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Joe Klukay
Joe Klukay is one of the greatest defensive forwards to ever play the game of hockey.
A strong skater with an above average understanding of the game, Joe learned from the legendary defensive forward Nick Metz when he was a rookie in Toronto in 1946. The two formed a very effective penalty killing unit, often using an uncommon tactic back in those days - heavy forechecking while short handed.
"We just concocted a system for us," explained the man they dubbed the Duke of Paducah. "It had to be the easiest, the most effective way to go about killing a penalty. You had one guy going in and we'd try to contain them in their own end. It worked for ten years so we couldn't knock it."
Metz took Klukay under his wing and taught his eventual replacement everything he knew. Klukay, who was a very effective forechecker, using his speed to jump in on defensemen and his dogged determination and strength to thump the blueliner and create turnovers, was a very important cog of the Leafs Stanley Cup championships of that era, 4 all together.
But in true defensive forward fashion of any era, Joe Klukay's accomplishments were probably unnoticed by many then, and almost entirely forgotten about now.
Klukay actually started out as a scoring prospect with the Leafs farm team, but soon found his niche as a checker. But he did chip in offensively, being a regular 10-15 goal contributor in an era when 25-30 goals was really good.
The life of a hockey player often goes in full cycle. Klukay was brought in with the Leafs as part of a youth movement immediately following World War II. But in 1952 Klukay, now a 6 year veteran of the league, was traded to Boston in another Leafs youth movement. Klukay continued to excel in "Bean Town." His most memorable moment as a member of the Black and Gold came in the semi-finals of the 1953 playoffs. Klukay was assigned to shadow the immortal Gordie Howe. Klukay held Howe to only 2 goals in 6 games, a remarkable achievement. However the Bruins came up short in the championship series.
Klukay was traded back to Toronto late in 1954 where he quietly spent another season a half before retiring from the NHL. He however continued to play senior hockey for many more years in the OHA Sr. circuit, most notably with the Windsor Bulldogs.
If you ever had the chance to coach an all time team, choosing players from any era, you couldn't go wrong with picking Joe Klukay as one of your penalty killing forwards.
