Eddie Shack

Edward Steven Phillip Shack (born February 11, 1937), also known by the nicknames The Entertainer and The Nose,[1] is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for six National Hockey League teams from 1959 to 1975.

Eddie Shack
Born (1937-02-11) February 11, 1937
Sudbury, Ontario
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins
Los Angeles Kings
Buffalo Sabres
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 1957–1975

Playing career

Shack was born in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1937,[2] the son of Ukrainian immigrants.

He left his job as a butcher to try out with the Guelph Biltmores hockey club, knowing he could return to the trade if hockey did not pan out as a career.

Shack played junior hockey for the Guelph Biltmores[3] of the OHA for five seasons starting at the age of 15. He had his best season in 1956–57, when he led the league in assists[4] and starred in the Memorial Cup playoffs.

The New York Rangers signed Shack and assigned him to their AHL Providence Reds farm team for half a season. He made the NHL in the 1958–59 season and played two years for the Blueshirts. In 1960, he was to be traded with Bill Gadsby to the Detroit Red Wings for Red Kelly and Billy McNeill, but the transaction was cancelled when Kelly decided to retire rather than accept the trade.[5]

In November of the 1960–61 season, Shack was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played seven seasons on the left wing as a colourful, third-line agitator who was popular with the fans despite a lack of scoring prowess. Canadian sports writer Stephen Cole likened Shack's playing to that of 'a big puppy let loose in a wide field'.

During the 1965–66 season Shack broke out, scoring 26 goals on a line with Ron Ellis and Bob Pulford. His popularity was such that a novelty song called Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack, written in his honour and performed by Douglas Rankine with The Secrets,[6] reached #1 on the Canadian pop charts and charted for nearly three months.

Shack was a member of the Maple Leafs' last Stanley Cup-winning team in 1967, although his production fell significantly and he was traded in May 1967 to the Boston Bruins for Murray Oliver and cash.[7] Playing on the right wing on a line with Derek Sanderson and Ed Westfall, Shack revived and scored 23 goals.

Eddie Shack (in referee uniform) hams it up at an NHL oldtimers charity event.

Afflicted by injuries, he spent the next four seasons moving among the Los Angeles Kings, the Buffalo Sabres, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh sold him back to Toronto for the 1973–74 season.[8] He retired after the 1974–75 season.

After retirement, Shack was a popular advertising spokesman in Canada, most notably for The Pop Shoppe soft drink brand[9] and a Schick razor promotion for which he shaved his mustache. He also promoted a small chain of doughnut stores.[10] He appeared for a number of years at alumni all-star games. Shack also revealed he had been illiterate most of his life and subsequently became an advocate for literacy programs in his native Ontario.[11]

Achievements
  • Played for Stanley Cup winning teams in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967. He scored the Cup-winning goal in 1963, claiming famously that he had scored the goal off his backside and was only trying to get out of the way.
  • Played in the National Hockey League All-Star Game in 1962, 1963 and 1964
  • One of nine players to score twenty or more goals in a season for five or more NHL teams. (Bill Guerin has scored 20 goals with the most teams, notching 20 goals for seven different NHL teams. The others are Ray Sheppard with six teams, and Ray Ferraro, Mike Gartner, Dean Prentice, Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, and Pat Verbeek with five.)[12]

Career statistics
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1952–53 Guelph Biltmores OHA-Jr. 21 2 6 8 43 — — — — —
1953–54 Guelph Biltmores OHA-Jr. 54 13 9 22 46 1 1 0 1 4
1954–55 Guelph Biltmores OHA-Jr. 19 6 7 13 35 2 0 0 0 4
1955–56 Guelph Biltmores OHA-Jr. 48 23 49 72 93 3 1 0 1 10
1956–57 Guelph Biltmores OHA-Jr. 52 47 57 104 129 10 4 10 14 53
1956–57 Guelph Biltmores M-Cup — — — — — 6 2 2 4 26
1957–58 Providence Reds AHL 35 16 18 34 98 — — — — —
1958–59 New York Rangers NHL 67 7 14 21 109 — — — — —
1959–60 New York Rangers NHL 62 8 10 18 110 — — — — —
1959–60 Springfield Indians AHL 9 3 4 7 10 — — — — —
1960–61 New York Rangers NHL 12 1 2 3 17 — — — — —
1960–61 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 55 14 14 28 90 4 0 0 0 2
1961–62 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 44 7 14 21 62 9 0 0 0 18
1962–63 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 16 9 25 97 10 2 1 3 11
1963–64 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 64 11 10 21 128 13 0 1 1 25
1964–65 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 67 5 9 14 68 5 1 0 1 8
1965–66 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 26 17 43 88 4 2 1 3 33
1965–66 Rochester Americans AHL 8 3 4 7 12 — — — — —
1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 11 14 25 58 8 0 0 0 8
1967–68 Boston Bruins NHL 70 23 19 42 107 4 0 1 1 6
1968–69 Boston Bruins NHL 50 11 11 22 74 9 0 2 2 23
1969–70 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 22 12 34 113 — — — — —
1970–71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 11 2 2 4 8 — — — — —
1970–71 Buffalo Sabres NHL 56 25 17 42 93 — — — — —
1971–72 Buffalo Sabres NHL 50 11 14 25 34 — — — — —
1971–72 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 18 5 9 14 12 4 0 1 1 15
1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 74 25 20 45 84 — — — — —
1973–74 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 59 7 8 15 74 4 1 0 1 2
1974–75 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 26 2 1 3 11 — — — — —
1974–75 Oklahoma City Blazers CHL 8 3 4 7 10 — — — — —
1976–77 Whitby Warriors OHA-Sr. 9 5 4 9 8 — — — — —
NHL totals 1047 239 226 465 1437 74 6 7 13 151

See also
  • List of NHL players with 1000 games played

References
  1. "Eddie Steven Phillip Shack". Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  2. Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley (March 2, 2003). Who's Who in Hockey. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-7407-1904-2. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  3. Staff, Bathroom Readers' Institute (2005). Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Shoots and Scores. Raincoast Books. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-55192-849-4. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  4. Diamond, Dan; Zweig, Eric (September 1, 2003). Hockey's glory days: the 1950s and '60s. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-7407-3829-6. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  5. "Eddie Shack on hockey-reference.com".
  6. Kearney, Mark; Randy Ray (1999). The Great Canadian Book of Lists. Dundurn Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-88882-213-0. Retrieved January 12, 2009.
  7. "Leafs Trade Shack for Bruins' Oliver". Windsor Star. May 16, 1967. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  8. "Trade Doesn't Surprise Shack". The Star-Phoenix. July 6, 1973. p. 14. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  9. Matthews, Blair. "The Epic of The Pop Shoppe". Soda Pop Dreams Magazine. Playing with Words Specialty Publications. Archived from the original on October 31, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  10. Belasco, Warren James; Philip Scranton (2002). Food Nations: Selling Taste in Consumer Societies. Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-415-93077-2.
  11. Rutherford, Krissie (May 19, 2007). "Eddie Shack teaches personal literacy lesson" (PDF). The Oakville Beaver. Metroland Media Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  12. NHL.com
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