Errol Thompson (ice hockey)

Errol Thompson
Born (1950-05-28) May 28, 1950 (age 74)
Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Pittsburgh Penguins
NHL draft 22nd overall, 1970
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 1970–1981

Loran Errol Thompson (born May 28, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played most of his NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was selected 2nd (22nd overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1970 Amateur Draft. Thompson is also a former captain of the Detroit Red Wings.[1]

Junior and senior leagues

Thompson started turning heads at a young age while playing for the Halifax Jr. Canadians of the NSJHL. In the 1967–68 season, he scored 81 points in only 45 games, cementing him as a legitimate scoring winger. However, in 1969 Thompson was still an undiscovered talent playing in P.E.I.'s Southern New Brunswick Senior Hockey League senior league with the Charlottetown Royals for $15 a game when he was spotted by legendary Leaf goalie-turned-scout Johnny Bower.[1] He was drafted 22nd overall in the 1970 Amateur NHL Draft and made his NHL debut in 1970, playing in only one game. He played the rest of that year and the next on Toronto's minor league club, the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League.

NHL career

In 1972, Thompson was called up to play full-time for Toronto and with his blazing speed and scoring touch quickly established himself as a reliable offensive NHL talent. On a Leaf team that lost more games than it won, he scored 32 points in his first NHL season. Thompson began improving with each year and in the 1974–75 season scored 25 goals. Next season, on a line with Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald, he scored 43 goals, becoming the second player in Leaf history, after Frank Mahovlich, to score 40 goals in a season. The Thompson-Sittler-McDonald line became well known throughout North America after Sittler set an NHL record with ten points in one game on February 7, 1976.

After breaking his arm in the 1976–77 season, Thompson missed one half of the season but still managed 21 goals. The offensively talented winger began to see less ice time under defense-oriented coach Roger Neilson and was eventually traded with various draft picks to the Detroit Red Wings for Dan Maloney and a future second round draft pick, on March 13, 1978. With Detroit, Thompson continued to produce, scoring 23 goals his first full season and 34 goals the following season. In 1980, he was named co-captain of the Wings, splitting time with Reed Larson. After scoring 26 points in the 1980–81 season he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Gary McAdam on January 8 and played his final 34 games in Pittsburgh.


Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1966–67 Halifax Jr. Canadians Exhib. 47 28 32 60 29 — — — — —
1966–67 Halifax Jr. Canadians M-Cup — — — — — 17 15 9 24 9
1967–68 Halifax Jr. Canadians Exhib. 45 41 40 81 55 — — — — —
1967–68 Halifax Jr. Canadians M-Cup — — — — — 11 6 7 13 12
1968–69 Halifax Jr. Canadians MaJHL 30 11 18 29 25 — — — — —
1969–70 Charlottetown Royals NBSHL 20 13 23 36 — 3 1 3 4 0
1970–71 Tulsa Oilers CHL 65 15 14 29 37 — — — — —
1970–71 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1971–72 Tulsa Oilers CHL 46 21 21 42 30 13 4 6 10 8
1972–73 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 68 13 19 32 8 — — — — —
1973–74 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 56 7 8 15 6 2 0 1 1 0
1974–75 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 65 25 17 42 12 6 0 0 0 9
1975–76 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 75 43 37 80 26 10 3 3 6 0
1976–77 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 41 21 16 37 8 9 2 0 2 0
1977–78 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 59 17 22 39 10 — — — — —
1977–78 Detroit Red Wings NHL 14 5 1 6 2 7 2 1 3 2
1978–79 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 23 31 54 26 — — — — —
1979–80 Detroit Red Wings NHL 77 34 14 48 22 — — — — —
1980–81 Detroit Red Wings NHL 39 14 12 26 52 — — — — —
1980–81 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 34 6 8 14 12 — — — — —
NHL totals 599 208 185 393 184 34 7 5 12 11

References

  1. ^ a b "Personalities". The Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved Dec 6, 2009.
Preceded by Detroit Red Wings captain
1980–81
with Reed Larson 		Succeeded by

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