Leaf of the Day - Mar 23, 2009 - Walt Poddubny

by 1967ers on Mar 23, 2009 12:30 PM EDT

Mar 23, 2009 - Walt Poddubny

By now, most everyone has heard the news of Walt Poddubny's passing over the weekend. There isn't an official cause of death that I've heard, but sudden collapses at age 49 tend to be caused by a limited number of things.

I was listening this morning to Howard Berger on the FAN, and the things he remembered about Poddubny were the same things I remembered (well, aside from the going out for beers part, which I certainly never did). He presented Walt as a talented player and a genuinely good guy, and it's a shame to lose him so soon.

Walt came to the Leafs in a 1982 trade for Laurie Boschman and in his first full season, he and Peter Ihnacak set a record for goals by a Leaf rookie with 28. He got into injury troubles the next season and through one injury or another, he ended up losing most of his next two seasons. His biggest moments came in his last season, 1985-86.

For whatever reason, Walt had spent a lot of 1985-86 in the minors. The Leafs had added a lot of young guys up front (Clark, Thomas, Fergus, Courtnall, Leeman, Stastny, Hodgson - well, Stastny wasn't young) to augment their existing group (Ihnacak, Frycer, Vaive, Daoust) and maybe there just wasn't room for another scorer, I don't know. People had been somewhat down on Poddubny the previous couple of years, the knock being that he would dog it at times. At any rate, he did finally get that callup. He'd been tearing it up in St. Catherines and when he did get to see NHL action, he was a point-per-game player here, too.

After finishing dead last the year before, the Leafs made the playoffs and drew Chicago in the first round. Chicago had finished 29 points ahead of Toronto, but the Leafs had played them well all season long. The first round was a best-of-five then (this was the last year of that) and the Leafs had to play the first two in Chicago Stadium. They won them both, with Poddubny scoring a huge goal in one of them (winner in Game 2, IIRC, but I might not). They finished the sweep on home ice in Game 3, and it was the first Leaf playoff series win that I remember seeing.

That summer, the Leafs changed coaches (Maloney had the nerve to want a two-year deal) and Brophy came in. The Leafs traded Poddubny to the Rangers for Mike Allison, who was also hurt a lot and was basically a checker who would score in the single-digits. Poddubny scored 40 and 38 as a Ranger, then another 38 as a Nordique before his knees gave out. Not the best of deals, but, well, there were a number of those.

Rest in peace, Walt.

Walt's stats:

1978-79	Thunder Bay Kings	TBAHA
1978-79	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL	20	11	11	22	12
1979-80	Kitchener Rangers	OMJHL	19	3	9	12	35
1979-80	Kingston Canadians	OMJHL	43	30	17	47	36		3	0	2	2	0
1980-81	Milwaukee Admirals	IHL	5	4	2	6	4
1980-81	Wichita Wind	CHL	70	21	29	50	207		11	1	6	7	26
1981-82	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	4	0	0	0	0	-1
1981-82	Wichita Wind	CHL	60	35	46	81	79
1981-82	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	11	3	4	7	8	0
1982-83	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	72	28	31	59	71	+8	4	3	1	4	0
1983-84	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	38	11	14	25	48	-13
1984-85	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	32	5	15	20	26	+1
1984-85	St. Catharines Saints	AHL	8	5	7	12	10
1985-86	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	33	12	22	34	25	+6	9	4	1	5	4
1985-86	St. Catharines Saints	AHL	37	28	27	55	52
1986-87	New York Rangers	NHL	75	40	47	87	49	+16	6	0	0	0	8
1987-88	New York Rangers	NHL	77	38	50	88	76	+2
1988-89	Quebec Nordiques	NHL	72	38	37	75	107	-18
1989-90	New Jersey Devils	NHL	33	4	10	14	28	-4
1989-90	Utica Devils	AHL	2	1	2	3	0
1990-91	New Jersey Devils	NHL	14	4	6	10	10	+8
1991-92	New Jersey Devils	NHL	7	1	2	3	6	-1
1992-93	EC Bad Nauheim	Germ-2	44	35	41	76	149		9	5	15	20	15
1993-94	HC Fassa	Alpenliga	9	2	3	5	19
1993-94	EC Bad Nauheim	Germ-3	37	40	46	86	115
1994-95	Worcester IceCats	AHL	34	7	6	13	32
1995-96	Daytona Beach Breakers	SunHL
1996-97	Worcester IceCats	AHL
1997-00	Anchorage Aces	WCHL
	NHL Totals		186	59	86	145	178	+2	13	7	2	9	4
	NHL Totals		468	184	238	422	454	+4	19	7	2	9	12

