Ernie “Punch” McLean is one of the most intriguing figures in Vancouver hockey history.
As the head coach of the New Westminster Bruins, McLean brought four straight WCHL titles to the city in the seventies and two Memorial Cups. He continued to coach the Bruins through 1987. But his life off the ice was arguably more fascinating than what he did on the ice.
McLean was literally born in a coal mine in 1932 because his parents’ house in Estevan, Saskatchewan was too cold and the mine was the warmest place in town. He nearly died in a plane crash in 1971 — he wrapped a t-shirt around his mangled face and trudged miles through the snow to get help, losing sight in his left eye in the process.
In 2009, at the age of 77, McLean fell down a crevasse and got lost while prospecting for gold, spending five nights in the northern B.C. wilderness with no food or supplies before walking out of the bush where he was spotted by a helicopter pilot who happened to be a good friend of his.
Now 91, McLean can still be found in the Canucks’ press box almost every single game and will readily regale you with stories from the past, such as how he did his best to prevent the Canucks from drafting Stan Smyl.
"The scouts kept saying I was too small and too slow."
McLean was Smyl’s head coach with the Bruins and a big fan of the scrappy winger. Perhaps because of his own background, McLean had plenty of time for a tough kid like Smyl and helped transform his game from a more one-dimensional goalscorer into a strong two-way player who became the captain of the Bruins in his final year.
Despite suffering a fractured skull before the 1977-78 season, Smyl was a beast once he returned to the Bruins lineup, putting up 76 points in 53 games in what happened to be his draft year. He followed up with 14 goals and 35 points in 20 playoff games, then went on to dominate at the Memorial Cup, winning MVP with 4 goals and 14 points in 5 games.
That wasn’t enough to convince NHL scouts that he deserved to be a high pick in the draft, however. Smyl was generously listed at 5’8” and there were concerns that he couldn’t play the same highly physical game against the bigger players in the NHL. He also wasn’t the best skater, which isn’t a great combination with a lack of size.
“I always thought I could make it to the NHL but the scouts kept saying I was too small and too slow,” recalled Smyl. “[McLean] kept telling me, ‘Size has nothing to do with this game. You play hard for me and you’re going to go a long way.’”
That meant Smyl had at least one NHL scout on his side because McLean wasn’t just Smyl’s head coach; he was also a scout for the Detroit Red Wings.
@passittobulis #Canucks draft history: How Stan Smyl nearly became a Red Wing. #vancouvercanucks #canuckshistory #hockeyhistory #nhldraft #nhlhistory #stansmyl ♬ original sound - passittobulis
In the media in Vancouver, McLean said Smyl would be a great draft pick for the Canucks. In scouting meetings with Detroit, however, he pushed hard for the Red Wings to pick Smyl instead`.
"What he brings to a hockey club, it's a lot more than skating ability."
When the 1978 Amateur Draft came around, McLean was still advocating for the Red Wings to take Smyl in the second round. The Red Wings had two picks available in the second round: 28th overall and 31st overall, both of which would be first-round picks in the current 32-team draft.
The 28th overall pick was down to two players: Smyl or Glenn Hicks, a winger from the Flin Flon Bombers who had put up 15 goals and 30 points in 17 games in the WCHL playoffs, right up there with Smyl. Red Wings general manager Ted Lindsay decided that one thing would determine which winger he’d pick: “Who’s the better skater?”
McLean had to admit that Hicks was a better skater than Smyl, so Hicks went 28th overall to the Red Wings. He scored 18 points in 108 NHL games.
A few picks later, McLean again pushed for the Red Wings to draft Smyl.
“Ted, I can’t tell you what the guy’s got in his heart, what he brings to a hockey club,” said McLean. “It’s a lot more than skating ability.”
But Lindsay decided that what the Red Wings needed in their system was a goaltender and took Al Jensen 31st overall. Jensen played 179 games in the NHL, though just one came with the Red Wings. He gave up seven goals on 30 shots in that game.
Lindsay and the Red Wings were planning on taking Smyl with their third-round pick, 53rd overall, but by that time he was long gone.
After drafting Bill Derlago in the first round and Curt Fraser in the second, the Canucks picked Stan Smyl with their third pick: 40th overall in the third round.
From near Red Wing to Canucks legend
Smyl went right to work on his biggest deficiency. He couldn’t do much about being too small but he could do something about being too slow, taking weeks of power skating lessons in the offseason. By the time he came to Canucks training camp, his skating still wasn’t the strength of his game but it was no longer a hindrance. He immediately made the Canucks out of camp on a line with fellow rookies Curt Fraser and Thomas Gradin: the Kid Line.
With his blue-collar work ethic, Smyl became a fan favourite and the face of the franchise. He became the accidental captain of the Canucks for their Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1982 and remained captain until 1990 before handing off the captain’s C to his successor, Trevor Linden.
Punch McLean was absolutely right about Smyl and the Canucks can be very grateful that the Red Wings didn’t listen to him. Smyl played his entire career with the Canucks, tallying 673 points in 896 games, and he became the first player in franchise history to have his number officially retired by the Canucks.
Just two players from the 1978 draft put up more points in their careers than Smyl: first-overall pick Bobby Smith and seventh-overall pick Ken “The Rat” Linseman. Not bad for a third-round pick.
