Yesterday in Hockey History: June 27
Tomorrow in Hockey History: June 29
On June 28th a huge trade went down that benefited the Original 6 franchises for years to come. Also, this day in 1994 was one of the busiest in memory with graphics, marketing, and training moves. Finally, it saw the start of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, a rarity in the NHL’s postseason history. So let’s step into the THW time machine and go back through the decades to relive it all.
Canadians Changing Their Future
The first step to the Montreal Canadiens’ dominance in the 1970s took place on June 28, 1964. This is the day they found a goaltender who would lead them to six Stanley Cup championships over eight seasons.
The Canadiens traded Guy Allen and Paul Reid to their rival Boston Bruins in exchange for Alex Campbell and 16-year-old goaltender Ken Dryden. The Bruins used the 14th pick of the 1964 NHL Amateur Draft to select Dryden but traded him a few weeks later.
Dryden chose to play for Cornell University before starting his professional career, where he went 76-4-1. He eventually signed with Montreal and made his NHL debut late in the 1970-71 season. After winning all six of his starts, he was named the starting goalie for the playoffs. Not only did he win the first of six Stanley Cups, but he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the most valuable player in the playoffs.
He went on to win the Calder Trophy as the leading rookie of the 1971-72 season by going 39-8-15 with a .930 save percentage (SV%), 2.24 goals against average (GAA), and eight shutouts. He won five Vezina Trophies during his career, which at the time was awarded to the goaltender who allowed the fewest goals during the regular season.
Dryden retired at age 31 with 258 wins, a 2.24 GAA, and his .922 SV% is still the best in franchise history. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. Meanwhile, Allen and Reid, who the Bruins acquired for Dryden, have never played in the NHL.
Crazy Day 1994
June 2, 1994, will go down as one of the busiest days in hockey history. In addition to the NHL Entry Draft taking place, there have been major trades made, coaching changes and the last Supplemental Draft to ever take place.
Maple Leaves Produce a Great Deal
Just before the start of the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson, and their first round pick (12th overall) to the Quebec Nordiques for Mats Sundin, Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner, and their first round pick (16).th completely).
Clark, who was beloved in Toronto, played only one season with the Nordiques, scoring 12 goals and 30 points in 37 games. He was a member of the Colorado Avalanche briefly but did not suit up for them as he was traded to the New York Islanders of Claude Lemieux, a few days before the 1995-96 season. The Islanders traded him back to the Maple Leafs, in March of 1996, along with Mathieu Schneider and DJ Smith for Darby Hendrickson, Sean Haggerty, Kenny Jonsson, and Toronto’s first round pick in the 1997 Entry Draft. That pick was used to select goalkeeper Roberto Luongo.
Meanwhile, Sundin went on to become the Maple Leafs’ all-time scoring leader with 987 points. He ultimately spent two and a half of his 13 seasons in Toronto playing with Clark.
Jovanovski is in the lead
Later that day, the 1994 NHL Entry Draft began in Hartford, CT. The Florida Panthers used the first overall pick to select defenseman Ed Jovanovski. He would go on to play seven seasons, two different seasons, with the Panthers. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim took defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky with the second pick, while the Ottawa Senators rounded out the top three for forward Radek Bonk.
Other notable members of the 1994 draft class included Ryan Smyth (6thEdmonton Oilers), Jeff Friesen (11thSan Jose Sharks), Jose Theodore (44thCanadiens), Patrik Elias (51StNew Jersey Devils), Sheldon Souray (71StDevils), Chris Drury (72n.dNordiques), Milan Hejduk (87thNordiques), Marty Turco (124thDallas Stars), Daniel Alfredsson (133rdSenators), Tim Thomas (217thNordiques), Evgeni Nabokov (219thSharks), Tomas Vokoun (226thCanadiens), Steve Sullivan (233rdDevils) and Tomas Holmstrom (257thRed Wings)
Other Notable Movements
In addition to hosting the Entry Draft, the Hartford Whalers made a coaching change on this day. They hired Paul Holmgren for the second time, replacing Pierre Maguire. He played just 12 games in the 1995-96 season before being replaced by Paul Maurice, who took Carolina to the 2002 Stanley Cup Final.
