Legends Never Die

On October 9, 1935 the Boston Bruins signed center, Milt Schmidt, a 17 year old kid from Kitchener, Ontario. He would go on to play for the Black and Gold from the 1936-1937 season to the 1954-1955 season. While playing for the Bruins he went on to win two Stanley Cups (1939 and 1941). Schmidt finished his career with 229 goals and 346 assists for 575 points in 776 games played. Milt was apart of one of the most famous lines in hockey history, the “Kraut Line”. It consisted of left winger Woody Dumart, right winger Bobby Bauer, and centerman Milt Schmidt. It was called the Kraut Line because all of the players on that line were of German descent.

Schmidt and his linemates were the most feared line in the NHL and would look to continue their dominance during the 1941-42 season until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th. This would change the Bruins organization forever. They all enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and on February 11, 1942, the famous Kraut Line received a surprising send off at the Garden. After beating Montreal 8-1 and having to leave to join the Air Force, applause filled the the building as the three linemates were carried off on the shoulders of their teammates as well as the Montreal Canadiens’ players to the exit. Milt said, “It was a night that I will never ever forget, and the ovation!”

Schmidt is the only Bruins player in franchise history to act as an on-ice captain, coach, and General Manager. He coached the Bruins from 1954 to 1966 and coached the Capitals for two seasons from 1974-1976. He was fired his last season as a Capitals coach and would go on to be the General Manager of the Bruins Organization. Over his entire coaching career he would coach 770 games total.

As a General Manager, Schmidt would go on to build a team that would win two Stanley Cups, 1970 and 1972. Schmidt would orchestrate deals that would bring Boston legends Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, and Fred Stanfield from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Schmidt was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 and his number 15 would be retired by the Bruins in 1980. During the 2016-17 season home opener, Milt was brought out to center ice to celebrate his 80th anniversary of his first game as well as Bobby Orr’s 50th anniversary of his debut. As a Bruins fan, it was moving to see Bobby Orr, one of if not the best Bruins defensemen of all time, go out to center ice with Milt Schmidt, another guy we all love so dearly here in the Hub of Hockey.

Milt Schmidt will be a someone Boston will never forget and someone we will always thank and respect. He won two Cups as a player and built us a team that would win two more as a GM. Milt Schmidt will be missed. Hall of Famer Gordie Howe once said, “There’s two guys over there in Boston that I played and respected, guys that I really admired as well: Bobby Orr and Uncle Miltie. He was a hard-nosed player, a great skater, a great playmaker, a great competitor.”  He was the oldest living former NHL player, he passed away Wednesday at 98 years old.

Written by Chase Barnhart