Darryl Glen Sittler (born September 18, 1950) is a Canadian former professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
player who played in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
from 1970 until 1985 for the
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
, the
Philadelphia Flyers and the
Detroit Red Wings. He was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989, the
Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...
in 2003 and the
Canadian Walk of Fame in 2016. In 2017 Sittler was named one of the '
100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
On February 7, 1976, Sittler set an NHL record for most points by an individual in one game when he made ten points (six goals and four assists) against the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
- a record that still stands after more than forty-five years. He also remains the most recent NHL player to score six goals in one game.
Playing career
Toronto Maple Leafs
Sittler grew up in
St. Jacobs, Ontario, and played minor hockey in nearby
Elmira. He was drafted out of the Junior C
Elmira Sugar Kings by the
London Nationals, soon renamed the
London Knights, and played under coaches
Turk Broda and
Bep Guidolin. Sittler was selected eighth overall by the Maple Leafs in the
1970 NHL Amateur Draft
The 1970 NHL Amateur Draft was the eighth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 11, 1970, the day after the 1970 Expansion Draft, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.
The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was ...
. He was named team captain on September 10, 1975, after
Dave Keon
David Michael Keon (born March 22, 1940) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He played professionally from 1960 to 1982, including 15 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. Ke ...
left the team to play in the
World Hockey Association following a contract dispute with Leafs owner
Harold Ballard
Harold Edwin Ballard (born Edwin Harold Ballard, July 30, 1903 – April 11, 1990) was a Canadian businessman and sportsman. Ballard was an owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as their home arena, Maple ...
.
In his first season as captain, Sittler finished the season with 41 goals and 59 assists, being the first Leaf ever to reach the 100 point mark. A few months later, he tied the playoff record for most goals in one game, with five against the
Philadelphia Flyers. That summer, in the inaugural
Canada Cup
The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...
, he scored in overtime to win the final series for
Team Canada over
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
On February 7, 1976, in a game between Toronto and Boston at
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...
, Sittler set an NHL record that still stands by tallying 6 goals and adding 4 assists for 10 points (eclipsing
Maurice Richard's record of 8, set in 1944). All his points were scored against rookie goalie
Dave Reece
David Barrett Reece (born September 13, 1948 in Troy, New York) is a retired American professional ice hockey goaltender who played the 1975–76 season with the Boston Bruins. He posted an NHL record of seven wins, five losses and two ties, with ...
in an 11–4 Maple Leaf victory.
In
1977–78, Sittler's 117 points ranked him third in regular-season scoring behind
Guy Lafleur and
Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier (born July 17, 1956) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the ...
, and also earned him a Second Team All-Star selection. Sittler's scoring totals remained a Leafs record until being surpassed by
Doug Gilmour
Douglas Robert Gilmour (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for seven different teams. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the St. ...
in 1992–93.
The
1978–79 season saw Sittler suffer some knee problems and miss 10 games. It was also the year Leafs owner Ballard fired and then rehired coach
Roger Neilson
Roger Paul Neilson, (June 16, 1934 – June 21, 2003) was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, most notably in the NHL, where he served with eight teams in a checkered career. Known as Captain Video because of his technological contributi ...
, a process which saw Sittler lobby on the players' behalf for Neilson's reinstatement.
Sittler's relationship with Ballard slowly deteriorated, particularly after Ballard hired
Punch Imlach as general manager in July 1979. Imlach and Ballard both had strained relations with
NHLPA executive director
Alan Eagleson
Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler, and he was the first executive director of the NHL Players Ass ...
who, as a player agent, represented more than a dozen Leafs, including Sittler and his best friend and linemate,
Lanny McDonald. Imlach believed Sittler had too much influence on the team and tried to undermine his authority with the players. When Sittler and goaltender
Mike Palmateer agreed to appear on the TV show ''Showdown'', as negotiated by the NHLPA, Imlach went to court to try to get injunction to stop them. When Imlach said he was open to offers for Sittler from other teams, Eagleson said it would cost $500,000 to get Sittler to waive the no-trade clause in his contract. So, instead of trading Sittler, Imlach sent McDonald to the woeful
Colorado Rockies on December 29, 1979. In response, Sittler ripped the captain's ''C'' off his sweater, later commenting a captain had to be the go-between with players and management, and he no longer had any communication with management. Ballard would liken Sittler's actions to burning the Canadian flag.
Through the summer, Ballard insisted Sittler would not be back with the Leafs. But before the start of the
1980–81 season, Sittler and Ballard appeared at a news conference described as "all smiles and buddy-buddy"
["Peace is wonderful, but ...," Frank Orr, '']Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'', September 5, 1980, p. D1. to announce that Sittler would be at training camp. He showed up with the ''C'' back on his sweater, reassuming the role of team captain. Sittler had arranged the talks with Ballard on his own.
The discussions took place with Imlach hospitalized following his second heart attack. At the news conference, Ballard said the real battle had been between Imlach and Eagleson, and Sittler just got caught in the crossfire.
During the
1981–82 season, Ballard considered Imlach's health to be too poor for him to continue as general manager. But even with Imlach gone, Sittler's relationship with the Leafs worsened to the point where he told Ballard and acting general manager
Gerry McNamara
Gerry McNamara (born August 28, 1983) is a retired American basketball player and current assistant coach of the Syracuse University men's basketball team. A former guard for the Orange, he never missed a start in his career which lasted from ...
at the end of November he would waive his no-trade clause if he was sent to the Flyers or the
Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...
