Eddie Litzenberger: Remembering a fine Leaf

I saw this week that former Leaf Eddie Litzenberger (shown here in early '60s action with the Leafs.  He is the player on the far right.) has passed away.  Those following this site may recall that I’ve posted on Litzenberger a few times.  Click on this link to read Eddie Litzenberger - the good luck charm.

He started his career with the Canadiens, but really gained prominence in the late 1950s as the leader and captain of the once-woeful Chicago Black Hawks.  The Hawks had been in decline for years, and became a kind of “dumping ground” for players who were sent away by their respective teams for daring to try and launch a players “association”.

The trades ended up helping the Hawks become a contender, as players like Ted Lindsay from Detroit helped energize the Hawks.  It also helped that they acquired ironman goaltender Glenn Hall, and groomed youngsters like Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Kenny Wharram, Elmer Vasko and Pierre Pilote and meshed them with tough guy Reggie Fleming, ex-Leaf Tod Sloan and former Montreal stalwarts Dollard St. Laurent and Ab McDonald.

Litzenberger helped lead the Hawks to the Stanley Cup in 1961, but went to the Red Wings that off-season, before being traded to the Leafs.  He was a useful forward for Punch Imlach, as the Leafs won the Cup for the next three years. 

 As I mentioned in earlier stories, he also helped the AHL Rochester Americans win the Calder Cup a couple of times.  Litzenberger won championships every season, I believe, from  1961 through 1966.

He was a fine player, one of the guys I remember well as a really young hockey fan in the late 1950s and early 1960s.