Billy coutu NHL banned for life, The 30-game suspension handed last week to New York Islanders winger Chris Simon is being described as the most severe punishment ever meted out by the National Hockey League against one of its players.
That's subject to debate.
On April 13, 1927, Boston Bruins defenceman Billy Coutu attacked referee Jerry Laflamme in an Ottawa rink corridor following Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, the Senators having just won the league championship, and was suspended for life by NHL president Frank Calder.
While the rugged native of North Bay, Ont., was reinstated five years later at the request of the Montreal Canadiens, for whom Coutu had played eight of his 10 NHL seasons, he never again saw action in the league.
It is impossible, then, to quantify the precise length of Coutu's suspension. But as an NHL-quality defenceman, he did play another 158 pro games over the next four seasons, so the argument can be made that Simon's 30 games pale in comparison.
Wilfrid (Billy) Arthur Coutu - Beaver, by nickname - was new to the Boston Bruins in 1926-27, having been a Canadien from his first days as a pro. He debuted with the National Hockey Association club in 1915-16, then joined the newborn NHL team a year later when it retained his rights upon the NHA's folding.
Coutu would nearly die a Canadien, one of five players gravely stricken and hospitalized in Seattle by the Spanish flu pandemic that took the life of Montreal defenceman Joe Hall, millions worldwide, and cancelled the 1919 Stanley Cup final.
But Coutu, a strapping 190 pounds on his five-foot-11 frame, recovered and played another season for the Canadiens before he was loaned to the NHL's Hamilton Tigers in 1920-21, leading the league that season with 95 penalty minutes in 24 games.
He returned to Montreal in 1921-22 and was a Canadien for another five years, scoring 24 goals in 180 total games while helping the team win the 1924 Stanley Cup, the second in club history and its first in the NHL.
Wearing No. 9, Coutu was named Canadiens captain in 1925-26, replacing Sprague Cleghorn. But before the next season he was deemed expendable and dealt to the Bruins for defenceman Amby Moran, ultimately a 12-game Canadien.
In Boston, Coutu famously clashed heads in a practice with hardrock teammate Eddie Shore, the collision shearing an ear from Shore's skull.
One of the toughest and nastiest men of his day, Shore sniffed at the suggestion of anesthetic, using a mirror to watch a doctor sew the ear back on, but he did charge that Coutu had used his stick as a scythe to cause the damage. The Bruins fined Coutu $50, money later refunded when Shore changed his story.
Boston and Ottawa met in the 1927 Stanley Cup final, playing to a goalless tie to begin. The Senators beat the Bruins 3-1 in Game 2, then tied Boston 1-1 back in Ottawa before winning the Cup on home ice with a 3-1 victory.
The final game deteriorated as it wore on, Ottawa's Hooley Smith butt-ending Boston's Harry Oliver in the face. Shore pummelled Smith, a notorious hothead, for his stickwork, while Bruins' Lionel Hitchman and Ottawa's George Boucher drew match penalties for fighting.
Coutu pursued referee Laflamme and his assistant, Bell, into the corridor at the final bell, flattening the former and challenging the latter. History suggests he was acting on the orders of Bruins boss Art Ross.
NHL president Frank Calder took notes on the scene and threw Coutu out of the league for life, fining him $100 as well. Other fines totalling $250 were donated to charities in both cities, and Ottawa's Smith, soon traded to the Montreal Maroons, was suspended for a month.
The press hailed Calder for his iron-fisted action, as did the league governors who met a month later. The Bruins didn't utter a syllable of protest against Coutu's lifetime ban, not that they or fellow team owners had any say, having yielded to Calder's demand that the NHL's first president have absolute power.
Coutu would languish in the minor pros, bitter and without remorse. A year after his NHL ban was handed down, by now with the New Haven Eagles of the Can-Am league, he bludgeoned Boston Tigers' George Redding with a stick in the head.
But in March 1932, a year after Coutu had hung up his skates, his NHL ban was lifted after Canadiens boss Leo Dandurand made a plea to fellow governors on his behalf. Coutu coached the Can-Am circuit's Providence Reds from 1932-34 and left the game. He died in 1977 at age 85, the only player in NHL history to be thrown out of the league.
As usual, the omnipotent Calder had made his point. But in reflection, Coutu's lifetime expulsion was wildly excessive.
On Feb. 20, 1931, the Bruins' Eddie Shore slugged referee Cooper Smeaton after being assessed a penalty for tripping.
Calder reviewed the incident and suspended Shore - for a single game.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Billy coutu NHL banned for life
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