Johnny Wilson (ice hockey player)

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Flag of Canada (1921–1957) .svg  Johnny Wilson Ice hockey player
Johnny Wilson (ice hockey player)
Date of birth June 14, 1929
place of birth Kincardine , Ontario , Canada
date of death December 27, 2011
Place of death Livonia , Michigan , USA
size 178 cm
Weight 75 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1947-1949 Windsor Spitfires
Windsor Hettche Spitfires
1949-1950 Omaha Knights
1950-1952 Indianapolis Capitals
1952-1955 Detroit Red Wings
1955-1957 Chicago Black Hawks
1957-1959 Detroit Red Wings
1959-1960 Toronto Maple Leafs
1960–1962 New York Rangers

John Edward "Johnny" Wilson (born June 14, 1929 in Kincardine , Ontario ; † December 27, 2011 in Livonia , Michigan , USA ) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach , who in the course of his active career between 1947 and 1962, among other things, 754 Has played for the Detroit Red Wings , Chicago Black Hawks , Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League on the position of the left winger . Wilson celebrated his greatest successes in the service of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he celebrated four Stanley Cup victories between 1950 and 1955 . After retiring from his career, he worked as a coach for a long time and managed franchises from the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association , including the Los Angeles Kings , Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Penguins .

Career

Player career

Wilson spent the beginning of his career together with his one year younger brother Larry Wilson in the franchise of the Windsor Hettche Spitfires , for which they were active between 1947 and 1949 in both the junior division of the Ontario Hockey Association and in the International Hockey League . However, Johnny Wilson increasingly ran for the Spitfires in the OHA. Only at the end of the 1949/50 season were both an important part of the IHL squad and Johnny Wilson, as the top scorer with 23 points in 13 playoff games, played a major role in winning the Turner Cup . His 16 hits were also a top score in these playoffs, while his brother and teammate followed in second place with 21 points. After the success, both left the Spitfires and moved to the United States Hockey League for the Omaha Knights , where they spent the 1949/50 season. Both made their debut at the end of the season in the squad of the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League , with which they won the Stanley Cup at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1950 .

The brothers then moved together in the American Hockey League to the Indianapolis Capitals , which were in a cooperation agreement with the Detroit Red Wings. The Wilsons ran in the course of the two seasons up to the summer of 1952 for the most part for the Capitals in the AHL, but were also given time and again with the Red Wings in the NHL. With the beginning of the 1952/53 season , the paths of the two strikers began to part. While Johnny Wilson began to establish himself in the NHL at the end of the preseason, celebrated another Stanley Cup victory and from this season on was a permanent part of Detroit's squad, Larry Wilson's hours remained limited and mainly played for the Edmonton Flyers in western hockey League . Johnny Wilson was a fixture in the Red Wings squad for the next three years until the summer of 1955. In 1954 and 1955 , the Stanley Cup successes three and four followed. He also took part in the NHL All-Star Game for the first time as a result of the third cup win .

After a successful half a decade in the "Motor City" , the attacker was transferred to the Chicago Black Hawks in May 1955 in an eight-player transfer deal . While Tony Leswick , Glen Skov and Benny Woit moved to Chicago with him , the Red Wings received Dave Creighton , Bucky Hollingworth , John McCormack and Jerry Toppazzini in return . With the Black Hawks, Wilson was assigned a slightly more offensive role, in which he flourished especially in his second season in the "Windy City" . In addition to his best NHL season to date and with 48 scorer points at all, he was also invited to his second NHL All-Star Game , after having played this game two years earlier as a member of the winning team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Due to the positive development of the Canadian, the Detroit Red Wings decided in July 1957 to carry out a return campaign. In a six-player swap this time, Wilson returned to Detroit. Also changed Forbes Kennedy , Bill Preston and Hank Bassen to Detroit. Chicago received Ted Lindsay and Glenn Hall in return . With the Red Wings, Wilson spent another two years in the NHL, but without attracting much attention. Furthermore, the Detroit Red Wings were not as successful as they were at the beginning of the decade. Thus, after less than two years, another change took place in June 1959, which led the offensive player to his home country for the Toronto Maple Leafs . While Frank Roggeveen moved with him to Toronto, Barry Cullen moved to Detroit as compensation. However, Wilson did not find a sporting home with the Maple Leafs either, as he was handed over to the New York Rangers with Pat Hannigan in November of the following year . For this Eddie Shack moved to Toronto.

