Babe Dye

Lore & Background

Dye began his professional ice hockey career with the Toronto St. Patricks in 1919. He became the NHL's point-scoring leader in the 1922–23 season, a feat he repeated during the 1924–25 season. In 1926, the St. Patricks sold Dye's contract to the Chicago Black Hawks. In 1927, Dye suffered a major leg injury during training camp, and did not return to play until the last 10 games of that season. Following that season, he was traded to the New York Americans. Dye's production dropped significantly as a result of his leg injury, and was reassigned to the Americans' minor league affiliate, the New Haven Eagles in 1929. The next year, Dye signed as a free agent with the first professional team he played for, since renamed the Maple Leafs. Dye played six games with the Maple Leafs before he retired from the sport.

While not known as a fast skater, Dye was an excellent stickhandler and possessed one of the hardest and most accurate wrist shots in hockey during his tenure with the league. Almost unique among his contemporaries with the exception of Gordie Roberts and Harry Cameron, he was capable of great precision from long distances, while maintaining unrivaled velocity. Dye scored 12 of his 31 goals from behind the red line, during his third season with Toronto. His release was so quick that, on occasion, his goals would be in dispute because neither the linesmen, referee or goaltender had seen them enter the net. A notable instance of this occurred during the 1922 Final versus the Vancouver Millionaires. Dye's shots were capable of snapping a two-inch thick plank, and Jack Adams recalled seeing several of Dye's drives punch clean through the back-rests of arena seats and even through the 1/8 inch thick boards.

Reader's Guide

Babe Dye's significance in hockey history rests on his extraordinary goal-scoring ability during the NHL's early years. He led the league in goals in three separate seasons (1920–21, 1922–23, 1924–25) and was the NHL's top goal scorer of the 1920s. His 38 goals in the 30-game 1924–25 season set a St. Patricks/Maple Leafs franchise record that stood for 35 years until broken by Frank Mahovlich in the 70-game 1960–61 season. Over his first six seasons in the NHL, Dye scored 176 goals in 170 games. He remains the St. Patricks/Maple Leafs' all-time franchise points per game leader. Dye's four goals in the series-clinching fifth game of the 1922 Stanley Cup Finals made him only the second NHL player to record a hat trick in a Cup-clinching game; his hat-trick feat would not be replicated again for 101 years, and his four goals in a cup-clincher would not be matched for 103. He also holds four NHL records that remain unbroken over a century later. His career was curtailed by a broken leg suffered in training camp before the 1927–28 season; over his final 58 games in the NHL after that injury, Dye scored just one goal. Dye was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1970.

Did You Know?

• He was also a professional baseball player with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Bisons, and Baltimore Orioles of the International League.
• Dye credited his goal-scoring abilities to his mother, who built him an outdoor rink and ensured he completed skating and shooting drills.
• He was a halfback for the Toronto Argonauts, a Canadian football team.