A seven-time All-Star, Dick Duff collected 572 points (283 goals and 289 assists) in 1,030 regular season NHL games.

Little man produced big results
By Mike Wyman | NHL.com correspondent
July 12, 2006

It seemed fitting that Dick Duff learned of his election to the Hockey Hall of Fame while visiting his hometown, Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

"This is where I started playing hockey on the outdoor rinks," Duff said. "I'm just down the street from the downtown rink where we'd play our one indoor game of the year, for the championship."

Like many boys from small mining towns on the Canadian Shield, Duff's roadmap to the big time ran through Toronto's St. Michael's College. He suited up for the Buzzers, the school's junior B squad.

"When I first went to St. Mike's, I wanted to come home almost every day. I didn't have any money. I'd never been to the big city." Duff said

Older boys had been through homesickness upon their arrival. They helped the newcomer through the adjustment.

"Murray Costello said, 'No wait, Dickie, you'll like it here.' He was playing with the Majors. So was Billy Dineen. They called me 'The Hornet'. They made the steps easier for me. That's the process, somebody did it for them and they did it for me," Duff said.

"(Red) Kelly followed (Ted) Lindsay, (Tim) Horton followed Kelly, Dick Duff followed Horton, (Frank) Mahovlich followed Dick Duff and (Dave) Keon followed Mahovlich. The process was there and if we were going to be one of the guys left there at the end, we had to figure out how to become the best guy in their system."

In an era when virtually every prospect spent time in the minor leagues, 19-year-old Dick Duff figured it out. Still eligible to suit up in junior ranks, he earned on slot on the left side with the 1955-56 Toronto Maple Leafs. At 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, he was one of the smaller forwards in the League, but he more than made up for it with toughness and tenacity.

Duff scored 18 goals in his rookie season and picked up 81 over the next three seasons. A solid two-way player who came to play every night, Duff was willing to do whatever it took to help his team come out on top. Duff was a guy who could be counted upon when the chips were down. A fierce competitor in the regular season, Duff stepped it up in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He left everything he on the ice, often notching important goals when his team needed them the most.

The spring of 1962 ended an 11-year Stanley Cup drought in Toronto. Duff's third period goal against the reigning champion Blackhawks won it for the Leafs. Toronto repeated the following season.

During the 1963-64 season, Duff's Toronto stay came to an end. Traded for Andy Bathgate as part of a seven-player deal, he found himself in New York and played part of two seasons with the Rangers. After a brief and disappointing 42-game stint, Duff hit the road once again, headed to Montreal.

Dick Duff was a part of four Stanley Cup championships with Montreal, winning in 1965, '66, '68 and '69.

Duff, playing with his characteristic drive, adjusted quickly to life under coach Toe Blake's orders, thriving in a town that expected big things from its hockey team. Never a motivation problem, Duff's tenacity and will to win won him favor with Forum fans.

Twice cracking the 20-goal plateau with the Canadiens, he had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup four times in five seasons with Montreal. Duff's 14 playoff points en route to the Habs' Stanley Cup title in 1969 was second only to team captain Jean Beliveau's total that spring.

"I loved Montreal. I have the highest regard for every one of those guys," he said. "We had a together team. You don't win unless you have a together team. Sammy (Pollock) knows that there are a few guys on a team that make the whole thing work. I like to think that maybe I was one of those guys."

Leaving Montreal during the 1969-70 season, Duff played briefly in Los Angeles and then in Buffalo before retiring in 1971-72.

Friends and teammates greeted news of Duff's upcoming Hockey Hall of Fame induction enthusiastically.

"He's special. He had a great career in Toronto and played so well in Montreal. He had a great career and he's a great, great young guy," said Murray Costello still almost two years older than the youthful 70-year-old Duff. "In my view he's been one of the quality players in the game. His goals were always big goals."

"He was a very honest player and, I thought, always deserving, but somehow or another when it didn't happen right away he sort of fell under the radar," said Duff's St. Mike's teammate, admitted as a Builder in last year's Hall of Fame ceremonies. "To have him come back and get this opportunity now I think is richly deserved and so rewarding for him. I'm very happy for him."

Johnny Bower has known Duff for over a half century. Duff was already established as a team leader when Bower joined Punch Imlach's Maple Leafs in 1958-59.

"He was a good player on our team. He was a tough little guy too. You didn't fool around too much with Duffie," he said. "That's such great news for him and it's so well-deserved. I was at a golf tournament when they announced that he had been admitted. Boy, you should have heard the people cheer."