Stewart, Nelson R.
Hockey
b. Dec. 29, 1902, Montreal, Quebec
d. Aug. 21, 1957
The first NHL player to score more than 300 career goals, "Old Poison" often seemed to be skating on cruise control, but he had the ability to put on a sudden burst of speed to flash past defenseman and score.
Stewart entered the NHL with the Montreal Maroons in 1925 and won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. He was the scoring leader with 34 goals in 36 games. (Assists weren't recorded until the 1926-27 season.) He won the Hart Trophy again in 1930, when he finished sixth in scoring with 39 goals and 16 assists for 55 points in 44 games.
In 1932, Stewart was sold to the Boston Bruins because the Maroons were in financial difficulty. He went to the New York Americans in 1935, split the 1936-37 season between the Americans and the Bruins, and finished his career back with the Americans from 1937-38 through 1939-40.
When he retired, he was the NHL's leader in career goals. Rocket Richard broke that record in 1952. Stewart also set an NHL record by scoring two goals in four seconds on January 3, 1931. The record was tied by Deron Quint in December of 1995.
