He tried again the next season with Toronto, but this time his career went downhill.
“Bathgate never got along with (Maple Leafs coach and general manager) Punch Imlach,” wrote Eric Zweig, author of “The Toronto Maple Leafs: The Complete Oral History.”
Once their feud went public, Bathgate’s days with the Maple Leafs were numbered. In his autobiography “Hockey Is a Battle,” Imlach wrote: “Bathgate told a reporter that I was doing things all wrong, that I pushed players past their limit physically and mentally. But he won his only championship with me.”
“After Andy publicly criticized Imlach, Punch decided to trade him to Detroit,” wrote Kevin Shea in “The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club: Official Centennial Publication.”
Bathgate was traded to the Stanley Cup-contending Red Wings with forwards Billy Harris and Gary Jarrett for defensemen Marcel Pronovost and Aut Erickson, and forwards Larry Jeffrey, Ed Joyal and Lowell MacDonald on May 20, 1965.
“At least I had a chance to be on my second Cup team,” Bathgate said. “The Wings were loaded with scorers like Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio and Norm Ullman, not to mention a pretty good, all-round roster.”
Bathgate’s best opportunity emerged during the 1966 Final between Detroit and Montreal. The Red Wings won the first two games at the Forum to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
“It seemed as if we had the series in hand,” he recalled, “but we let the Canadiens off the hook. They won the next four and the Cup.”
After two seasons in Detroit, Bathgate was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. He split two separate, uninspiring seasons (1967-68 and 1970-71) with the Penguins before ending his NHL career.
As for Perry, he came close, but no cigar, with Dallas, Montreal and Tampa Bay. He scored the game-winning goal in Game 5 of the 2024 Final with the Oilers, who rallied from down 3-0 in the best-of-7 series against the Florida Panthers before losing 2-1 in Game 7.
“We didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Perry said, “but we’re proud of what we did.”
Still in mint condition at age 40, Perry scored 10 goals and had four assists in 22 games of the 2025 playoffs.
“Corey never gets fazed,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who had Perry from 2021-23. “He has that ‘been there, done that’ attitude. He’s a fierce competitor and his teammates follow him.”
Perry’s crusade will resume this season with the Los Angeles Kings after he signed a one-year, $2 million contract July 1. Is he too old to dream of being a two-time Stanley Cup champion?
No way. Legendary Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov, a Hall of Famer inducted as a Builder with the Class of 1974, sagely opined in the January 1958 issue of Hockey Pictorial magazine: “Sport and love have no age. It makes no difference how old the player, as long as he has the talent and the will to play well.”
Sounds like a guy named Corey Perry.