February 1972 in the NHL

While an exciting playoff race shapes up in the East, the West Division playoff teams are almost set already.

Published in

Historical Sports Gaming

7 min readJan 1, 2020

Editor’s note: This is a fictional account of the history of the NHL beginning in 1966–67. This narrative was created by playing Franchise Hockey Manager 4. For an introduction to this dynasty, visit: https://medium.com/historical-sports-gaming/re-writing-nhl-history-an-introduction-9ade4d8fe652.

AROUND THE NHL —FEBRUARY 1972

East Division Playoff Race: The East is exciting entering the season’s final month with two different races playing out. At the top of the standings, Montreal came back down to earth with a rough month of February. Boston has played their way back into a tie for first and the two teams appear ready to duke it out for the division crown. Below them, three teams are battling for two playoff spots. The Rangers have finally gotten their lineup healthy and are a point ahead of fifth place Toronto with two games in hand. In third is Detroit, five points ahead of Toronto after a recent win streak. It’s worth noting the Rangers have to play Detroit three times and Toronto twice in their final 16 games, Toronto and Detroit have one game remaining against each other.

West Division Playoff Race: Unlike the East, the West has basically no playoff race occurring. Chicago and Philadelphia have already clinched at least a top two seed in the West, it’s likely Chicago is #1 and Philadelphia #2. The collapse of Pittsburgh (see more below) has put them in a very bad spot. The Penguins and Los Angeles Kings are nine points behind fourth place Minnesota and will need a huge final month to have any chance at a playoff berth. St. Louis is close to clinching a spot in third place and has an eight point advantage over the North Stars, putting them in a good position to avoid Chicago in round one.

5+ POINT GAMES THIS MONTH:

Bobby Hull (LW) Chicago —In a stunning result, the Black Hawks went into the Olympia on Feb. 12 and absolutely steamrolled Detroit by a score of 10–0! Bobby Hull had the biggest game of anyone, scoring three goals and assisted on three others for the Hawks.

Paul Henderson (LW) Philadelphia — Compared to the above game, the Flyers’ 8–1 shellacking of the Canucks at Pacific Coliseum on Feb. 8 was a walk in the park. Paul Henderson had another huge game for Philly, assisting five times in the victory.

4+ GOALS GAMES THIS MONTH — None

PLAYER STREAKS:

Bobby Hull (LW) Chicago —The six-point performance in Detroit was just part of a huge month of February for Hull. He pieced together a 12-game point streak and nine-game assist streak, both stretching most of February. The streaks both ended on Feb. 20 against Boston, the only game all month Hull was held without a point.

Frank Mahovlich (LW) Toronto —The Maple Leafs’ star quietly had a long assist-streak of his own, assisting in eight consecutive games from Feb. 5 through Feb. 19. Mahovlich’s streak ended on the same night as Hull’s in a 4–3 Toronto win over Philadelphia.

Larry Lund, C, St. Louis —The final streak on this list is the most surprising, as Larry Lund found a way to score in five straight games for the Blues from Jan. 23 through Feb. 1. After scoring 32 goals in his first four NHL seasons, Lund has a career-high 20 so far in 1971–72.

MILESTONES REACHED THIS MONTH:

Dean Prentice (LW) Montreal —A Prentice assist on a Mickey Redmond first period goal at the Met Center in Minnesota on Feb. 24 was the veteran’s 900th career point. It’s a big deal as Prentice is just the 12th player in NHL history to reach the 900-point plateau.

Ron Stewart (RW) Pittsburgh — Stewart reached the 600-point milestone against his former team, Toronto, when he assisted on a goal against them on Feb. 16 at Maple Leaf Gardens. He became the 30th player in NHL history with 600 points.

Bob Pulford (LW) St. Louis —Pulford joined Stewart in the 600-point club four days later with a first period assist in the Blues’ 7–3 win over California at the Oakland Arena. The younger Pulford has since passed Stewart and is now tied with Bert Olmstead on the all-time points list at 602.

PLAYERS OF THE MONTH

Skater of the Month — Bobby Hull (LW) Chicago — Hull’s month of February was absolutely insane: 12 goals and 19 assists for a whopping 31 points in 14 games! The big month has Hull as the heavy favorite to win the Art Ross and with an outside chance to challenge Bobby Orr’s single-season points record of 128 set one year ago.

Goalie of the Month —Doug Favell, Boston—With starter Bernie Parent struggling, Favell was given more playing time in February and he took advantage. Favell earned four shutouts in February alone, including one against the tough Canadiens. Favell’s sudden surge has helped turn the Bruins around and created a goaltending controversy in Boston.

TRADES THIS MONTH

With the trade deadline approaching, there was the usual slew of trades taking place. Most of the deals involved fringe NHLers and aren’t worth discussing. Below are the three deals involving at least one player with a 1.5 star rating or better.

Feb. 22 — Chicago trades D Jerry Korab and the rights to D Wally Olds to Boston for RW Lucien Grenier and Boston’s 1972 4th round pick — What a trade for the Bruins! Boston gets a blueliner in Jerry Korab who will be a top-four guy in a few years and gave up just a 4th round pick and journeyman forward to get him! For a team like the Hawks who is in need of blueline talent, this was a very confusing move. Korab was struggling at times in his second NHL season, so my guess is the Hawks grew impatient with him. It’s a move that could burn them down the line.

Feb. 26 — Vancouver trades D Matt Ravlich to Buffalo for D Donnie Marshall and LW Darwin Mott — The Canucks got Marshall for almost nothing, but why bother. At 39, Marshall’s career is winding down and it’s likely this is his final NHL season. It’s crazy the Sabres traded Marshall away for so little and crazy the Canucks — unless they plan to trade him before the deadline — bothered to bring him in.

Feb. 27 — Detroit trades G Jacques Caron to Vancouver for Vancouver’s 1972 2nd round pick — This deal makes a ton more sense for a Vancouver team starved for goaltending. Caron isn’t anything special, but he’s better than what the Canucks have and wasn’t playing at the NHL level in Detroit’s system. The Red Wings get a crazy high pick for what has been a minor league goalie for them. A win-win for both parties involved.

COACHING CHANGES THIS MONTH

Buffalo — With a number of coaches on the hot seat, it was surprising to see Buffalo make the first move. After just a year and a half, Punch Imlach is out of Buffalo. The Sabres had lost 11 of 13 prior to the firing and have regressed since last year’s surprising season where the team hung in the East playoff race until the final week. Still the firing came as a big surprise. Replacing Imlach is another real-life big name: Fred Shero, who takes on his first NHL head coaching gig.

Pittsburgh — After surviving the ax through a truly awful 1968–69 season and a bunch of mediocre ones to follow, the Penguins’ original coach, Red Sullivan was finally fired on Feb. 27 after four-plus seasons. The Penguins have been truly awful lately after a decent start, winning just two of their last 24 games! An injury to star Butch Goring didn’t help, but even with him healthy, the Pens have been worthless since the new year. A new coach, Jack Gordon, will take over the job for the remainder of this season, but don’t be surprised to see another change soon similar to what California did last year.

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