Schmidt, Milton C.
Hockey
b. March 5, 1918, Kitchener, ONT
Red Storey, an NHL official who frequently saw Schmidt play, once said, "I'd take five Milt Schmidts, put my grandmother in the nets and we'd beat any team." Art Ross, who coached him for years, said, "Schmidt was the fastest playmaker of all time. By that I mean no player ever skated at full tilt the way he did and was still able to make the play."
A center, Schmidt joined the Boston Bruins of the NHL in 1936. He spent three years in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II, then rejoined the Bruins in 1945. A three-time first-team All-Star, he led the league in scoring with 52 points on 20 goals and 32 assists in 1940 and he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player after the 1950-51 season.
For years, beginning in the minor leagues, Schmidt was on the "Kraut Line" with Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. Although Dumart was of French ancestry, the line was so named because all three players were from the Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario, where the population was primarily of German origin.
Because of his all-out, high-speed style of play, he was often injured, but he never missed a game if he could possibly play. During one Stanley Cup series, his knees were so bad that he couldn't bend them. He lay on the trainer's table to have his legs taped from ankle to thigh and then was lifted off the table and into his skates.
Schmidt took over as Boston's coach during the 1954-55 season and retired as a player. He coached through the 1960-61 season, returned during the 1962-63 season and remained through 1965-66. Schmidt was as the team's general manager from 1967 until his retirement in 1972.
In 778 regular season games, Schmidt scored 575 points on 229 goals and 346 assists. He had 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points in 86 playoff games.
