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When we last looked at the rising use of substitutes in major league hockey, we saw that heading into the 1920's, although more and more substitutes were being used, their role was not yet changing. Substitutes existed to give the starters a breather now and again, playing only a few minutes per game. Contrast this with the modern game, where four lines are rotated with great regularity. The purpose of this two-part series is to look at when one started to become the other.
Odie Cleghorn is generally credited with introducing the concept of rotating set forward lines in the NHL, specifically when he was player-coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925-26. As the story goes, Cleghorn was a substitute forward for the Montreal Canadiens in 1925 when the Habs took on the Victoria Cougars in the Stanley Cup Finals. Montreal had a forward line of Howie Morenz, Aurel Joliat and Billy Boucher, a unit renowned for its speed and skill. To counter this line, Victoria's Lester Patrick devised a scheme of rapid line changes among his forwards, to keep their legs fresh to match the pace put up by the Canadiens. This strategy was clearly successful, since the Cougars took the Cup three games to one. Cleghorn adapted the idea when he coached the Pirates starting in the Fall of 1925, setting three forwards lines and rotating them regularly.
That's the story, anyway. But as you might know, some things in the mythology of hockey's history are just that: mythology. The story of Cyclone Taylor scoring a goal while skating backwards is another example. Friend and colleague (and hockey history's resident mythbuster) Eric Zweig proved that story was merely a story. So we can't just accept the Cleghorn tale above, we need to examine it to determine its accuracy, as best we can.
There are several parts to this myth, which bear examination individually:
1. Odie Cleghorn introduced set forward lines to the NHL in 1925-26.
2. He rotated three forward lines at that time.
3. The Victoria Cougars used a tactic of rapid line changes to counter the Canadiens' great forward line in the 1925 Stanley Cup series.
4. Cleghorn got the idea for set forward lines from the Cougars, who defeated his Canadiens in 1925.
Did Odie Cleghorn Introduce Set Forward Lines to the NHL?
The Pittsburgh Pirates joined the NHL for the 1925-26 season, posting a surprisingly good record of 19-16-1 to finish third in the standings. The team is typically noted as the first in the NHL to rotate two set forward lines, rather than playing a starting forward unit and substitutes who played occasionally. We can determine whether this is the case by looking at the numbers for the Pirates' forwards, compared to other teams.
As a baseline for comparison, we can look at the Montreal Canadiens, who used their substitute forwards more than a typical team that season. The Habs' starting forwards were Hall of Famers Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat, along with Billy Boucher at right wing. They also had regular substitute forwards in Pit Lepine, Hec Lepine and Wildor Larochelle. By looking at the relative offensive contributions of each players, we get an idea of their relative playing time.
1925-26 Monteal Canadiens Forwards, Points
Left Wing GP Pts Center GP Pts Right Wing GP Pts
A. Joliat 35 26 H. Morenz 31 26 B. Boucher 34 13
H. Lepine 33 7 P. Lepine 27 10 W. Larochelle 33 3
The relative points-per-game of the starters versus the substitutes imply that the subs might have been playing about one-quarter of the time that the starters were. However, if we look at the PIM totals as well, we see that Hec Lepine and Larochelle were likely barely playing:
1925-26 Monteal Canadiens Forwards, Penalty Minutes
Left Wing GP PIM Center GP PIM Right Wing GP PIM
A. Joliat 35 52 H. Morenz 31 39 B. Boucher 34 112
H. Lepine 33 2 P. Lepine 27 18 W. Larochelle 33 10
The reason that the scoring totals for the subs are relatively high is probably Pit Lepine. He would likely have been a starter for most any other NHL team, but with the Canadiens, he was stuck behind Howie Morenz, which was no way to get significant playing time. The disparity between point totals among the subs implies they probably didn't play as a single unit; Pit Lepine would have played more than either his brother or Larochelle. The Habs were clearly not rotating two lines, although they did use their substitutes more than most other teams. For example, the Ottawa Senators forwards for 1925-26 are shown below; note the distinct lack of points from the substitutes:
1925-26 Ottawa Senators Forwards, Points
Left Wing GP Pts Center GP Pts Right Wing GP Pts
C. Denneny 36 36 F. Nighbor 25 25 R. Smith 28 25
H. Kilrea 35 5 J. Duggan 27 0 F. Finnigan 36 2
With this baseline in mind, we can examine the Pirates' forwards, and note the decidedly different shape of their numbers:
1925-26 Pittsburgh Pirates Forwards, Points
Left Wing GP Pts Center GP Pts Right Wing GP Pts
F. McCurry 36 17 H. Milks 36 19 H. Darragh 35 17
H. Cotton 33 8 H. Drury 33 8 T. White 35 8
1925-26 Pittsburgh Pirates Forwards, Penalty Minutes
Left Wing GP PIM Center GP PIM Right Wing GP PIM
F. McCurry 36 32 H. Milks 36 17 H. Darragh 35 6
H. Cotton 33 22 H. Drury 33 40 T. White 35 22
The scoring totals among the starting forwards and the substitute forwards are remarkably consistent. The starters each score between 17 and 19 points, while the subs each had eight points each. The starters clearly played together; in game summaries for the season, Duke McCurry, Hib Milks and Harold Darragh were listed as the three starting forwards in nearly all of the Pirates' games. And the consistency of the second unit scoring totals strongly implies they played about the same amount of time. All of this, when considered in combination with the Pirates being historically credited with playing set forward lines, strongly implies that Baldy Cotton, Herb Drury and Tex White did in fact play together as a second forward unit.
