There are those that deserve to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are those that take up a questionable spot in the Hall. There are those that maybe should be there but are standing just outside the door at Yonge and Front in Toronto.
Tod Sloan is definitely in that third group. Memorial Cup and Stanley Cup champion. World Championships silver medalist. Scoring leader that competed with the big boys like Richard and Howe. Sloan’s career in hockey goes quite underrated.
Tod Sloan – Junior and Minor Pro
Born in Quebec, Sloan played his major junior hockey in Ontario with Toronto St. Michael’s. He excelled in the OHA for two seasons, 1944-45 and 1945-46, being the first ever recipient of one of the OHL’s most important awards.
In 1944-45, Tod scored 21 and assisted on 16 for 37 points over just 19 regular season games with the Joe Primeau coached St. Mikes. In the Robertson Cup playoffs, Sloan was on fire with ten goals and 20 points over nine games.
The run to the Memorial Cup was different back then with an Eastern Canada and Western Canada championship, followed by a seven game series between the two winners. Over 14 games in the Memorial Cup / George Richardson Cup playoffs, Sloan scored another 14 and assisted on four over 14 games.
St. Michael’s won the Memorial Cup championship, beating the Moose Jaw Canucks four games to one with all games played at Maple Leaf Gardens. Teammates on that team included future NHLers Jim Morrison and Gus Mortson.
Tod Sloan Collection
In 1945-46, St. Mikes would not repeat as Mem Cup champs. However, Sloan had an amazing season. Over 25 regular season games, he scored a whopping 43 goals and assisted on 32 more for 75 points. In the playoffs, he added 16 goals and 22 points over eleven games. Tod was the first ever recipient of the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top scorer and was the second ever winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the league’s MVP.
Over the next four years, between 1946-47 and 1949-50, Sloan played mostly in the American Hockey League with 30 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs intermingled. Although he never added a Calder Cup championship to his list of accolades, over those four years Tod played on two teams that reached the AHL finals.
In 1946-47, his first year of pro hockey, Sloan played for the Max Kaminsky coached Pittsburgh Hornets. The team finished third in the five team Western Division and fourth overall in the ten team AHL. Pittsburgh rammed their way into the Calder Cup finals and faced the Hershey Bears. At one point, the Hornets held a 3-1 lead in the series but eventually lost in seven games.
The hero for Hershey was goaltender Gordie Henry. Henry played just five games during the regular season for the Bears but appeared in all eleven playoff games. In that final series, Henry shutout the Hornets in three of the seven games. Gordie recorded five shutouts in the playoff year.
1949-50 was Sloan’s only year with the Cleveland Barons. After a promising 1948-49 when he appeared in 29 NHL games with the Maple Leafs, Tod spent the entire 1949-50 season in the American Hockey League.
The Bun Cook coached Barons finished first overall in the ten team AHL with a 19 point cushion over second place. Tod finished the year with 66 points in 62 regular season games, his 37 goals good for third in the AHL. In the playoffs, Sloan would score ten goals in just nine games but it wasn’t enough.
Cleveland reached the Calder Cup finals and faced off against the Ott Heller coached Indianapolis Capitals. It came down to a battle of future NHL superstar goalies. Terry Sawchuk was in the net for the Capitals and Johnny Bower was between the pipes for Cleveland. The Capitals swept the Barons in four games, denying Sloan his last chance at a Calder Cup championship.
After his NHL career was said and done, Tod played for Team Canada at the 1962 IIHF World Championships. The tournament was hosted by Colorado Springs and Denver in the U.S. Absent, of course, were teams like Russia, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
Sweden and Canada dominated the round-robin only tournament with the Swedes holding the edge and getting the gold. Canada came in second while the United States finished third. Tod scored six and totalled ten points over six games.
Tod Sloan – NHL
Between 1947-48 and 1960-61, Tod played in 745 regular season National Hockey League games, scoring 220 goals and assisting on 262 for 482 points. In 47 Stanley Cup playoff games, he added another 21 points. Sloan played for Toronto until the end of 1957-58 and finished up his NHL career with three more seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks.
In his first full season in the NHL, 1950-51, Sloan led the Maple Leafs with 31 goals over 70 games. His goal total placed him third in the NHL behind Gordie Howe and Rocket Richard, while his 56 points put him in the eighth position in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. Tod’s 105 penalty minutes put him in the sixth position.
That year, the Leafs won the Stanley Cup championship, beating the Montreal Canadiens in the finals, four games to one. Each of those five games were decided in overtime and the final game was decided by the famous Bill Barilko goal, his last in the NHL.
Sloan would not win another championship with the Maple Leafs but his individual numbers are worth noting. In 1951-52, he finished eighth in the NHL with 25 goals and ninth in the league with 89 PIM. In 1953-54, it was his playmaking that put him in the top ten, tying for the eighth spot with 32 assists while also finishing ninth with 100 PIM.
In 1955-56, the NHL was overshadowed by the might Montreal Canadiens. However, Tod Sloan was having a career year. He placed fourth in the league with 37 goals, finishing behind Jean Beliveau, Richard and Howe. Tod tied Andy Bathgate of the New York Rangers for fifth with 66 points. He also tied Gordie Howe for eighth with 100 PIM.
After his trade to the Blackhawks, Sloan’s offensive abilities continued to shine. In 1958-59, his first year with Chicago, He tied for ninth in the NHL with 27 goals, equalling the efforts of Boston’s Vic Stasiuk. He also tied for eighth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with Andy Hebenton of the Rangers and Don McKenney of the Bruins, all with 62 points.
Sloan’s offensive numbers dropped significantly in 1960-61, totalling just 34 points over 67 games with Chicago. In 12 playoff games, he added just two more points. The Blackhawks finished third in the six team NHL but reached the finals against the fourth place Detroit Red Wings. Chicago won the series in six and Sloan had his second of two Stanley Cup championships.
Tod Sloan – Rookie Card
The Tod Sloan rookie card appears in the 1951-52 Parkhurst set as number 87. He is shown as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The card is valued as a semi-star.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1946-47 | Pittsburgh Hornets | AHL | 64 | 15 | 24 | 39 | 31 |
| 1947-48 | Pittsburgh Hornets | AHL | 61 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 18 |
| 1947-48 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1948-49 | Pittsburgh Hornets | AHL | 35 | 18 | 16 | 34 | 23 |
| 1948-49 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 29 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| 1949-50 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 62 | 37 | 29 | 66 | 28 |
| 1950-51 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 31 | 25 | 56 | 105 |
| 1951-52 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 68 | 25 | 23 | 48 | 89 |
| 1952-53 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 15 | 10 | 25 | 76 |
| 1953-54 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 67 | 11 | 32 | 43 | 100 |
| 1954-55 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 63 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 89 |
| 1955-56 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 37 | 29 | 66 | 100 |
| 1956-57 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 52 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 33 |
| 1957-58 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 59 | 13 | 25 | 38 | 58 |
| 1958-59 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 59 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 79 |
| 1959-60 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 70 | 20 | 20 | 40 | 54 |
| 1960-61 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 67 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 48 |
| NHL Totals | 745 | 220 | 262 | 482 | 831 |