Charlie Conacher

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Lore & Background

Conacher played three years of junior hockey, most notably with the Toronto Marlboros. Playing with future Maple Leafs teammate Harvey "Busher" Jackson, he achieved staggering scoring numbers, leading the Marlboros to the Memorial Cup playoffs in 1928 and 1929. In 28 playoff games with the Marlies in those two seasons, Conacher scored 50 goals, including 28 goals in the 1929 playoffs to lead his team to a Memorial Cup championship. Signed the next season by the Maple Leafs with Busher Jackson, Toronto manager Conn Smythe paired the two with former farmhand Joe Primeau. The trio, nicknamed the "Kid Line" for their inexperience - Primeau was 23, Conacher and Jackson both 18 - became an immediate sensation in Toronto, as Conacher scored his first NHL goal in Toronto's opening 2-2 tie with the Chicago Black Hawks on November 14. Although he missed six games at the end of the season with an infected hand, he finished the season with 20 goals. The following season, Conacher broke into the elite of the league, despite missing a number of games due to a reinjured hand. He scored 31 goals - the first of five times he led the league in goal scoring - and finishing third overall in points to Howie Morenz and Ebbie Goodfellow. The 1932 season saw the team move into the new Maple Leaf Gardens. With Dick Irvin the new coach of the Leafs, the Kid Line shone, leading Toronto to a Stanley Cup championship. Jackson led the league in scoring, Primeau was second and Conacher - used sparingly after his return from his injury - fourth, while once again leading the league in goals and being named to the Second All-Star Team. A broken collarbone sidelined Conacher for weeks in the 1933 season - the only one in a six-year stretch in which he failed to lead the league in goals - but he was once again named to the Second All-Star Team at right wing. The next three seasons saw Conacher cemented among the top players in the game, as he regained his form and led the league in goal scoring all three seasons and in points in 1934 and 1935, being named First Team All-Star all three seasons. Things would change in 1937; Primeau and Clancy retired, while Conacher broke a wrist in training camp. He would only play 15 games that season and 19 the next after suffering a dislocated shoulder. The Detroit Red Wings purchased Conacher in the fall of 1939 for a sum reported to be $16,000. He was opti

In Their Own Story

The 1932 season saw Toronto move into Maple Leaf Gardens, where Conacher faced a trade offer from Chicago for star defenceman King Clancy that manager Conn Smythe famously rejected with a cable stating Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, not in Maple Leaf Gardens. That year, Conacher missed time with a broken hand but returned to help lead Toronto to a Stanley Cup championship under coach Dick Irvin. In an 11-3 romp over the New York Americans, he scored five goals. Although a broken collarbone sidelined him for weeks in 1933—the only season in a six-year stretch where he failed to lead the league in goals—he remained a Second All-Star. He regained his form for the next three seasons, leading the league in goal scoring all three times and in points in 1934 and 1935, earning First Team All-Star honors as the Leafs finished as Stanley Cup runners-up twice. Chronic injuries eventually caught up to him; a broken wrist in 1937 training camp was followed by only 15 games that season and 19 the next after a dislocated shoulder, ending his superstar era.

Reader's Guide

Charlie Conacher was a dominant goal-scoring forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs, known as the "Big Bomber." He was a key member of the Kid Line with Joe Primeau and Busher Jackson, leading the NHL in goals five times and winning the Stanley Cup in 1932. Injuries curtailed his career, but he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Did You Know?

• Conacher led the NHL in goals five times and in overall scoring twice.
• He was named to three NHL First All-Star Teams and two Second All-Star Teams.
• Conacher scored 28 goals in the 1929 Memorial Cup playoffs to lead the Toronto Marlboros to the championship.
• He coached the Oshawa Generals to a Memorial Cup championship in 1944.
• Conacher was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017.