Toe Blake

Joseph Hector "Toe" Blake (August 21, 1912 – May 17, 1995) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League. Blake played in the NHL from 1935 to 1948 with the Montreal Maroons and Montreal Canadiens. He led the NHL in scoring in 1939, the same year he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player, and he served as captain of the Canadiens from 1940 until his retirement. As a player he won the Stanley Cup three times: in 1935 with the Maroons, and in 1944 and 1946 with the Canadiens. With Montreal he skated on a line with Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard that was known as the Punch line. Known as "The Old Lamplighter" for his skill at putting the puck in the net, Blake retired as a player in 1951.

He soon turned to coaching, and after several years in lower leagues was named coach of the Canadiens in 1955, a role he held until his retirement in 1968. He was the first coach to win 500 games with one team, and as coach of the Canadiens he won the Stanley Cup a further eight times. In 2017, Blake was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.