Played in NHL All-Star Game (1989)

- Traded to Toronto by Edmonton with Phil Drouillard for Laurie Boschman, March 9, 1982.
- Traded to NY Rangers by Toronto for Mike Allison, August 18, 1986.
- Traded to Quebec by NY Rangers with Jari Gronstad, Bruce Bell and the NY Rangers' 4th round choice (Eric Dubois) in 1989 Entry Draft for Jason Lafrieniere and Normand Rochefort, August 1, 1988.
- Traded to New Jersey by Quebec with Quebec's 4th round choice (Mike Bodnarchuk) in 1990 Entry Draft for Joe Cirella, Claude Loiselle and New Jersey's 8th round choice (Alexander Karpovtsev) in 1990 Entry Draft, June 17, 1989.
- Resigned as Head Coach of Anchorage (WCHL), June 14, 1999.
- Re-hired as Head Coach of Anchorage (WCHL), November 10, 1999.
- Played w/ RHI's Las Vegas Flash in 1994 (19-21-26-47-32) and Orlando Rollergators in 1995 (10-7-10-17-12).

the HHOF take on Walt:

Walt Poddubny played his junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Kitchener Rangers, and the Kingston Canadiens from 1978 to 1980. His offensive production was adequate but far from stellar. As such, he was drafted 90th overall in the 1980 Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
Poddubny reported to the Oilers camp and put in a solid performance. But the club's all-star lineup was too hard to crack, so he was dispatched to the minors in Wichita where he spent most of the next two seasons, biding his unhappy time.

The Leafs picked him up in exchange for Laurie Boschman in 1982. Poddubny's first full season with the Leafs was quite productive. He nailed down 59 points in 72 games. But then once he was established, criticisms began to surface that he was a floater, guilty of inconsistent play. Then the injury bug struck, forcing him to miss many games during the seasons that followed. By 1985-86, Poddubny's knees were wobbly as he was sent to St. Catharines of the AHL to work things out. He balked at the idea and was then traded to the New York Rangers.

The Rangers made the right move. Poddubny was reborn as a goal scorer. He hit the ice and promptly potted a career-high 40 goals and 47 assists in 75 games. His numbers were similar the following year. In 1988-89, Poddubny was traded to the Nordiques where he continued to put up impressive numbers. But after only one season, he was traded to his final NHL stop, the New Jersey Devils.

In Jersey, Poddubny's knees finally succumbed to the duress of NHL play. His games played and offensive numbers fell off dramatically, leading to his retirement in 1991. He sat on the sidelines for two years and then attempted a comeback with the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL. He lasted only 34 games and then quit for good.

Since leaving the ice, Poddubny has coached in Daytona Beach of the ECHL and in Anchorage, Alaska of the WCHL.

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Probably bad form to post it this way, but so be it.

the link

A man who lived for the game that left him behind
Walt Poddubny had a hard life after the NHL, but was eager to share his story as a cautionary tale for those with hockey dreams. He died before he had the chance

ALLAN MAKI

From Monday’s Globe and Mail

March 23, 2009 at 3:59 AM EDT

The last call came less than two weeks ago. It was from former NHL player Walt Poddubny and he left a message saying he was eager to get started on the story.

