Mike Byers

Mike Byers was one of thousands of journeymen players in NHL history. Not too many of his 170 NHL or 291 WHA games were spectacular by any definition, but he did his job as well as anybody else.

Mike had a five year junior career for the Toronto Marlboros between 1962-67, where he won the Memorial Cup in 1967. He wasn't a big scorer but more of a streaky scorer. He had three four goal games and showed flashes of great hockey.

Mike was an effortless skater with a good burst of speed. He also had a very hard shot but for some reason didn't shoot enough. He played parts of two seasons for Toronto but mostly played in the minors. In 1969 he was traded to Philadelphia but only played 5 games for them late in the season. Mike didn't crack the Flyers lineup the following season (1969-70) and spent the entire season with the Quebec Aces (AHL).

Philadelphia lost their patience with Byers and shipped him to Los Angeles on May 21, 1970. He immediately caught on in LA and scored a fine 27 goals, leading the team, and 45 points, figures that he would never match again on this level. He played on the "Bee Line" together with Bob Berry and Juha Widing. They combined for 173 points and played very solidly. Mike himself had six two goal games and scored against every NHL team. During that season many observers ranked Mike as having one of the best backhanded shots in the league.

The next season Mike came struggling out of the gate and only scored 9 points in the first 28 games for Los Angeles. He was promptly traded to Buffalo. He finished the season in Buffalo and scored 16 points in 46 games and actually played on a line together with Rick Martin and Gilbert Perreault for a brief period. Unfortunately Mike and Sabres coach Joe Crozier didn't get along very well.

"I loved Punch Imlach, both as a coach and general manager," said Mike, "But I didn't have a lot of respect for Joe Crozier, who was coaching the Sabres at the time (1972). I never saw eye-to-eye with Joe. And what I was looking to in Buffalo was a full year with Joe as coach. I just didn't see a lot of positive things by staying in Buffalo. So I jumped."

Mike jumped to the newly started rival league WHA. He had been selected by the Los Angeles Sharks in the 1972 WHA general player draft on February 12, 1972. Unfortunately for Mike there wasn't much to cheer about in LA.

"I wasn't really impressed with their management (LA Sharks) right from the beginning," recalled Mike. " I found out later that many of the people who ran the Sharks had never been involved with hockey before. I found out very quickly, their practice session times were scheduled very poorly. So were their travel schedules. And their philosophy was to put out a team on the ice that would be like the Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia. The best thing that ever happened to me as a member of the Sharks was the day they traded me to the Whalers. It was like going from rags to riches."

After 56 games in Los Angeles (19 goals, 36 points) Mike was traded to the New England Whalers for Mike Hyndman. He scored another 6 goals for New England that season, finishing with a respectable 25 goals. The following two seasons Mike scored 29 goals, 50 points and 22 goals, 48 points for New England.

Mike was then signed as a free agent by Cincinnati early in 1976. He played there briefly before playing his last season in 1976-77 for the Rochester Americans (AHL).

Mike retired and moved to Los Angeles where he became a senior vice-president for a bank and investment company.

In 166 NHL games, he had 42 goals and 34 assists. In 263 WHA games, he had 83 goals and 74 assists.

Darryl Sydor

I always had high hopes for Darryl Sydor. He was a great junior player in Kamloops (where he patrolled the blue line with Scott Niedermayer). He showed a lot of offensive promise, and when he joined Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings to start his career in 1991 I kept a close eye on him.

And he went on to a great career. The two-time Stanley Cup champion (Dallas 1999 and Tampa Bay 2004) and had 507 points (98+409) in 1,291 career NHL games.He added another 9 goals and 56 points in 155 Stanley Cup playoff games.

He was such a great skater, blessed with balance and agility and amazing lateral movement. He accelerated well and jumped into the attack smartly. He made strong outlet passes and could rush the puck out of the zone, though usually just to the center line to dump it in.

I guess with his skating ability and junior numbers I had hoped for more offense from Sydor. He did emerge into a very solid two way defender, especially in Dallas, but in Los Angeles, like most young defensemen, he needed some sheltering as he needed time to mature physical and defensively.

Though he challenged the 50 point mark a few times in Dallas, Sydor will not be remembered as a top offensive defenseman but as a really solid, all around blue liner who offered a little of everything to his team.

Sydor, who also had stints in Columbus, Tampa, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, is quick to credit his mentors for his longevity in the NHL.

“I have been able to learn under players like Charlie Huddy, Craig Ludwig, Guy Carbonneau and Mike Keane,” he said. “I learned from Charlie in LA and these other guys in Dallas where I took a lot of learning experiences from and then I’ve been thrown into some situations where I have been able to take my game to the next level. Now, being an experienced defenseman, you’re relied on a lot more in important situations.”

