NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs commemorates the 75th anniversary of Gordie Howe’s NHL debut with a column discussing Mr. Hockey’s lengthy career:
A native of Floral, Saskatchewan, Howe had arrived in Detroit with one year of professional hockey to his name, having scored 48 points (22 goals, 26 assists) in 51 games with Omaha in 1945-46. His United States Hockey League contract of $2,700 had been bumped by Adams to $5,000 for 1946-47, $3,500 if he was returned to the minors.
“That may seem like a ridiculous sum by today’s standards,” Howe said in 1999. “But it was about standard for a rookie at the time, and certainly far more than I, or my father, had ever earned.”
A signing bonus — a Red Wings jacket that Howe had coveted — was late in coming. Only after timidly reminding Adams about it was he given the go-ahead to pick one out, escorted on a shopping trip by teammates Ted Lindsay and Marty Pavelich.
“The material was smooth on the outside, like satin, and it had leather sleeves with ‘Red Wings’ written on it,” he remembered. “Every time I put on that sharp-looking jacket, I felt a bit more like I belonged.”
Over the next quarter-century with the Red Wings, Howe would become known as Mr. Hockey, his remarkable feats still the thing of legend more than five years after his death June 10, 2016 at the age of 88.
His career spanned 32 seasons — 26 in the NHL, six in the WHA — with a one-game contract signed Oct. 3, 1997 with Detroit of the International Hockey League seeing him become the first player to skate in six decades.
