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Ken Schinkel
Kenschinkel
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
172 lb (78 kg)
Teams New York Rangers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born November 27, 1932(1932-11-27),
Jansen, SK, CA
Died November 20, 2020(2020-11-20) (aged 87),
Pro Career 1950 – 1973

Kenneth Calvin "Whitey" Schinkel (November 27, 1932 - November 20, 2020) is a retired professional right wing and coach, most notably for the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League.

Playing Career[]

After a junior career ending with the St. Catharines TeePees of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1953, Schinkel signed with the Springfield Indians. He spent the next six years in the minors with the Indians organization, garnering a reputation as a skilled two-way forward and penalty killer. In 1959 he led the AHL in goals with 43 and scored 85 points, earning a place on the league's Second All-Star Team, and his rights were dealt to the New York Rangers of the NHL.

He played the 1960 season with the Rangers and split the 1961 season between New York and Springfield - returning to the AHL just in time to be part of the Indians' second consecutive Calder Cup championship - before playing as a third-liner with the Rangers in 1962 and 1963. By 1964 he was back in the minors, however, and spent the next four years starring for the Rangers' farm team, the AHL Baltimore Clippers. Despite playing with future Hall of Famers such as Jean Ratelle and Doug Harvey, Schinkel led the Clippers in scoring two of those seasons.

Expansion changed all that, as Schinkel was drafted in 1967 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Named an assistant captain by the club, he was an immediate impact player and noted penalty killer for the offensively-thin Penguins, finishing first or second in team scoring the franchise's first three seasons and being named to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 1968 and 1969; he was named again in 1971, but did not play due to a broken arm. He played six seasons in all before retiring to become the team's coach.

Schinkel retired as the Penguins' career leader in games and points (both since surpassed), and with 127 goals and 198 assists for 325 points in 636 games.

Coaching Career[]

His playing career abruptly ended on January 13, 1973 when he was named to replace Red Kelly as coach of the Penguins. The Penguins did not make the playoffs that season, and were 14-31-5 on February 6, 1974, when Schinkel was replaced by Marc Boileau, who had been coaching in the Penguins' minor league system.

Schinkel was reassigned to a front office position, where he remained until January 17, 1976, when he was tabbed to replace Boileau. The team had been 15-23-5 under Boileau, but rallied for a 20-10-7 record with Schinkel coaching and made the playoffs. The Penguins were eliminated in the first round by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Schinkel led the Penguins to a 34-33-13 record in 1976-77, his only full season as coach. The Penguins qualified for the playoffs but were again defeated in the first round by Toronto. Schinkel was replaced by Johnny Wilson and returned to the front office for good. He held a variety of positions, including assistant general manager and scouting director in overseeing the drafting of Mario Lemieux in 1984. He stayed with the Penguins through 1989, then followed Eddie Johnston to the Hartford Whalers, where he remained in the front office for the rest of his hockey career. Schinkel coached the Penguins for 203 games, with a record of 83-92-28 for a winning percentage of .478.

Schinkel later retired to Florida, although he made appearances for Penguins' alumni affairs. He died on November 20, 2020.

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1951–52 Lindsay Bears OHA-B
1952–53 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 56 21 22 43 34 3 0 1 1 0
1953–54 Springfield Indians QHL 39 3 14 17 6
1953–54 Syracuse Warriors AHL 28 7 14 21 4
1954–55 Pembroke Lumber Kings NOHA 57 9 23 32 18 5 1 1 2 2
1955–56 Springfield Indians AHL 57 18 16 34 42
1956–57 Springfield Indians AHL 64 22 36 58 2
1957–58 Springfield Indians AHL 70 11 27 38 40 13 3 3 6 2
1958–59 Springfield Indians AHL 70 43 42 85 19
1959–60 New York Rangers NHL 69 13 16 29 27
1960–61 New York Rangers NHL 38 2 6 8 18
1960–61 Springfield Indians AHL 28 13 8 21 25 7 3 3 6 9
1961–62 New York Rangers NHL 65 7 21 28 17 2 1 0 1 0
1962–63 New York Rangers NHL 69 6 9 15 15
1963–64 New York Rangers NHL 4 0 0 0 0
1963–64 Baltimore Clippers AHL 64 23 33 56 35
1964–65 Baltimore Clippers AHL 72 30 41 71 16 5 1 2 3 0
1965–66 Baltimore Clippers AHL 72 30 45 75 31
1966–67 New York Rangers NHL 20 6 3 9 0 4 0 1 1 0
1966–67 Baltimore Clippers AHL 51 25 31 56 29
1967–68 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 57 14 25 39 19
1968–69 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 18 34 52 18
1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 72 20 25 45 19 10 4 1 5 4
1970–71 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 50 15 19 34 6
1971–72 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 74 15 30 45 8 3 2 0 2 0
1972–73 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 42 11 10 21 16
AHL totals 576 222 293 515 243 25 7 8 15 11
NHL totals 636 127 198 325 163 19 7 2 9 4

Coaching record[]

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T Pts Finish Result
Pittsburgh Penguins 1972–73 36 15 18 3 (73) 5th in West Missed playoffs
Pittsburgh Penguins 1973–74 50 14 31 5 (65) 5th in West Missed playoffs
Pittsburgh Penguins 1975–76 37 20 10 7 (82) 3rd in Norris Lost in Preliminary Round
Pittsburgh Penguins 1976–77 80 34 33 13 81 3rd in Norris Lost in Preliminary Round
NHL Total 203 83 92 28

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coaches
G. SullivanKellySchinkelBoileauWilsonE. JohnstonAngottiBerryCreamerUbriacoPatrickJohnsonBowmanConstantineBrooksHlinkaKehoeOlczykTherrienBylsmaM. JohnstonM. Sullivan


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ken Schinkel. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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