Frank William "Bill, Flash" Hollett (April 13, 1911 – April 20, 1999) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...

who played 13 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

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 Divi ...

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member ...

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 (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The ...

and

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. Hollett was born in

North Sydney, Nova Scotia North Sydney (Scottish Gaelic: ''Suidni A Tuath'' or ''Am Bàr'') is a former town and current community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Located on the north side of Sydney Harbour, along the eastern coast of Cape Breto ...

, but grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Playing career

Hollett was first noticed by Maple Leafs owner

Conn Smythe Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe, MC (; February 1, 1895 – November 18, 1980) was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing. He is best known as the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Nationa ...

as he was playing lacrosse with

Lionel Conacher Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP (; May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. ...

.Legends of Hockey – NHL Player Search – Player – Flash Hollett
/ref> He apprenticed in the minor leagues before being loaned to the Senators for the

1933–34 NHL season The 1933–34 NHL season was the 17th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nine teams each played 48 games. The Chicago Black Hawks were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Detroit Red Wings three games to one. League business The N ...

. After that - which was the original Senators' final season in Ottawa - Hollett played for the Leafs for a season and a half before being sold to the Bruins for $16,000, at the time one of the highest prices ever paid for a player. Known for his swift skating stride and strong puckhandling ability, Hollett became one of the top offensive defencemen of his day. He played for eight seasons in Boston, and was a star

on the Bruins' Stanley Cup championship teams of

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidde ...

and

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January– August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar E ...

. In

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

, he set a record for goals by a defenceman with 19, a mark he tied the following season, after which he was named to the league's Second All-Star Team. Hollett was traded to the Red Wings midseason in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in No ...

, and the following year broke his own mark for goals in a season by a defenceman with 20Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.23, James Duplacey, JG Press, en route to a citation on the league's First All-Star Team; this record would stand for a quarter-century before being surpassed by

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

Retirement

After his record-setting season, Hollett's offensive numbers declined sharply in 1946, with the previously war-depleted NHL regaining many former stars. In the wake of an acrimonious contract dispute with Detroit general manager Jack Adams, he was traded to the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

, but following his wife's wishes to live closer to home in Ontario, Hollett retired from the NHL. He played for five more seasons in senior leagues, most notably for the

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and later the Ontario Hockey League. The Marlboros ...

, which he led to the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are th ...

in 1950, his last in organized hockey. He coached the Marlboros for a single season in 1951, recording a 19–12–1 record. Hollett retired having scored 132 goals and 181 assists for 313 points in 565 NHL games; at the time of his retirement, he was the highest scoring defenceman in league history. In 79 NHL playoff games, he added 8 goals and 26 assists for 34 points. Hollett was the last member of the original-era Ottawa Senators still active at the time of his retirement.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

*
Picture of 1941 Stanley Cup Plaque
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollett, Flash 1911 births 1999 deaths Boston Bruins players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of English descent Detroit Red Wings captains Detroit Red Wings players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Nova Scotia Ice hockey people from Ontario Ottawa Senators (1917) players Ottawa Senators (original) players People from North Sydney, Nova Scotia Sportspeople from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Sportspeople from Toronto Stanley Cup champions Syracuse Stars (IHL) players Toronto Maple Leafs players