Gerry Hart, defenseman for expansion Islanders, dies at age 75
Gerry Hart, Islanders defenseman, at Nassau Coliseum on March 5, 1974. Credit: Newsday/Don Norkett
The first Islanders training camp had just gotten underway in 1972 when Gerry Hart, an NHL veteran of 71 games over four seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, first ran into rookie Bob Nystrom on the ice.
“The first thing I remember of him is he slashed me so hard on the elbow, I couldn’t feel my hand,” Nystrom recalled to Newsday on Saturday night, shortly after the Islanders announced that Hart had passed away at age 75.
“I actually had a fight with him,” said Nystrom, who maintained a lifelong friendship with Hart. “We went out afterward and he said, ‘That’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to play hard and make sure people respect you.’ Off the ice, the guy took me under his wing, a young guy from Western Canada who had a lot to learn. He talked to me about what it would take to make the team. He was amazing.”
Hart, a scrappy 5-9, 175-pound defenseman originally from Flin Flon, Manitoba, provided early leadership for the expansion franchise along with captain Ed Westfall. The Islanders quickly went from their 12-60-6 inaugural season to qualifying for the playoffs in 1975. They went to the playoffs five times in Hart’s seven seasons with the club.
“The best way you can describe him is grit,” Nystrom said. “He was not big by any means. Not just the physical side, but talking about how much it would take to win the [Stanley] Cup, or win games.”
Hart played 476 games over seven seasons for the Islanders from 1972-79 and recorded 20 goals, 108 assists and 783 penalty minutes before finishing his career with the Quebec Nordiques and St. Louis Blues. He played 730 regular-season games in the NHL and had 29 goals, 150 assists and 1,240 penalty minutes.
Hart eventually settled on Long Island and played a prominent role in coaching many of the area’s youth players after opening The Rinx in Hauppauge in 1992. He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 as a result.
“He did a wonderful job,” Nystrom said of Hart’s youth coaching career.
Nystrom said he last saw his friend two days ago at the end of a lengthy hospitalization. “My son and I visited him a number of times,” he said. “It’s just a shocker to hear that he had passed, but he was in really bad shape.
“When I was in the hospital with him, we reminisced a lot about the times we’d go out after a win and have a few drinks and be with the boys. He said, ‘It was so important that you guys like each other. You’ll do a whole lot better.’ ”
“The New York Islanders are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Gerry Hart,” the team said in a statement.
The Islanders announced that in lieu of flowers, the Hart family has requested that donations be made to unsungsiblingsfoundation.org, clarkgillies.org and cic16.org.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
