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Steve Shutt

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Steve Shutt
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1993
Shutt in 2008
Born (1952-07-01) July 1, 1952 (age 72)
North York, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Montreal Canadiens
Los Angeles Kings
NHL draft 4th overall, 1972
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 1972–1985

Stephen John Shutt (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and NHL Hall of Famer who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 12 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens and 1 season for the Los Angeles Kings. He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. While playing for the Canadiens he captured 5 Stanley Cups in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979.

Playing career

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As a youth, he played in the 1964 and 1965 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with minor ice hockey teams from Toronto.[1]

Partnered with Jacques Lemaire and Guy Lafleur on the Montreal Canadiens, to form the top line in the NHL, Shutt became the first left-winger in NHL history to score 60 goals in a single season, with the historic goal being scored on April 3, 1977, against the Washington Capitals.[2]

During his career with Montreal, he was named to the NHL First All-Star team in 1977, and the NHL Second All-Star team in 1978 and 1980.

Playing style

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"They talk a lot about ‘garbage goals’, but it didn’t come by luck....The timing of Steve Shutt was unbelievable. He was always at the right place, and that’s not luck. You could have ten rebounds and not be there, but Steve Shutt was there ten times. He was always there to put the puck in the net."

- Serge Savard on Shutt’s positional awareness[3]

Despite being of relatively small stature and possessing average skating ability, Shutt had remarkable spatial awareness and was very positionally sound. He was consistently able to get into dead areas of coverage on the ice, either by anticipating where the puck was going to be or by arriving late on a play.[4]

He was also a masterful goal scorer, possessing a diverse arsenal of shots. His wrist shot was known for its superior accuracy, and Shutt was noted for his ability to consistently pick corners or hit the five-hole.[5]

“Gerry Cheevers was actually in terror of this guy".

- Don Cherry on the accuracy and effectiveness of Shutt’s slapshot[6]

Moreover, Shutt was famous for the power and unusual level of accuracy found in his slap shot, which he could get off in full stride while coming down the wing. Shutt was frequently able to let fly one or two steps inside the offensive zone and beat goalies clean. New York Islanders goaltender Billy Smith, who faced the Habs many times in the 70s and 80s, gave credit to the superiority of Shutt's slapshot:

“He had a great shot. Unbelievable shot. He’d come across the blue line and he could tee it up better than anybody. And he was accurate, which is scary for someone with a slap shot.[7]”

In addition to having a superb slap shot on the fly, the precision and consistency of Shutt's one timer also earned him a spot as the point man on the Habs’ power play over many of the defencemen on his team.[8]

However, the most noteworthy part of Shutt's game was his ability to collect rebounds and turn them into so-called “garbage goals”. As Shutt himself claimed, “I’m the only guy that could score goals and make it boring[9]”. This particular element of Shutt's playing style fit him into a long line of “garbage collectors” who earned a majority of their goals from around the crease – players like Nels Stewart and Gordie Drillon before him, his contemporary Phil Esposito and skaters of a later generation such as Corey Perry. He had exceptional hand-eye coordination, and a deft knack for converting loose pucks into deflections – even batting in pucks which had bounced one or two feet off the ice.[10][11] Noted author and sports columnist Brian McFarlane claimed that Shutt had the fastest set of hands around the net during his time in the NHL, with an ability to corral the puck with his skates as well as protect it with his body and stick.[12] Shutt gave a simple explanation for how he developed his excellent reflexes as a child: “We always had about fifteen kids on the ice, and so there wasn’t a lot of room. And so you had to be really quick with your hands.[13]”

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1968–69 North York Rangers MetJHL 17 10 17 27 — — — — — —
1968–69 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. — — — — — 5 1 3 4 2
1969–70 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 49 11 14 25 93 18 10 9 19 13
1970–71 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 62 70 53 123 85 13 11 11 22 20
1971–72 Toronto Marlboros OHA-Jr. 58 63 49 112 60 10 8 6 14 12
1972–73 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 6 4 1 5 2 — — — — —
1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 50 8 8 16 24 1 0 0 0 0
1973–74 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 15 20 35 17 6 5 3 8 9
1974–75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 30 35 65 40 9 1 6 7 4
1975–76 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 45 34 79 47 13 7 8 15 2
1976–77 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 60 45 105 28 14 8 10 18 2
1977–78 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 49 37 86 24 15 9 8 17 20
1978–79 Montreal Canadiens NHL 72 37 40 77 31 11 4 7 11 6
1979–80 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 47 42 89 34 10 6 3 9 6
1980–81 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 35 38 73 51 3 2 1 3 4
1981–82 Montreal Canadiens NHL 78 31 24 55 40 — — — — —
1982–83 Montreal Canadiens NHL 78 35 22 57 26 3 1 0 1 0
1983–84 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 14 23 37 29 11 7 2 9 8
1984–85 Montreal Canadiens NHL 10 2 0 2 9 — — — — —
1984–85 Los Angeles Kings NHL 59 16 25 41 10 3 0 0 0 4
NHL totals 930 424 393 817 410 99 50 48 98 65

International

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Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1976 Canada CC 6 1 2 3 8

Post playing career

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Following his playing career, Shutt worked as a television hockey commentator. From 1993 to 1997, he worked on the Canadiens coaching staff as an assistant coach on both the staffs of Jacques Demers and Mario Tremblay.

Following his assistant coaching duties with the Montreal Canadiens, Shutt joined Toromont Industries as Manager of Recreational Facilities and Services and has been with them for the past 19 years.[14]

On November 22, 2003, Shutt participated with the Canadiens' old-timers against the Edmonton Oilers oldtimers in the Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in the history of the NHL played at Commonwealth Stadium, in Edmonton, Alberta. Shutt also tours Canada and the U.S. as a playing member of the Oldtimers' Hockey Challenge, raising money for charitable causes.

In North York, he was a middle school classmate of rock star and bassist Geddy Lee.[15] The two connected over music, and they both picked up bass guitars, both being influenced by Denny Gerrard, the bassist of Toronto psychedelic rock band The Paupers. Lee credits Shutt with introducing him to his future Rush bandmate, guitarist Alex Lifeson.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  2. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OHVQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9hEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7048%2C699824 [dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  4. ^ McGuire, Pierre (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  5. ^ McFarlane, Brian (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  6. ^ "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  7. ^ Smith, Billy (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  8. ^ "Steve Shutt – Biography". Hockey Hall of Fame – Legends of Hockey. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  9. ^ Shutt, Steve (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  10. ^ Bowman, Scotty (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  11. ^ Gainey, Bob (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  12. ^ McFarlane, Brian (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  13. ^ Shutt, Steve (2012-06-09). "Legends of Hockey – Steve Shutt". Legends of Hockey (documentary). Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  14. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-shutt-33106833 [self-published source]
  15. ^ "Geddy Lee Book Tour".
  16. ^ "Live at Massey Hall: Geddy Lee". YouTube.
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Preceded by Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick
1972 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NHL Goal Leader
1977 		Succeeded by
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