Eddie Shack died on Sunday, July 25th at 83 years of age. Born February 11th, 1937, Shack was the child of two Ukrainian Immigrants. He struggled with school due to illness from grades 1-3, and would later drop out of school, never being qualified as literate by Canadian government standards.
After dropping out of school, Shack started working at a butchers shop to help support both himself and his family. However, Shack would later quit this job to try out for the Guelph Biltmores, a team in the OHA. Shack started playing hockey at the age of 15, winning the Memorial Cup with this team in the 1956-57 season.
NHL Career
Shack was later signed by the New York Rangers, starting to play in the NHL in the 1958-59 season. He stayed with the New York Rangers until 1961 when he signed with Toronto. During his spell in Midtown Manhattan, Shack recorded 15 goals and 24 assists for 43 points. He did this over the span of 141 games through his first two seasons.
Shack was a modest goal scorer, being a powerful hitter and famously being fast coming down the ice and leaving his victims on their back. The forward spent long periods of time in the penalty box, being a fast firm fighter and was known to skate clean through his opponents. Shack had even taken down Gordie Howe with Howe needing to go to the hospital where he received several stitches after his collision with Shack.
When talking about Shack, Canadian writer Stephen Cole wrote that his play style was like that of, “a big puppy let loose in an open field.” This referenced how he would bound around the ice, hitting players down and often, being seen as a enforcer due to how often Shack would take out the players in his team’s way, as well as often being the person to take fights if anyone on his team was pushed around while he was on the ice.
In 1961, Shack was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team he is most famous for playing with. Shack played with the Leafs for seven seasons in one stint, before going to many other teams, then rejoining the Leafs for two seasons before his retirement from the NHL. In his total of nine seasons with in Toronto, Shack was a part of the 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967 Stanley Cup winning Leafs sides.
In the 1963 Stanley Cup Final, Shack scored the game winning goal, afterwards claiming that he had scored the goal with his rear end while trying to get out of the way of a shot. As well, during the 1965-66 season, Shack had the best season of his career, having recorded a total of 27 points that season.
After the 1967 Stanley Cup win with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shack was traded to the Boston Bruins where he started a long string of occurring injuries. At this point in time, Shack went on a string of trades, never spending more than two seasons with a team. Shack was traded from the Bruins to the L.A. Kings in 1969 where he competed for one full season.
Then, during the 1970-71 season, was traded to the Buffalo Sabres where he also spent one full season, although he would go on to play the majority of the next season with the Sabres. Towards the end of the 1971-72 season, Shack was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he completed the season and played the entirety of the 1972-73 season. Finally, Shack would return to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he played his final two seasons. Shack would have to end his career at this point as his frequent injuries led to his inability to play in the majority of games, only being able to play in 26 matches in his final season.
After Shack retired from the NHL, he went on to play for the Oklahoma City Blazers in the CHL. Shack only played eight games for the Blazers and netted seven points, still keeping to his title as an enforcer, though he also spent 10 minutes in the penalty box through these eight games. The season after this, in his farewell to hockey, Shack played for the Whitby Warriors in the OHA-Sr. League. There, he was able to play in nine games, averaging a point per game and only spending eight minutes in the penalty box.
Awards And Achievements
Perhaps the most odd achievement Shack could receive, a song entitled, “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack,” was performed in his honour by artist Douglas Rankine with The Secrets. Throughout his lengthy career, Shack featured in over 1000 NHL games. He scored a total of 239 goals, assisting 226 and being in the penalty box for a total of 1439 minutes.
During his career, Shack became part of a list of only nine players to have scored 20 or more goals in a single season. Not only that, but having done so for five or more teams. Finally, Shack had been a part of four Stanley Cup winning teams before his retirement from the NHL. He had won all four cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs, having been with the hockey club the last time they won the Stanley Cup in 1967.
Family And Life After Retirement
Eddie Shack had been married to his wife, Norma Shack, since 1962. The two had married while Shack was playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. They had two children together during their marriage which lasted 58 years. Shack would also return to play with retired Leafs’ players on NHL All-Star weekends, showing up in a cowboy hat rather than a helmet and playing with the “Heroes of Hockey, old timers” in Toronto in 2000.
Shack unfortunately had issues with cancer, requiring surgery in 1997 for prostate cancer and having the disease return in 2020 as the cancer had spread to his lungs. He lost his battle with cancer at age 83 after he had been treated with radiation therapy in an attempt to combat the disease.
Eddie Shack, “The Entertainer,” husband, father and amazing hockey player will be dearly missed by all. R.I.P Eddie Shack. February 11th 1937 – July 25th, 2020.
Stats taken from hockeydb.com, Facts and research done on The Globe and Mail, Sportsnet and the Canadian Encyclopedia