Former Montreal Canadiens centre Phil Goyette of Lachine, Quebec passed away at the age of 92 according to nhl.com on Sunday. Goyette played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1956 to 1972. He was with the Montreal Canadiens from 1956 to 1963, the New York Rangers from 1964 to 1969, the the St. Louis Blues from 1969 to 1970, the Buffalo Sabres from 1970 to 1971, and shared his time with the Sabres and New York Rangers from 1971 to 1972.
In 940 games, Goyette had 207 goals and 467 assists for 674 points. He had 123 penalty minutes, 191 power-play points, one shorthanded point, five hat tricks, and 36 game-winning goals.
Goyette was known for his gentlemanly play. In an amusing statistic, when he did win the Lady Byng Award with the Blues in 1969-70, he had a career high 16 penalty minutes.
Four times, Goyette was a NHL All-Star. He was honoured while with the Canadiens in 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1961.
In his first four NHL seasons (1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960), Goyette won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. In 94 playoff games, Goyette had 46 points.
After his playing career, Goyette was the first ever head coach in the New York Islanders franchise. Being an expansion franchise, the Islanders only won six of 48 games with Goyette as the coach. He never coached in the NHL again.
