Nels Stewart
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1962
Nels Stewart in a Montreal Maroons uniform
Born	(1899-12-29)December 29, 1899 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	August 21, 1957(1957-08-21) (aged 57) Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Montreal Maroons Boston Bruins New York Americans
Playing career	1925–1940

Robert Nelson "Old Poison" Stewart (December 29, 1899 – August 21, 1957)^[1] was aCanadian professionalice hockey player who played for theMontreal Maroons,New York Americans andBoston Bruins in theNational Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of theHockey Hall of Fame. He was the first player to win the NHL'sHart Trophy multiple times, and is considered the NHL's greatest goalscorer in the pre-World War II era, holding the league record for career goals from 1937 to 1952.^[2]

Born inMontreal,Quebec, Nels Stewart moved to Toronto as a boy, learning his hockey in the city leagues and outdoor ponds. At 18, he signed with theCleveland Indians of theUnited States Amateur Hockey Association, leading the league in goals scored in four out of the five seasons he played before he andBabe Siebert were signed by the expansionMontreal Maroons of the NHL in 1925.

Nicknamed "Old Poison," and with Siebert and veteran starsClint Benedict,Punch Broadbent andReg Noble, he would lead the Maroons to theStanley Cup championship that season. Stewart himself led the league in goal- and point-scoring that year, and became one of the few rookies in history to win theHart Memorial Trophy as the NHL'sMost Valuable Player.

Stewart would later center the legendary "S Line", withHooley Smith and Siebert, and star for the Maroons for seven seasons in all, winning a second Hart Trophy in 1930, having led the league once more with 39 goals in 44 games. As theGreat Depression deepened, though, the Maroons had increasing financial problems — eventually folding in 1938 — and sold Stewart to theBoston Bruins for cash. His glittering play continued for the Bruins, finishing second in team scoring each of his three full seasons with the team, despite being moved back to defense a fair bit.

In 1935, he was traded to theNew York Americans, with whom he played for most of his final five seasons in the league. Stewart starred through his penultimate season (in which he was fourth on the Amerks in scoring) with 35 points in 46 games at age 36. The season following, in1939, his foot speed (never regarded as fast) deserted him entirely. He retired thereafter as the NHL's career leading goal scorer, a mark he set in the 1937 season and held untilMaurice Richard broke it in 1952.

On August 21, 1957, he was found dead at his summer home inWasaga Beach,Ontario, apparently of natural causes, possibly a heart attack.

Stewart was inducted into theHockey Hall of Fame in 1952.^[3]

In 1998, he was ranked number 51 onThe Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Hampered throughout his career by sluggish skating ability, which was often mistaken for a lack of effort, Stewart was rarely prone to the end-to-end rushes favoured by the other greats of the 1920s and 30s. UnlikeHowie Morenz,Frank Fredrickson orAurèle Joliat, he resorted to – and perfected – a hard-hitting style of play, with emphasis on collecting rebounds and scoring from bad angles around thecrease.Bruins goaltenderTiny Thompson claimed that Stewart was hockey's most dangerous goal scorer around the net – when the latter was 34 years old and near retirement^[5] – whileArt Ross referred to him as “the greatest inside player in the game”.^[6] A few players from previous decades likePud Glass,^[7][8] similarly lacking in finesse or all-around talent but possessing strength, good balance and a hard shot, had made their living by playing a hard-nosed “garbage-collector” style. However, Stewart was the first to gain superstar status via this mode of play, and he paved the way for future garbage men likeGordie Drillon,Wally Hergesheimer,Phil Esposito andTim Kerr.

Notwithstanding his reputation as a cumbersome skater, Stewart was used as a defenseman by theMaroons in hisrookie season before making the transition to centre. For eight playoff games, including four in the1926 Stanley Cup Finals, Stewart served ably on the back end, where his physical presence and shiftiness kept the opposition hemmed in.^{[9][10][11][12]} His skating was often described as “lazy”,^[13][14] “careless”^[15] and “lackadaisical”.^[16] Nevertheless, as a defenceman Stewart was able to score 7 of his team's 11 goals during their Finals matchup against theVictoria Cougars,^[17] including all four game-winning tallies, and several of his rushes were remarked upon.^[18][19] In general, it appears that Stewart was at worst a middling skater, and at best quite an agile and deceptive one, using “long, swerving strokes” todeke opposing defencemen.^[20]

