This Day In Hockey History: Feb 1st

1955 - Hap Day was appointed new General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, just the second G.M. in team history. Day replaced Conn Smythe (who retired), and became the first man to serve as Maple Leafs' captain, coach and general manager.

1965 - NY Rangers' right winger Rod Gilbert (who had been having severe back problems) underwent a spinal fusion operation. He missed the remainder of the 1964-65 season, but came back and played 11 more seasons in the NHL.

1970 - Rangers' Terry Sawchuk recorded his 447th (and final) victory, and 103rd career shutout when New York defeated Pittsburgh, 6-0. Sawchuk's 447 wins and 103 career shutouts were both NHL records at the time of his retirement.

1971 - Philadelphia traded Bernie Parent and a second round pick in 1971 (Rick Kehoe) to Toronto for Bruce Gamble, a future draft pick (Pierre Plante) and Mike Walton. They then sent Walton to Boston, in exchange for Rick MacLeish and Danny Schock.

1977 - Montreal's Guy Lafleur began an NHL-record 28 game point scoring streak, with a goal and three assists, in the Canadiens' 7-3 win over the Barons, at Cleveland. Wayne Gretzky later upped the record to 51 games.

1980 - Rookie Wayne Gretzky scored his first career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Oilers to a 9-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. It came in Gretzky's 50th NHL game.

1985 - Edmonton Oilers signed free agent Craig MacTavish.

1986 - Calgary Flames traded Eddy Beers, Gino Cavallini and Charlie Bourgeois to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Joey Mullen, Terry Johnson and Rik Wilson.

1992 - New York Islanders retired Denis Potvin's sweater #5 in a pre-game ceremony at Long Island. Afterwards the Islanders tied 5-5 with Philadelphia.

1993 - New NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman officially took office.

1997 - Ray Bourque scored a goal and an assist to become the Boston Bruins' all-time scoring leader, with 1,341 points in his 18-year career.

1998 - Calgary Flames obtained Valerie Bure from the Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Jonas Hoglund and Zarley Zalapski.

Happy Birthday to Mark Recchi, Geoff Sanderson, Tommy Salo, Mark Hardy, Patrick O'Sullivan, Tyler Myers, Mike Kitchen and Ladislav Smid.