Advent Day 15 - Milt Schmidt

Schmidt played all 16 seasons of his career for Boston retiring in the middle of the 1954-1955 season to take over as the team's head coach.

He won 2 Cups with the Bruins as part of the Kraut Line, made up of Schmidt and two of his childhood friends Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. In 1942 all three enlisted in the Canadian army and spent three years overseas during the war before coming back to the NHL in 1946. He would become captain of the Bruins in 1951 and retire as the team's leading scorer.

He played in 4 All-Star games, won the Hart trophy and was awarded the Lester Patrick trophy in 1996. He was inducted into the hall of fame as an honored member in 1961.

He coached the Bruins for 11 seasons before spending one season as the GM of the expansion Washington Capitals. Unfortunately the year would see the Capitals set the record for the worst performance by an NHL team in history, finishing the season with a horrendous 8-67-5 record.

His number 15, the only one in the league, was retired by the Bruins in 1980.

More on Milt Schmidt's career can be found at Legends of Hockey here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

The Kraut Line with the Allan Cup - playing in Halifax for the Royal Canadian Air Force Commandoes.