Aug. 7 is a bittersweet day in NHL historical past because the hockey world misplaced considered one of its biggest gamers on this date. It additionally noticed one of many biggest goaltenders of all-time change addresses and eventually get his probability to be a full-time starter. Lastly, a future Corridor-of-Famer in Sidney Crosby was born in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Chicago Loses a Legend
Stan Mikita, the Chicago Blackhawks’ all-time main scorer, died at 78 on Aug. 7, 2018. His profession was recognized for each longevity and innovation. He debuted for the Blackhawks in the course of the 1958-59 season and remained a fixture of their lineup till 1980.
Mikita was undersized at simply 5-foot-9 and 169 kilos and didn’t have a giant character like his teammate Bobby Hull. Nevertheless, he nonetheless grew to become one of many sport’s finest offensive gamers. He scored no less than 30 targets 9 completely different instances. He gained the Artwork Ross Trophy, for main the league in scoring, in 4 out of 5 seasons between 1964 and 1968. He gained back-to-back Hart Trophies, because the NHL’s most dear participant, in 1967 and 1968.
(Photograph by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Pictures)
In truth, he gained the Artwork Ross, Hart and Girl Bing Trophies in every of these seasons, the one participant ever to perform that feat. The Girl Bing is given out every season to essentially the most gentlemanly participant, and Mikita profitable this award was fairly the turnaround. He racked up 300 mixed penalty minutes throughout 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons. He cleaned up his act and solely accrued 26 mixed penalty minutes throughout his two Girl Bing profitable seasons. Â
Mikita grew to become one of many first gamers within the league to put on a helmet full time. He additionally, together with Hull, made improvements by taking part in round with the curve on their stick blades. This allowed them to get the puck off the ice extra and turn out to be even deadlier snipers.
When he retired in 1980, Mikita was the third main scorer in NHL historical past. He nonetheless leads the Blackhawks with 926 assists, 1,467 factors, and 1,396 video games performed. His 541 careers objective are second solely to Hull.
Hasek Traded to Buffalo
Again in 1992, the Chicago Blackhawks had an issue that each NHL normal supervisor wished they’d; two excellent younger goaltenders on the roster. They’d each Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek beneath contract however just one web to start out them in. This led them to commerce one of many future Hockey Corridor of Famers.
(Photograph by Denis Brodeur/NHLI by way of Getty Pictures)
On Aug. 7, 1992, the Blackhawks shipped Hasek to the Buffalo Sabres in alternate for goaltender Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round choose within the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Hasek ultimately grew to become the starter in Buffalo and had nice success.
He appeared in 491 video games over 9 seasons with the Sabers, posting a document of 234-170-70 with a .926 save proportion (SV%), 2.22 goals-against common (GAA), and 55 shutouts. He gained 5 Vezina Trophies for being voted the most effective goaltender within the league. In 1999, he gained 13 postseason video games serving to the Sabres attain the Stanley Cup Remaining. He was traded to the Detroit Purple Wings in 2001.
Belfour remained the Blackhawks’ beginning goaltender till 1997. Beauregard by no means performed in Chicago. Three days after the Hasek commerce, he was moved to the Winnipeg Jets for Christian Ruuttu, who put up 90 factors in three seasons with the Blackhawks. The fourth-round choose was used to pick out Eric Daze. He scored 226 targets and 398 factors in 601 profession video games for the Blackhawks.
Busy Date for Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins made a bevy strikes on this date over time. On Aug. 7, 1976, they signed free-agent goaltender Denis Herron. This was his second of three stints with the Penguins in his 14-season NHL profession. Herron went 88-133-44 with a .886 SV% and three.88 GAA over his 290 video games in a Penguins sweater.
On Aug. 7, 1997, they re-signed middle Martin Straka. The Penguins initially drafted Straka with the 19th general choose of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He scored 30 targets in the course of the 1993-94 season earlier than being traded to the Ottawa Senators for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver.
