In 1922, Montreal Canadiens owner Leo Dandurand pulled off one of the biggest trades in the young history of the National Hockey League by trading superstar Newsy Lalonde to the Saskatoon Crescents of the West Coast Hockey League for a young unknown by the name of Aurele Joliat. The trade was so big and shocking that the other teams tried tirelessly to block it, and several changes to the rules were introduced to prevent it from happening again. This is the story of that trade.
Eduard “Newsy” Lalonde, a Franco-Ontarian sportsman made his reputation in lacrosse and hockey as one of the best Canadian professional athletes, even before joining the new National Hockey Association with Ambrose O’Brien’s “Le Canadien” in 1909. Lalonde became a permanent fixture in the formative years of George Kennedy’s “Le Club Athlétique Canadien” (except for a season spent in the new Pacific Coast Hockey League in 1911-12), where he was the team’s first superstar and historically regarded as the team’s second captain following Jack Laviolette.
On October 19, 1921, owner George Kennedy passed away, and his wife was looking to sell the Club. Lalonde reached out to sportsman Leo Dandurand recommending that he purchase the Canadiens, and offered to loan Dandurand money to come up with the sufficient capital to purchase the team. Dandurand turned him down, and instead partnered up with Joe Cattarinich, Lalonde’s former teammate, and businessman Louis Letourneau to purchase the team. Lalonde perceived this as a slight towards him, marking their relationship going forward which would come to the surface quite quickly.
On November 3, 1921, the new owners of the Montreal Canadiens announced that as a first act they have come to an agreement with Lalonde, the captain of the past three seasons, to bring him back as the playing manager of the Canadian Hockey Club (i.e. captain) pending a final contract. Dandurand would be the bench manager, business manager and NHL delegate. Lalonde had not yet completed his contract negotiations with the Canadiens when the training camp started on December 8, but he was on the ice, leading about 16 players through rigorous training exercises.
Dandurand was a stern and difficult businessman, and certainly did not appreciate anyone meddling in his business. About a week into training camp, Tommy Gorman, business manager of the Ottawa Hockey Club, publicly offered the Canadiens $5,000 to buy Lalonde outright, perhaps sensing an underlying discontent. Dandurand accused Gorman of contract tampering and causing problems between their star player and the club. When a player was bought outright in those days, half the selling price would go to the player, and Dandurand believed that Gorman was trying to create a rift between Lalonde and Dandurand by making Lalonde feel like Dandurand was costing him even more money. Dandurand countered angrily saying that they would need to offer a lot more than that, but the damage was done and relationship between Dandurand and Lalonde became terminal.
The Messy Final Season
The 1921-22 season started poorly for the Canadiens, and Lalonde’s rather disinterested performances were among the chief reasons. With only two wins in the first seven games of the year, and dead last in the league, Dandurand was becoming increasingly critical of Lalonde’s leadership. On January 10, 1922, Lalonde sent a letter of resignation to Dandurand, shocking the hockey world.
“I have sent my resignation to Leo Dandurand,” said Lalonde to La Presse, “because in view of certain remarks Mr. Dandurand has made and is reported to have made, to the effect that ‘I have not been doing my best’. I feel that I cannot in justice to myself, remain a part of the Canadien equipment with which I have spent many happy hours, and which I have led to victory so often.
“In resigning, which I am prepared to do for good, for it is not the money that I earn in hockey that is the principal reason why I have gone into it again this year, but the love I bear for the game, I do so with the knowledge that I have always played my very best to win, my very best to keep the hockey reputation of the French-Canadiens near the top of the heap, and my very best to place my club in an honoured and envied position.
“In all the years that I have been playing this is the first time that I have been told that I have not been doing my best. If my hockey has not been up to the standard some people expect it to be, it is not because I have not been trying.
“Do not forget that there are times when a man, no matter how brilliant, does not play as well as at other times, and do not forget that there are times when luck is absolutely against him.”
The resignation came as the team was preparing to leave Hamilton for a game against the Tigers, with whom the Canadiens had developed quite the rivalry, leading to a near riot in their previous encounter. Dandurand told the waiting press at the train station that he would deal with this issue when he returned, admitting that the two “had words”, but declined to go into any further details. If Dandurand avoided giving an opinion, the newspapers certainly did not hesitate to pick a side in the dispute.
