Wiseman, originally a Detroit Red Wings, joined the New York Americans in 1935. Over the next 4 years he and Gene Carr battled for top billing on the Amerks right wing. Relying on his speed as his main weapon, Wiseman scored 12, 14, 18 and 12 goals respectively.
Wiseman, who was born in Newcastle, New Brunswick but hailed from Regina, Saskatchewan, was traded to Boston part way through the 1939-40 season. Who was the player he was traded for? The legendary Eddie Shore. The Bruins were just looking to dump their aging and increasingly cantankerous star. Wiseman was not exactly fair trade value, but the Bruins took him anyways. The New York Times described Wiseman as a "no better than average hockey player."
The Bruins did not regret acquiring Wiseman. He played well in Boston, especially in the following season. After a strong regular season that saw him score 16 times and assist on 24 others (6th best total in the NHL) for a career best 40 points, he led all NHL shooters with 6 playoff goals as the Bruins won the 1941 Stanley Cup.
Wiseman would play one more year in the NHL before World War II interrupted and, for all intents and purposes, ended his hockey carer. He served with the Royal Canadian Air Force out of Saskatoon while also playing senior hockey with the Air Force team.
When all was said and done, Eddie Wiseman played in 454 NHL games, scoring 115 goals and 165 assists for 280 points. In the playoffs he added 10 goals and 20 points in 45 contests.
Wiseman, who was also noted for his ability on the golf course, would go on to coach junior hockey in Saskatchewan. He would also serve as the Bruins western Canada scout. He eventually settled in Red Deer, Albert and opened real estate and insurance businesses.
Eddie Wiseman died in Red Deer on May 4th, 1977.
3 comments:
Wiseman played on a line with Bill Cowley and Roy Conacher. Mel Hill was demoted off of this line and Wiseman was brought up. Not to take anything away from Wiseman but Conacher and Cowley were great players and many players' stats escalated when placed on their line. The Bruins' 2nd line Cowley-Conacher- (and whoever) were as great or greater offensively as/than the Kraut line.
The Cowley-Wiseman-Conacher line was known as the Three-Gun Line.
"Whoever plays on the wing with him always finishes well up in the scoring, but Cowley forms a perfect line with Conacher and Wiseman. All are fast, while Conacher is deadly accurate with his shot and Wiseman has an uncanny ‘sixth sense’ in following the play.” (Cooney Weiland on Bill Cowley.)
Eddie Wiseman led the team in playoff goals in the year that they won their 3rd Stanley Cup (1941) with 6 goals in 11 games. He finished 2nd in points with 8.
Bill Cowley Quote:
“I’m going to win the championship,” “But,” went on Bill, “if I don’t win it, then you can quote me as saying that the winner will be a guy named Roy Conacher. And he and another fellow named Eddie Wiseman are two reasons why I think I am going to do it again. Those fellows can plug goals from anywhere. All you have to do is feed them the puck and bang! She’s in. So it makes things kind of easy for me, doesn’t it? All I do is get the faceoff, give the puck to Wiseman or Conacher and I get the assist. Forty-five of those, that’s less than one a game - and I got 45 assists. Which puts me even with my record for assists last year. Then all I gotta do is bag 17 goals and there I am.
“Tell me another center who’s lucky enough to play with two wings like Conacher and Wiseman. There is none. Not in this league or any other league.”
One of the picturesque names coined for a NHL forward line has been pinned on the Cowley-Wiseman-Roy Conacher trio of the champion Boston Bruins. They have been termed the Three Gun Line, because each of the three snipers possesses extraordinary scoring powers.
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