^^ I was researching the Montreal Royals after your post and I learned something tonight. My favourite Royal turned Hab was Bernie (Boom Boom) Geffrion.
Another Royal was Howie Morenz, who as a Montreal Canadian was the only NHL player to die as a result of an injury during a game.
An opposing player skated into the boards and got his skate stuck in the wood. Howie skated across his leg and broke his. (or the other way around) Complications lead to his death.
Decades later when Bernie's number was retired, they lowered both Howie's and Bernie's sweaters from the rafters at the same time......and then rose them back up again.
Bernie had past away that same day that the team retired his sweater ....from cancer.
He had promised his wife Marlene that his sweater would someday hang from the rafters with Howie's.
Howie was Marlene's father.
Blake Geoffrion of the Nashville Preds was the 4th generation of his family to play in the NHL. What a bloodline!
Not to be a nitpicker but some of the info above is incorrect. Howie Morenz died about seven weeks after his injury. He never played for the Royals, he was signed directly by the Habs and played his first game in 1923. Montreal Royals were formed in 1933.
Bill Masterton died as a direct result of a head injury two days after it happened:
On January 13, 1968, four minutes into a game against the Oakland Seals at the Met Center, Masterton was carrying the puck into the Seals' zone. Shortly after completing a pass to teammate Wayne Connelly, he was checked by Oakland's Larry Cahan and Ron Harris and fell backwards onto the ice head-first. The force of the back of his head hitting the ice caused blood to gush from his mouth and nose. Before Masterton lost consciousness, a teammate who rushed to his aid heard him murmur, "Never again. Never again."[2]
Masterton sustained a massive brain hemorrhage that damaged the pons. The injury was so severe that doctors were unable to perform surgery, and Masterton died two days later.[3] - Wikipedia
There is a trophy named in his honour and because of this incident the NHL made helmets mandatory.