Stewart's fame, however, rested squarely on his abilities as a clutch goal scorer around the net. He frequently had multiple-goal games, once marking 4 tallies against theToronto St. Pats,^[21] and was often at the top of the scoring race in his early seasons.^[22][23] This was partially due to his exceptionally hard and “heavy”^[24] shot, which was known to have injured several goalies due to its high trajectory. Notably, during the 1928 postseason, a Stewart shot caughtRangers goaltenderLorne Chabot in the left eye, giving him a hemorrhage.^[25]

Stewart used his shot frequently from close-in, drifting around the crease and waiting patiently to receive a pass before burying it in the net. He had remarkable balance on his skates, as well as tremendous hand-eye coordination. This was demonstrated perfectly in his inaugural Stanley Cup Finals against Victoria. In the first game of the series, Stewart was rushing the puck up ice when he was knocked flat by a heavy check from Cougars captainClem Loughlin. Separated from the puck by five feet and sliding prone across the ice, Stewart nevertheless managed to hook the rubber with his stick and poke it past Victoria goalieHap Holmes for the leading goal.^[26] In the second game, Stewart was body checked by two Victoria players at once. Wildly off-balance, he managed to stay on one foot and fire another hard shot past Holmes.^[27]

Thereafter, Stewart was notoriously difficult to knock off the puck, and could even propel it into the net one-handed – sometimes by steadying himself on the crossbar with his other hand and much to the irritation of opposinggoaltenders.^[28] This was aided further by his use of a heavy stick with alie of 10", almost L-shaped, enabling him to keep the puck close to his feet.^[29]

Notwithstanding Stewart's accuracy and power, his best asset – and one that added to his reputation as a coaster – was an ability to collect rebounds. In the second period of the fourth and deciding game against Victoria in 1926, Stewart joined a rush which sawHap Holmes stop four shots in rapid succession, all from the left side. With the entire Victoria defence having moved over to block for Holmes, Stewart corralled a rebound, skirted behind the right side of the net and picked the top-left corner with a backhand shot. Sixteen minutes later in the period, he grabbed one of his own rebounds and repeated the feat, again hitting the left corner.^[30]

As a large, heavycentre who used his size and grit to complement his scoring touch, Nels Stewart soon developed a ferocious reputation as both afighter and an effectivepest. Hechewed tobacco constantly, and while hovering around the crease would spit the juice into opposing goaltenders’ eyes.^[32][33] Stewart would readily stand up for his teammates, and fought consistently as a result – he led theNHL in penalty minutes with 133 in 1927, edging out famed bruiserEddie Shore by 3 minutes.^[34] He was equally infamous for using his stick to ward off opponents, liberally dishing out two-handed slashes across the wrists and ankles of those who he felt were being too rough. This resulted in several famous bouts, including one with Hall of Fame defenceman and Maple Leafs strongmanRed Horner.^[35]

After retirement, Stewart spent a period of time coaching thePort Colborne Sailors, where he encountered a youngTed Kennedy in 1942-43. As was the case with Stewart, Kennedy was not a particularly fast skater, but like Stewart he also possessed fine balance and stickhandling ability. Stewart confided in his young trainee that to compensate for his lack of speed, he would need to become an expert playmaker, learning how to work from the corners. He drilled Kennedy prodigiously in passing, as well as how to have an effective net-front presence.^[36][37] These two skillsets would become hallmarks of Kennedy's game, leading him to captaincy of theMaple Leafs, a Stanley Cup dynasty and lasting fame as one of the greatest Leafs to ever play.^[38][39] Stewart's use of an upright lie on his blade also seems to have had an influence on Kennedy, who used a similarly L-shaped stick.^[40]

• Won theHart Trophy in1926 and1930.
• Led NHL inscoring in1926.
• Played in the1934 Ace Bailey Benefit All-Star Game.
• Led the playoffs in scoring in 1926 with six goals and three assists for nine points in eight games.
• Led the league in penalty minutes in1927 with 133.
• Holds the NHL record for fastest two goals (four seconds apart) set on January 3, 1931, against the Boston Bruins (matched byDeron Quint in1995–96).

• Hockey Hall of Fame (2003).Honoured Members: Hockey Hall of Fame. Bolton, Ontario: Fenn Publishing.ISBN 1-55168-239-7.

Notes

• Biographical information and career statistics fromNHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database

• 1899 births
• 1957 deaths
• Boston Bruins captains
• Boston Bruins players
• Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
• Canadian ice hockey centres
• Cleveland Hockey Club ice hockey players
• Hart Memorial Trophy winners
• Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
• Ice hockey people from Montreal
• Montreal Maroons players
• 20th-century Canadian sportsmen
• National Hockey League scoring leaders (prior to 1947–48)
• New York Americans players
• Stanley Cup champions

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata