The coolest man in hockey

The coolest man in hockey

In February of 1978 Derek Sanderson was trying out with the Detroit Red Wings hoping they’d think he was good enough to join their fourth place team he was once the world’s highest salaried athlete cashing paychecks of $50,000 every 2 weeks sending his Rolls-Royce on 80 M trips to pick up ladies and buying

Rounds for everyone at the bar but now at the age of 31 he was out of a job had just $6,000 left in his bank account Ed was trying to make sense of what happened he arrived in Detroit a week after having spent 26 days in a hospital

In Fort irion onario following a bizarre kitchen accident in which he severely burned an arm and a leg in the hospital doctors attempted to break him of his drug and alcohol habits he was drinking a bottle and a half of liquor a day and if he couldn’t get a drink he polish off

A few bottles of cough medicine then he take 20 Mig of volum to get to sleep sanderson’s doctor at the hospital convinced him that he was giving up a part of himself by not playing hockey the doctor also gradually reduced the dose of his opioid prescriptions in addition to the painful Burns and

Dehydration that Sanderson was experiencing ing from heavy drinking and not eating he was suffering from chronic colitis sanderson’s months away from the wrinkle ad him to see life from a different perspective for the first time since he was 15 he didn’t have a job and he realized that as an athlete he was

Lost without the game he grew up playing what happened to Sanderson doesn’t happen to every highly paid athlete but all of them face the pressure to which Sanderson succumbed by 1978 most NHL Club officials didn’t trust Sanderson he played for five NHL and two minor league

Teams since 1973 his last job job with the Vancouver Canucks ended in October of 1977 when the Canucks paid him $80,000 to break his $150,000 a year contract Sanderson o is shot with the wings to his lawyer Bob wolf who managed to convince Wings general manager Ted Lindsay to give his

Client a chance he told Lindsay he wouldn’t be calling if he didn’t think his client could cut it sanderson’s way was down he pulled himself together and he was eager to help Detroit win some games there was a bit of irony in Wolf’s call because just a few years before

When Lindsay was working as an analyst on TV he said the Bruins were crazy to take Sanderson back after he ditched Boston to join the World Hockey Association in any event Lindsay agreed to give Sanderson a sha a 10-day try out where Sanderson would be put through

Twice a day workouts Sanderson was so excited about the opportunity that he wasn’t interested in what the Red Wings could pay him even though with just $6,000 to his name he was obsessed with money at the time his biggest expense in 1977 was the 35 Grand he spent during a

4-week vacation in Hawaii to stay on top of his clients Wild spending habits wolf insisted that all of sanderson’s bills came through his office out of the hundreds of clients wolf represented during his career Sanderson was the only one with that special Arrangement Sanderson burst upon the consciousness

Of America’s Sports followers in 1972 when he quit the Boston Bruins who’d been paying him $40,000 a year to jump to the Philadelphia Blazers of the World Hockey Association Sanderson had never led the NHL in anything except short-handed goals and had never been voted onto a year-end All-Star team the

Wolf got him a 5-year deal worth two $2.65 million it included A5 million in salary the first year with the remainder to be paid over 10 seasons the Blazers agreed to pay that much because they believed he would attract fans with his outrageous personality and aggressive style of play but Sanderson scored just

Three goals before he was virtually disabled by a bad back the Blazers said the injury was a pre-existing one and after a bitter dispute they settled his contract for a million bucks that’s when sanderson’s troubles began he started drinking heavily and spending wildly first he bought a 32,00 Rolls-Royce then

He spent 45,000 renovating his apartment after that he purchased a 160 acre ranch in Fort IR onaral for 50 Grand and spent another 40,000 on improvements there was the $35,000 he spent on his Hawaii trip as well as $100,000 in uncollectible loans to family and friends plus $500,000 in miscellaneous purchases

Sanderson had a compulsion to throw away money he would do things like purchase a new set of clubs before a round of golf and then leave the clubs behind when the round was over he’d also buy a bunch of new clothes and then leave them behind

When he checked out of his hotel after the Philadelphia Blazers debacle Sanderson returned to the Bruins for two seasons but only suited up for 54 games he was demoted to the Boston Braves of the American Hockey League for three games before being traded to the New York Rangers after that Sanderson

Bounced from Team to team never being able to stay with a team for more than two full seasons after playing with the Rangers and recording 50 points in 75 games he was traded to the St Louis Blues eight games in to the next season in St Louis Sanderson set career highs

With 43 assists and 67 points the recurring knee and alcohol problems prompted the blues to trade him to the kxs in return for a first round pick in the 1977 draft Sanderson scored 16 points in 16 games with Vancouver before he was sent to the miners for disciplinary reasons sanderson’s

