The first ever NHL trade; Sammy Hebert


Thanks to a twitter update from the legendary Liam Maguire, we learn today that the first ever trade in NHL history happened on February 11, 1918. The Toronto Arenas dealt spare goaltender Sammy Hebert to the Ottawa Senators for cash.

Hebert played parts of two games for Toronto in 1917/18 allowing 10 goals for a 7.50 GAA in relief of  Hap Holmes. The Ottawa native would play in the Ottawa National Defense and Ottawa Senior Leagues over the next few years before signing with Saskatoon of the Western League on Dec. 2, 1921. He put up a record of 9-30-2 over two seasons then signed with the NHL Senators at the end of February 1924. He filled in for Hall of Famer Clint Benedict, posting a 4.50 GAA in two full games.

In total, Sammy Hebert played 200 minutes of NHL hockey with a 5.70 GAA. Nothing special, but he still has the distinction of being the first player traded in NHL history.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Interesting piece. The Hebert photo, however, looks like someone cut out his head from one picture and pasted it onto another Toronto player's body. The shadows on the head and face don't match the ones on the body. There's a team photo of the Sens which has Hebert's head and it looks as if the Arena photo has the same head, only looking in the opposite direction.
May 24, 2013 at 4:17 PM
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