Germain Gagnon (Original Islander) passes away

Germain Gagnon, an original Islander, passed away on Sunday.  He was 71.

It was Gagnon's goal, with just 69 seconds to play on October 12, 1972, that allowed the Islanders to reach .500 for the first time in their history (1-1-0).  That game Happened At The Coliseum and was celebrated earlier this month, both here: NYISkinny: Eric Hornick's Blog: It Happened at the Coliseum … on OCTOBER 12th and on a commemorative ticket stub issued by the Isles.

Gagnon also scored the first hat trick in Islander history (November 1, 1972 vs California) - which ironically was part of a pre-game feature that ran on MSG+ last night.

An obituary (in French) appears here: Avis de décès - GAGNON, Germain | La Corporation des thanatologues du Québec

				Avis de décès - GAGNON, Germain | La Corporation des t... Envoyez des vœux de sympathie
				View on www.domainefunerai...	Preview by Yahoo

 

Gagnon was the "future considerations" of an important early trade in Islander history.

	Traded to NY Islanders by Montreal to complete transaction that sent Denis DeJordy, Glenn Resch and Alex Campbell to NY Islanders for cash and NY Islanders' 2nd round choice (Glenn Goldup)  in 1973 Amateur Draft (June 6, 1972) , June 26, 1972.  The deal became a steal for the Islanders  as Goldup played only 18 games for Montreal, before achieving some success with the Los Angeles Kings.

He was traded to Chicago in March 1974 for future considerations, which eventually became Walt Ledingham.

Gagnon played 259 NHL games, going 40-101-141 for Montreal, the Islanders, Chicago and Kansas City.  For the Isles, he played 125 games, tallying 20 goals and 43 assists.

By my records, Gagnon is the 6th member of the 1972-73 squad to pass away, preceded by:

Craig Cameron, Robert Cook, Bryan Lefley, Brian Spencer and Ronald Stewart.

The only other former Islander players who I am aware of having passed away are Alexander Karpovtsev and Josef Vasicek, both of whom were killed in the Lokomotiv plane crash in 2011.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick