Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey, passed away on Friday at the age of 88. He was the greatest player of his generation with a career that spanned from 1946-1980 in professional hockey. Here is a timeline of his career.
March 31, 1928–Gordie Howe is born in Floral, Saskatchewan.
1943–At the age of 15, Howe has a tryout with the New York Rangers but leaves because he is homesick.
1944–Howe tries out a year later with Detroit and they send him to their junior team in Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario.
1946-At the age of 18, Howe signs with Detroit and scores a goal in his first NHL game on Turk Broda of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Howe ends the season with seven goals and 22 points in 58 games.
1949-50–After three seasons in the NHL, Howe breaks out with a 35 goal, 68 point season and finishes third in NHL scoring behind his linemates Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel. He suffers a head injury in the opening game of the semi-finals when he goes head-first into the boards after being checked by the Leafs captain Teeder Kennedy. Howe has a fractured skull that at the time required possible life-saving surgery.
1950-51–Howe wins his first of four straight Art Ross Trophies as the NHL’s leading scorer as he has 43 goals and 86 points.
1951-52-In addition to the Art Ross, Howe wins his first Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. He has 47 goals and 86 points in the regular season and wins his second Stanley Cup as the Red Wings win in eight straight games. The octopus makes its first appearance at that time in the Olympia.
1952-53-Howe has his best goal-scoring year of his career with 49 and picks up 46 assists. The Red Wings are upset in the first round of the playoffs in six games by the Boston Bruins. Howe wins the Hart Trophy for the second straight season.
1953-54–Howe leads the NHL in points for the fourth straight year but his production drops to 33 goals and 81 points. Howe has his biggest penalty minute total of his career as he surpasses 100 for the first time with 109. Detroit wins the Stanley Cup.
1954-55–Howe misses six games after playing all 70 games in the previous five seasons. He amasses ‘only’ 29 goals and 62 points in 64 games but comes on big in the playoffs with nine goals and 20 points in 11 games as Detroit wins their last Stanley Cup with Howe as a member of the team.
1956-57–Howe wins the Art Ross and Hart Trophy once again with 44 goals and 89 points. Howe surpasses Nels Stewart’s career goal mark of 324 to move into second place all-time, behind only Rocket Richard.
1957-58–Howe wins the Hart once again with 33 goals and 77 points in 64 games.
1958-59-Despite a 32 goal, 78 point season, the Red Wings fail to make the playoffs for the first time under Howe.
1959-60–The Red Wings get back into the post-season as Howe wins the Hart with 28 goals and 73 points. Howe passes Rocket Richard on February 16,1960 to become the NHL’s all-time leading point getter.
1961-62-Howe is the first NHL player to play in 1,000 regular season games. On March 14, 1962, he becomes the second NHLer to score 500 regular season goals.
1962-63-Howe wins the last of his six Art Ross Trophies as well as the last of his six Hart Trophies. He has 38 goals and 86 points as the Red Wings lose in the Stanley Cup final to Toronto.
1963-64–Howe gets his 545th career goal to surpass Rocket Richard as the all-time NHL leading goal scorer on November 10th, 1963. President Kennedy assassinated 12 days later.
1965-66-Scores his 600th goal in his career.
1968-69–Scores his 700th career goal. Finishes third in scoring at the age of 43 and has the most prolific season in his career with 103 points.
1970-71–Howe retires at the end of the season at the age of 45, despite 23 goals and 52 points in 63 games. Howe retires with 786 goals and 1,023 assists.
1972-Howe named to the NHL Hall of Fame.
1973-74–Howe returns to hockey at 46 to play in the WHA with the Houston Aeros. Howe signs with his two sons Mark and Marty and the trio lead the Aeros to the Avco Cup. Howe has 31 goals and 100 points.
1974-75-After saying he would retire after playing only one season, Howe continues and leads the Aeros once again to the WHA Championship. He has 34 goals and 99 points.
1977-78-The Howes leave Houston after four seasons and play for the New England Whalers. Howe has 369 points for Houston in just 285 games. At the age of 50, Howe manages a 34 goal, 96 point season for the Whalers.
1978-79-Howe plays only 58 games in the last season of the WHA. Howe ends his WHA career with 508 points, finishing seventh all-time, one spot ahead of his son Mark.
1979-80-The Howes return to the NHL with Hartford, as Gordie plays his final season. He manages 15 goals and 41 points and retires at the age of 52 at the end of the season. Howe finishes his NHL career with 801 goals, 1049 assists and 1850 points, the best in NHL history at the time of his retirement.
1997-Howe plays one shift for the Detroit Vipers on October 3, becoming the first hockey player to play professionally in six decades. He is 69.
