Bill Lesuk

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CanadaCanada  Bill Lesuk Ice hockey player
Date of birth November 1, 1946
place of birth Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , Canada
Nickname The tractor
size 173 cm
Weight 82 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1963-1967 Weyburn Red Wings
1967-1969 Oklahoma City Blazers
1969-1970 Hershey Bears
1970-1972 Philadelphia Flyers
1972-1974 Los Angeles Kings
1974-1975 Washington Capitals
1975-1980 Winnipeg Jets

William Anton "Bill" Lesuk (born November 1, 1946 in Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and scout , who played 397 games for the Boston Bruins , Philadelphia Flyers , Los in the course of his active career between 1963 and 1980 Angeles Kings , Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets in the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as 368 other games also for the Winnipeg Jets in the World Hockey Association (WHA) on the position of the left winger . Lesuk is one of the few players who have won both the Stanley Cup of the NHL and the Avco World Trophy of the WHA during their career .

Career

Lesuk spent his junior years between 1963 and 1967 with the Weyburn Red Wings , with whom he first played for three years in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and was called to one of the league's selection teams twice at the end of the season. After the winger took part in the Memorial Cup on loan with the Estevan Bruins in the spring of 1966 , he played in the 1966/67 season with the Red Wings in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL), which was a forerunner of the Western Hockey League ( WHL) was. In the course of his junior career, Lesuk completed a total of 279 games in both leagues, in which he collected 287 points scorer . He had his best year in the game year 1966/67, when he had to show 87 goal participations in 61 missions.

Already during his junior years, Lesuk, who had initially been a junior player of the Detroit Red Wings from the National Hockey League (NHL), was transferred to the Boston Bruins in February 1966 together with Gary Doak , Ron Murphy and a few months later Steve Atkinson , who gave Leo Boivin and Dean Prentice to Detroit for it. When switching to the professional field in the summer of 1967, the 20-year-old did not manage to earn a regular place in the Bruins' NHL squad due to the great competition. Instead, he spent the three years between 1967 and 1970 on the Boston farm teams . First, the attacker was two seasons long in the squad of the Oklahoma City Blazers from the Central Hockey League (CHL), then he was active in the 1969/70 season for the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League . During this period, Lesuk came to only eleven inserts for the Boston Bruins in the NHL. Among them, however, were also two appearances in the final series of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1970 against the St. Louis Blues , which the Bruins won 4-0 and the striker won the trophy of the same name with the team.

Despite the success, the Canadian's time in Boston ended only about a month after winning the title in June 1970, as he was selected in the Intra-League Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers . With the Flyers, Lesuk managed to establish himself in the NHL in the following one and a half seasons. With 36 points scorer, the rookie set an NHL career record. After a weak start to the game year 1971/72 with only 13 points from 45 games, the offensive player was given up to the Los Angeles Kings at the end of January 1972 in a seven-player transfer deal . While he went to the Californians with Jim Johnson and Serge Bernier , Bill Flett , Eddie Joyal , Jean Potvin and Ross Lonsberry moved to the east coast in Philadelphia. In Los Angeles, Lesuk remained another two and a half years until July 1984 before he was sold to the newly admitted Washington Capitals . For the capital city he completed 79 games in the 1974/75 season .

In the summer of 1975, the 28-year-old decided to turn his back on the NHL and to switch to the World Hockey Association (WHA), which was in competition with the NHL at the time. There the Winnipeg Jets had secured its WHA transfer rights from the Edmonton Oilers in June 1975 , after they had been in possession of the same since the WHA General Player Draft in February 1972. The winger spent the most successful period of his career in the Jets over the next five years. Between 1976 and 1979 he won the Avco World Trophy three times with the franchise . This made him one of the few players who could win both the Stanley Cup of the NHL and the Avco World Trophy of the WHA in the course of their career. With 41 points scorer in 78 games, he completed his personal best year in one of the two leagues in the 1976/77 season . Finally, he remained part of the Jets squad beyond the summer of 1979, after they had been included in the NHL as one of four franchises due to the dissolution of the WHA. Following the 1979/80 season , in which Lesuk only prepared one goal in 49 games, he ended his active career at the age of 33.

However, Lesuk remained in the organization of the Winnipeg Jets beyond the end of his career and was employed as a scout for the 1980/81 season . In the summer of 1989 he was promoted to Director of Scouting . He also held this position after the franchise moved to Phoenix , Arizona, in the summer of 1996, so that he was employed by the Phoenix Coyotes from 1996 to 2000 . For the 2000/01 season , Lesuk changed employers and was Director of Scouting for league rivals Chicago Blackhawks until his dismissal in November 2003 . In the 2005/06 season he returned to his roots as a scout for the Boston Bruins. In 2009 he was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame for his services to ice hockey in the Canadian province of Manitoba .

Achievements and Awards

  • 1978 Avco World Trophy win with the Winnipeg Jets
  • 1979 Avco World Trophy win with the Winnipeg Jets
  • In 2009, inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1963/64 Weyburn Red Wings SJHL 62 12 18th 30th 78 8th 4th 2 6th 18th
1964/65 Weyburn Red Wings SJHL 55 25th 33 58 73 15th 3 11 14th 28
1965/66 Weyburn Red Wings SJHL 60 36 40 76 111 18th 6th 10 16 40
1966 Estevan Bruins Memorial Cup 4th 1 0 1 4th
1966/67 Weyburn Red Wings CMJHL 56 36 46 82 62 5 0 5 5 4th
1967/68 Oklahoma City Blazers CPHL 67 14th 10 24 53 7th 3 3 6th 0
1968/69 Oklahoma City Blazers CHL 64 17th 30th 47 46 12 0 4th 4th 8th
1968/69 Boston Bruins NHL 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
1969/70 Hershey Bears AHL 70 20th 20th 40 82 7th 5 4th 9 10
1969/70 Boston Bruins NHL 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
1970/71 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 78 17th 19th 36 81 4th 1 0 1 8th
1971/72 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 45 7th 6th 13 31 - - - - -
1971/72 Los Angeles Kings NHL 27 4th 10 14th 14th - - - - -
1972/73 Los Angeles Kings NHL 67 6th 14th 20th 90 - - - - -
1973/74 Los Angeles Kings NHL 35 2 1 3 32 2 0 0 0 4th
1974/75 Washington Capitals NHL 79 8th 11 19th 77 - - - - -
1975/76 Winnipeg Jets WHA 81 15th 21st 36 92 13 2 2 4th 8th
1976/77 Winnipeg Jets WHA 78 14th 27 41 85 18th 2 1 3 22nd
1977/78 Winnipeg Jets WHA 80 9 18th 27 48 9 2 5 7th 12
1978/79 Winnipeg Jets WHA 79 17th 15th 32 44 10 1 3 4th 6th
1979/80 Winnipeg Jets NHL 49 0 1 1 43 - - - - -
1979/80 Tulsa Oilers CHL 9 1 2 3 0 - - - - -
SJHL overall 177 73 91 164 262 41 13 23 36 86
CPHL / CHL total 140 32 42 74 99 19th 3 7th 10 8th
NHL overall 388 44 63 107 368 9 1 0 1 12
WHA total 318 55 81 136 269 50 7th 11 18th 48

( 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

personal data
SURNAME Lesuk, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lesuk, William Anton (full name); The Tractor (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player and scout
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , Canada