I picked up a novelty card off eBay recently featuring Ebbie Goodfellow on the front. It was a fairly recent issue by Millhouse Tobacco depicting Goodfellow on a ‘cigarette card’ – the same size as the original cigarette cards of the 1910’s. The card is nothing more than a novelty and there is no value pegged to it, but it was nice to see the Hall of Fame defenseman recognized so long after his NHL playing career.
Ebbie Goodfellow played in the National Hockey League from 1929-30 to 1942-43, all with Detroit. The first year he played, 1929-30, was the last time the franchise was known as the Cougars.
For the following two seasons, Detroit was nicknamed the Falcons. The Red Wings name came into the world for the 1932-33 NHL season. For the first three seasons, Goodfellow was a forward but moved to defense for the rest of his career.
Over his career, Ebbie played 554 regular season games, contributing 324 points. He was the recipient of the Hart Trophy in 1939-40 as the NHL’s most valuable player. In 43 games, he totalled 28 points on eleven goals and 17 assists.
He was a First Team All-Star in 1936-37 and 1939-40 and a Second Team All-Star in 1935-36. Before moving to the point, Goodfellow finished second in scoring in 1930-31 with 48 points, three points behind league leader Howie Morenz of the Montreal Canadiens.
The Red Wings went to the Stanley Cup finals six times over Goodfellow’s career. They won in consecutive seasons, 1935-36 and 1936-37 then again in 1942-43 with a sweep over the Boston Bruins. Detroit lost to Chicago in 1933-34, were swept by Boston in 1940-41 and went the distance in 1941-42 before falling to Toronto. Ebbie didn’t appear in any playoff games in 1941-42 and 1942-43 but acted as a player coach.
Nearly a decade after retiring as a player, Goodfellow took over as head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks. Ebbie coached Chicago for two years, 1950-51 and 1951-52. In 140 games over the two seasons, the Black Hawks won just 30 games.
In 1963, Ebbie was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame along with 22 others. It was the single highest total of inductees in a season for the HHOF. His number 5 does not hang from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena. Fans of the team have lobbied unsuccessfully to have him honoured. Hopefully, when Niklas Lidstrom’s number 5 is inevitably honoured by the Red Wings, Goodfellow will at least earn a mention. (Update – Lidstrom’s number was retired in 2014 but Goodfellow knows not the rafters)
In 1933-34, four hockey cards were produced that can be considered the Ebbie Goodfellow rookie card. V129 #20, O-Pee-Chee V304B #52, V288 Hamilton Gum #42 and V252 Canadian Gum #25 are all considered RC’s. Valued the highest are the V129 and O-Pee-Chee V304B cards, both at $300.
As for the Millhouse Tobacco card, the value is questionable. I most likely overpaid at $5.99 but I wanted it for its ‘differentness’. It goes along with, say, the Wayne Gretzky Indianapolis Racers card…
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1928-29 | Detroit Olympics | CPHL | 42 | 26 | 8 | 34 | 45 |
| 1929-30 | Detroit Cougars | NHL | 44 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 54 |
| 1930-31 | Detroit Falcons | NHL | 44 | 25 | 23 | 48 | 32 |
| 1931-32 | Detroit Falcons | NHL | 48 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 56 |
| 1932-33 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 40 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 47 |
| 1933-34 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 45 |
| 1934-35 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 44 |
| 1935-36 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 69 |
| 1936-37 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 43 |
| 1937-38 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 29 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 13 |
| 1938-39 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 36 |
| 1939-40 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 43 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 31 |
| 1940-41 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 47 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 35 |
| 1941-42 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 1942-43 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 554 | 134 | 190 | 324 | 511 |
