

Kelly Hrudey began his career in the NHL in 1983-84 after being drafted by the New York Islanders in the second round (38th overall) of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. Kelly was a top prospect brought into replace the legendary Islander netminder Battlin' Billy Smith.

Needless to say, Kelly had big skates to fill!

Kelly was in the crease for one of the most memorable dates in NHL history, Game Seven of the Patrick Division semifinal against Washington in 1987. During that famous playoff battle, Kelly stopped 73 of 75 shots in a 3-2 quadruple overtime victory against the Capitals. The game was the sixth longest in NHL history, and was ended by a Pat Lafontaine slapshot.

After six solid seasons on Long Island, Kelly was traded to the Los Angeles Kings late in the 1988-89 season in exchange for Mark Fitzpatrick, Wayne McBean and Doug Crossman. Kelly was an instant hit in LA and had his best days with the Kings. He backstopped the team to the Stanley Cup Finals during the 1992-93 season and was selected Kings MVP during the 1991-92 and 1994-95 seasons.

Kelly fondly remembers his days in LA.

"I was there to ride the boat, basically," Kelly said. "I couldn't believe how fortunate I was to be a part of it."

Kelly signed as a free agent with the San Jose Sharks for his final two seasons of NHL play. He provided veteran leadership and NHL quality goaltending on a struggling expansion franchise.

During his 15-year career, Kelly played in 677 career games and posted a 271-265-88 mark with 16 shutouts and a 3.43 GAA. An excellent standup goalie with a rapier like glove hand.

Kelly had a weakness on his stick side and could give up huge rebounds, although he was fast to recover on these rebounds. Kelly was an aggressive goalie who thrived on a lot of work. Since he played for a lot of mediocre teams during his career, facing a lot of shots was something Kelly was used to. And under the barrage of shots that he faced on many nights it happened that he got yanked.

"That 100-foot skate to the bench after you have been pulled is the longest, slowest skate in the world. It seems likes five miles," Kelly once said.

He played a total of 85 career playoff games, posting a 36-46 record with a 3.28 GAA..

Kelly retired on July 30, 1998 to become a full-time analyst with Hockey Night In Canada. Kelly seems as comfortable with a microphone as he was in the crease.

"The game didn't come as easy or naturally as it once did. I knew that I had no interest in going anywhere else. I had no interest in leading the life of a gypsy. I have no feelings of sadness," he said in a conference call from his home in Canada when he announced his retirement. "I just cannot believe the opportunity I've had."

Today Kelly resides in Calgary, Alberta. He has become a mainstay on Hockey Night In Canada.

Bernie Nicholls

This three time all star was one of the NHL's best kept secrets for much of the 1980s as he played in relative anonymity in Los Angeles until Wayne Gretzky's arrival. He clicked with The Great One for one of the greatest seasons in NHL history, but then was surprisingly traded to Manhattan. The long time Californian fan favorite became Broadway Bernie.

The Haliburton, Ontario native was drafted 73rd overall in the 1980 Entry draft after a good but not necessarily great season with the OHA's Kingston Canadiens. The Kings of course sent Bernie back to junior the following year for more apprenticeship which is something Bernie admits is the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Fortunately for me, I was allowed to spend one more season in junior hockey, with Kingston," Bernie said in 1985. That additional experience meant that when I did turn pro, a year later, I was really prepared. If I'd gone right into the NHL, I wouldn't have made it."

Bernie didn't make it right away either in his first professional season. He was sent to the minor leagues where he played with the AHL New Haven Night Hawks. Bernie tore apart the minor leagues, scoring 41 goals and 71 points in just 55 games before the Kings called him up for good.

Bernie made a big impression in his first stint in the NHL too. He scored 14 goals and 32 points in the final 22 games of the season, plus added 4 tallies in the playoffs.

In his first full NHL season Bernie couldn't quite keep up his dazzling pace, but by 1983-84 he really caught on fire as he and linemates Terry Ruskowski and Jim Fox gelled nicely. Bernie blasted in 41 goals and had 95 points. The following year he had what looked like would be his career year - 46 goals and 100 points, followed by a 36 goal, 97 point campaign in 1985-86.

After 5 consecutive 30+ goal seasons and constant flirting with the 90-100 point a season mark, Bernie, who celebrated goals with his patented arm-pumping "Pumper-Nicholl," teamed with Wayne Gretzky in 1988-89 - the Great One's first season in Los Angeles. In some respects it was a coming out party of sorts for Bernie too. He finally got recognition as a top player in the league after years of toiling in obscurity. Now he was in the bright lights and excelling at an unbelievable. With lots of help from Gretzky to be sure, Nicholls exploded to score 70 goals in 1988-89, as well as 150 points. He is one of just eight players in league history to score 70 goals in a season.