Wilson ended the 1960/61 season with the New York Rangers and played for the team the following year before ending his active career in the summer of 1962 after over 700 NHL games and four Stanley Cup wins at the age of 33 for explained. In the course of his active career, Wilson completed a series of 580 consecutive games over a period of ten seasons in the NHL between 1952 and 1961. So he set a league record at the time , which was broken in the course of the 1962/63 season by Andy Hebenton , who ultimately played 630 consecutive games.

Coaching career

CanadaCanada  Johnny Wilson
Coaching stations
1965-1967 Princeton University
1967-1971 Springfield Kings
1971 Tidewater Wings
1971-1973 Detroit Red Wings
1973-1974 Atlanta Flames (Assistant GM)
1974-1975 Michigan Stags / Baltimore Blades
1975-1976 Cleveland Crusaders
1976-1977 Colorado Rockies
1977-1980 Pittsburgh Penguins
1980-1981 Springfield Indians

After retiring in the summer of 1962, Wilson initially retired for three years before accepting the post of head coach at Princeton University for the 1965/66 season . There he was in charge of the university team for two seasons in ECAC Hockey , a division in the game operations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Wilson looked after the team for a total of 42 games and won 14 of them. Then he received an offer from the professional field and moved to the 1967/68 season behind the gang at the Springfield Kings from the American Hockey League.

The Springfield Kings acted as the farm team of the Los Angeles Kings from the National Hockey League. Overall, the Canadian worked for the franchise over a period of four seasons. First, he looked after the Kings in the AHL for two and a half years. In the course of the season 1969/70 he was then promoted for nine months to head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, which had separated early in the season from their previous head coach Hal Laycoe . After 52 games, of which he could only win nine and got 27 of a possible 104 points, Wilson's tenure ended and he returned to the AHL to the Springfield Kings. he led this in the 1969/70 season to win the Calder Cup after he had beaten the Providence Reds trained by his brother Larry in the final series .

By winning the Calder Cup, his ex-team Detroit Red Wings became aware of Wilson and so they signed him for the 1971/72 season, initially as the trainer of their farm team Tidewater Wings from the AHL. When management separated from his coach after eleven games, Wilson succeeded Doug Barkley at the Detroit Red Wings. He worked a total of two seasons mainly behind the gang of the Red Wings, but could not qualify for the playoffs in both years. After his release, he worked in the Atlanta Flames franchise for a year , serving as assistant to General Manager Cliff Fletcher . For the 1974/75 season Wilson returned to the coaching business. He moved to the World Hockey Association , competing with the NHL , where he was employed as a coach for the Michigan Stags . This station ended after a turbulent season in which the team moved and when Baltimore Blades moved and he moved within the league to the Cleveland Crusaders . There he reached the playoff preliminary round with the team.

For the 1976/77 season , the Canadian returned to the NHL and was named the first coach of the Colorado Rockies . After an unsuccessful season, the fourth station in a row ended after just one season. Nevertheless, the Pittsburgh Penguins committed him before the game year 1977/78 , where he worked for a total of three years and twice reached qualification for the playoffs, but failed both times in the first round. For the 1980/81 season he returned to his ex-team from Springfield in the AHL, which now operated under the name Springfield Indians . In the summer of 1981, the then 52-year-old retired completely from ice hockey.

Wilson died in December 2011 at the age of 82 in Livonia , Michigan , of complications from pulmonary fibrosis . Wilson had already suffered from lung disease and colon cancer in previous years .

