BOB NEVIN: 1938-2020

On September 21, 2020, former NHL forward, Bob Nevin, passed away at the age of 82. According to his obituary in The Globe and Mail, the cause of death was "dementia and complications from cancer." He was born in South Porcupine, Ontario on March 18, 1938.

Hockey became a way of life for Nevin as his dad, Les, played amateur hockey in South Porcupine and Toronto. In 1942-43, the elder Nevin had a spectacular year in the Toronto Mercantile Hockey League. He led all scorers in the regular season with 29 goals in 24 games. His scoring rampage continued in the playoffs. In 13 contests, he netted 21 goals and posted 32 points, which were tops in the post-season. 

From his early boyhood, Nevin was destined to become a Toronto Maple Leaf. One of the oldest newspaper articles I located about Nevin was from May 19, 1951. Nevin was 13-years-old and playing for Shopsy's, which were sponsored by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He helped Shopsy's win the King Clancy peewee championship in the Toronto Hockey League.

Nevin continued his march up the Leafs' depth chart by joining the Marlboros bantams and midgets. In 1953-54, Nevin reached the junior "B" level with the Weston Dukes. The next season, Nevin got a taste of junior "A" hockey when the Toronto Marlboros called him up for three games.

He earned a roster spot with the Marlboros in 1955-56, and recorded 34 goals and 31 assists in 48 contest. In the playoffs, the Marlboros advanced to the Memorial Cup and went on to win Canada's junior hockey championship. While with the Marlboros, Nevin saw action in two contests ('56-'57 & '57-'58) with the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League.

In his last term with the Marlboros in 1957-58, Nevin was summoned by the Toronto Maple Leafs and played four games with the Blue and White. On December 8, 1957, at Madison Square Garden, Nevin made his National Hockey League debut against the New York Rangers.

Writing in the Toronto Daily Star, reporter Red Burnett, noted, "Bob Nevin, Marlboro junior star, was rushed here by plane to take over for (Tod) Sloan who had picked up a charley-horse in Toronto. Instead he toiled for (Gary) Aldcorn on a line with Rudy Migay and (Dick) Duff."

On December 9, 1957, Nevin was back with the Marlboros and scored two goals and added one helper in a 4-1 victory over St. Mike's at Ted Reeve Arena. His performance led to this comment by his coach, Turk Broda, "Nevin is one of our take-charge guys. He made the difference tonight."

Nevin turned pro in 1958-59 and split his time between Chicoutimi in the QHL and the Rochester in the AHL. Also, he skated in two games with the Maple Leafs.

After another year of seasoning with Rochester in '59-'60, Nevin was ready to complete his journey, which started with Shopsy's, and led him to a permanent roster spot on right wing with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the big-show.

He had a productive rookie campaign with the Leafs in 1960-61. Nevin reached the benchmark plateau of 20 goals by popping in 21 and chipping in with 37 assists.

His first NHL goal came against the Montreal Canadiens at Maple Leaf Gardens on October 19, 1960. He scored the last goal in Toronto's 3-1 win over the Habs. Rex MacLeod of The Globe and Mail documented Nevin's initial tally: "Nevin scored the clincher when he rapped in (Frank) Mahovlich's rebound. Mahovlich had split the defence of Doug Harvey and Junior Langlois, but the shot was kicked out by (Jacques) Plante."

Nevin's first multi-goal game as a Leaf occurred on November 26, 1960, when he connected twice against Detroit goalie Hank Bassen.

At the end of the season, Nevin finished second to teammate Dave Keon in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in the National Hockey League. Keon received 155 votes and Nevin 79 votes.

As rookie's neither Nevin or Keon looked forward to the initiation process that each first year pro in the NHL had to endure. He recalled what happened in an interview with this writer:

In their rookie season, neither player was looking forward to the initiation process. The veterans usually went looking for their prey on the train, as the new guys had no place to hide.

While Keon didn't escape, Nevin made a run for it.  He picks-up the story. "I walked down the train and there was another car next to ours and it was basically empty. So, I went to sleep in an upper berth." 

On this trip, the Leafs were returning to Toronto from a game in Chicago. By the time morning arrived and sensing it was safe to do so, Nevin headed back to his quarters. "No sooner did I get off the train and got to my berth, than the car I was sleeping in was pulled to the side and left there. I would have been sitting in Detroit in my pyjamas," said Nevin with a chuckle.

In his sophomore year, Nevin's goals dropped to 15, but in game six of the Stanley Cup final on April 22, 1962,  he scored one the most important goals of the year.

