Nels Stewart

Nelson Robert "Old Poison" Stewart (b. December 29, 1902 in Montreal, Quebec - August 21, 1957) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Maroons, New York Americans and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League.

Playing Career
Stewart began play as an amateur at age 18 for the Cleveland Indians of the United States Amateur Hockey Association, leading the league in goals scored in four out of the five seasons he played before he and Babe Siebert were signed by the expansion Montreal Maroons of the NHL in 1925. Nicknamed "Old Poison," and with Siebert and veteran stars Clint Benedict, Punch Broadbent and Reg Noble, he would lead the Maroons to the Stanley Cup championship that season. Stewart led the league in goal and point scoring that year and became the only NHL rookie to win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player.

Stewart would later centre the legendary "S Line", with Hooley Smith and Siebert, and star for the Maroons for seven seasons in all, winning a second Hart Trophy in 1930, having finished third in the league with 39 goals in 44 games. The Maroons financial backer, James Strachan stepped back from the team and Stewart was sold to the Boston Bruins for cash in 1932. His glittering play continued for the Bruins, finishing second in team scoring each of his three full seasons with the team, despite being moved back to defence a fair bit.

In 1935 he was traded to the New York Americans, for whom he played for most of his final five seasons in the league. Stewart starred through his penultimate season (in which he was fourth on the Amerks in scoring) with 35 points in 46 games at age 36. On March 17, 1938, Stewart became the first player in NHL history to score 300 career goals.

The season following, in 1939, his foot speed (never regarded as fast) deserted him entirely. He retired thereafter as the NHL's career leading goal scorer, a mark he set in the 1937 season and held until Maurice Richard broke it in 1952.

On August 21, 1957, he was found dead at his summer home near Toronto, apparently of natural causes, possibly a heart attack.

Nels was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. In 1998, he was ranked number 51 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Career Statistics
Regular Season Season Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM

1925-26 Montreal Maroons       NHL   36   34  8    42   119 1926-27 Montreal Maroons       NHL   43   17  4    21   133 1927-28 Montreal Maroons       NHL   41   27  7    34   104 1928-29 Montreal Maroons       NHL   44   21  8    29   74 1929-30 Montreal Maroons       NHL   44   39  16   55   81 1930-31 Montreal Maroons       NHL   42   24  14   38   75 1931-32 Montreal Maroons       NHL   38   22  11   33   61 1932-33 Boston Bruins          NHL   47   18  18   36   62 1933-34 Boston Bruins          NHL   48   22  17   39   68 1934-35 Boston Bruins          NHL   47   21  18   39   45 1935-36 New York Americans     NHL   48   14  15   29   16 1936-37 New York/Boston        NHL   43   23  12   35   37 1937-38 New York Americans     NHL   49   19  17   36   29 1938-39 New York Americans     NHL   46   16  19   35   43 1939-40 New York Americans     NHL   35   7   7    14   6

NHL Totals        651  324 191  515  953

Career Achievements

 * Won the Hart Trophy in 1926 and 1930.
 * Played in the first NHL All-Star Game in 1934.
 * 1st player in NHL history to score 300 career goals.
 * 1st player in NHL history to score 500 career points.
 * Led the playoffs in scoring in 1926 with six goals, three assists and nine points in eight games.
 * Led the league in penalty minutes in 1927 with 133.
 * Holds the NHL record for fastest two goals (four seconds apart) set on January 3, 1931, against the Boston Bruins (matched by Deron Quint in 1995-96)

Records Once Held by Nels Stewart

 * Most goals in NHL history - 324, surpassed by Maurice Richard and currently held by Wayne Gretzky (894).
 * Most points in NHL history - 515, surpassed by Syd Howe and currently held by Wayne Gretzky (2857).
 * Most goals by an NHL rookie - 34 in 1925-26, surpassed by Gilbert Perreault (38 in 1970-71) and currently held by Teemu Selanne with 76 in 1992-93.
 * Fastest player to score 300 goals - 567 GP, surpassed by Maurice Richard (481 GP) and currently held by Wayne Gretzky (350 GP).