He was on a torrid pace the following season as well (27 goals and 75 points in 47 games - that would translate to 46 goals and 128 points over a full 80 game slate) but curiously the Kings felt it was necessary to trade their long time popular star to add more depth now that Gretzky had arrived. He was sent to New York in exchange for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato on January 20, 1990. It was curious because one complaint in Los Angeles was that there wasn't enough players who were good enough to play with Wayne, so why would they trade away the one who excelled with him?

Though he had over a point a game in New York and became popular with the fans (they nicknamed him Broadway Bernie), he was quickly sacrificed in one of the NHL's biggest and most influential trades. The Rangers sent Broadway Bernie along with youngsters Steven Rice and Louie Debrusk to Edmonton in exchange for their Messiah - Mark Messier.

After one exciting playoff with Edmonton, Nicholls had lost a step in his game and become more of a playmaker relying on his reputation of past glories. The Oilers were looking to trim costs and inject youth, so they opted to move Bernie to New Jersey for Kevin Todd and Zdeno Ciger.

Nicholls unfortunately didn't fit into coach Jacques Lemaire's defensive trap system, so they let Nicholls sign with Chicago as a free agent. After two years he move to San Jose via free agency, signing a one year contract. Nicholls re-signed with Sharks in the summer of 1998 but by November they told him he was not in their plans any longer.
Bernie Nicholls announced his retirement on November 23, 1998. You get the feeling he didn't really want to though.

"I don't know what to say," Nicholls told the San Francisco Chronicle. "They've announced I'm done playing here. ... I don't know what I should do. It doesn't make any sense. I don't know how to answer any questions. I never expected it to be this way -- you kind of want to go out on your terms."

The San Jose Shark center ice man was pressured into retirement by San Jose Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi as he made it clear to Nicholls that there was no room for him on the team.

"I don't like having to trade players, or deal with contract holdouts. But for me to tell a future Hall of Famer that you recommend this ... I spent the last 48 hours agonizing over it," Lombardi told the San Jose Mercury News.

One would assume Lombardi made every attempt to find Nicholls a home somewhere in the NHL, but there were apparently no takers.

Bernie Nicholls retired with 475 goals and 734 assists for 1,209 points in 1,127 games with Los Angeles, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.. At the time of his retirement, Nicholls ranked 32nd on both the all-time goals and assists lists, and 26th all-time in points.

Bernie Nicholls was a very skilled player, but was more of a goal scorer than playmaker, particularly in his prime. He relied on his linemates to set him up to use his strongest hockey talent - his shot. His shot wasn't the most powerful but both his wrist and slap shots were deadly accurate and released quickly. His release was the key to his goal scoring. He was an excellent one touch shooter and often had the puck flying towards the net before the goaltender could get set. His skating was not exceptional but his anticipation and puck sense were extraordinary.

Ted Irvine

Ted Irvine was one of those hard working wingers who did a thankless job as a role player during the 1970s. As a result he was underrated by fans, but not by his teammates or hockey experts.

Born in Winnipeg Manitoba in December of 1944, Ted grew up playing many sports. He was active in baseball, tennis, football, track and swimming, but of course hockey was his true love.

By 1961 he joined the St. Boniface Canadians of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. As a rookie he chipped in 6 goals and 13 points, but the following year he led the whole league in goals with 31 in just 32 games!. By 1963-64 he captained the Canadians, but wound up with the MJHL Winnipeg Braves by mid season.

A Boston Bruins prospect, Ted ended the 1963-64 season with a trial stint in the pros, including his first game in the National Hockey League!

Because the league was still a 6 team league, it was extremely difficult for players to break into the league until expansion finally came in 1967. As a result Ted spent the next 3 years in the minor leagues. All three years were spent in the CHL - one in Minneapolis and two in Oklahoma City. Ted won two successive CHL championships, and in 1965-66 led all playoff scorers with 6 goals!

Ted's big NHL break happened on June 6, 1967. That was the day of the NHL expansion draft, as the NHL's six new teams stockpiled their rosters with basically minor leaguers and role players from the Original Six teams. Ted was selected by the Los Angeles Kings, and his minor league days were over.

Ted brought his his hard hitting, spirited play to the Californian coast and was an instant hit. The press nicknamed him the "baby faced assassin," a great metaphor for his kamikaze style of bodychecking.

Ted and the Kings had two really good years to start off their NHL careers, but by year three the team was really struggling. Ted too wasn't having as strong a season. In order to help rectify the Kings poor season, Ted was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for Real Lemieux and Juha Widing on February 28, 1970. Irvine played a strictly defensive role at first, but soon was placed on a line with Pete Stemkowski and Bruce MacGregor where he got more ice time.

