Syd Howe was the original Howe in Detroit. No relation to the legendary Gordie Howe, Syd Howe was an exemplary scorer, with 529 points (237 goals, 292 assists) over his 17-season, 700-game NHL career, mostly with the Detroit Red Wings. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965.

The forward was born in Ottawa, grew up with the game, and joined the Ottawa Senators at the end of the 1929-30 season, playing 12 games with a goal and an assist. He moved to the Philadelphia Quakers after that, with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 1930-31. He played three games in the NHL the next season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by two more seasons with the Senators after they returned to the League following a year of suspended operations.

Howe moved with the Senators to St. Louis when they became the St. Louis Eagles, playing 36 games for them in 1934-35. But in February of that season, he was traded to the Red Wings, where he would play out the remainder of his career and where he solidified his status as a Hall of Fame player.

In 12 seasons in Detroit, from 1934-46, Howe had 436 points (188 goals, 248 assists) in 515 games. He had his best seasons late in his career, topping 50 points for the first time in 1942-43, when he had 55 (20 goals, 35 assists) in the first of three seasons with at least 53 points. In 1943-44, he set an NHL career high with 60 points (32 goals, 28 assists), the only time he reached the 30-goal mark in a season.

Howe set the modern-day scoring record with six goals in a game on Feb. 3, 1944, against the New York Rangers. The only player to score more is the seven goals by Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs on Jan. 31, 1920. Two other players in the modern era (since 1943-44) have matched Howe's six goals (Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 7, 1968 and Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 7, 1976).

With the Red Wings, Howe won the Stanley Cup three times, in 1936, 1937, and 1943, and helped take them to the Cup Final in three other seasons (1941, 1942, 1945). In 1936, Howe played in the longest NHL game in history, the opening game of the Final that went six overtimes before Mud Bruneteau scored for Detroit to give the Red Wings a 1-0 win against the Montreal Maroons.