Edward Joyal

Edward Abel "Eddie" Joyal — known to fans, teammates, and opponents alike as "The Jet" — was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre whose blazing speed, clean play, and quiet determination carried him from the frozen banks of the Sturgeon River in St. Albert, Alberta, to rinks across North America. He was born on May 8, 1940, one of eight children raised by Charles and Mary Joyal. When Eddie was only eight or nine years old, his father Charles passed away, and his mother Mary shouldered the task of raising all eight children on her own. It was a working-class upbringing that forged in Eddie a fierce work ethic he never lost. Long before organized hockey, Eddie taught himself to skate by borrowing his older brother's skates and carving a small rink on the frozen Sturgeon River each morning before school, his mother watching from the window. Around age eleven he joined Edmonton's Mighty Mites program, and by 1958 he was playing for the Edmonton Oil Kings junior team — helping the club reach the Memorial Cup finals in 1959. He signed with the Detroit Red Wings organization as an undrafted free agent in 1960, and made his NHL debut on January 24, 1963, earning the priceless early mentorship of Gordie Howe. Over nine NHL seasons Eddie suited up for four storied franchises: the Red Wings, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Philadelphia Flyers. His finest years came in Los Angeles, where he served as alternate captain and led the expansion Kings in scoring with 57 points in their inaugural 1967–68 season, following it with a career-high 33 goals the next year. He was a player of remarkable consistency — 465 regular-season NHL games, 128 goals, 134 assists, and a reputation for low penalty minutes that spoke to his disciplined, team-first approach. In 1972 Eddie helped build another franchise from the ground up, becoming one of the original centres for the Alberta Oilers of the World Hockey Association — the club that would evolve into the Edmonton Oilers dynasty. He played four WHA seasons before retiring. His community never forgot him. In April 2016, during the final season of Rexall Place, the Edmonton Oilers honored him with an "Eddie Joyal Day." That same year, a street in St. Albert was named Joyal Way in recognition of his family's generations of contribution to the community. Eddie Joyal passed away on July 20, 2026, at the age of 86. He is remembered as a franchise builder, a steadfast teammate, and a son of Alberta who carried the spirit of those early-morning river skates all the way to the NHL.