Brad Maxwell, a key player on the Minnesota North Stars blue line and the team’s most creative signing died on Sunday after losing a battle to lung cancer that spread through his body. Maxwell was 66.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude for the love and support shown to us during this difficult time,” Maxwell’s family announced Sunday on his GoFundMe page. “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Brad ‘Maxy’ Maxwell on Sept. 3, 2023. Those who knew him were truly lucky, and he will be deeply missed. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.”
His family had created a fundraising page to fund the costs of the new treatment he was undergoing.
In his active days, Maxwell played 613 regular season games between 1977-87 with the North Stars, Quebe Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers, ending his career in Minnesota with 17 matches in 1986-87. He played another 79 matches in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a key cog for the North Stars in their run to the 1981 Final, when the lost the best-of-7 series in five games to the New York Islanders.
He had 368 points (98 goals, 270 assists) in the NHL, accumulating 1,292 penalty minutes. He contributed 61 points (12 goals, 49 assists) and 178 penalty minutes in the postseason.
Brad played for Canada three times in the IIHF World Championship, in 1978, 1979 and 1982.
Just like his father, Maxwell was a fantastic golfer but found his calling in hockey, playing three seasons for the major-junior New Westminister Bruins from 1974-77. He won the Memorial Cup in 1977 with New Westminister before being drafted by the North Stars in the first round (No. 7) of the 1977 NHL Draft.
Before he could sign with the North Stars, the Birmingham Bulls of the opposing World Hockey Association found him, offering a lucrative contract for 1977-78 and booking him on a flight to Birmingham for a gala signing.
Maxwell’s flight in June flew him through Chicago and that was where the executives of Minnesota practically ambushed him when he got off the plane and headed to his connecting flight sweeting the Bulls deal and taking him to Minnesota to join the NHL.
Back in Birmingham, Bulls owner John Bassett, a brass band, civic leaders and even Miss Alabama watched as every passenger came down from the plane that arrived from Chicago, but Maxwell was not one of them.
The Bulls folded later that month with the NHL-WHA merger.
Brad Maxwell got a media introduction at the Metropolitan Sports Center on June 24, happy to discuss his come back to the arena.
“I played here once in a peewee tournament when I was 11,” he told reporters. “I lived in Brandon, and we came down here to play. We lost but I remember how nice the people were. Five of us stayed with a family in Bloomington and they were great to us.”
North Stars coach Ted Harris, ex-captain and great defensemen who was with the team before, worked to build a stronger blue line and he liked Maxwell’s 194 pounds on a 6-foot-2 frame.
Harris too was a rugged defenseman, four-time Stanley Cup champion in the 1960s with the Montreal Canadiens, who included one more with the 1975 Philadelphia Flyers.
“I know defensemen have to play defense and I think I can help the North Stars in front of the goal,” Maxwell said upon signing. “I’ll be there. But I also like to make rushes.
“All I want is a chance to play. I’ll be there if anyone challenges me or goes after anybody else on the team.”
The NHL season were Maxwell was most productive offense-wise was in 1983-84, when he had 73 points (19 goals, 54 assists) and an NHL career-high 225 minutes in penalties during his lone All-Star season.
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