Bob Pulford 1961-62 Parkhurst #8

Bob Pulford quietly played his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was inducted as a player twenty years after his final season in the National Hockey League but that fact is, he was inducted. Bob played most of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and it was with Toronto he was playing for when the 1961-62 Parkhurst hockey card set came out.

Bob Pulford – 1961-62 Parkhurst #8

The number 8 card belonging to Pulford is valued today as a common card. A few years earlier, the Bob Pulford rookie card appeared as number 45 in the 1957-58 Parkhurst set and is valued at around 7.5 times that of a common card.

The back of the 1961-62 card celebrates the year before, 1960-61. It was Bob’s fifth year in the NHL and fifth year with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pulford played in just 40 of the team’s 70 regular season games, scoring 11 and assisting on 18 for 29 points. In the previous three seasons and the three seasons that would follow, Bob played in each of Toronto’s regular season games.

Bob Pulford – Junior Hockey

Pulford played three years in the Ontario Hockey Association for the Toronto Marlboros from 1953-54 to 1955-56. The Turk Broda coached Marlboros were Memorial Cup champions in both 1954-55 and 1955-56 with Pulford playing a significant role on the team offensively.

In both Memorial Cup finals, Toronto played the Regina Pats. In 1955, Pulford was teamed with future Maple Leafs Bob Baun and Billy Harris. The 1956 team was stacked with players like Baun, Carl Brewer, Charlie Burns, Harry Neale and Bob Nevin.

Bob Pulford – NHL

Bob jumped right to the National Hockey League after junior, never playing a game in the minors. From 1956-57 to 1971-72, Pulford scored 281 goals and assisted on 362 for 643 points over 1,079 regular season NHL games with the Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he played an additional 89 games, adding 51 points.

Pulford was a member of the four Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs teams from the 1960’s. The team won three straight from 1961-62 to 1963-64 and one more time in 1966-67.

In 1959-60, Bob scored 24 goals, tying him for tenth in the NHL with Jean-Guy Gendron of the Boston Bruins and Norm Ullman of the Detroit Red Wings. Pulford’s top offensive season came in 1965-66 when he scored 28 goals for the Maple Leafs. He placed tenth in the NHL for goals scored.

Bob played his final two years in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings. In his final season, he served as team captain. The following year, he remained with the club but moved behind the bench to become head coach.

Bob Pulford was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991. Entering at the same time were Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin and Clint Smith.

Bob Pulford – Coaching, etc. 

Pulford took over the head coaching duties for the Los Angeles Kings for the start of the 1972-73 season. He replaced American Hockey League legend Fred Glover. Bob remained with the Kings for five years before moving to Chicago for the 1977-78 season.

Bob remained with the Blackhawks from 1977-78 to 2006-07 in various roles, including head coach, general manager and senior vice-president of hockey operations. His first two years were spent as head coach, a post he returned to several times during his time in Chicago.

In 1981-82, he took over behind the bench for the final 28 games of the season after Keith Magnuson was relieved of duties. Pulford took the team to the Stanley Cup final four before falling in five to the Vancouver Canucks in the semi-finals.

In 1984-85, it was Orval Tessier that was ousted with 27 games to go in the season. Pulford took over behind the bench with Roger Neilson as his assistant. Once again, he led the Blackhawks to the final four before falling in six to the Edmonton Oilers in the semi-finals. Edmonton, at the pinnacle of the Gretzky era, outscored Chicago 44-25 on the series and 18-5 in the first two games. Game one was an 11-2 blowout and game five was a 10-5 shootout.

Pulford returned as full-time head coach of the Blackhawks for the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons. He took another interim stint in 1999-00.