After Morenz's production tails off in the 1933-34 season, the Canadiens trade him to the Chicago Blackhawks; in turn, the Blackhawks send him to the New York Rangers midway through the 1935-36 season. He returns to the Canadiens in 1936-37 for what he says will be his final season and shows flashes of brilliance at age 34. But on Jan. 28, 1937, he breaks four bones in his left leg and ankle when Chicago defenseman
Earl Seibert
falls over him while his skate is lodged in the boards. He dies of a blood clot on March 8, 1937.
Morenz lays in state at the Forum, with thousands of his fans filing past him to pay their respects. He is among the initial group of 12 honorees when the Hockey Hall of Fame is founded, and a national press poll votes him as the outstanding hockey player for the first half of the 20th century. In 2017,
Morenz
is named to the
100 Greatest NHL Players
.
MORE MOMENTS
1967:
Jacques Plante
, who's been retired since the end of the 1964-65 season, plays goalie for the California Seals in a preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings at Port Huron, Michigan. The game ends in a 3-3 tie. Plante never plays a regular-season game for the Seals, but he returns to the League with the St. Louis Blues for the 1968-69 season. Plante and
Glenn Hall
combine to win the
Vezina Trophy
, then given to the goalies on the team that allows the fewest goals, and get the Blues to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season. Plante plays one more season with St. Louis and three with the Toronto Maple Leafs before finishing his NHL career with the Boston Bruins in 1972-73.
He is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978 and is
named to the 100 Greatest NHL Players
in 2017.