Wayne Cashman (born June 24, 1945) is a [Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He played 17 seasons for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and helped them win the Stanley Cup twice. He was the last active player who started his NHL career in the Original Six era.
Cashman was born in Kingston Ontario Canada on June 24th 1945. His family owned a farm just outside Kingston where he spent his childhood. Cashman began playing hockey at an early age and would listen to hockey on the radio every night.[1] He played for the Kingston peewee team that won an Ontario championship and later played Junior B hockey for the Frontenacs.[2]
Playing career
Cashman played junior hockey in the OHA with the Oshawa Generals; one of his teammates was Bobby Orr. During the 1965–66 season, Cashman had a 35 point season in 17 games. He had an even better postseason, having 37 points in 14 games as his side won the Memorial Cup. He also played parts of three seasons in the minor leagues for the Oklahoma City Blazers and the Hershey Bears. During the 1966-67 season, Cashman helped lead the Blazers to Adams cup. He madee the Bruins' squad for good in 1969.
Cashman played his entire NHL career with the Boston Bruins (1964–65, 1967–83). His jersey number was 12.[3] He was a hard-grinding left winger on the era's most formidable forward line with centre Phil Esposito and right wing Ken Hodge.[4] His role was to get into the corners and battle for loose pucks, and feed them to Esposito or Hodge. He was also a tenacious forechecker and served as an enforcer to protect Esposito and Orr.[5] Esposito has regarded Cashman as underrated and not receiving sufficient credit, saying, "Wayne was the digger. He was the heart and soul of our line. Without a doubt."[6] This has led to him being described as the perfect teammate being and one of the best cornermen in the history of the NHL.[7] Bobby Orr later stated “If you needed him to do something for your team, he could play anywhere you wanted.[8]
Cashman scored his first NHL goal on November 6, 1968 in Boston's 7-1 home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Throughout his career Cashman embodied the Bruins style of grit and determination. Not being afraid to get into the dirty areas and dig hard along the boards. This led to him becoming a fan favorite among Bruins fan, as he developed the nickname ‘Cash’, from his fellow teammates and Bruins fans alike. Throughout his career he also developed a reputation to as a clutch player for the team during the postseason.[9][10] Also becoming a established leader for team as his career went on.[11]
Cashman was a key member of Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1970 and 1972, and scored twice in the deciding game of the latter finals against the New York Rangers, won by Boston, 3-0. Cashman had his first 20+ goal season in 1971 scoring 79 points in total that year. This started a streak of him scoring 20+ goals in four straight seasons from 1971-1974 when he also incurred 100 or more penalty minutes. In total he scored at least 20 goals 8 times throughout his career. His best statistical season was in 1974, when he finished fourth in the league in points with 89 (30 goals 59 assists) played in the All-Star Game, and was named to the NHL Second All-Star team. That year he joined his teammates Esposito (145), Orr (122) and Hodge (105) where they finished 1–2–3–4 in league scoring this was the second and last time in NHL history the season's top four scorers all played for one team.[12]
In 1972 he played for Team Canada in the first four games of the Summit Series. Before the final four games, at an exhibition game in Sweden, Ulf Sterner's stick got lodged in Cashman's mouth, cutting his tongue open. The injury required 50 stitches and kept him out of the rest of the Summit Series.[13][14]
On January 21st 1973 Cashman scored his first career hat trick with all 3 goals coming in the second period of a 8-2 victory over the California Golden seals.[15]
During his career Cashman would get into many scraps on the ice, being known as one of the best fighters of his era throwing his signature uppercut.[10] Along with being a playmaker Cashman also served as the Bruins policeman. In the age of "Big Bad Bruins," he was one of the biggest and baddest. If the opposition started to get confrontational with Esposito or Orr, Cashman would be the first to intervene.[10]
Cashman also showed his physical and mental toughness throughout his career, after he crashed into a goal post during the 1972-73 season, he developed a severe back pain however Cashman never let this slow him down. Bruins GM Harry Sinden later stated “I can’t believe there’s ever been a player who had a higher pain tolerance than him,” “I’ve seen him lying on the training room floor 20 minutes before a game for his back. He was constantly in pain and, if we had a game, he was still going out to play. Not in all my years, have I ever seen a player who could tolerate pain like him.”[8]
After only playing in 45 games during the 1974-75 season due to injuries, Cashman made a full comeback the following year playing in all 80 games scoring 28 goals and 71 points.[16]
He served as the captain of the Bruins from 1977 to 1983. Helping lead the team back to the Stanley cup finals in 1977 and 1978. Even in his later years Cashman still served as a consistent point scorer as the following year in 1978-79 he scored 27 goals and 67 points. He would then play another 4 seasons when he then retired after the Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs in 1983, he was the last active player from the NHL's Original Six era, just beating out Serge Savard, whose team was eliminated in an earlier playoff round. He finished his career with 1,027 games played 277 goals and 516 assists being a reliable player for the team his entire career. He would be the 2nd players in Bruins history to play his 1000th career game and the first to play all 1000 solely in Bruins uniform. He still remains a legendary figure in the city of Boston.[17]
Cashman was later inducted into the Canada sports hall of fame in 2005.[18]
In 2023, he was named one of the top 100 Bruins players of all time.[19] As well as being named to the Bruins all centennial team.[17]
Coaching career
After his retirement as a player, Cashman went into business for himself. However when his old teammate Phil Esposito became general manager of the New York Rangers he hired Cashman as a scout. Then when the Rangers fired their head coach Esposito had Cashman help coach the team, Then when they hired there new head coach Tom Webster he asked Cashman to stay of as a assistant which he did for five seasons.[1] He then served four years as an assistant four for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was appointed head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers for the 1997-98 season and held that post for 61 games until he was replaced by Roger Neilson; he served thereafter as the team's assistant coach.[20][21][22][23] He was also on the coaching staff of Team Canada in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, as an assistant to Marc Crawford.[24][25] He then returned to Boston as an assistant coach with the Bruins from 2001 until 2006.
Cashman is married to his wife Lynn and now resides in Florida he has two children, a son, Scott, and a daughter, Becky. He also serves as a Grandfather to his two granddaughters.[1][10]
In 2016 Cashman was honored by the Sports Museum Tradition event in the TD Garden, being given the hockey legacy award.[10]
In late 2024 there was a push among Bruins fans and former players to have Cashman’s number 12 retired. His former teammate Phil Esposito stated “Personally, I think number 12 should be up there for Wayne Cashman, who played for 18 years for that team, was captain for four years, coached the team, and gave his life's blood to the Bruins,”. “He should be up there.” The Bruins alumni organization would discuss the topic with team president Cam Neely however as of 2025 there has been no official decision.[26][27]
In a somewhat notorious moment, after the Boston Bruins won the 1970 Stanley Cup, Cashman got drunk, and with heavy traffic at a busy intersection, Cashman got out of the back seat of the car he and his teammates had been in and stepped out into an intersection, and started to direct traffic. This resulted in him getting arrested, and using his one phone call to order Chinese food.[28]
↑ writer, John F. Bonfatti, Associated Press. "Cashman, Flyers close deal". New Bedford Standard-Times. Retrieved 2025-07-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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