Edgar Laprade obit

Hall-of-famer Edgar Laprade dies at 94

 

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Hockey Hall of Famer Edgar Laprade has died at 94. Laprade, who spent 10 years with the New York Rangers, captured the Calder Trophy in 1946 as the NHL’s rookie of the year after scoring 15 goals and 19 assists.

Hockey Hall of Famer Edgar Laprade has died at 94.

Laprade, who spent 10 years with the New York Rangers, captured the Calder Trophy in 1946 as the NHL’s rookie of the year after scoring 15 goals and 19 assists.

A four-time all-star, Laprade also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, symbolic of the league’s most gentlemanly player, in 1950, a season that saw him assessed just a single minor penalty in 60 games.

Born in 1919, Laprade spent four seasons with the Port Arthur Bruins and six more with the Port Arthur Bearcats, winning the Allan Cup with the latter in 1939, his second of three appearances in the national senior hockey championship.

Laprade joined the Rangers at 26 in 1945 and was selected to four consecutive all-star games, starting in 1947. He scored a career-high 22 goals in 1949-50 for New York, leading the Rangers to the Stanley Cup final where they were derailed by the Detroit Red Wings in a Game 7 double-overtime classic.

He was named the Rangers MVP in 1949 and 1950, leading the Original 6 squad in goals in both seasons. Described as one of the best stick handlers in franchise history, Laprade retired 11 games into the 1952-53 season to focus on a sporting goods store he owned in his hometown, according to his biography at NHL.com.

He returned to the Rangers in late 1953, playing another season-and-a-half before retiring for good.

Laprade, born in Mine Centre, Ontario and known as the Darling of Port Arthur, was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, and joined the Hockey Hall of Fame 11 years later.

In his retirement from hockey, Laprade also served as a member of city council from 1959 to 1970 and again in 1972 to 1973.