In New York Ted was noted to do "The Irvine Shuffle" - a celebratory dance when he scored a goal. He was able to dance a career high 26 times in 1973-74. He also added 20 assists for a career high 46 points.

Ted spent the next 5 full seasons in the Big Apple. An outstanding team player, Ted was extremely popular off the ice too. In 1974 he received the hockey writers "Players Player Award." A year later he was honored with the NY Ranger team award for charitable work. The "Conacher Award" was given to him for his work with handicapped children.

In the summer of 1975 Ted was traded with Bert Wilson and Jerry Butler to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Bill Collins and goalie John "JD" Davidson. It was with the Blues that Ted spent his final two NHL seasons.

For 10 NHL seasons Ted Irvine earned a reputation as a big and tough winger. Aggressive but disciplined, Irvine was a hard worker, particularly in the corners and along the boards. A well rounded player who played strong positionally, Irvine was not blessed with great skills. He had a good shot and a knack for scoring in clutch situations, but was a poor skater by NHL standards.

A couple of other interesting notes about Irvine: Ted, who in his early NHL years worked for the Canadian Liquor Commission during the off-seasons, is the father of professional wrestling superstar Chris Jericho.

Jericho - a quick witted fan favorite of WWF fans who has inherited his dad's nickname as the Baby Faced Assassin (although he's better known as Y2J), has early memories of hockey and his dad.

"I remember going to Madison Square Garden when I was five and getting mad because my dad wouldn't look up off the ice at me. And I always thought it was too loud. I pulled this little sweatshirt over my ears because I hated the cheering!" he said in a Jay Greenberg interview. " I remember all the other kids thought it was cool my dad played for the Rangers. But for me it was just my dad. I didn't understand what was going on in the game. Now, I look back on some of the things he accomplished and I'm proud."

Jericho was asked to describe his dad as a player:

"He was a fighter, kind of like a Cam Neely type power forward. He was 6 foot 2, 95 pounds and in 1970 that was a big player. In his best year he had 26 goals and 105 penalty minutes, pretty good numbers for even this day and age, and back then, things were different. He wasn't a star, but a very important player, like an Adam Graves. He played for a long time, 10 years. Today, he'd make $4 million a year!"

After the trade to St. Louis, Irvine retired as he didn't have the same zest for the game in the Gateway City.

"I just felt it was time," Irvine said. "Playing in New York was the epitome of hockey and after I got traded, it just wasn't the same."

Ted added: "Chris said, 'Dad, can you stay home and teach me Kung Fu?' so I did. It was his turn."

So could have Chris Jericho made a living as Chris Irvine - NHL hockey player?

"I wanted to be a hockey player at one point," Jericho says. "I was a grinder, a penalty killer, a checker, a Craig Berube, Mike Eagles kind of guy. I was okay, but wasn't NHL material, although now with 30 teams I could probably play for the Blue Jackets"

Jericho remains a big hockey fan, but it isn't quite the same as when he watched his dad play.

"There are no real characters anymore. Now everybody wears a helmet because of concussions and the game is a corporate business. The teams are kind of nameless and faceless. There are no Nick Fotius, Jerry Korabs, Dave Schultzes. And not that they had to be goons either. Guy Lafleur had the hair flowing, then he had no hair and then all of a sudden he had hair again. C'mon, what's up with that?! And Bobby Clarke had no teeth."

Ah the memories!

And what does dad, a religious man, think about his son's chosen line of work?

I don't like some of the things that go on in wrestling, but it's Chris's profession and I don't judge it. It's the path God chose for him and I know he makes up with a lot of good things that he does."

Bob Nevin

Bob Nevin was a long time NHL right winger, playing in over 1100 career games. He was a fine two way forward who was noted for his gentlemanly play, picking up just 211 penalty minutes in his lengthy career.

Nevin, a Toronto Maple Leaf prospect from the age of 13, played his junior hockey with the Toronto Marlboros from 1954 to 1958. In that time he scored a very solid 210 points in 152 games, including 111 goals.

Nevin's childhood dream of playing for the Leafs came true at the conclusion of the 1957-58 season when he was called up for a 4 game stint. However the next two seasons Nevin would spend apprenticing in the minor leagues with AHL Rochester.

Nevin's first full NHL season was in 1960-61. He had a strong year, scoring 21 goals and 58 points. However his sophomore season would be one not to forget. Though his scoring totals dipped to 15 goals and 45 points, Nevin helped the Leafs capture the Stanley Cup!

"We beat New York in the semi-finals and then we were in a really tough series with Chicago, who had won the Cup the previous year. And we managed to beat them in Game Six at Chicago Stadium, which was a tough feat considering all the noise and atmosphere in that building. So in terms of winning the Stanley Cup and doing it right in Chicago, that was a real big thrill because that was probably the hardest place at that time to win an away game.”