. In the first week of December, Eagleson agreed to terms with Flyers' owner
Ed Snider and North Stars' general manager
Lou Nanne
Louis Vincent Anthony Nanne (born June 2, 1941) is a Canadian-born American former National Hockey League defenceman and general manager. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1968 and 1978 and then served ...
. But it took another seven weeks for the Leafs to make a deal. During that time, Sittler added the Islanders and
Buffalo Sabres to the list of teams he could be traded to. On January 5, 1982, on advice from his physician, Sittler walked out on the Leafs, saying he was "mentally depressed" because a trade was taking so long to complete.
Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings
Finally, on January 20, 1982, the 31-year-old Sittler was traded to the Flyers for
Rich Costello plus the
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...
' second-round pick in the 1982 draft (used by the Leafs to select
Peter Ihnačák), and future considerations, which ended up being
Ken Strong. Only Ihnacak would play regularly for the Leafs. In 1980, Imlach had rejected an offer from Philadelphia, who were said to be willing to trade
Rick MacLeish
Richard George MacLeish (January 3, 1950 – May 30, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Philadelphia Flyers, Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit ...
and
André Dupont for Sittler.
With the Flyers in
1982–83, Sittler earned his fourth All-Star game appearance and he returned to the Flyers the following season. Before the
1984–85 season, Sittler was told he would be named the Flyers' team captain. On the day the announcement was to be made—Sittler even had a brief speech prepared—he was instead told by Flyers' newly appointed general manager
Bobby Clarke he had been traded to the
Detroit Red Wings for
Murray Craven and
Joe Paterson. It was this incident that Sittler described as the biggest disappointment of his life. "Clarke can't come close to realizing how much he hurt me, and my family, that day," he wrote in his 1991 autobiography. Sittler contemplated retirement and did not report to the Wings for a few days, but then joined the team. He had an unproductive season, struggling to get ice time under coach
Nick Polano, and finishing the year with the worst goals-per-game average of his NHL career. The Red Wings bought out Sittler's contract after the end of the season. He received a one-year contract offer from the
Vancouver Canucks, but decided to retire.
After retirement from playing
Sittler was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1991, a year after Ballard died, he rejoined the Maple Leafs organization as a consultant under general manager
Cliff Fletcher, and also performs public relations duties for the team on an ongoing basis. In 1998, he was ranked number 93 on
''The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. On February 8, 2003, the Leafs honoured Sittler by adding a banner with his number 27 to those already hanging in the
Air Canada Centre for other Leafs greats. In a ceremony, Sittler, with his three grown children at his side, paid tribute to his wife Wendy, who had died of cancer the previous year.
In 2004, Sittler appeared as himself in a brief cameo in season two, episode two of the Canadian sitcom, ''
Corner Gas
''Corner Gas'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, MTV, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The seri ...
''. The episode centred around the disputed ownership of one of Sittler's
rookie cards.
Vancouver songwriters Dan Swinimer and Jeff Johnson wrote a country song commemorating Sittler's 60th birthday called "The Darryl Sittler Song".
Sittler travels across Canada doing public speaking, autograph signings and appearances for various companies, charities and organizations. Sittler also serves as a director to a number of mineral exploration companies, including Wallbridge Mining.
Sittler was inducted into
Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame (french: link=no, Allée des célébrités canadiennes) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of Canadians who have excelled in their respective fields. It is a ...
on August 23, 2016. On October 15, 2016, number 27 worn by Sittler and Frank Mahovlich was officially
retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with the numbers of 16 other players, to celebrate the team's 100th season.
Personal life
He is the older brother of
Gary Sittler who played five games in the
World Hockey Association during the
1974–75 WHA season.
His son,
Ryan Sittler, was drafted by the
Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, played hockey at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, and represented the United States at the
World Junior Championships on three occasions.
His daughter
Meaghan Sittler played four seasons at
Colby College and on the
United States national women's hockey team.
In July 1980, Sittler presented
Terry Fox with his
NHL All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...
jersey in
Nathan Phillips Square
Nathan Phillips Square is an urban plaza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It forms the forecourt to Toronto City Hall, or ''New City Hall'', at the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street, and is named for Nathan Phillips, mayor of Tor ...
in front of a crowd of over 10,000 supporters. Fox had said Sittler was one of his favourite athletes.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
See also
*
List of NHL statistical leaders
__NOTOC__
Skaters
The statistics listed include the 2021–22 NHL regular season and 2022 playoffs.
All-time leaders (skaters)
Active skaters (during 2022–23 NHL season) are listed in boldface.
Regular season: Points
Regular season: Po ...
*
List of NHL players with 1000 games played
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a major professional ice hockey league which operates in Canada and the United States. Since its inception in , 357 players have played at least 1,000 regular season games, varying in amounts between Patrick ...
*
List of NHL players with 1000 points
*
List of players with 5 or more goals in an NHL game
References
External links
*
Darryl Sittler Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sittler, Darryl
1950 births
Living people
Canadian ice hockey centres
Detroit Red Wings players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Ice hockey people from Ontario
London Knights players
London Nationals players
National Hockey League All-Stars
National Hockey League first-round draft picks
Philadelphia Flyers players
Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks
Toronto Maple Leafs players
People from Woolwich, Ontario