Calvin Parker MacDonald (June 14, 1933 — August 17, 2017) was a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for five

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

teams between 1953 and 1969. He later coached the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

and the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

Playing career

MacDonald played in the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

for the

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and later the Ontario Hockey League. The Marlboros ...

in the 1951–52 season and starting turning heads. He was a natural goal-scorer but the management felt he needed time to blossom. He made his NHL debut in 1952, playing one game for the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. The management liked what they saw and promoted MacDonald to the AHL the following season. There MacDonald played for the

Pittsburgh Hornets The Pittsburgh Hornets were a minor-league professional men's ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contrary to popular belief, the Pittsburgh Hornets did not evolve from the International Hockey League's Pittsburgh Shamrocks. The ...

until he finally earned full-time status with the Leafs in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. After that season the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

plucked MacDonald from the Leafs' roster in the Intra-League Draft, where he continued to be shuffled between the Rangers and their AHL affiliates. When New York finally gave up on MacDonald, he sought out a doctor to examine his chronically sore shoulder and was surprised to find that a chunk of metal was still embedded in it, the result of a broken drill left in him from a previous

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. Following this news, the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

decided to take a chance and grabbed MacDonald in the 1960 Intra-League Draft. That season he found his stride and reached his full potential playing

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

on a line with

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

and

Alex Delvecchio Alexander Peter "Fats" Delvecchio (born December 4, 1931) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager who spent his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Detroit Red Wings. In a playing caree ...

of the famed "Production line". He had a career year in the 1962–63 season when he scored 33 goals with eight of those being game winning goals. MacDonald would remain with the Wings until May 31, 1965 when he was traded to the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

along with

Albert Langlois Joseph Albert Oliver "Junior" Langlois (November 6, 1934 – September 19, 2020) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with four teams between 1958 and 1966. Langlois started his NHLcareer with the Montrea ...

, Ron Harris and

Bob Dillabough Robert Wellington Dillabough (April 24, 1941 – March 27, 1997) was a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey centre (ice hockey), centre who played 283 games in the National Hockey League and 72 games in the World Hockey Association. Born i ...

for

Ab McDonald Alvin Brian McDonald (February 18, 1936 – September 4, 2018) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Career Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, McDonald began his professional hockey career with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey L ...

Bob McCord Robert Lomer "Bob" McCord (March 20, 1934 – October 21, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 316 games in the National Hockey League between 1963 and 1973. He played for the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings, St. ...

and

Ken Stephanson Ken Stephanson (November 13, 1941 – December 1, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 106 games in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Nationals The Ottawa Nationals were a profess ...

, only to be traded back for

Pit Martin Hubert Jacques "Pit" Martin (December 9, 1943 – November 30, 2008) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who served as captain for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1975 to 1977. He was an NHL All-Star and ...

after just half a season. During the 1967 Expansion Draft, MacDonald was chosen by the

18th overall. He would contribute 62 points, including 9 in the playoffs to the Stars in two seasons. He retired in 1969, with 323 career NHL points in 676 games played.

Coaching

Following his retirement, MacDonald became a player-coach for the

Iowa Stars The Iowa Stars, later known as the Iowa Chops, were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. The club was based in Des Moines, Iowa at the Wells Fargo Arena. History The Stars were founded by Howard Baldwin, of Hockey Holdi ...

of the Central Hockey League and led them to a 35–26–11 record, losing in the finals. He moved on to coaching full-time with the

New Haven Nighthawks The New Haven Nighthawks were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1992. They had affiliations with the Minnesota North Stars (1972–1977), New York Islanders (1972–1973), New York Rangers (19 ...

for a year and then returned to his former team in the NHL, Minnesota, as head coach. He performed well with the North Stars but decided to return to coaching the Nighthawks, as the pressure was too great. He would coach the Nighthawks for the next five seasons, always with a winning record but always losing in the playoffs, including losing in the finals twice. He even received the

Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award The Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award is an American Hockey League (AHL) trophy awarded annually to the most outstanding coach during the season, as voted upon by members of the AHL media. The award is named for Louis Pieri, a long-time contributo ...

for the AHL's best coach after the 1978–79 season. He decided to give the NHL one more shot as he accepted an assistant coaching position for the

in 1980 followed by the head coach position in the 1981–82 season. MacDonald retired midway through the season with a record of 13–24–5.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Coaching record

Awards

* AHL Second All-Star Team (1956, 1960) * Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award (1978–79) * Elected to the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame (1987).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Parker 1933 births 2017 deaths Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey left wingers Canadian people of Scottish descent Boston Bruins players Buffalo Bisons (AHL) players Detroit Red Wings players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Nova Scotia Los Angeles Kings coaches Minnesota North Stars coaches Minnesota North Stars players New York Rangers players People from Sydney, Nova Scotia Pittsburgh Hornets players Providence Reds players Sportspeople from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Springfield Indians players Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto Marlboros players