Ken Houston (ice hockey player)

Ken Houston
Date of birth	September 15, 1953
place of birth	Dresden , Ontario , Canada
date of death	March 10, 2018
Place of death	Chatham-Kent , Ontario , Canada
Nickname	Chub
size	188 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	Right wing
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft	1973 , 6th lap, 85th position Atlanta Flames
WHA Amateur Draft	1973 , 5th lap, 58th position Alberta Oilers
Career stations
1971-1973	Chatham Maroons
1973-1975	Omaha Knights
1975-1980	Atlanta Flames
1980-1982	Calgary Flames
1982-1983	Washington Capitals
1983-1984	Los Angeles Kings

Kenneth Lyle Houston (born September 15, 1953 in Dresden , Ontario , † March 10, 2018 in Chatham-Kent , Ontario) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 605 games for the Atlanta Flames between 1973 and 1984 . Calgary Flames , Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings played in the National Hockey League on the position of right winger .

Career

Houston spent his junior years between 1971 and 1973 with the Chatham Maroons in the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League , a junior junior league of the Ontario Hockey Association . From the club from his hometown he was in the summer of 1973 both in the NHL Amateur Draft 1973 in the sixth round in 85th place by the Atlanta Flames from the National Hockey League and in the WHA Amateur Draft 1973 in the fifth round in 58th position the Alberta Oilers selected from the World Hockey Association competing with the NHL .

The then defender then switched to the professional field in the summer of 1973 and was initially used by the Atlanta Flames in the Central Hockey League with the Omaha Knights and retrained to the left winger in the following two seasons . The season 1975/76 he spent in part with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs from the American Hockey League . The Atlanta Flames were in a cooperative relationship with both teams, so that they acted as a farm team . During the 1975/76 season Houston made his debut in the NHL with the Atlanta Flames and completed 27 games for the team by the end of the season. At the beginning of the 1975/76 season , the winger was one of the permanent staff of the franchise from the metropolis in the US Southeast. He remained loyal to the team for the following four years and moved the franchise to Calgary , Canada in the summer of 1980 , where it then took part in the NHL game operations under the name Calgary Flames . He stayed there until the end of the 1981/82 season and was - as in Atlanta - responsible for around 20 goals and around 40 points per season.

After a total of nine years in the Atlanta and Calgary Flames franchise, Houston was sold to the Washington Capitals in June 1982 in a transfer deal comprising four players and three draft options . While he and goalkeeper Pat Riggin moved to the capital, Howard Walker and junior player George White moved to the 1988 Olympic city . Likewise, Calgary received a six- round vote in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft , a third-round vote in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, and a second-round vote in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft . However, the Capitals employed the Canadian only a little longer than a season, as they transferred him to the Los Angeles Kings shortly after the start of the 1983/84 season in October 1983 with Brian Engblom . In return, Larry Murphy moved to Washington. With the Kings, Houston finally ended the season and then his active career shortly before his 31st birthday. In his nine years in the NHL, he completed 605 games.

As a result, Houston worked for some time as a scout , then later in the food business. Houston died in March 2018 in his hometown of Chatham-Kent at the age of 64 of complications from cancer .

Achievements and Awards

• 1973 SOJHL First All-Star Team

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1971/72	Chatham Maroons	SOJHL		48	8th	24	32	213		-	-	-	-	-
1972/73	Chatham Maroons	SOJHL		52	14th	41	55	60		-	-	-	-	-
1973/74	Omaha Knights	CHL		71	8th	22nd	30th	144		5	1	1	2	6th
1974/75	Omaha Knights	CHL		78	9	32	41	158		6th	1	7th	8th	8th
1975/76	Nova Scotia Voyageurs	AHL		27	14th	15th	29	56		-	-	-	-	-
1975/76	Atlanta Flames	NHL		38	5	6th	11	11		2	0	0	0	0
1976/77	Atlanta Flames	NHL		78	20th	24	44	35		3	0	0	0	4th
1977/78	Atlanta Flames	NHL		74	22nd	16	38	51		2	0	0	0	0
1978/79	Atlanta Flames	NHL		80	21st	31	52	135		1	0	0	0	16
1979/80	Atlanta Flames	NHL		80	23	31	54	100		4th	1	1	2	10
1980/81	Calgary Flames	NHL		42	15th	15th	30th	93		16	7th	8th	15th	28
1981/82	Calgary Flames	NHL		70	22nd	22nd	44	91		3	1	0	1	4th
1982/83	Washington Capitals	NHL		71	25th	14th	39	93		4th	1	0	1	4th
1983/84	Washington Capitals	NHL		4th	0	0	0	4th		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		33	8th	8th	16	11		-	-	-	-	-
SOJHL total				100	22nd	65	87	273		-	-	-	-	-
CHL total				105	23	47	70	214		6th	1	7th	8th	8th
NHL overall				570	161	167	328	624		35	10	9	19th	66

( 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

• Ken Houston at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Ken Houston at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Ken Houston in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joe Pelletier: Greatest Hockey Legends.com: Ken Houston. greatesthockeylegends.com, December 10, 2015, accessed December 7, 2018 .