As Johnny Bower noted in his autobiography: "Game 6 was back at Chicago Stadium and was scoreless until Bobby Hull tallied in the third period. It looked like we were headed back to Toronto for game 7, but Bob Nevin tied it."

The Leafs scored another goal and captured their first Stanly Cup since 1951, when Bill Barilko scored his famous Cup-winning goal in game 5 against Montreal.

In a previous post, I wrote about the dramatics surrounding game six:

Bobby Hull's goal at 8:56 in the third gave Chicago a one goal lead. Hull got control of the puck after Dick Duff mistakenly directed it in front of his own goal. At 10:27, Bob Nevin knotted the score at 1 to 1. As expected, the stakes were high as the clock ticked down. The next goal would be enormous  and an overtime atmosphere engulfed Chicago Stadium. 

At 14:14, as though scripted for a Hollywood production, the Leafs produced the go-ahead-tally. In the starring role was the character that let himself and his teammates down on the Chicago goal by Hull. Taking centre stage, positioned underneath the spotlight was one of the team's smallest players, who now stood ten-feet tall in his skates, Dick Duff. 

"I picked up Army's (George Armstrong) pass behind me whirled and shot. But I didn't know it went in. Glenn Hall had gone down to block and I couldn't see, but wow what a thrill when that light went on," commented Duff when describing his Cup-winning goal.

Come the spring of 1963, Nevin and his teammates were once again crowned Stanly Cup champions and were gunning for a three-peat in 1964.

A controversial trade between New York and Toronto on February 22, 1964, resulted in Nevin not being part of the Leafs' Cup run. The deal went down as follows: Dick Duff, Bob Nevin, Arnie Brown, Bill Collins to the Rangers for Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney.

Commenting on his new acquisition, Rangers coach Red Sullivan, said this about Nevin, "He's very good in the corners and as good as he's been, I know he can be better."

At the end of the season, Rangers' goalie Jacques Plante stated, "The morale of the team seemed to change for the better when Duff and Nevin started going for us."

The degree to which New York management held Nevin's leadership skills came on February 5, 1965. Immediately after a trade sent longtime Ranger Camille Henry to Chicago, Nevin was named team captain, an honour previously held by Henry.

While wearing the "C" on his jersey, Nevin was present when his club played their final game at the old Madison Square Garden on February 11, 1968. The Rangers brought back 62 alumni members and NHL stars like Rocket Richard to participate in goodbye skate.

A highlight for many the Rangers' faithful was seeing Frank Boucher, Bill Cook, Bun Cook and Ching Johnson back on the ice. All three played in New York's first game at MSG on November 16, 1926.

New York played their first contest at the new Garden on February 18, 1968. Nevin christened their new home by scoring the Rangers' first goal. The New York Times wrote, "Bob Nevin, the team captain, scored the first New York goal after snaring a face-off pass from Phil Goyette."

After coming to New York late in the 1964 campaign, Nevin went on to play seven full seasons in the Big Apple.

A trade on May 25, 1971, sent Nevin to the Minnesota North Stars. "We made the deal to strengthen our checking on the right side," said Minnesota's GM Wren Blair. "Nevin is a complete two-way player who can also serve on the power play and kill penalties."

Nevin joined the Los Angeles Kings in 1973-74 and had his best NHL season statically the following year when he put up 72 points in 80 games.

In 1976-77, Nevin jumped to the World Hockey Association and after 13 games with the Edmonton Oilers, he retired due to an injury.

On February 17, 2015, Nevin made a visit to the Ryerson Athletic Centre, which is located in the former Maple Leaf Gardens. Nevin was on hand to celebrate Heritage Week 2015. Although the surroundings were different from when he played at the Gardens, Nevin was once again the fan favourite at 60 Carlton Street.   

During the Q&A, most of the inquiries came from students, who got time off school to join in the fun. In addition to Bob, several other athletes, including Olympian Perdita Felicien, were peppered with great questions from the youngsters. And it seems no matter the generation, hockey remains to be a hot topic. It was amazing to listen to the wide range of questions that were directed to Bob, who last skated in the National Hockey League in 1976 with the Los Angeles Kings. Of all the athletes, Bob appeared to be the favourite with those picking up the microphone to ask a question or make a comment. The most repeated phrase was, "this question is for Bob."

The bottom line on Nevin's NHL career looks like this: 1,128 regular season games, 307 goals, 419 assists, 726 points; 84 playoff games, 16 goals, 18 assists, 34 points, two Stanley Cups.