Le Devoir mentioned that Lalonde has not been himself for a while. He would miss practices and was rarely seen in a good mood. They wrote that perhaps it was jealousy over young players being praised while he was criticized, or simply a mechanism to renegotiate a contract he viewed as too low for a sportsman of his stature.
The Toronto Star added some further speculation: “It looks as if Lalonde did not take kindly to the general call Dandurand gave the team. Lalonde practically ran the team for the late George Kennedy, and it probably hurts when a new man like Dandurand comes in and reads the riot act to one who has for years been the idol of Montreal, and one of the league’s big drawing cards.”
The Montreal Star wrote a scathing opinion: “Leave it to Newsy to look after the interest of one Edward Lalonde”.
The Gazette wrote bluntly that Lalonde resigning was “little loss to team”.
Generally, Lalonde’s resignation was viewed positively, and with the Canadiens sitting in last place a shake-up was necessary. Strong newcomer Sprague Cleghorn took over the leadership reigns on ice during Lalonde’s absence, captaining two consecutive wins against Hamilton. It would later come out that Lalonde did not appreciate Dandurand signing his dreaded on-ice foe Cleghorn. The two had many bloody battles, and that was something that wasn’t easy to forget. That Dandurand would ironically hand over the reigns of the Canadiens to Cleghorn was likely a fatal slight for Lalonde’s tenure with the Canadiens.
Whereas Lalonde was loud with his reasoning for quitting, Dandurand was quiet and kept his cards close to his vest, not making any statements on Lalonde other than to say that he had an engagement with league president Frank Calder, where the Lalonde case will be dealt with. An indefinite suspension for Lalonde seemed likely and even if he decided to not play again, he would remain on the Canadiens reserve list until his rights were traded or sold by the Canadiens. The deck was stacked against Lalonde.
Rumours began that Lalonde would be traded, either to Toronto or Hamilton, but Dandurand poured cold water on that idea telling the Ottawa Citizen that, “Lalonde will never play again, except with the Canadiens. I haven’t seen Newsy and I don’t know what his intentions are.”
On January 23, two weeks after Lalonde’s resignation, Dandurand and Lalonde finally met in Calder’s office, the first time the two spoke about the situation. There were two meetings that day in fact. First all three men met to present their cases. The second meeting was held with just Lalonde and Calder and concluded with Lalonde withdrawing his resignation and being fully reinstated into the team. Whether Calder calmed Lalonde down or threatened him with a lengthy suspension was never fully divulged, but a disgruntled Lalonde was back in the Canadiens fold, likely against his ultimate wishes.
Lalonde played his first home game after returning on January 30 against the Tigers, where he was met with “a mixed reception from the fans”. He was generally cheered out of respect for what he had done for the team in the past, but the public was clearly ready to move on from their ageing superstar player. The Canadiens finished the season strong, winning seven of the last nine games of the season, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the playoffs as they finished third in the four-team league that season. Lalonde finished the season with nine goals and six assists in 20 games, easily his career-worst season statistically.
The Messy Trade
As soon as the season finished, rumours began to circulate that Lalonde would not return to the Canadiens, either getting traded to Hamilton or perhaps even going out west to play in the Pacific. Dandurand was far from satisfied with the team’s performance and saw the need for a change in leadership. Lalonde himself believed that he would most definitely be staying in Montreal and have a stronger team behind him, showing no desire, at least publicly, for leaving Montreal despite the tumultuous season. Whether it was a desire to mend fences, or simply believing that the Canadiens would go out of their way to make him happy was debatable.
When the officers of the Canadiens Hockey Club met on April 20 for their season debrief to select new officers for the upcoming season and prepare their list of protected players to submit to the league, the case of Lalonde was discussed at length. The following players were submitted to President Frank Calder in order to retain their rights: Newsy Lalonde, George Vezina, Sprague Cleghorn, Odie Cleghorn, Louis Berlinguette, Didier Pitre, Billy Boucher, Edmond Bouchard, and Bert Corbeau from the roster players, and a certain Aurele Joliat among a list of prospects added to the list in order to get their NHL rights (more on him later).
In August, newspapers began reporting that Lalonde would be headed to Saskatoon to be a playing manager, leaving Montreal as he was not satisfied with the treatment handed him by the new owners of the Canadiens. But it was more than just rumour. J.T. McOrmond, vice-president of the Saskatoon Crescents of the Pacific league, travelled to Montreal to begin negotiating directly with Dandurand for the sale of Lalonde, and had a financial deal in place pending waiver approval by the other NHL teams. As the NHL rules stated, a player cannot be sold to a team from another league until the player cleared waivers first.