“Let’s do this,” he said. “I think it’s important because I know there are guys out there like me who could use some help. Okay? So let’s talk soon. Bye.”

The plan had always been to sit down with Poddubny in his hometown of Thunder Bay and write about his life and the hardships that had befallen him since he left the NHL.

It would be a cautionary tale, he had said over a handful of conversations. He would talk at length about the highs – being a Toronto Maple Leaf and a 40-goal scorer with the New York Rangers – to the lows: being out of the game, too hobbled to hold a regular job, too broke to undergo surgery; a guy who was living in the basement of his sister’s home.

And then the news came crashing Saturday that Walt Poddubny had passed away suddenly. Cause of death: unknown. He was 49.

He was never the most gifted skater or the most dazzling offensive guy on the ice but there was always something about Poddubny that people liked. He wore a trademark mustache, played an honest game and could score. Always, he could score goals.

In his first full year with the Maple Leafs (1982-83) Poddubny became a fan favourite by scoring 28 times, the third-highest total on the team.

In a three-year span that saw him play for both the Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound winger netted 116 goals.

You’d think a guy with that kind of touch would have been paid pretty well. But Poddubny said the most he ever earned was $350,000 (U.S.), good money, but not enough to ensure a well-heeled transition into the rest of his life.

By the time he reached the New Jersey Devils, his knees were mush and ached all the time. He managed just 54 games over three seasons and, by the spring of 1995, at age 35, the professional playing career of Walter Michael Poddubny was done.

So he tried coaching, and for six years he was the hired, fired, rehired bench boss of the Anchorage Aces of the West Coast Hockey League. When he was let go after the 2001-2002 WCHL playoffs, he eventually returned home looking for something, anything, to centre his existence.

Different people had mentioned they were worried about him. He had tried to play shinny a few times but had stopped because of the pain. He was divorced from his wife, wasn’t working. He was also, by his own admission, drinking. How much, only he knew.

“People think if you played in the NHL, you’re set for life,” he once said. “It’s not like that for everyone.”

It wasn’t for Poddubny. He struggled. The game had been his everything and now it had moved on without him. It was a hard lot to accept and we talked about that several times before he realized his situation could serve as a learning experience for others, even today’s multimillion-dollar athletes.

Not long after, Poddubny was told about the NHL Alumni Association and how it assists former players. Mark Napier, the association’s executive director, knew Poddubny and had played against him. Unable to discuss any specifics, Napier spoke in general terms yesterday about how the alumni association exists for those who need it, whatever the reason.

“We do find help for anyone who has drug or alcohol or financial problems,” Napier explained. “There are always local alumni chapters and we started Hockey’s Greatest Family fund. The biggest issue is guys have to realize they need help.”

Poddubny had begun reaching out and was in touch with the Maple Leafs alumni. He’d taken in a game at the Air Canada Centre and said he’d enjoyed being around the action again.

The plan was to sit down with him this summer and talk about those days when he was younger and stronger and completely unaware of what could happen once the calliope stopped and the fans went home. But Saturday night, he went to sleep in the basement of his sister Irene’s home and never woke up. Since then, Irene’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said. “The calls have come from across the country. He was well-loved. He had a great public persona.”

They mentioned his passing on Hockey Night in Canada. There was so much more to tell.

Leaf, the universe and everything.

by 1967ers on Mar 23, 2009 12:48 PM EDT reply actions

i remember P-dub, and that series against the hawks (first leafs playoff series win i witnessed as well), although i don’t remember his huge goal. anyway, pretty sad that things turned out the way they did for him. RIP.

by daoust on Mar 23, 2009 2:38 PM EDT reply actions

Poddubny was my first favourite Leaf, largely because we shared a hometown; in fact, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other recent Maple Leafs who’ve come from Thunder Bay. Hearts and thoughts.

by NWOntario on Mar 24, 2009 12:16 AM EDT reply actions