Skip to content

Noel Price: AHL Hall of Fame Defenseman

  • by

1958-59 parkhurst noel price rookie hockey card toronto maple leafs

Sometimes the price guide doesn’t tell the whole story. Listed as a semi-star, the Noel Price rookie card appears as number 6 in the 1958-59 Parkhurst set. The hockey card is valued at $20 in a 50 card set that as a whole is worth $1800, according to Beckett Hockey Monthly. The top hockey cards in the set of Jacques Plante and Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens are each valued at $300. Yet, Price was a bit unsung in the history of the game.

Noel Price – NHL

Between 1957-58 and 1975-76, Noel played 499 regular season and 12 playoff games in the National Hockey League. His career began with the Toronto Maple Leafs and he played with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and Atlanta Flames along the way.

Price was used sparingly in the NHL until expansion in 1967. At 32 years old, he became a regular with the Pittsburgh Penguins and even represented the team at the NHL All-Star game in that first season. In earlier days, Noel played three playoff games for the Montreal Canadiens in 1965-66 as the team captured the Stanley Cup.

Noel Price – Junior and Minor Pro

After four years of junior hockey with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors of the Ontario Hockey Association between 1952-53 to 1955-56, it was off the the WHL and the Winnipeg Warriors for the 1956-57 season. He was selected to the WHL’s Second All-Star Team and was fifth in the league with 142 penalty minutes.


Noel Price Collection

 

 

 

 

 


the following season, Price played for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. He would spend the rest of his career with teams in either the AHL or NHL. With Rochester, Price finished second in the AHL with 153 PIM. His penalty minute totals would shrink throughout the remainder of his career.



His true stardom came in the AHL. Price is the only three-time recipient of the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s top defenseman. He won in 1969-70 with the Springfield Kings, in 1971-72 with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and in 1975-76, his final season in pro hockey, again with the Voyageurs. In each of those three seasons, Noel was also selected to the First All-Star Team.

Price was a member of four Calder Cup winning teams. He won consecutively in 1959-60 and 1960-61 with the Springfield Indians. Additionally, in both seasons when he won the Eddie Shore Award with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, the team was Calder Cup champions.

An interesting note: In 1971-72, Price was traded from the Los Angeles Kings to the Montreal Canadiens. In reality, he was traded from the Springfield Kings to the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. It was the trade that sent the great, but Hockey Hall of Fame denied, Rogie Vachon to Los Angeles, where his NHL career flourished. The following season, Montreal traded Noel to the Atlanta Flames where he had a regular role on defense for three years.

In 2006, the American Hockey League inaugurated their Hall of Fame. Two years later, in 2008, Noel Price, the man who won the Eddie Shore Award and Calder Cup at the age of 40, was inducted.

Noel Price Career Stats

Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM
1952-53 Toronto St. Michael’s OHA 44 0 4 4 120
1953-54 Toronto St. Michael’s OHA 58 6 5 11 157
1954-55 Toronto St. Michael’s OHA 47 4 11 15 129
1955-56 Toronto St. Michael’s OHA 46 10 22 32 84
1956-57 Rochester Americans AHL 1 1 1 2 0
1956-57 Winnipeg Warriors WHL 70 5 22 27 142
1957-58 Rochester Americans AHL 69 4 20 24 153
1957-58 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 1 0 0 0 5
1958-59 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 28 0 0 0 4
1959-60 New York Rangers NHL 6 0 0 0 2
1959-60 Springfield Indians AHL 31 0 6 6 52
1960-61 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 0 0 2
1960-61 Springfield Indians AHL 71 6 21 27 97
1961-62 Springfield Indians AHL 47 4 19 23 75
1961-62 Detroit Red Wings NHL 20 0 1 1 6
1962-63 Baltimore Clippers AHL 68 7 29 36 103
1963-64 Baltimore Clippers AHL 72 6 35 41 109
1964-65 Baltimore Clippers AHL 72 4 35 39 78
1965-66 Montreal Canadiens NHL 15 0 6 6 8
1965-66 Quebec Aces AHL 55 8 20 28 48
1966-67 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 0 3 3 8
1966-67 Quebec Aces AHL 47 3 23 26 60
1967-68 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 70 6 27 33 48
1968-69 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 73 2 18 20 61
1969-70 Springfield Kings AHL 72 10 44 54 58
1970-71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 62 1 19 20 29
1971-72 Springfield Kings AHL 9 1 3 4 6
1971-72 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 64 3 26 29 81
1972-73 Atlanta Flames NHL 54 1 13 14 38
1973-74 Atlanta Flames NHL 62 0 13 13 38
1974-75 Atlanta Flames NHL 80 4 14 18 82
1975-76 Atlanta Flames NHL 3 0 0 0 2
1975-76 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 73 2 37 39 55
NHL Totals 499 14 114 128 333

Subscribe to our newsletter!

* indicates required
Exit mobile version