1967-68 was the first year of the expansion era in the National Hockey League, marking the end of the ‘Original 6’ and the start of a watered down product. The six new teams were crammed into the newly formed West Division, despite one of the teams being a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean and east of three teams in the East Division.
No player from the six new teams ranked in the top ten for goals, assists or points. However, in the penalty minutes department, players from the new teams had a chance to shine through.
Among the top five sin bin inhabitants, two came from the St. Louis Blues and two from the Philadelphia Flyers. Far from the team that made up the ‘Broad Street Bullies’, the Flyers proved to be pretty badass in their first year of existence with three of the eight most penalized players in the league.
What follows is the top five bad boys in the National Hockey League for the 1967-68 season. The hockey cards are from the following season, 1968-69, for a few reasons. As mentioned in previous articles, the accomplishments from one year are always celebrated in the hockey cards of the following year. Another reason is that the 1967-68 Topps set did not include the six new teams.
Barclay Plager of the St. Louis Blues led the NHL with 153 PIM while only playing in 49 of the team’s regular season games. Plager added 73 more minutes in eighteen playoff games as the Blues reached the Stanley Cup finals before being swept by the Montreal Canadiens. 1967-68 was Barclay’s rookie year in the NHL after several years in the minors. He played with St. Louis until the 1976-77 season.
Don Awrey of the Boston Bruins was the only East Division player in the top 5. Awrey sat 150 minutes while playing in all of Boston’s 74 regular season games. Don played in the NHL from 1963-64 to 1978-79 with the Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Colorado Rockies. The 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee card of Awrey pictured above is actually an error card. The picture is actually Skip Krake.
Noel Picard of the Blues finished third with 142 PIM while playing 66 games. Picard saw his first NHL action in 1964-65, playing 16 games on the points with the Montreal Canadiens. However, it wasn’t until 1967-68 that he became a regular. Picard played in the NHL until the end of the 1972-73 season, all with the Blues with exception of the last half of his final season which was spent with the upstart Atlanta Flames. The hockey card pictured above is from the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set, his rookie card.
Ed Van Impe was in his second NHL season when he finished fourth in 1967-68 with 141 PIM over 67 games. He played the 1966-67 season with the Chicago Black Hawks before the better part of nine seasons in Philadelphia. He was shipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins midseason 1975-76 and retired after the following season.
Gary Dornhoefer rounded out the top five with 134 PIM in 65 games with the Flyers. Gary had played sporadically with the Boston Bruins since the 1963-64 season but became a regular with the 1967-68 Flyers. He spent the rest of his NHL career in Philadelphia, retiring after the 1977-78 season.