Jay Wells

Jay Wells was a junior standout with the Kingston Canadiens from 1976 through 1979. It wasn't flashy skill or scoring exploits that made him the 16th overall draft pick in the NHL's deepest amateur draft (1979) but rather his reputation as a mean and aggressive defenseman. Jay was able to work on that reputation throughout almost 1100 NHL games.

Jay was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, and he would apply his trade for 9 seasons in the warm California sunshine. During the 1980s the Kings weren't exactly setting the league on fire, and often solid players like Wells weren't given much attention. But he became a coveted defenseman by all teams in the NHL. Often other teams would inquire about Well's availability, but the Kings were smart to hang on to their leader.

Every team in the NHL wanted Jay because he was one of the best in the entire circuit at clearing the front of the net. He was an excellent body checker, and a willing fighter. Jay was also recognized as one of the better shot blocking defensemen. It was said the only things stronger than his arms and legs were his work ethic and character. While he didn't possess great offensive skills, he had decent agility and usually made an intelligent clearing pass to get the Kings out of trouble in their own zone. He was at his best when he played within his limits and didn't over extend himself.

After 9 years in Los Angeles, Jay was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1988. That trade happened only a month or so after the Kings had acquired Wayne Gretzky. While it was disappointing for Jay not to get a chance to play with Wayne, he brought his hard working style to the more physical east coast and settled in nicely.

Jay would spend 2 seasons in Philly before a late trade in March 1990 took him to Buffalo. The veteran experience Jay brought to the Sabres was his biggest asset at this stage of his career. He continued to play his rock-hard style of hockey, but struggled with injuries. He played in just 85 games over parts of three seasons in Buffalo. Lat in the 1991-92 season was traded to the New York Rangers for a similar defenseman in Randy Moller.

Jay enjoyed his time in New York. He spent 4 seasons there, none more memorable than the 1993-94 season. Jay played in 79 games games that season, his first fully healthy season in 7 seasons. He also participated in 23 playoff games as the New York Rangers battled the Vancouver Canucks in a memorable battle for the Stanley Cup. The Rangers ultimately won the championship. For Jay, like all hockey players, it was the highlight of his career. All the years of blood, sweat and injuries finally were rewarded for Jay and his Rangers teammates. When Jay had his opportunity to lift the Cup above his head, he said "I had no idea what to do with it."

Jay continued to play in the NHL until 1997, with stops in St. Louis and Tampa Bay, before he opted to step off the ice and behind the bench.

He played in 1098 NHL games, scoring 47 goals and 263 points, while earning 2359 minutes in the penalty box. He is one of hockey's true warriors, and deserves to be remembered as such.

Robb Stauber

Robb "Rusty" Stauber was born in Duluth, Minnesota. It was in Minnesota where Robb emerged as an NHL prospect. After he graduated from high school he went on to the University of Minnesota where he set school records for career games played, minutes played and wins by a goaltender. His highlight of his amateur career came in 1987-88. Based on a 34-100 season with 5 shutouts and a 2.72 goals against average, Robb became the first goaltender to win the Hobey Baker award as the top player in United States college hockey!
Robb, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings 107th overall back in 1986, turned professional in 1989. He would appear in 2 games with the Kings in 1989-90. Otherwise Robb was buried in the minor leagues until 1992-93.

In that season Robb emerged as an NHL story. The rookie went undefeated in his first 10 starts that season (9-0-1), including a 7 game consecutive winning streak. Robb, who was Kelly Hrudey's back up that season, ended with a 15-8-4 record, and posted another 3 big wins in 4 playoff games as he helped Wayne Gretzky and the Kings go all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. Robb calls that moment his greatest in his hockey career.

Robb's fortunes went downhill quickly the following season, as did the Kings'. Robb struggled through a 4-11-5 season. He did pick up his first and only NHL shutout in a rare 0-0 tie against Dallas.

The Buffalo Sabres were hoping to resurrect Robb's career when they acquired him during the lockout shortened season of 1994-95. Robb was involved in the huge trade which saw Robb, Alexei Zhitnik, Charlie Huddy and a draft pick come to Buffalo in exchange for Phillippe Boucher, Denis Tsygurov and Grant Fuhr. Robb played in 6 games for the Sabres in the 48 game condensed schedule. However because of the emergence of Dominik Hasek, Robb rarely got a chance to play.

That proved to be Robb's final season in the NHL. He played the 1995-96 season with the Sabres farm team in Rochester, where the highlight of his season was when he scored a goal on October 9, 1995. He would sign with the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers over the following 2 seasons, but spent the entire seasons in the minor leagues. He rounded out his career with a short stint with the independant Manitoba Moose.

Upon retirement, Robb returned to Minnesota where he is a goaltending consultant at his old stomping grounds at the University of Minnesota. He also invented the Staubar Trainer which is a device goalies wear in practice which restricts the goalies ability to rely on reflexes or athleticism with the idea being forces the goalie to learn the fundamentals of playing angles and using the bulk of his body to get in the way of the puck.