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Player statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1947/48 Windsor Spitfires OHA 34 23 28 51 15th 12 4th 6th 10 11
1947/48 Windsor Hettche Spitfires IHL 25th 21st 13 34 19th - - - - -
1948/49 Windsor Spitfires OHA 25th 30th 20th 50 24 4th 1 0 1 2
1948/49 Windsor Hettche Spitfires IHL 4th 5 4th 9 0 13 16 7th 23 16
1949/50 Omaha Knights USHL 70 41 39 80 46 7th 2 5 7th 4th
1949/50 Detroit Red Wings NHL 1 0 0 0 0 8th 0 1 1 0
1950/51 Indianapolis Capitals AHL 70 34 21st 55 48 3 1 0 1 4th
1950/51 Detroit Red Wings NHL - - - - - 1 0 0 0 0
1951/52 Indianapolis Capitals AHL 42 25th 14th 39 16 - - - - -
1951/52 Detroit Red Wings NHL 28 4th 5 9 18th 8th 4th 1 5 5
1952/53 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 23 19th 42 22nd 6th 2 5 7th 0
1953/54 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 17th 17th 34 22nd 12 3 0 3 0
1954/55 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 12 15th 27 14th 11 0 1 1 0
1955/56 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 24 9 33 12 - - - - -
1956/57 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 18th 30th 48 24 - - - - -
1957/58 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 12 27 39 14th 4th 2 1 3 0
1958/59 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 11 17th 28 18th - - - - -
1959/60 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 15th 16 31 8th 10 1 2 3 2
1960/61 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 3 0 1 1 0 - - - - -
1960/61 Rochester Americans AHL 2 2 2 4th 0 - - - - -
1960/61 New York Rangers NHL 56 14th 12 26th 24 - - - - -
1961/62 New York Rangers NHL 40 11 3 14th 1 6th 2 2 4th 4th
OHA total 59 53 48 101 39 16 5 6th 11 13
AHL total 114 61 37 98 64 3 1 0 1 4th
IHL total 29 26th 17th 43 19th 13 16 7th 23 16
NHL overall 688 161 171 332 190 66 14th 13 27 11

( 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 )

NHL and WHA coach statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N U Pt space Sp S. N result
1969/70 Los Angeles Kings NHL 52 9 34 9 (27) 6th, western - - - not qualified
1971/72 Detroit Red Wings NHL 67 30th 27 10 (70) 5th, Eastern - - - not qualified
1972/73 Detroit Red Wings NHL 78 37 29 12 86 5th, Eastern - - - not qualified
1974/75 Michigan Stags / Baltimore Blades WHA 78 21st 53 4th 46 5th, western - - - not qualified
1975/76 Cleveland Crusaders WHA 80 35 40 5 75 2nd, Eastern 3 0 3 Defeat in the playoff preliminary round
1976/77 Colorado Rockies NHL 80 20th 46 14th 54 5th, Smythe - - - not qualified
1977/78 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 25th 37 18th 68 4th, Norris - - - not qualified
1978/79 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 36 31 13 85 2nd, Norris 4th 0 4th Loss in the playoff quarterfinals
1979/80 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 30th 37 13 73 3rd, Norris 5 2 3 Defeat in the playoff preliminary round
NHL overall 517 187 241 89 463 0 division title 9 2 7th 0 Stanley Cups
WHA total 156 56 93 9 121 0 division title 3 0 3 0 Avco World Trophies

( Legend for coach statistics: Sp or GC = total games; W or S = wins scored; L or N = losses scored; T or U = draws scored; OTL or OTN = losses scored after overtime or shootout ; Pts or Pkt = points scored ; Pts% or Pkt% = point rate; Win% = win rate; result = round reached in the play-offs )

family

Wilson's younger brother Larry also made the leap into the National Hockey League as a player and coach . As a player, he completed a total of 156 games between 1950 and 1956 for the Detroit Red Wings , with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1950 , and Chicago Black Hawks . However, he was mainly active in the International Hockey League and American Hockey League , where he was posthumously inducted into the latter Hall of Fame in 2011. Like his brother, he coached the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL.

Johnny Wilson's nephews - his brother Larry's three sons Ron , Brad and Randall - also all made the leap into the professional arena. While Brad and Randall's careers were short-lived, Ron preserved the legacy of the Wilson family in the NHL. The former defender made a name for himself as a coach in particular and was one of the most successful of all with almost 1,500 games and nearly 700 wins.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilson, John Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Kincardine , Ontario
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 2011
Place of death Livonia , Michigan