PAT BOUTETTE BACK IN HARTFORD 

Photo and Story By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Pat Boutette may have been small in stature, but he stood pretty tall as part of the Hartford Whalers Dash, Bash, and Stash line in the early 1980s.

“At the time when you went the university route, there wasn’t much anticipation or expectations than if you took the junior road in that period. That has changed over the years. A lot of the smarter players are going university now,” Boutette said.

Boulette made a 10-hour drive from his Ontario home to make his maiden appearance at the Hartford Yard Goats’ “Whalers Day.”

Mike Rogers, the center of that line, could not return this year after initially being scheduled. Right Wing Blaine Stoughton also did not return this year, making Boulette the one member of that memorable line in the house.

Boutette was an unknown college player for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (WCHA) program. He would become a ninth-round draft pick (139th overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs. As a senior, tallying 63 points, he was voted a WCHA Second Team All-Star and was an All-American.

“Everybody gets classified and stereotyped in one way or another. I felt that was a miscalculation on people’s part, I wasn’t an OHA junior guy (now OHL), but I showed at Minnesota I could play. Many thought I was just gonna fill a minor league roster spot.”

After five and a half years in the Toronto organization and a two-year apprenticeship in Oklahoma City in the original Central Hockey League (CHL), he was traded from the Maple Leafs to the Whalers.

Leaving Harold Ballard-owned Leafs was somewhat challenging for Boutette.

“It was always the same thing you always heard ‘You’re not gonna make it. You’re too small,’ but I just worked my tail off and proved them wrong. Harold was always good to me, always a big backer of me,” Boulette said. “I always had his respect. He, no doubt, had his way of doing things, and it rubbed people the wrong way, but he was always fair with me, though. I wasn’t the biggest guy, but I never gave up,”

Despite his success in the Toronto organization, he was moved at an inauspicious time to the Whalers. He came to Hartford on Christmas Eve 1979 for Bob Stephenson in the Whalers’ first NHL season.

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“We had a game that night (for Toronto). I showed up, got dressed, and before we went out, they told me, ‘Go home.’ Why? ‘We can’t tell you; call us tomorrow.’ Are you kidding me? Obviously, I knew something was up, but things like that happened in those days. That was a hell of a time to have your first trade, just before Christmas,” The current CBA prevents those kinds of moves now.

Boutette made himself a valuable asset.

“Back then when I first started out, I had some skills, and they grew, even if I didn’t. I got to expand my skill set by being aggressive, which paid off. It helped me grow my game, I could play either way. A lot of players don’t have that grit today. All the teams that win the Cup have that grit. Look at the Maple Leafs now. They have two good lines and no grit. What have they done?”

His bond in 1982 with Stash (Blaine Stoughton), the Dash (Rogers), and especially Rogers’ passing skills helped invigorate him. Stoughton’s game helped him find his goal-scoring touch, and again, he found himself an All-Star, but this time in the NHL.

The Dash, Bash, and Stash line was born, which made him among the top NHL goal scorers, and the line was among the league’s best.

” Coming to Hartford was a bit of a surprise. I had two good years here. I could have had more.”

The key to the line’s success was their speed and transition game.

“The game is all speed now, and we had a lot of it with that line, and we complemented each other very well out there. We also could feel a hit when it was coming. I loved playing with them. Once Mike got into open ice, he was hard to catch. I was able to get out in front of the net, and Blaine was nearby, waiting for a rebound near the perimeter of the (faceoff) circle. We got our opportunities, not gonna score if the puck is the corner,” Boutette stated.

Boutette went straight-forward to the net and often battled defensemen much larger than himself at a time when the game was more physical. He dished it out as well as he good it.

The Whalers made an RFA (restricted free agent) offer sheet to the Pittsburgh Penguins forward Greg Malone, and then, on June 29, 1981, the NHL Commissioner, then John Zieglar, awarded Boutette to Pittsburgh, along with the Whalers’ fourth-round draft choice, and Kevin McClelland in the exchange as used to happen pre-CBA when odd, arbitrary decisions could be made.

It was a complete shock for Boutette.

“I was at home, and Larry Pleau (now a senior advisor with Arizona), called me and told me I had been moved. I was in total shock. I didn’t believe him. It came from left field completely; I had no idea this was gonna happen. To this day, I have never gotten a straight answer on why and how I was moved. It was kinda weird; something was going on there. It was terrible because we had a great thing going on in Hartford.”

Pittsburgh eventually traded McClelland to Edmonton, where he would win four Stanley Cups as part of the Oilers mid-1980’s dynasty run.

In Pittsburgh, Boutette was paired with Paul Gardner and Rick Kehoe, very talented players in their own right, but two totally different types of players with completely different skill sets than his line in Hartford had.

“They were good but didn’t have the speed and creativity Mike and Blaine had. You had to get the puck to them. There was no comparison. Then when you get to your early to mid-30s, your body starts to break down, especially when you played a physical style as I did. When you played with guys like Mike and Blaine, it takes that pressure off you because of the speed they both had. When you’re battling the likes of Larry Robinson (the Canadiens) or “(Andre) “Moose” Dupont (Philadelphia and Quebec), it gets tough after a while, and once you fight one, you gotta fight them all. It’s wear and tear.”

He would return to Hartford in a trade with the Penguins four years later for the rights to Finnish defenseman Ville Siren.

Boutette had lost a step by then and had a falling out with Whaler’s coach Jack “Tex “Evans. He wound up on their farm team in Binghamton (NY) Whalers. His career was over at the end of the’ 84-’85 season, five years before the Penguins won their consecutive Stanley Cups with former Whalers Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, Gordie Roberts, Grant Jennings, and with former Whalers head coach, Pierre McGuire.

“Timing is everything. If we had some better teams in Pittsburgh before then, but once they got Mario (Lemieux) came in my first year, and then when they got (Jaromir) Jagr it was just a matter of time, but my time was up.”

Boutette finished his career playing in 756 games registering 282 assists and 453 points. He also accumulated 1,384 PIM.

“I enjoyed Hartford a lot. I just wish I got more time to spend there. I spoke to multiple people about this event, I’m very glad we came. I will call Mike when I get home and get Blaine here next year and have a proper (line) reunion,” said Boutette.

Boutette continues to stand tall in his career among his peers.

HARTFORD YARD GOATS

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