June 10, 1964 - George (Punch) Imlach, who parlayed hockey’s old men into a league title and three Stanley Cup winners for Toronto in the past four years, today made the biggest hit and possibly the biggest miss of the NHL intraleague draft.
After playing a hunch that Dickie Moore can make a comeback and taking the veteran left wing from the Canadiens, Imlach suddenly found Terry Sawchuk on his lap and immediately grabbed the Detroit netminder.
“Moore is a great competitor, and I’m banking on that fact that he can make a comeback,” said Imlach when questioned about Dickie’s knees and the unfavorable medical report that made the Canadiens leave him unprotected.
“With Sawchuk and Johnny Bower, I’ve got the two goalies that played so well in last year’s Stanley Cup finals,” added Punch. “What could be better than that?”
These two Toronto choices were among only seven draftees for the $20,000 fee with the five others being minor leaguers with little or no NHL experience. Chicago and Montreal passed on every round.
Imlach’s drafting of Moore was the most controversial subject after the meetings, the highlight of the four-day hockey get-together which winds up with the new amateur draft tomorrow at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
Sammy Pollock, the Canadiens’ general manager who has been dickering for a good left-winger without success, was asked about his decision not to protect Dickie Moore.
“First, there was the medical report on his knees,” said Pollock, “then the fact that he has been out of hockey a year, and then of great importance was what player we might lose if we protected Dickie.”
Toronto’s draft of Sawchuk, leaving the Red Wings without a proven major league netminder, started new speculation that there will be a Detroit-Montreal trade at some point before the start of the next NHL season.
Minus Sawchuk, the Wings are now left with Roger Crozier as their No. 1 netminder. The 22-year-old played 15 scheduled games for Detroit last season but was hot and cold with an average of 3.40. In five periods in the playoffs last season, he gave up five goals.
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