Drinking and drug use Peak at summer after he and his fiance a New York model separated a week before their wedding he reported to the Canucks Camp 20 lbs over his playing weight and during the preseason season he was involved in a brawl at a local strip club that left

Him in a hospital where tests showed an extremely high level of alcohol as well as evidence of cocaine sleeping pills and volume in his system so the Canucks terminated his deal and Sanderson went home to Fort Erie where within a few months he hooked a frying pan filled

With bacon grease onto his sleeve badly burnt an arm and a leg and put himself in the hospital in the late 60s the Bruins were a team in transition from perennial bottom dwellers who hadn’t won a Stanley Cup since World War II to a team on the rise their Resurgence was by

The arrival of Bobby or in 1966 and the arrival of Phyllis bazito in 1967 another key to their success was the arrival of a 21-year-old rookie named Derek Sanderson who quickly won over his teammates by scoring goals killing penalties and his ability to get under the skin of the opposition his take no

Prisoner style of play came to embody the Bruins new identity as a band of tough guys not to be messed with in his rookie season the Bruins made the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons and Sanderson took home the Calder as Rookie of the Year with his

Long hair and mutton chops and eye catching Antics on the ice Sanderson quickly became hockey’s embodiment of the counterculture of the late 60s this Persona opened up a new world of opportunities like opening up a bar with New York Jets quarterback Joe namoth the two opened a bar in Boston called

Bachelor’s 3 located two doors down from the Playboy club at bachelor’s 3 every Playboy Bunny and pro athlete could drink for free but Sanderson was the main attraction and rapidly became a celebrity in Boston on the ice Sanderson established himself as one of the greatest penalty killers of all time by

His Fifth Season Sanderson had set the record for the most short-handed goals of all time in the 1970 playoffs Sanderson played a key role in the Bruins Championship run including setting up Bobby or’s iconic Stanley Cup winning goal with the championship the Bruins became the kings of Boston and

Sanderson’s Playboy lifestyle made him a fan favorite he was more than happy to embrace his status as a celebrity in sex symbol famously telling reporters that his pregame meal was a steak and a blonde he acted in a film called face off and was a popular guest on Late

Night talk shows he even hosted his own talk show Sanderson also opened another bar this time all on his own called Daisy Buchanan before long he was pretty much drinking all the time but his performance masked his growing Addiction in 1970 to 71 Sanderson set career highs

With 29 goals and 34 assists helping the Bruins to 57 wins a year later the Bruins added another Stanley Cup Championship that summer Sanderson and wolf were contacted by the Philadelphia Blazers of the wh Sanderson preferred to stay with the Bruins but when the Blazers offered to make him the highest

Paid player in sports the opportunity was too good to pass up Sanderson struggled to handle the pressure of his big contract and he played just eight games for the Blazers before being let go and after bouncing around for a few years Derek Sanderson found himself with

A triod in Detroit that looked like his last chance to get back to the NHL long story short Sanderson didn’t make the team and was assigned to the Kansas City Red Wings of the Central Hockey League to say the least the terms of sanderson’s employment in Kansas City

Were unfavorable he wasn’t paid and had to pay for his own food the only thing the Red Wings covered was his $12 and night motel room it was a bleak return to the game for Sanderson but Bob wolf was pulling some strings behind the scenes Sanderson played just four games

With Kansas City before wolf negotiated a contract for his client to join the Pittsburgh Penguins on their NHL roster Sanderson received $25,000 to play in the Penguins final 14 games that summer there were no takers for Sanderson and he retired from the game for good after he retired Sanderson was still in the

Throws of addiction and those close to him were worried he wasn’t going to live long instead he was about to begin the most improbable comeback of his life after more than a dozen failed attempts at getting clean Sanderson finally kicked alcohol and drugs for good in 1980 since then he’s

Undergone 10 hip surgeries and survived prostate cancer health problems have certainly taken a toll but sanderson’s still going strong at age 77 he’s now married with two sons and his wife Nancy has helped him stay sober in 1984 the mayor of Boston hired Sanderson to speak to Public Schools students about the

Dangers of drug abuse he also helped hundreds of professional athletes after becoming a certified financial adviser at age 40 by ensuring the next generation of stars didn’t squander their money the way he did starting in 1986 Sanderson was also the Bruins Television analyst just as they loved

Him as a player Bruin’s fans fell in love with him again as a broadcaster that’s all for this look back at Derrik Sanderson thanks for tuning in drop your thoughts in the comments and please like And subscribe to support the channel

Looking back at the career of Derek Sanderson, the coolest man in hockey.

Once the world’s highest paid athlete, Sanderson’s battle with addiction left him down and out by the age of 31.

This is the story of his rise and fall, and his successful battle to overcome addiction.

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