Sept. 10 has been a pretty busy date throughout NHL history. Two “Original 6” rivals made a trade that left only one side feeling good years later. A very successful general manager took the reins in New Jersey, and one of the most popular captains ever in Montreal announced his retirement. It is time to jump aboard the THW time machine to revisit all the great memories from this date.
Maple Leafs Pull Off Heist
The Toronto Maple Leafs made one of the best and most lopsided trades in franchise history on Sept. 10, 1943. This was when they traded the rights to defenseman Frank Eddolls to the Montreal Canadiens for the rights to 17-year-old center Ted Kennedy. Eddolls played 57 games over three seasons with the Canadiens before being traded to the New York Rangers, while Kennedy became one of the greatest Maple Leafs ever.
Kennedy spent his entire career in Toronto. He played 696 games, scoring 230 goals and 560 points between 1943 and 1957. In 1954-55, his last full season in the NHL, he won the Hart Trophy for being voted the league’s most valuable player.
He was a part of five Stanley Cup championships with the Maple Leafs, including four in five seasons between 1945 and 1949. He scored 29 goals and 60 points in 78 career Stanley Cup playoff games. Kennedy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
Keon & Savard Headline Hall of Fame Class
Speaking of the Hockey Hall of Fame, they inducted four new members on Sept. 10, 1986. Leo Boivin, Dave Keon, and Serge Savard were the players voted in, and Bill Hanley was added as a builder.
Boivin played 1,165 games, over 19 NHL seasons, for five different teams between 1952 and 1970. After three seasons with the Maple Leafs, he was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1954. The defenseman spent 12 seasons with the Bruins, scoring 47 goals and 211 points in 717 games. Before retiring, he also had stints with the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Minnesota North Stars.
Maple Leafs’ center Dave Keon played 1,296 games, scoring 396 goals and 986 points. He played in Toronto from 1960 until 1975. He won four Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs, including three in a row between 1962 and 1964. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1967 for being the most valuable player of the postseason, leading the Leafs to another championship.
Keon moved over to the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1975 and played four seasons in the league with four different teams. He played three more seasons for the Hartford Whalers when they merged with the NHL in 1979. He is still third-all time in Maple Leafs’ history with 365 goals and 858 points.
Savard was a star defenseman for the Canadiens during their 1970s dynasty. He played in 917 games in Montreal, scoring 100 goals and 412 points while posting a plus-497 rating. He was a member of seven Stanley Cup-winning teams and won the Conn Smythe during the Canadiens’ 1969 championship run. He played two seasons with the Winnipeg Jets before retiring in 1983.
Hanley’s life in hockey started as a timekeeper for the Toronto Marlboros, and he eventually got the same position with the Maple Leafs. He became the business manager of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1951 and held onto that title until 1973. The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) gives out the William Hanley Trophy every season to the most sportsmanlike player in the league.
Lamoriello Takes Over as GM
On Sept. 10, 1987, New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello added general manager to his job description. The previous general manager, Max McNab, was promoted to executive vice president. The first big move Lamoriello made was trading forward Greg Adams and goaltender Kirk McLean to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Patrik Sundstrom.
Lamoriello remained as the Devils’ general manager until 2015. Under his leadership, the team made 21 playoff appearances, and won nine division titles, five conference championships, and three Stanley Cups.
Some of his most notable draft picks while he was general manager include Bill Guerin, Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer, Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Zach Parise, and Travis Zajac.
Odds & Ends
The Canadiens acquired Hall of Fame defenseman Babe Siebert, along with Roger Jenkins, on Sept. 10, 1936, from the Bruins for LeRoy Goldsworthy, Sammy McManus, and $10,000. Siebert won the Hart Trophy in his first season with the Canadiens. In total, he played three seasons after the trade before retiring in 1939. He was named the head coach of the Canadiens upon his retirement, but he never coached a game because he drowned in Lake Huron on Aug. 25, 1939.
The Chicago Blackhawks purchased the contract of Red Sullivan from the Bruins on Sept. 10, 1954. He scored 33 goals and 101 points in his two seasons with the Blackhawks before being traded to the Rangers, in 1956, for forward Wally Hergesheimer.
Free-agent goaltender Arturs Irbe signed with the Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 10, 1998. He spent the final six seasons of his NHL career with the team. He went 130-122-44 with a .906 save percentage (SV%), 2.49 goals-against average (GAA), and 20 shutouts.
The Phoenix Coyotes named Shane Doan their captain on Sept. 10, 2003. He was the 15th captain in franchise history and just the third since the team relocated from Winnipeg. Doan wore the “C” on his sweater until he retired following the 2016-17 season.
On Sept. 10, 2014, Saku Koivu announced his retirement after 18 seasons in NHL.
He was originally drafted 21st overall by the Canadiens in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He missed nearly the entire 2001-02 season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He played 792 games for the Canadiens, scoring 191 goals and 641 points while serving as team captain for nine seasons. Koivu signed with the Anaheim Ducks in 2009 and spent the final five seasons of his career with them.
Continuing with the retirements, Andrew Ladd announced on Sept. 10, 2023, that he would be hanging up the skates after 16 seasons in the NHL. He hadn’t played since the 2021-22 season and spent 2022-23 on injured reserve after failing a physical following knee surgery. He finished with 256 goals and 550 points in 1,001 games split between the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders, and Coyotes.
Happy Birthday to You
Sept. 10 has produced 24 players who have skated in the NHL. The first was Paul Runge, who was born on this date in 1908. He scored 40 points during the 1930s for the Bruins, Montreal Maroons, and Canadiens. The most recent Sept. 10 birthday boy to debut was Olen Zellweger of the Anaheim Ducks who turns 21 today.
Joe Nieuwendyk is the lone Hall of Famer celebrating a birthday today. He was born in Oshawa, Ontario, on Sept. 10, 1966. He played 1,257 games, scoring 564 goals and 1,126 points during his 20-season career.
He is one of only 10 players to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams, doing so with the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, and Devils. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1999 for scoring 11 goals and 21 points during the Stars’ championship run.
Other notable players with birthdays today include Tim Hunter (64), Chris Joseph (55), Denis Pederson (49), Jordan Staal (36), and the late Jim Pappin.
*Originally constructed by Greg Boysen
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