A National Hockey League legend was born on this day, and one of the biggest stars of the 1990s found a new home in the west. August 4 also saw several coaching moves and scoring changes in Alberta. So, let’s all step into THW’s time machine on our daily journey through the decades.
JR Heads West
The Los Angeles Kings acquired center Jeremy Roenick, on Aug. 4, 2005, and a third-round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, to the Philadelphia Flyers for future consideration. Roenick became a star during his eight seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring 267 goals and 596 points in 524 games.
Roenick was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996 and had five productive seasons there before signing with the Flyers in the summer of 2001. His season with the Kings was not one to remember. He scored just nine goals and 22 points in 58 games. He re-signed with the Coyotes the following season before playing his final two NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks.
Trio of training changes
August 4, 1977, was a busy day behind the benches. The Kings hired Ron Stewart as their new coach. He was the seventh head coach in franchise history and replaced Bob Pulford, who had led the team for the previous five seasons.
Stewart played 1,353 games as a right wing between 1953 and 1973, winning three straight Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s. He coached the New York Rangers for 39 games in the 1975-76 season. He spent one season with the Kings, went 31-34-15 and lost to the Maple Leafs in the Preliminary Round. He was replaced by Bob Berry.
Also, on this day, the Buffalo Sabers hired Marcel Pronovost as their new head coach, replacing Floyd Smith.
He was the fourth coach in franchise history and went 44-19-17 in his first season. The Sabers defeated the Rangers in the Preliminary Round before losing to the Flyers in the Quarterfinals. Pronovost was fired just 24 games into the 1978-79 season after an 8-10-6 start.
On Aug. 4, 1982, the Detroit Red Wings named Nick Polano, their new coach. He replaced Billy Dea, who coached the final 11 games of the 1981-82 season after Wayne Maxner was fired. Polano went 79-127-34 in his three seasons as a head coach. He took the Red Wings to the playoffs twice but lost in the first round both times.
Polano was replaced by Harry Neale in 1985 and remained with the team as assistant general manager. He was instrumental in the Red Wings acquiring key players from Russia, including Petr Klima, Slava Kozlov, and Sergei Fedorov.
Oilers Nab A Pair of Netminders
The Edmonton Oilers were busy on this day as they scored two different goals. On Aug. 4, 1995, traded their first round picks in the 1996 and 1997 NHL Entry Drafts to the St. Louis Blues for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier.
Joseph went 76-76-20 in three seasons for the Oilers, posting a .902 save percentage (SV%), 2.90 goals against average (GAA), and 14 shutouts. Grier played 448 of his first 1,060 NHL games in an Oilers uniform. He scored 81 goals and 183 points during his time in Edmonton. The Blues used the 1996 draft pick to select Marty Reasoner. They ended up trading the 1997 pick to the Kings, who took Matt Zultek.
Four years later, on Aug. 4, 1999, the Oilers signed free agent goaltender Bill Ranford. This was his second time with the team. He was with the team between 1988 and 1996 and was a starter most of the time. He was among the pipes for the 1990 Stanley Cup champions.
(Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images)
After stints with the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Red Wings, he returned to Edmonton. He appeared in 16 games in the 1999–00 season, his 15th and last in the league. He went 4-6-3 with a .885 SV% and a 3.59 GAA.
Odds & Ends
On Aug. 4, 1995, the Ottawa Senators traded a second-round draft pick in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft to the St. In his two seasons with the Senators, Duchene had 31 goals and 83 points in 140 games. The Blues traded a draft pick to the Sabers, which they used on Cory Sarich. The Senators traded Duchene back to the Blues, in 1997, for Igor Kravchuk.
The Lightning traded Niklas Sundstrom, along with a 2000 third-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks, on Aug. 4, 1999, by Andrei Zyuzin, Bill Houlder, Shawn Burr, and Steve Guolla. This marked the second time in six weeks that Sundstrom was sold. He was traded from the Rangers to the Lightning on June 26, 1999, in a deal that included goaltender Dan Cloutier.
The Rangers acquired defender Sandy McCarthy, on Aug. 4, 2000, to the Carolina Hurricanes, in exchange for Rob DiMaio and Darren Langdon.
McCarthy played 245 games for the Rangers before signing with the Bruins in 2003. He returned for 13 more games in the 2003-04 season after the Rangers claimed him off waivers from Boston. DiMaio and Langdon played in a combined 195 games for the Hurricanes.
On August 4, 2022, the Calgary Flames signed Jonathan Huberdeau to the richest contract in franchise history, signing him to an eight-year, $84 million extension. The previous highest was Sean Monahan’s $44.625 million deal.
happy Birthday to you
There are 13 NHL players born on this day. The first was Alex Wellington back in 1893, and the latest was Lane Pederson in 1997.
One of the greatest players to ever play in the league, Maurice Richard, was born in Montreal on Aug. 4, 1921. He became a hometown legend, scoring 544 goals and 966 points in 978 games for the Montreal Canadiens. Richard became the first player to score 50 goals in a season when he scored 50 in just 50 games in the 1944-45 season. He scored at least 20 goals in 14 straight seasons, and in 1958, he became the first player to score 500 goals.
(THW Archives)
Richard won the Hart Trophy by being voted the league’s most valuable player after scoring 45 goals and 71 points in 60 games during the 1946-47 season. He was a 14-time All-Star and won eight Stanley Cups during his 18-season career with the Canadiens. He retired in 1960 with 544 goals and 966 points in 978 games. The Hockey Hall of Fame waived its standard three-year waiting period and inducted Richard in 1961. Since 1999, the NHL’s leading goal scorer has been awarded the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy at the end of each season.
“Rocket” is not the only Hall of Famer born on this day. Neil Colville was born on Aug. 4, 1914, Edmonton. He played 12 seasons with the New York Rangers between 1935 and 1948, scoring 100 goals and 266 points in 465 games.
Colville starred in “Bread Line” with his brother Mac and Alex Shibicky. They were a big part of the Rangers’ 1940 Stanley Cup championship. Both Colville brothers left the NHL to serve in the Canadian Army during World War II. He returned to Rangers in the 1944-45 season and switched from center to defense.
He retired in 1949 and became the youngest manager in Rangers history the following year. Unfortunately, he was forced to resign during his second season behind the bench due to health issues. After his hockey career, he became a television executive in British Columbia. Colville was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967. He died at the age of 73 in 1987.
Other players who share a birthday today include Wayne Carleton (78), Ilya Sorokin (29), and Nicolas Baptiste (29).
It was originally created by Greg Boysen
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