Eighty years after he retired from the NHL, Frank William (Flash) Hollett is being remembered as one of the greatest hockey players ever born in Cape Breton.

The North Sydney, N.S., native, who died in 1999 at the age of 88, was inducted into the Cape Breton Sport Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Saturday as one of two athletes.

Carol Miller, the chair of the hall of fame, remembers the next generation of NHL defencemen being compared to Hollett when she was growing up.

“A lot of people here didn’t realize that Flash was … even from Nova Scotia, much less Cape Breton, because he moved as a young child with his parents,” Miller said in an interview. “And so even I, growing up in Ontario, thought he came from Ontario.”

Known for his speed, the offensive-minded defenceman played in the NHL from 1933 to 1946 with four different clubs and won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 1939 and 1941.

He became the first defenceman to score 20 goals in a season, achieving that milestone in 1944-45 with the Detroit Red Wings. That stood as a benchmark for NHL rearguards until Bobby Orr broke the record in 1968-69.

Jon Bruhm, a resident of Halifax, nominated Hollett for the hall of fame. He first found out about the defenceman reading an article in The Hockey News ranking the top 100 blueliners in NHL history. 

“I got to No. 84 and I saw Frank William (Flash) Hollett from North Sydney. I thought I knew all the Nova Scotia NHLers,” Bruhm said. “I just thought that was really remarkable and decided to dig into his story.”

Hollett and his family relocated to Toronto “shortly after his birth,” according to John White, who wrote for The Chronicle Herald during the mid-1900s.

From playing lacrosse to Stanley Cups

He got his first crack at professional hockey through his connection with Toronto Maple Leafs’ owner Conn Smythe. Smythe was sponsoring the lacrosse team Hollett played for and wanted the Cape Breton-born athlete to switch sports.

“Smythe said to Hollett, ‘If [you] can play hockey like you play lacrosse, I could use you on my farm team next year in Syracuse,’” White said.

After stints with two minor-league teams, Hollett made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1933-34, was traded to the Ottawa Senators and then returned to the Leafs for two more seasons.

He was eventually dealt to the Bruins during the 1935-36 season for a sum of $16,000. The move came after Hollett got “in trouble” with Smythe, according to White. Smythe later called it the worst deal he ever made.

In Boston, Hollett scored goals in each of the team’s Cup-clinching victories and went on to notch back-to-back 19-goal seasons.

Traded to Detroit during the 1943-44 season, he served as the team’s captain and the following season finished fourth in the voting for the NHL’s most valuable player award.

Hollett to the Cape Breton hall

But in 1946, his relationship with management became a sore subject again. Hollett wanted a $500 raise after his record-breaking season, but coach and general manager Jack Adams refused. The Detroit legend threatened that if Hollett walked out, he would never make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame, White said. 

“Hollett was a rebel,” he said.

Hollett never played another game in the NHL and has yet to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

He finished his career with 132 goals and 313 points in 565 regular-season games.

Members of Hollett’s family, who live in Ontario, weren’t able to attend Saturday’s ceremony. Although he isn’t related to Hollett, Bruhm said he was honoured to sit at a table for family members of the hall of fame inductees.

“I was really pleased to play a very small role in making sure that he was recognized by the local community.”

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