Paul Ronty

Very good players on very bad teams tend to be forgotten about in history's eyes. Case in point - Paul Ronty.

Ronty was a lean center described as a stylish playmaker who twice finished top five in NHL scoring while with the Boston Bruins. He found success centering "the Muscle Line" with Johnny Peirson and Kenny Smith.

"We had one really good team with Boston in 1949," he recalled. "With Milt Schmidt and Frank Brimsek, Woody Dumart, Murray Henderson and many others. We finished second but we met the Leafs in the first round of the playoffs after they finished fourth, and they knocked us out. That was the year Teeder Kennedy had a terrific series."

Ronty lasted only three full seasons in Boston before he was traded to the New York Rangers for Gus Kyle. He spent the bulk of his career in Manhattan, playing almost four complete seasons with the Rangers. He centered the "Light Brigade" line with Wally Hergesheimer and Herb Dickenson as his wingers.

He would actually end his career with 10 games (including playoffs) with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. Don't think he was brought in late in the season to replace Rocket Richard, who was infamously suspended for the rest of the season following the Richard Riots in Montreal. Ronty was actually brought in to replace Kenny Mosdell, who came up lame with hip injury.

Ronty was excited as he thought maybe this would finally be his chance to play on a winning team. But the distraction of the Richard situation combined with the strong first round play of opposing Detroit ousted the Canadiens. Ronty never even registered a point, even though he played on a line with Dickie Moore and Busher Curry.

The Habs would go on to win the next five Stanley Cups in a row, but not with Ronty. Just 27 years old, Ronty retired in that summer of '55. The Canadiens refused to offer him a guaranteed contract, instead offering him a training camp tryout. Ronty refused, and returned home to Boston to be with his family.

"I had a 6-year-old son then and I didn't think it was fair to keep moving him around," he said.

Ronty found work as an insurance broker in Boston.