Errol Thompson (ice hockey)

Loran Errol Thompson (born May 28, 1950) is a Canadian retired ice hockey winger who played most of his NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was selected 2nd (22nd overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1970 Amateur Draft. Thompson is also a former captain of the Detroit Red Wings.[1]

For the audio engineer and dub producer, see Errol Thompson (audio engineer).
Errol Thompson
Born (1950-05-28) May 28, 1950
Summerside, PEI, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Pittsburgh Penguins
NHL Draft 22nd overall, 1970
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 19701981

Junior and senior leagues

Thompson started turning heads at a young age while playing for the Halifax Jr. Canadians of the NSJHL. In the 1967–68 season, he scored 81 points in only 45 games, cementing him as a legitimate scoring winger. However, in 1969 Thompson was still an undiscovered talent playing in P.E.I.'s NBSHL senior league on the Charlottetown Royals for $15 a game when he was spotted by legendary Leaf goalie-turned-scout Johnny Bower.[1] He was drafted 22nd overall in the 1970 Amateur NHL Draft and made his NHL debut in 1970, playing in only one game. He played the rest of that year and the next on Toronto's minor league club, the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League.

NHL career

In 1972, Thompson was called up to play full-time for Toronto and with his blazing speed and scoring touch quickly established himself as a reliable offensive NHL talent. On a Leaf team that lost more games than it won, he scored 32 points in his first NHL season. Thompson began improving with each year and in the 1974–75 season scored 25 goals. Next season, on a line with Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald, he scored 43 goals, becoming the second player in Leaf history, after Frank Mahovlich, to score 40 goals in a season. The Thompson-Sittler-McDonald line became well known throughout North America after Sittler set an NHL record with ten points in one game on February 7, 1976.

After breaking his arm in the 1976–77 season, Thompson missed one half of the season but still managed 21 goals. The offensively talented winger began to see less ice time under defense-oriented coach Roger Neilson and was eventually traded with various draft picks to the Detroit Red Wings for Dan Maloney and a future second round draft pick, on March 13, 1978. With Detroit, Thompson continued to produce, scoring 23 goals his first full season and 34 goals the following season. In 1980, he was named co-captain of the Wings, splitting time with Reed Larson. After scoring 26 points in the 1980–81 season he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Gary McAdam on January 8 and played his final 34 games in Pittsburgh.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1966–67Halifax Jr. CanadiansExhib.4728326029
1966–67Halifax Jr. CanadiansM-Cup17159249
1967–68Halifax Jr. CanadiansExhib.4541408155
1967–68Halifax Jr. CanadiansM-Cup11671312
1968–69Halifax Jr. CanadiansMaJHL3011182925
1969–70Charlottetown RoyalsNBSHL2013233631340
1970–71Tulsa OilersCHL6515142937
1970–71Toronto Maple LeafsNHL10000
1971–72Tulsa OilersCHL46212142301346108
1972–73Toronto Maple LeafsNHL681319328
1973–74Toronto Maple LeafsNHL567815620110
1974–75Toronto Maple LeafsNHL652517421260009
1975–76Toronto Maple LeafsNHL7543378026103360
1976–77Toronto Maple LeafsNHL41211637892020
1977–78Toronto Maple LeafsNHL5917223910
1977–78Detroit Red WingsNHL14516272132
1978–79Detroit Red WingsNHL7023315426
1979–80Detroit Red WingsNHL7734144822
1980–81Detroit Red WingsNHL3914122652
1980–81Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL34681412
NHL totals 599 208 185 393 184 34 7 5 12 11

References

  1. "Personalities". The Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved Dec 6, 2009.
Preceded by
Dale McCourt
Detroit Red Wings captain
1980–81
with Reed Larson
Succeeded by
Reed Larson
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