Earlier today, the NHL Alumni Association announced the passing of former player Dave Forbes at the age of 75. Forbes, who was born in Montreal in 1948, spent six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1973-1979.
After spending four years playing for American International College, Forbes signed as a free agent with the Boston Bruins before the 1973-74 NHL season, making his professional debut on October 10, 1973. Throughout his four years with the Bruins organization, Forbes scored 53 goals and 105 points in 283 games, helping the Bruins to the 1974 and 1977 Stanley Cup Finals.
During the 1977-78 Waiver Draft, Forbes was selected by the Washington Capitals in the organization’s fourth year of operations. Forbes managed 11 goals and 22 points over 70 games in his first year with the Capitals organization, as the team finished with a 17-49-14 record in the Norris Division. Forbes was released by Washington after two games of the 1978-79 season and finished his professional career that season after playing with the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association.
In total, Forbes played in a total of 362 career games at the NHL level, scoring 64 goals and 128 points while racking up 341 penalty minutes. After his career came to an end in 1979, Forbes picked up a second career as a financial advisor while becoming very involved in his local Church community throughout the end of his life. PHR sends its condolences to Forbes’ family and friends.
A couple of key items left out of his bio. There was the incident that effectively ended Henry Boucha’s career and the class action lawsuit in which he was one of the lead plaintiffs against the NHL, NHL clubs, and Alan Eagleson when they outed Eagleson as having embezzled from players for years.