The NHL meeting at the end of August was quite eventful, as there were reports that the Canadiens tried to get the other NHL teams to waive Lalonde so they could sell him for $4,500 to Saskatoon. Percy Thompson, manager of Hamilton, refused to let Lalonde out of the league, a quid pro quo from the previous season when Thompson tried to sell a player out west and the Canadiens refused on waive on him, and Hamilton put in a waiver claim on Lalonde. Toronto also put in a claim. With the Canadiens unable to clear waivers, Dandurand contacted the Crescents to say that the only way for them to obtain Lalonde would be by exploiting a loophole in the wording of the rule, which was specific to the selling of a player, but said nothing about a trade. Dandurand immediately targeted Joliat who was property of the Crescents.
By the end of September, despite Lalonde not yet being cleared to leave the NHL, Saskatoon had reportedly already begun preliminary contract discussions with him for the upcoming season, reportedly hovering around $5,000, double what the Canadiens were paying him the prior season. The deal was obviously far from being completed as the other NHL teams began complaining loudly that the trade would violate the NHL constitution and should not be permitted by Calder.
In October, the NHL held another meeting, where reports of a three-way trade proposal emerged between Montreal, Hamilton, and Toronto. Montreal would received Joe Malone from Hamilton, Hamilton would receive Reg Noble from Toronto, and Toronto would receive Lalonde from Montreal. This trade proposal was orchestrated by Percy Thompson to try and negotiate something with Dandurand that would allow the Canadiens to receive a player in return and for Lalonde to remain in the NHL, but it was quite evident that Dandurand wasn’t taking the bait. Why would Dandurand accept one ageing veteran superstar for another one? “The other clubs have nothing to say regarding what the Canadiens decide to do regarding Newsy Lalonde,” said Dandurand. “If the team decides to sell him or trade him it’s its own business and nobody can stop us.”
A Newsy Lalonde trade for Aurele Joliat was in the works by Dandurand, but the rest of the league was adamant to stop it, especially Ottawa who recently renounced their NHL rights to Joliat which Dandurand immediately picked up. Gorman made the following declaration: “First of all, Hamilton and Toronto have, in unison, refused to renounce on Lalonde to allow him to leave the NHL, and declared that they would never cede on this point. Secondly, Joliat is not even eligible to play in the National Hockey League for reasons that are well known by both president Calder and Dandurand himself. It was agreed upon last year that we wouldn’t employ Joliat in the NHL and at that time the Ottawa club renounced our rights for this player. Toronto and Hamilton both desire the services of Lalonde, and to obtain him, have offered good players in return. Dandurand won’t get away with the notion that he traded Lalonde for any other player from Saskatoon. He can only sell Lalonde after receiving the unanimous consent of the other NHL teams. We are convinced that Lalonde will instead be part of a three-way deal.”
“Nothing will be able to stop this trade,” retorted Dandurand to Gorman’s declaration.
And so on November 3, on the eve of the annual general assembly of NHL delegates, Montreal announced that the trade was official: Lalonde for Joliat, with no money involved.
The topic of the trade was obviously greatly debated at the assembly, but eventually the trade was approved unanimously thanks to Canadiens president Athanase David who debated in favour of the Canadiens. By the letter of the leagues by-laws, no rules were broken by the trade, since only the sale of a player outside of the league for financial compensation required waivers, but a trade was not specifically mentioned, a loophole that Dandurand exploited to complete the market.
Following the debate that ended in the Canadiens’ favour, a new rule was instantly ratified, that made it compulsory that a club must offer a player to other clubs in the league before selling OR trading him to an outside organization to close that loophole. Another motion proposed by the Ottawa team was that any team asking for waivers on a player must surrender the player immediately in the case of a team refusing to waive him. This closed another loophole that Dandurand did not turn over Lalonde to Hamilton or Toronto when they tried to claim Lalonde off of waivers.
And thus ended Newsy Lalonde’s time as a player for the Montreal Canadiens, leaving as the franchise’s leading scorer. But with one headache resolved, a second one awaited Dandurand immediately–the player he targeted and received for Lalonde, Aurele Joliat, was not eligible to play in the NHL due to a match fixing scandal.
