Thursday

Art Gagne


Art Gagne was a well travelled, 5-foot-7, 160-pound right winger. Described as a scrappy forward, Gagne was best known for playing in Montreal in the late 1920s alongside linemates Howie Morenz and Aurele Joliat. He also played in Ottawa and had brief stops in Boston and Detroit.

The Ottawa born hockey star headed west to start and finish his hockey career. In 1920-21 Gagne joined the Edmonton Eskimos, of the WCHL not the CFL. By 1923 he was traded to the Regina Capitals for Spunk Sparrow. He was soon traded back to Edmonton with none other than Eddie Shore for a couple of guys named Joe McCormick and Bob Trapp.

By 1926 the 29 year old joined the Montreal Canadiens. He was one of nine new faces brought in to help out the Habs. He was described as a sensational star from Western Canada, and the best of the nine newbies which also included Gizzy Hart, Ambrose Moran, Athur Gauthier, Peter Palangio, Carson Cooper, and Léo Lafrance.

Gagne found a home on the greatest line in hockey, helping him fulfill his advanced billing. In the 1927-28 season he scored 20 goals and 30 points in 44 games. He ranked 6th in the entire league in both goals and points that season.

Gagne lasted three seasons in Montreal and another couple in Ottawa, plus the two brief spots in Boston and Detroit.

All told the shifty but temperamental winger scored 67 goals and 100 points in his 228 game NHL career. The pepperpot accumulated 257 career penalty minutes.

In 1932 Gagne returned to west to where it all started, re-joining Edmonton Eskimos where he teamed well with the great Duke Keats. He later coached in Edmonton and with the Seattle Seahawks of the NWHL, not the NFL.

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