A look back at one of the Boston Bruins' greatest of all time
The Boston Bruins have a deep history and several players along the way that will be NHL legends forever.
Milt Schmidt is no exception! he was the backbone of the Bruins «Kraut Line,» whose other members were his childhood friends Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer.
The trio's shared German ancestry inspired the line's nickname, and they finished 1-2-3 in league scoring in 1939-40, with Schmidt coming in first with 52 points.
Schmidt, who spent his entire career with the Bruins, was a four-time All-Star. He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player in 1951. He played 776 games, scored 229 goals, and recorded 346 assists.
He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 and the Bruins retired his number, 15, in 1980. In 2017, Schmidt was named one of the «100 Greatest NHL Players» in history.
After coaching the Bruins for 11 seasons Schmidt was promoted to the GM position in 1967. He proved to be a great architect in the new era of the NHL, acquiring and drafting several key players to build a Bruins team that won two more Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972.
His biggest deal was a blockbuster, as he acquired Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris.
Sadly, Schmidt passed away after suffering a stroke on January 4th, 2017 in a retirement facility in Westwood, Massachusetts at the age of 98. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former NHL player and the last living player from the AHL's inaugural season.