The Nordiques used the pick from the Clark deal and traded him, along with Ron Sutter, to the Islanders for defenseman Uwe Krupp and their first-round pick. Krupp played four seasons for the franchise and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Avalanche in 1996.
From 1986 through 1994, the NHL held an annual Supplemental Draft, which was used by teams to select college players who were ineligible for the Draft. 10 players were selected in the last Supplemental Draft this time. The most successful player among those selected was Steve Rucchin, who was selected by the Mighty Ducks. He went on to score 153 goals and 432 points over the next 10 seasons in Anaheim.
Odds & Ends
On June 28, 1985, the Red Wings signed undrafted free agent Adam Oates after he finished his college career at RPI. He spent the first four seasons of his 19 years in the NHL in Detroit, where he scored 54 goals and 199 points. After the 1988-89 season, he was traded to St. Louis Blues, and Paul MacLean, by Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney. He finished his career with 341 goals and 1,079 assists and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
Greg Johnston had a very busy day on June 28, 1990, as he was a member of three different groups within a few hours. First, he was traded by the Bruins to the New York Rangers for Chris Nilan. The Rangers then traded him to the Maple Leafs for Tie Domi and Mark LaForest. He played just four NHL games in two seasons with Toronto.
The Devils hired Jacques Lemaire as their new coach on June 28, 1993, replacing Herb Brooks. He took the Devils to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in his first season, and they won the Stanley Cup in 1995. He held the job during the 1997-98 season. Lemaire returned to New Jersey for a second time in 2009 after spending eight seasons as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild.
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its most impressive induction class on June 28, 2007. Four players were voted in their first year of eligibility; Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, and Scott Stevens.
The 2021 Stanley Cup Final began on June 28, 2021, when the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens faced off in a rare Eastern Conference matchup. The Lightning won 5-1 to take a 1-0 series lead with Nikita Kucherov reaching 30 points in the postseason for the second straight year. He joined Wayne Gretzky (six), Mark Messier (three), Jari Kurri (two) and Mario Lemieux (two) in this game.
In that same game, Canadiens uber-rookie Cole Caufield became only the second player in NHL history to play in the Cup finals and win the Hobey Baker award in the same season. Jesperi Kotkaniemi also had a point in the game to become the sixth player in franchise history to score a point in a Cup Final at age 20 or younger. Finally, when Carey Price and Andrei Vasilevskiy faced off, it was the fourth time since 1981 that fans have seen two Vezina Trophy winners meet in the finals and the first since 1999 (Ed Belfour and the Dallas Stars and Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres).
The first round of the 2023 NHL Draft took place today in Nashville as Connor Bedard was drafted first by the Chicago Blackhawks. The Anaheim Ducks reached the podium for the second time and surprisingly traded Leo Carlsson for Adam Fantilli, leaving him for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rounding out the top five were Will Smith (San Jose Sharks) and David Reinbacher (Montreal Canadiens). Bedard went on to have a Calder Trophy-winning season, amassing 22 goals and 61 points despite missing a lot recovering from a broken jaw. Carlsson and Fantilli also played in the NHL, with the former scoring 12 goals and 27 points and the latter 12 goals and 29 points.
On June 28, 2024, the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft was held at The Sphere in Las Vegas. Macklin Celebrini went first overall to the Sharks with Arytom Levshunov and Beckett Sennecke going to the Blackhawks and Ducks, respectively, second and third. Rounding out the top five were Cayden Lindstrom (Green Jackets) and Ivan Demidov (Canada). Celebrini, Levshunov and Demidov all made their NHL debuts in the 2024-25 season.
happy Birthday to you
The late George Gee was born on this day, in Stratford, Ontario, in 1993. Gee scored 135 goals and 318 points in 551 career NHL games over a nine-season stint with the Blackhawks and Red Wings. He scored a career-high 20 goals for Chicago in the 1946-47 season. He was traded to Detroit at the start of the 1948-47 season and was part of their 1950 Stanley Cup championship team.
Other current and former NHL players born on June 28 include Roland Melanson (66), Brad Larsen (49), Ric Jackman (48), Garret Sparks (33) and Joel Edmundson (33).
*Originally created by Greg Boysen
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