Milt Schmidt

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Milton Conrad Schmidt (Born March 5, 1918 in Kitchener, Ontario) is a former professional ice hockey center, coach and general manager, mostly for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Playing career 3 Career Statistics 4 Coaching career 5 Retirement 6 Career achievements 7 References

[edit] Early years

Schmidt's early years were spent in Kitchener, Ontario, where he attended King Edward Public School. In high school, he briefly attended Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, but dropped out at age 14 in order to work in order to support his family (his father had become too ill to work regularly), and took a job at a shoe factory. He continued playing junior hockey with the Kitchener Empires and Kitchener Greenshirts. Schmidt was a childhood friend of fellow Hall of Famers Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer.

[edit] Playing career

Schmidt played junior hockey with Dumart and Bauer in Kitchener, Ontario before their rights were all acquired by the Bruins in 1935. After playing a final year of junior hockey in Kitchener, Ontario, and half a year with the Bruins' AHL Providence Reds farm team, Schmidt would be called up to the Bruins during the 1937 season. He would quickly prove himself as a hardnosed center, a skilled stickhandler and smooth playmaker.

Schmidt and his childhood friends Bauer and Dumart would be teamed together in the NHL as well. They formed the famous Kraut line, and were a strong and dependable line for the Bruins for most of the following fifteen seasons. They were a key ingredient to the Bruins' success as they rampaged to the regular season title and a hard fought Stanley Cup victory in 1939. The following season would be Schmidt's true coming out party, as he led the league in scoring and guided the Bruins to another first place finish and the third most goals in team history to date.

The 1941 season saw Schmidt spearhead the Bruins to their second Cup win in three years. However, the powerhouse Brown and Gold were decimated by World War II the following year as Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart enlisted in the Canadian military and superstar American goaltender Frank Brimsek enlisted with the American Coast Guard. The Kraut Line found success playing hockey for the Ottawa RCAF team by winning the Allan Cup before heading overseas. Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart would end up missing three productive NHL seasons due to their service in the War.

Schmidt returned for the beginning of the 1946 season. He resumed his starring ways and finished fourth in league scoring in 1947. Named captain in 1951, Schmidt won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player that year. He retired as a player partway through the 1954-1955 to take over head coaching duties, replacing Lynn Patrick.

[edit] Career Statistics

                                  Regular Season              
Season  Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM   
    
1933-34 Kitchener Empires       OHAJr 7    2   4    6    2
1934-35 Kitchener Greenshirts   OHAJr 17   20  6    26   14
1935-36 Kitchener Greenshirts   OHAJr 5    4   3    7    2
1936-37 Boston Bruins           NHL   26   2   8    10   15
        Providence Reds         IAHL  23   8   1    9    12
1937-38 Boston Bruins           NHL   44   13  14   27   15
1938-39 Boston Bruins           NHL   41   15  17   32   13
1939-40 Boston Bruins           NHL   48   22  30   52   37
1940-41 Boston Bruins           NHL   45   13  25   38   23
1941-42 Boston Bruins           NHL   36   14  21   35   34
1945-46 Boston Bruins           NHL   48   13  18   31   21
1946-47 Boston Bruins           NHL   59   27  35   62   40
1947-48 Boston Bruins           NHL   33   9   17   26   28
1948-49 Boston Bruins           NHL   44   10  22   32   25
1949-50 Boston Bruins           NHL   68   19  22   41   41
1950-51 Boston Bruins           NHL   62   22  39   61   33
1951-52 Boston Bruins           NHL   69   21  29   50   57
1952-53 Boston Bruins           NHL   68   11  23   34   30
1953-54 Boston Bruins           NHL   62   14  18   32   28
1954-55 Boston Bruins           NHL   23   4   8    12   26

                   NHL Totals         776  229 346  575  466

[edit] Coaching career

He would coach the Bruins up to the 1966 season with a year and a half hiatus. After coaching the Bruins for 11 seasons Schmidt was promoted to the General Manager position in 1967 just as the league ushered in six new franchises, doubling in size. Schmidt would prove to be a great architect in the new era of the NHL, acquiring and drafting several key players to build a Bruins team that won two more Stanley Cups titles in the early 1970's. His biggest deal was a blockbuster as he acquired youngsters Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from the Chicago Black Hawks in exchange for journeymen Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris.

After his long and loyal career in the Bruins organization, Schmidt left the team to become the first General Manager of the expansion Washington Capitals for the start of the 1975 season. Unfortunately for Schmidt, the Capitals set a benchmark in futility that still stands as an NHL record today, as the new franchise finished the year with a minuscule 21 points with the worst record in the 18 team league (8 wins - 67 losses -5 ties.

[edit] Retirement

Milt Schmidt's jersey #15 was retired by the Boston Bruins. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961. After his retirement from hockey management, Schmidt remained involved with the Bruins through their alumni team and as manager of the Boards and Blades Club at the Boston Garden.

[edit] Career achievements

• Finished his career with 229 goals and 346 assists for 575 points in 776 games.
• At the time of his retirement, was third in NHL history in points scored and second in assists.
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1940, 1947 and 1951.
• Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1952.
• Played in All-Star Game in 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1952.
• Won the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in 1996.
• Was the last active NHL player who played during the 1930s.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 27 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

[edit] References

Prose contains specific citations in source text which may be viewed in edit mode.

• Diamond, Dan (ed.) (1998, 2000). Total Hockey: Second Edition. Total Sports Publishing, Kingston, New York.
• Hicks, Jeff. "Kitchener's Great One", The Record, Kitchener, Ontario, November 4, 2006, p. A1, A8, A9.

Preceded by Hap Emms	Boston Bruins General Managers 1967-72	Succeeded by Harry Sinden
Preceded by Lynn Patrick	Boston Bruins Head Coaches 1955-61, 1963-66	Succeeded by Harry Sinden
Preceded by John Crawford	Boston Bruins captains 1950-55	Succeeded by Ed Sandford
Preceded by Chuck Rayner	Winner of the Hart Trophy 1951	Succeeded by Gordie Howe
Preceded by Toe Blake	NHL Scoring Champion 1940	Succeeded by Bill Cowley

Boston Bruins Head Coaches
Ross • Denneny • F. Patrick • Weiland • Clapper • Boucher • L. Patrick • Schmidt • Watson • Sinden • Johnson • Guidolin • Cherry • Creighton • Cheevers • Goring • O'Reilly • Milbury • Bowness • Sutter • Kasper • Burns • Keenan • Ftorek • O'Connell • Sullivan • Lewis