Most Underrated Hall-of-Famer: Bert Olmstead

The intraleague draft was held every June by the NHL between 1952 and 1975 to help the league spread out its talent, as the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings were the only teams winning Stanley Cups during the Original Six Era. Each year, teams were required to send a list of players to protect, and those who were left unprotected would be allowed to be taken by any other team in the NHL. After 1977, the intraleague draft was replaced by the waivers draft.

The real reason he was left unprotected in 1958 is that a doctor told Olmstead that his knees were shot and he should retire. The Canadiens thought he wouldn’t be able to be close to the same player, but despite having two bad knees, he managed to have four more productive years with the Maple Leafs before retiring as a Stanley Cup Champion in 1962.

To go back to his years with the Montreal Canadiens, Olmstead was a great complementary forward who would provide the team with good depth scoring. His game was characterized as being a power forward, as he would regularly make big hits and win a majority of puck battles. Olmstead was never a strong skater, even before his knee issues, but he was able to compensate for his skating struggles by throwing big body checks.

His style of play on the offensive side reflected more of a playmaking power forward rather than a goal scorer, as during his entire NHL career, he never scored more than 20 goals in a season (with the Blackhawks the year before joining the Habs). The most he scored with the Canadiens was 17 during the 1952-53 season.

However, he regularly recorded 30+ assists when healthy during his time with the team, and career-high 56 assists (NHL record at the time) and 70 points in 70 games during the 1955-56 campaign. 

The best game of his NHL career was on January 9, 1954, when he recorded 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in a 12-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, which tied the record in a game held by his teammate, the legendary Maurice Richard. Their record would stand until 1976 when Maple Leafs forward Daryl Sittler scored 10 points.

Olmstead would finish his 8 seasons with the Canadiens, registering 103 goals, 280 assists for 383 points in 508 games. He would eventually be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

Did you even know that Bert Olmstead was in the Hockey Hall of Fame?