Al Rollins—Backbone Of The Flyers

Vanguard, Saskatchewan native Al Rollins enjoyed a great NHL career. He won a Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs and won the 1954 Hart Trophy as the League’s most valuable player, even though he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, the doormats of the League.

Prior to becoming an NHL star, Rollins was an amateur hockey hero on the prairies. He was the major reason the 1948 Edmonton Flyers took the Allan Cup.

Rollins arrived in Edmonton at the age of 21, after spending the previous season with the Vancouver Canucks of the amateur Pacific Coast Hockey League. The Flyers were putting together a team that Rollins believed could win an Allan Cup, and if he played well, he would be able to showcase his talent for NHL suitors.

Rollins’ gamble paid off. He led the Flyers to the Allan Cup title, and was simply stellar in the final series against the Ottawa Senators. The Senators scored just 13 times in the six-game series, and were shut out in Game 4. Rollins played a total of 24 post-season games for the Flyers that season, winning 20 and posting an outstanding 2.46 goals against average.

Rollins jumped to the minor pro ranks for a couple of years, then got his break with Toronto, where he would platoon with statesman and future Hall of Famer Walter “Turk” Broda in the Maple Leafs’ goal. At the time, it was an unusual move because NHL teams never carried a true back-up goalie. For most clubs, the trainer or equipment manager moonlighted as the back-up. So, the Leafs’ decision to platoon two goalies was a revolutionary one that paid off. The Leafs allowed just 138 goals in 70 games—the best defensive record in the League—and went on to take the 1951 Cup.

Rollins could never convince Leafs’ management that he should be the team’s full-time stopper. In 1952, he was shipped to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for proven veteran Harry “Apple Cheeks” Lumley. For the better part of the decade, Rollins played valiantly for a team that regularly finished dead last in the NHL. It was with the brutal Hawks’ teams that greatly contributed to his less than stellar career record of 141-205-83. But the pundits could see that, despite the losses, Rollins was one of the League’s best net minders. In 1953-54, Rollins was named an All-Star and was awarded the Hart Trophy even though he won just 12 games while losing 47 that season. The hockey writers who voted for the award knew that Rollins faced more shots and scoring chances than any other goalie in the League, and the fact that he was able to keep scores respectable most nights was a testament to his fortitude.

In the late 1950s, after the Hawks had acquired Glenn Hall from the Red Wings, Rollins was banished to the minor leagues. Since there were only six starting goaltending jobs available,  Rollins would have to return to Western Canada and play in minor league cities like Winnipeg and Calgary, and wait for another shot at the NHL. That chance came in 1959-60 with the New York Rangers, who he played for just 10 games.

Rollins then turned to the coaching ranks—and he returned to Edmonton in 1976-77 as the visiting coach of the World Hockey Association’s Phoenix Roadrunners, who he led to a 28-48-4 record.

Rollins passed away July 27, 1996. If only he had a better team in front of him, he may have been remembered along with the likes of Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante and Hall as the greatest of his era.

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