And although the second unit scored only 45% as many points as the first, their penalty minutes totals were 163% of the starters figures. We can't be sure, but we could hazard a guess that the second line was playing something like two thirds of the minutes that the first line was, which is certainly enough to be considered part of a regular rotation. But before we can credit the Pirates as being the first NHL team to used two set forward lines, we do need to look at the 1924-25 Hamilton Tigers:
1924-25 Hamilton Tigers Forwards, Points
Left Wing GP Pts Center GP Pts Right Wing GP Pts
R. Green 30 34 B. Burch 27 27 W. Green 28 27
E. Bouchard 29 4 M. Roach 30 10 A. McKinnon 29 11
1924-25 Hamilton Tigers Forwards, Penalty Minutes
Left Wing GP PIM Center GP PIM Right Wing GP PIM
R. Green 30 81 B. Burch 27 10 W. Green 28 75
E. Bouchard 29 14 M. Roach 30 4 A. McKinnon 29 45
The Tigers certainly used their substitute forwards more than most other teams at the time. And it appears that substitute center Mickey Roach and right wing Alex McKinnon played a fair bit, considering their points and penalty minutes compared to starters Billy Burch and Shorty Green. But on the left wing, sub Edmond Bouchard's numbers, compared to Red Green, tell us that he played very little. If he wasn't playing much, but the other substitutes were, then they couldn't have been part of a regular unit. And other than the 1924-25 Tigers, there isn't another NHL team who used their subs enough to be in the running for this honor.
So this part of the myth is CONFIRMED: it appears that the Pirates were the first NHL team to used set forward lines, rather than using a starter/sub system.
Did the Pirates Use Three Forward Lines?
Pittsburgh had two set lines in the 1925-26 season: the first line of Milks, Darragh and McCurry, and the second line of Drury, Cotton and White. But they did also have a third line of center Odie Cleghorn between left wing Louis Berlinguette and right wing Fred Lowrey or Alf Skinner? If so, was this third forward unit actually part of the rotation? That is, did the Pirates roll three lines when other teams weren't even using two yet?
To begin with, it's clear that if three lines were used, they were not used in every game, or even regularly. The NHL schedule was 36 games, and although the top six forwards each played in nearly every match, the third line positions had an average of only 23 man-games apiece. And if you delve into the game summaries, you find that Pittsburgh played nine forwards on only nine occasions, or in one quarter of its games. Cleghorn seemed to be experimenting with the arrangement in the middle of the season, with seven of these occasions in a 14-game stretch in midseason. However, the last 12 matches featured no third line games.
Moreover, when these third liners played, they clearly played very little. They seem to be more akin to old fashioned substitutes than newfangled second liners. The evidence is that although there were 70 man-games played by these third liners, they recorded a grand total of three points, all by Cleghorn. Louis Berlinguette played 30 games without recording a single point. Most games featured only two of these third liners, again implying that they were used to provide breathers for the top six forwards, rather than being used as a distinct unit themselves.
So although Cleghorn did sometimes use nine forwards in a game, the third unit was not part of the regular rotation, but were used only as occasional substitutes. This small part of the myth is BUSTED.
But if the Pirates were not the first to roll three lines, who was? As it turns out, the transition from two lines to three happened much faster than the subsequent move from three lines to four. It seems the 1929-30 Black Hawks, taking advantage of newly expanded rosters, were the first team to rotate three forward lines. But that's a topic for another article.
Next week, we'll continue our mythbusting by examining where Cleghorn might have gotten the idea to use two set forward lines. | 
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