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Mike Walton
Michael Robert Walton (born January 3, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Walton played forward in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1965 until 1979.
Walton was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, but his family lived a transient existence during his youth before settling north of Toronto, Ontario. They operated a restaurant/garage in Sutton, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the city. He inherited his nickname "Shakey" from his father, Bob Walton, who would shake his head to throw off opponents as a hockey player in England.[citation needed]
He spent each of his first two years of junior hockey with the only two champions in the Metro Junior A League's brief history. He first attended St. Michael's College School on a partial scholarship. When the Majors' famous hockey program was discontinued after the 1961–62 season, Walton and the rest of the players were transferred to Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School, where he scored 22 goals in 38 games for the Maroons in 1962–63.[citation needed]
He became a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs' talent pipeline when he joined its Ontario Hockey Association farm team, the Marlboros, where he was the club's second leading scorer with 92 points (41 goals, 51 assists) in 53 games, while helping them win the league championship and Memorial Cup in 1964. He then earned back-to-back minor league Rookie of the Year honours, first with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Professional Hockey League (CPHL) in 1965, then with the Calder Cup-winning Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 1966.[citation needed]
Walton made his Leafs debut in 1965–66, appearing in only six matches. He established himself on the veteran-dominated team midway through the next campaign. Working exclusively on power-play situations, he scored four goals with three assists while playing in all twelve games of Toronto's postseason run to the 1967 Stanley Cup Championship. He was the club's leading scorer with 59 points (30 goals, 29 assists) in 1967–68, his first full season in the league and most productive with the Leafs.
His time with the Leafs was marred by constant conflict with head coach Punch Imlach and team president Stafford Smythe. Prior to his dismissal in April 1969, the domineering Imlach, disdainful of younger players, clashed with Walton over his hairstyle and bombarded him with negative comments about his on-ice performance. Also at issue was the fact that Walton's agent was Alan Eagleson, who helped establish the NHL Players' Association. Further complicating matters was Walton's marriage to Smythe's niece, and Conn Smythe's granddaughter, Candace. When an independent psychiatrist appointed by the NHL diagnosed Walton with depression in the middle of the 1970–71 season, his departure from the Leafs was imminent.[citation needed]
Walton was traded by Toronto to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins as part of a three-way deal which also involved the Philadelphia Flyers on January 31, 1971. The Maple Leafs received Bernie Parent and a second-round pick in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft (Rick Kehoe) from the Flyers who got Bruce Gamble and a first-round selection (Pierre Plante) in the same draft from the Leafs and Rick MacLeish and Danny Schock from the Bruins.
Walton blended in well with the Bruins' prolific scorers led by Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr, his business partner at the time with the Orr-Walton Sports Camp in Orillia, Ontario. He became a part of his second Championship when the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers in the 1972 Finals.[citation needed]
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Mike Walton
Michael Robert Walton (born January 3, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Walton played forward in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1965 until 1979.
Walton was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, but his family lived a transient existence during his youth before settling north of Toronto, Ontario. They operated a restaurant/garage in Sutton, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the city. He inherited his nickname "Shakey" from his father, Bob Walton, who would shake his head to throw off opponents as a hockey player in England.[citation needed]
He spent each of his first two years of junior hockey with the only two champions in the Metro Junior A League's brief history. He first attended St. Michael's College School on a partial scholarship. When the Majors' famous hockey program was discontinued after the 1961–62 season, Walton and the rest of the players were transferred to Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School, where he scored 22 goals in 38 games for the Maroons in 1962–63.[citation needed]
He became a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs' talent pipeline when he joined its Ontario Hockey Association farm team, the Marlboros, where he was the club's second leading scorer with 92 points (41 goals, 51 assists) in 53 games, while helping them win the league championship and Memorial Cup in 1964. He then earned back-to-back minor league Rookie of the Year honours, first with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Professional Hockey League (CPHL) in 1965, then with the Calder Cup-winning Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 1966.[citation needed]
Walton made his Leafs debut in 1965–66, appearing in only six matches. He established himself on the veteran-dominated team midway through the next campaign. Working exclusively on power-play situations, he scored four goals with three assists while playing in all twelve games of Toronto's postseason run to the 1967 Stanley Cup Championship. He was the club's leading scorer with 59 points (30 goals, 29 assists) in 1967–68, his first full season in the league and most productive with the Leafs.
His time with the Leafs was marred by constant conflict with head coach Punch Imlach and team president Stafford Smythe. Prior to his dismissal in April 1969, the domineering Imlach, disdainful of younger players, clashed with Walton over his hairstyle and bombarded him with negative comments about his on-ice performance. Also at issue was the fact that Walton's agent was Alan Eagleson, who helped establish the NHL Players' Association. Further complicating matters was Walton's marriage to Smythe's niece, and Conn Smythe's granddaughter, Candace. When an independent psychiatrist appointed by the NHL diagnosed Walton with depression in the middle of the 1970–71 season, his departure from the Leafs was imminent.[citation needed]
Walton was traded by Toronto to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins as part of a three-way deal which also involved the Philadelphia Flyers on January 31, 1971. The Maple Leafs received Bernie Parent and a second-round pick in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft (Rick Kehoe) from the Flyers who got Bruce Gamble and a first-round selection (Pierre Plante) in the same draft from the Leafs and Rick MacLeish and Danny Schock from the Bruins.
Walton blended in well with the Bruins' prolific scorers led by Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr, his business partner at the time with the Orr-Walton Sports Camp in Orillia, Ontario. He became a part of his second Championship when the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers in the 1972 Finals.[citation needed]