He scored a career-high 35 targets in the course of the 1998-99 season. He remained with the staff till he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, in 2003, for Martin Strbak.
5 years later, on Aug. 7, 2002, they signed defenseman Dick Tarnstrom, who spent the earlier season with the New York Islanders. In 2003-04, he scored 16 targets and 52 factors to turn out to be the primary blueliner to guide the Penguins in scoring.
A Busy Day within the Bubbles
On Aug. 7, 2020, three groups superior into the spherical of 16 within the Edmonton bubble. Brad Richardson scored in extra time to offer the Arizona Coyotes a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators in Sport 4 of their Qualifying Spherical collection and a 3-1 collection win.
Dominik Kubalik scored the game-winning objective to offer the Blackhawks a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers and shut out their Qualifying Spherical collection. Chicago was the 24th and remaining staff to make it into the expanded playoff format. They have been the 12th seed within the Western Convention and upset the fifth-seeded Oilers in 4 video games.
Chris Tanev scored simply 11 seconds into extra time to guide the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 win towards the Minnesota Wild. The Canucks gained the best-of-five collection in 4 video games to advance to the following spherical, the place they confronted the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues.
On this similar day in Toronto, Auston Matthews’ extra time objective saved the Maple Leafs’ season alive in a 4-3 Sport 4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, forcing a fifth and remaining sport of their Qualifying Spherical collection. The Maple Leafs have been down 3-0 with lower than six minutes to play when William Nylander acquired them on the board. Matthews assisted on late targets by John Tavares and Zach Hyman to drive extra time earlier than profitable the sport in further time.
Later that evening, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Penguins 2-0 with third-period targets by Artturi Lehkonen and Shea Weber. They closed out this Qualifying Spherical collection in 4 video games, turning into the second 12 seed to advance on this present day.
Odds & Ends
Whereas most hockey followers at this time might solely know Joe Micheletti as a coloration commentator, he had a six-season skilled profession, as a defenseman, within the World Hockey Affiliation (WHA) and NHL. Lengthy earlier than he began broadcasting New York Rangers video games, on Aug. 7, 1979, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues, by the Oilers, for Tom Roulston and Risto Siltanen. He performed 137 video games earlier than the Blues earlier than being traded to the Colorado Rockies.
The Minnesota North Stars re-acquired Bobby Smith from the Canadiens on Aug. 7, 1990, in alternate for a fourth-round draft choose. The North Stars initially chosen Smith with the primary general choose of the 1978 NHL Newbie Draft.
Smith scored 30 targets and 74 factors in 1978-79 and gained the Calder Trophy for being the highest rookie that season. He scored no less than 24 targets in every of his first 5 seasons with Minnesota, together with a career-high 43 n 1981-92. On Oct. 28, 1983, he was traded to the Canadiens for Keith Acton, Mark Napier and a third-round draft choose. Smith had two seasons of no less than 30 targets in Montreal and gained the Stanley Cup in 1986.
Pleased Birthday to You
There are 12 present and former NHL gamers who have been born on Aug. 7. The primary was Hazen McAndrew in 1917, who performed in seven video games for the Brooklyn Individuals in 1942. The latest was Samuel Kňažko who was born in 2002.
By far, the most effective participant celebrating a birthday at this time is Sidney Crosby, who was born on Aug. 7, 1987, in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. He was drafted by the Penguins with the primary general choose of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He made an instantaneous influence with 39 targets and 102 factors in his rookie season, profitable the Calder Trophy. The next season, he grew to become the youngest participant ever to win a scoring title with 120 factors.
Crosby has served because the Penguins’ captain since 2007. He performed an enormous position in Stanley Cup championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He has additionally gained the Hart Trophy (regular-season MVP) and Conn Smythe Trophy (postseason MVP) twice in his profession.
Different notable gamers born on this date embody Jonathan Bernier (36), Jake Allen (34), Damon Severson (30), and John Leonard (26).
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