Any Stanley Cup championship team will tell you the only thing harder than winning the Cup is defending it. But the Leafs did that successfully in 1962-63. Nevin actually thought it was easier though.

“The second one was relatively easier, not that any of them are easy. But the second one, I think we beat Montreal in five games in the semi-finals and we beat Detroit in five games in the Finals. So in 10 playoff games, we only lost two so we had a pretty dynamite team that year. We had a pretty strong team and we figured if we kept the team together we could win a number of Cups in the early ‘60s.”

The Leafs did go on to win their share of Cups throughout the sixties, but the team was not kept in tact. Halfway during the 1963-64 season Nevin was traded with Rod Seiling, Dick Duff, Arnie Brown and Bill Collins to the New York Rangers. In return the Leafs got Don McKenney and superstar Andy Bathgate.

Nevin, who was one of the earliest players to wear contacts while playing, enjoyed 7 1/2 seasons in New York. He got more ice time and an increased role than he did on the veteran Maple Leafs team. He scored 20 goals in all but one season, and tapped in a career high 31 in 1968-69.

Nevin looked back on his Rangers days with a special fondness.

“Well, initially it was a big shock (to be traded) because I had grown up in Toronto and a lot of the guys on the Leafs I had played junior with and we had a pretty special relationship with all the guys on that Toronto team. And initially when I got the phone call that I had been traded it was a pretty big blow. It took me a while to adjust from living in Toronto to New York. But I got traded in late ’64 and the fall of ’64, the next year, they made me the team captain. So that obviously was a great thrill to be captain of a team in a six-team league. That was a pretty special time for me in my career.”

The Rangers traded Nevin to Minnesota for Bobby Rousseau for the 1971-72 season. Nevin didn't have his best years in Minnesota. Over 2 seasons he scored just 20 goals and 52 points. In his final year he had just 5 goals and was a -12. Many expected Nevin's career was over.

However the Los Angeles Kings thought Nevin could offer something to their team, and took a chance by selecting Nevin in the annual Reversal Draft. Nevin responded by posting three great seasons, including a career high 72 points in 1974-75 at the age of 36.

“I loved my time in L.A. I had my old teammate from junior and with the Leafs, Bob Pulford, who was the coach and he was doing a real good job. In fact, the one year, we finished with 105 points. We had a really good team. We had Butch Goring, Danny Maloney, Rogie Vachon, and Terry Harper and Bob Murdoch were on defence. Mike Murphy was also playing then. Actually, I really enjoyed my time in L.A. I’m an enthusiastic golfer and, as someone who likes to drive convertibles, it worked out pretty good out there!”

After three seasons in Los Angeles the aging Nevin signed on with the WHA Edmonton Oilers. He played only 13 games in the WHA, for a rather uneventful ending to his career.

In 1128 NHL games, the 4 time all star game representative scored 307 goals, 419 assists for 726 PIM. He added 16 goals and 34 points in 84 career playoff games.

"The end analysis was, I was not Wayne Gretzky"

For a city that often barely recognizes either of the two NHL teams located there, the Los Angeles Times has a nice story on former King Jimmy Carson.

Many people forget about Carson's first three years in the league, especially his first two in Los Angeles where he and fellow newcomer Luc Robitaille breathed new life into a long-sagging organization.

For two seasons together, Robitaille and Carson prospered, Robitaille exceeding expectations and Carson, a goal-oriented son of a lawyer from well-to-do Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., more than living up to his advance billing.

Robitaille won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year in 1987, Carson joining him on the all-rookie team. The next season, Carson scored 55 goals to give him 92 before his 20th birthday, more than any other player in NHL history.

But then came Aug. 9, 1988, when everything changed. Carson, who had just signed a new, multiyear contract and bought a house in Redondo Beach, was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the blockbuster, multiplayer trade that brought hockey icon Wayne Gretzky to the Kings.

He didn't know it then, but his most enjoyable seasons were behind him. He had just turned 20.

Carson was not bad in Edmonton — he rang up 49 goals and 51 assists in his first season with the Oilers — but he was not great. Nor was he, as seemed to be constantly noted, The Great One.

"The end analysis was, I was not Wayne Gretzky," he says.

After his season in Edmonton, Carson moved to his hometown of Detroit and struggled, then bounced around the league for 3 years before simply vanishing. People questioned his heart, making this Bruce McNall quote from the LA Times piece all the more interesting.

"In a weird way, I knew Jimmy's heart was not as much into it," says McNall of his friend, who neither smoked, drank nor partied with teammates. "He was an intellectual, multidimensional guy, read the Wall Street Journal, and so many other players just don't have his opportunities and interests. So I always thought, deep down, that maybe long-term hockey wouldn't be for him."

There is much more to this worth-reading LA Times piece, and I encourage you to do so.