Yesterday in Hockey History: June 28
Tomorrow in Hockey History: June 30
National Hockey League fans who love a blockbuster trade have had plenty to be excited about on June 29 over the years. It was a busy day in 2016, and two Hall of Famers were traded to their hometowns in 1990. So let’s start our daily journey back in time to enjoy all the best moments that this date has to offer.
Crazy 23 Minutes
The news couldn’t come soon enough on June 29, 2016, the only 23-minute period in recent league history. The action began when the New Jersey Devils acquired Taylor Hall from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Adam Larsson.
In his second season with the Devils, Hall won the Hart Trophy by being voted the NHL’s most valuable player. He scored 39 goals and 93 points to help the Devils reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2012. He was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in December 2020 and had stints with the Buffalo Sabers and Boston Bruins.
Before the dust settled on the deal, 20 minutes later, the Nashville Predators traded longtime captain Shea Weber to the Montreal Canadiens for PK Subban. The Predators and Suban reached the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals, but he was eventually traded to the Devils following the 2018-19 season. Weber, when healthy, has been part of the Canadiens’ blue line and has been a big part of their run to the 2021 Stanley Cup finals.
The hits kept coming, three minutes later, when Steven Stamkos decided to re-sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This ended a year of speculation as to where the pending undrafted free agent would end up. Many felt he would return home to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but, in the end, he didn’t hit the free agent market.
Another Big Trade for the Canadiens
Suban wasn’t the only Norris Trophy-winning defenseman the Canadiens traded on the day. On June 29, 1990, they traded Chris Chelios to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard in an individual exchange for future Hall of Famers.
Savard, who had five 100-point seasons with the Blackhawks, never scored more than 70 points in his three seasons with the Canadiens. He was part of the 1993 Stanley Cup championship team, where he had five assists in 14 playoff games. He signed as a free agent with the Lightning in the summer of 1993 before being traded to Chicago in 1995.
During that time, Chelios became a hockey legend in his hometown of Chicago. He played 664 games for the Blackhawks, scoring 92 goals and 487 points to go along with a plus-120 average. He won the Norris Trophy, for the league’s top defenseman, in 1993 and 1996 and helped the Blackhawks reach the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals. Chelios remained with the team until he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in March of 1999.
Odds & Ends
On June 29, 1967, the expansion of St. Louis Blues hired former star defenseman Doug Harvey as head coach of the Kansas City Blues, their minor league organization in the Central Hockey League (CHL). Harvey later came out of retirement to play for the Blues during the 1968 offseason and played the entire 1968-69 season at the age of 44.
Did you know? Doug Harvey is the only defenseman in NHL history to play a game #StanleyCup Last in 42 years or more.
Harvey was 43 when he bowled for the Blues in the 1968 Final vs. MTL. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/lWp144yxRj
– NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 26, 2019
The Red Wings named Doug Barkley as their new head coach on June 29, 1975. He replaced Alex Delvecchio, who gave up his coaching job to focus on being the team’s general manager. However, he was back behind the bench after sacking Barkley just 26 games into the 1975-76 season.
Speaking of the Red Wings, they acquired goaltender Mike Vernon on June 29, 1994, from the Calgary Flames for defenseman Steve Chiasson. Vernon spent three seasons in Detroit and led them to the Stanley Cup in 1997, their first championship since 1955.
On June 29, 2001, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had reached an agreement to sign free agent Jeremy Roenick, formerly of the Phoenix Coyotes. Roenick officially signed three days later. He played 216 games over three seasons with the Flyers, scoring 67 goals and 173 points.
The Washington Capitals named Todd Reirden as their new head coach on June 29, 2018. He took over from Barry Trotz, who resigned as head coach just 11 days after the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Reirden was the first head coach to take over the defense of the Stanley Cup since 2002 when Dave Lewis replaced Scotty Bowman in Detroit after he retired.
On June 29, 2021, the NHL handed out its five biggest awards as Connor McDavid took home both the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Memorial Trophy after a 2020-21 campaign that saw him record 105 points in just 56 games. It was the third time he passed the century mark (he did it again in 2021-22). On this day Marc-Andre Fleury captured his first Vezina Trophy after 17 years in the NHL, as he finished the season with a brilliant 1.98 goals against average and .928 save percentage along with six shutouts.
On this day and in 2021, Adam Fox made history by becoming the first player to ever win the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman despite being on a non-playing team (New York Rangers). The sophomore blueliner finished second in scoring with 47 points and became the first Ranger to win the award since Brian Leetch did it in 1973.
Finally, Kirill Kaprizov began his rise to stardom in 2020-21 by winning the Calder Trophy after leading all rookies with 27 goals and 51 points. Despite worrying about his contract in the offseason, he returned to the NHL in 2021-22, recording 47 goals and 108 points and breaking several Minnesota Wild records in the process.
happy Birthday to you
Theoren Fleury was born on June 29, 1968. He skated all the way to the eighth round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft because of his small size. He made his NHL debut midway through the 1988-89 season and was a key part of the Flames’ Stanley Cup run. He finished his 15-season career with 455 goals and 1,088 points in 1,084 games for the Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, and Blackhawks.
Former defenseman and head coach Craig Hartsburg was born on June 29, 1959. He played 570 games for the Minnesota North Stars after being drafted sixth overall in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He got a great gift for his 36th birthday, June 29, 1995, when the Blackhawks called him 30th The first head coach in team history, replacing Darryl Sutter, who resigned last month. He spent three seasons behind the bench before being released by Dirk Graham after three years, at the age of 39.th birthday.
Other players celebrating birthdays today include Rick Smith (78), Brian Lawton (61) and Mike Sillinger (55).
*Originally created by Greg Boysen
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