Bill Flett

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CanadaCanada  Bill Flett Ice hockey player
Date of birth July 21, 1943
place of birth Vermilion , Alberta , Canada
date of death July 12, 1999
Place of death Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
Nickname cowboy
size 185 cm
Weight 88 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Right
Career stations
1960-1963 Melville Millionaires
1963-1964 Charlotte Checkers
1964-1967 Tulsa Oilers
1967-1972 Los Angeles Kings
1972-1974 Philadelphia Flyers
1974-1975 Toronto Maple Leafs
1975-1976 Atlanta Flames
1975-1979 Edmonton Oilers

William Mayer "Bill" Flett (born July 21, 1943 in Vermilion , Alberta , † July 12, 1999 in Edmonton , Alberta) was a Canadian ice hockey player . The right winger completed over 700 games in the National Hockey League , most of them for the Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers , with whom he won the 1974 Stanley Cup . He also played over 200 games for the Edmonton Oilers in the World Hockey Association .

Career

Beginnings

Bill Flett grew up in rural Alberta and has been a passionate rodeo rider since his youth , so he was nicknamed "Cowboy" throughout his career. His father Meyer Flett also played ice hockey and ran in the 1940s in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) and the Western International Hockey League . From 1960 to 1963, Bill Flett played in the junior division for the Melville Millionaires in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League , the regional junior league. In the 1962/63 season, the attacker scored 85 points in 53 games and thus recommended himself for a subsequent professional career. Before that, however, he moved briefly to the Estevan Bruins , with whom he participated in six missions in the Memorial Cup , but missed the final.

As a result, Flett spent four years in various minor leagues , so he played mainly for the Charlotte Checkers in the EHL in 1963/64 , with short stints for the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League and for the Denver Invaders in the Western Hockey League ( WHL) were added. This was followed by an engagement with the Victoria Maple Leafs from the WHL, before he was given to the Tulsa Oilers in the Central Professional Hockey League and was there for about two and a half years on the ice.

Professional area

Only the big league expansion in 1967 allowed Flett made it into the National Hockey League (NHL), the elected him Los Angeles Kings in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs from where he had been under contract - the Victoria Maple Leafs served as the Toronto Maple Leafs' farm team . In Los Angeles, the winger established himself in the NHL squad and promptly became the team's top scorer with 26 goals. The Canadian spent a total of five years in California, appearing as a regular scorer and representing the team at the NHL All-Star Game in 1971 , before being handed over to the Philadelphia Flyers in January 1972 with Eddie Joyal , Ross Lonsberry and Jean Potvin . In return, Bill Lesuk , Jim Johnson and Serge Bernier moved to Los Angeles. In Philadelphia, Flett lived his two and a half most successful NHL years, in 1972/73 he achieved his best personal statistic with 74 scorer points and won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history with the team in the following season .

Just under a week after winning the title, the Flyers gave it to the Toronto Maple Leafs and received Dave Fortier and Randy Osburn . After a season in Toronto he was waivered to join the Atlanta Flames , where his NHL career came to an end in December 1976 when the Flames took him to the World Hockey Association (WHA) for financial consideration for the Edmonton Oilers. transferred. At the Oilers, the attacker was able to build on earlier performances, so he was the Oilers' best goalscorer with 41 hits in the 1978/79 season.

With the change of the Oilers to the NHL in the 1979/80 season, there was also a generation change in the team, so that Flett declared his active career over after 20 games this season. In total, the winger had completed 742 NHL games and scored 440 points, while the WHA had 210 games and 196 points.

Sickness and death

After his ice hockey career, Flett, like his father before him, worked in the oil industry. Already known as a regular party-goer during the NHL times, the Canadian became seriously alcoholic after his active career . With financial and personal support from former team members (including Wayne Gretzky and Glen Sather ), he received treatment at the Betty Ford Center in the early 1990s and subsequently became abstinent. Nevertheless, he needed a liver transplant in May 1999, as a result of which he died on July 12, 1999 in a hospital in Edmonton. Flett was 55 years old and left behind his wife and three children.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt +/- SM Sp T V Pt +/- SM
1960/61 Melville Millionaires SJHL 27 16 2 18th 14th 7th 3 1 4th 10
1961/62 Melville Millionaires SJHL 24 8th 14th 22nd 44 - - - - - -
1962/63 Melville Millionaires SJHL 53 31 54 85 80 18th 7th 11 18th 40
1963 Estevan Bruins Memorial Cup 6th 1 1 2 2
1963/64 Rochester Americans AHL 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
1963/64 Charlotte Checkers EHL 41 26th 21st 47 48 3 0 1 1 6th
1963/64 Denver Invaders WHL - - - - - - 1 0 0 0 0
1964/65 Victoria Maple Leafs WHL 23 1 7th 8th 14th - - - - - -
1964/65 Tulsa Oilers CPHL 39 8th 22nd 30th 58 12 1 2 3 6th
1965/66 Tulsa Oilers CPHL 55 23 23 46 0 - - - - - -
1966/67 Tulsa Oilers CPHL 62 16 28 44 108 - - - - - -
1967/68 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 26th 20th 46 +4 97 7th 1 2 3 -3 8th
1968/69 Los Angeles Kings NHL 72 24 25th 49 -22 53 11 3 4th 7th +1 11
1969/70 Springfield Kings AHL 5 2 6th 8th 6th - - - - - -
1969/70 Los Angeles Kings NHL 69 14th 18th 32 -27 70 - - - - - -
1970/71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 64 13 24 37 -30 57 - - - - - -
1971/72 Los Angeles Kings NHL 45 7th 12 19th -29 18th - - - - - -
1971/72 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 31 11 10 21st +5 26th - - - - - -
1972/73 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 69 43 31 74 +31 53 11 3 4th 7th -2 0
1973/74 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 67 17th 27 44 +20 51 17th 0 6th 6th +3 21st
1974/75 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 77 15th 25th 40 +1 38 5 0 0 0 ± 0 2
1975/76 Atlanta Flames NHL 78 23 17th 40 +9 30th 2 0 0 0 ± 0 0
1976/77 Atlanta Flames NHL 24 4th 4th 8th +1 6th - - - - - -
1976/77 Edmonton Oilers WHA 48 34 20th 54 +7 20th 5 0 2 2 -3 2
1977/78 Edmonton Oilers WHA 74 41 28 69 +9 34 - - - - - -
1978/79 Edmonton Oilers WHA 73 28 36 64 +26 14th 10 5 2 7th +3 2
1979/80 Edmonton Oilers NHL 20th 5 2 7th -16 2 - - - - - -
SJHL overall 104 55 70 125 138 25th 10 12 22nd 50
CPHL total 156 47 73 120 166 12 1 2 3 6th
WHA total 195 103 84 187 +42 68 15th 5 4th 9 ± 0 4th
NHL overall 689 202 215 417 -53 501 53 7th 16 23 -1 42

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Helene Elliott: A Cowboy Hat Trick: The First One in Kings' History Was Scored By Colorful Bill Flett, a One-Time Calf Roper Who Only Recently Stopped Celebrating. latimes.com, March 13, 1997, accessed February 3, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Helene Elliott: Original King Flett Dies at 55. latimes.com, July 16, 1999, accessed on February 3, 2018 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Flett, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flett, William Mayer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Vermilion , Alberta , Canada
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1999
Place of death Edmonton , Alberta , Canada