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Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Harry Percival Watson
Harry Percival Watson
Harry Watson was born on the 6th of May 1923 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and died on the 21st of November 2002. In 1994, Harry Watson was inducted into the National Hockey League Hall of Fame in the veterans’ category, as a star of the 1940s and 1950s deserving of a place in the Hall.
As a left wing Harry Percival Watson played 14 seasons in the NHL on four different teams from 1941 to 1954. At 18, he made the jump to the NHL, with the New York Americans in 1941. He scored 10 goals and recorded eight assists in his rookie year with the Brooklyn club before the Americans disbanded just two years later. The next season he went to the Detroit Red Wings. In his first year there his 13 goals helped the Red Wings finish first overall in the regular season. In the playoffs he was dominant as the Wings beat Boston in four straight games to win Stanley Cup.
Watson spent two years in the Canadian Armed Forces and rejoined the Red Wings for the 1945-46 season, but the next year the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired him, Watson formed a scoring troika that helped the Leafs win the Stanley Cup four times during Watson's nine seasons at Maple Leaf Gardens, giving him a total of five Cup wins in his career.
In 1948-49, Watson led the club in scoring with 26 goals and didn't record a single penalty minute throughout the season. He also scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal that year against the Red Wings. Watson assisted on Bill Barilko's legendary overtime Cup-winning goal in 1951 against goalie Gerry McNeil of Montreal. His time in Toronto didn't last forever, though. After the first eight games of the 1954-55 season, Conn Smythe sold him to Chicago for cash. He played three seasons with the Black Hawks before finishing his NHL career in 1957.
Overall, Watson played in 809 regular-season games in the NHL, scoring 236 career goals to go with 207 assists for 443 career points. Watson's teams succeeded in making the playoffs in nine of the 14 years he played. He also played in seven All-Star games, usually as a member of the Cup-winning team. Following his retirement from the Bisons, Watson jumped full-time into coaching with the St. Catharines.
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