Height: 5-10
Weight: 185
Shoot: R
Born: 11 Sep 1946, Toronto ON (d. 2010)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Los Angeles | |||||||||||
| New England | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| 1973-74 | New England | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | New England | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | New England | |||||||||||
| Cincinnati | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Michael Has a Game Plan • by Walt Marlow • The Hockey Spectator • October 1972
Michael Arthur Byers exemplifies the kind of athlete young ladies like to bring home to mother: articulate, stylish, refined. Hockey is his business, but he's also like to gain a nodding acquaintance with the halls of higher learning. His off-ice interests are political science and archaeology, although not necessarily in that order. Undeniability, there is a noticeable lack of interest in mummies today. When Clarence Sutherland Campbell, the famous Rhodes Scholar who serves as President of the National Hockey League, declared "We will go after the big fish first," in reference to defectors to the World Hockey Association, Byers wasn't seized with sudden perspiration. He has no false illusions about his stature. On the other hand, he doesn't exactly consider himself a hockey practitioner of the fringe variety either. Nor do his current employers. Michael Byers, acknowledged as one of the games premier skaters, figures to be a very big fish among the Sharks of Los Angeles this season. Michael's game plan calls for 40 goals, a target that doesn't generate astonishment by the Sharks volatile coach Terry Slater. He's thinking more along the lines of 50. "Getting Byers was a big plus for us," waxed Slater. "He's a hell of a skater, he can check, and he can pull the trigger around the net." Indeed he can. Two winters ago, as a member of the somewhat less-than-brilliant Los Angeles Kings, Byers hit for 27 on a line that amassed 77 goals and 96 assists for 173 points. Byers felt such a performance warranted a sizable increase that would have put him in the $25,000 bracket. To be sure, he got a raise, but only after a lengthy holdout and much haggling that left irreparable scars. In 28 games into last season, when it became apparent Byers and his linemates, Juha Widing and Bob Berry, weren't functioning in the manner to which management had grown accustomed, Mike was dispatched to Buffalo. "When I left, we had won only four games, and three of them were on the road," recalled Byers. "The team just wasn't together." "Regan (coach and GM Larry) always preached system, but he never had one. He'd come into the dressing room between periods and ask 'what do you think we should do?' There was no set style." Byers, of course, knows all about systems. He was playing house-league hockey in Toronto at age 8. At 13, he joined the Toronto Marlboro organization and as a bantam through junior, played the Toronto Maple Leaf way. "Punch Imlach had just taken over for Billy Reay as coach of the Leafs, and it wasn't long before he had the whole organization, right down to the kids, playing the same style of hockey,: said Byers. One year, as a midget he played 100 games and scored 50 goals. As a Marley junior in the hockey factory that is the OHA, Byers had seasons of 22, 22 and 25 goals. Going to Buffalo is not all bad for Byers, although it was later developed into a nightmare. "Imlach put me on a line with Gil Perreault and Rick Martin, and I had 10 goals in 15 games," Byers fondly recalls. "Then Punch suffered his heart attack and Joe Crozier took over. He shuffled all the lines, and I hardly got on the ice anymore." Byers, 26, concedes that Winnipeg's signing of Bobby Hull convinced him the WHA was for real. "I never really gave the league much of a chance," he admitted. "But when the Sharks came on the scene I didn't need much persuading. I wasn't looking forward to another year in Buffalo, although Perreault and Martin were two of the greatest fellows I ever played with." "Sure, this league is an unknown commodity. But I have no misgivings. The Sharks are a great organization. When fellows like Hull, Sanderson, Cheevers and Parent defect, you know that you're part of something that's going to correct a lot of wrongs in big leagues today." "I know this. You're going to see a different Bobby Hull now. He hasn't had the opportunity to play to his capacity the last three years. He could score 75 goals." Byers, like most of the Sharks, has taken up residence in the suburban Fountain Valley, a mere 15 minutes from the University of California-Irvine, where he plans to get that political science degree. "This is the greatest place in the world to live," he beams. Interestingly, when Byers was playing for that other team in town, he was exposed to showbiz with a role in Mod Squad. Don't be surprised if he looms again on your TV screen. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1973-74 (by Reyn Davis & Charley Hallman)
Mike had 25 goals in his first WHA season, splitting the campaign between the Los Angeles Sharks and New England Whalers ... Added six scores in playoffs ... Had big year with NHL Los Angeles Kings in 1970-71, leading team in scoring with 27 goals ... Traded to Buffalo following year ... Production fell off to 13 goals with Sabres although he missed part of that year due to injuries ... Played junior hockey with Toronto Marlies ... Only played 15 games in two years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, also saw limited duty with the Philadelphia Flyers. |
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