Maxwell Herbert Lloyd Bentley was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League as part of a professional and senior career that spanned 20 years.
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Max Bentley was the NHL's leading scorer twice in a row, and in 1946 won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player.
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Max Bentley played in four All-Star Games and was twice named to a post-season All-Star team.
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Max Bentley played five seasons in Chicago with Doug before a 1947 trade sent him to the Maple Leafs in one of the most significant transactions in NHL history to that point.
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Max Bentley then returned to his home in Saskatoon to finish his playing career.
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Max Bentley was named one of the NHL's 100 greatest players of all-time by the NHL in 2017.
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Max Bentley was the youngest of six boys, and one of thirteen children.
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Max Bentley's father Bill was a native of Yorkshire, England who emigrated to the United States as a child and became a speed skating champion in North Dakota before settling in Delisle.
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All of the Max Bentley children were athletes, and all six brothers played hockey.
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Bill Max Bentley believed that all six boys could have played in the National Hockey League, though responsibilities on the family farm resulted in the eldest four boys spending the majority of their careers playing senior hockey on the Canadian Prairies.
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Max Bentley's father taught Bentley to play hockey on their farm, where the family patriarch believed the daily chores would give his children the strength to have strong shots.
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Max Bentley's father taught him to use his speed to elude bigger and stronger opponents as he weighed only 155 pounds fully grown.
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Max Bentley played two years in Rosetown, Saskatchewan between 1935 and 1937 where he led the Saskatchewan Intermediate league in scoring as a 16-year-old.
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Max Bentley moved onto the Drumheller Miners of the Alberta Senior Hockey League in 1937, leading that league in scoring while playing on a line with brothers Roy and Wyatt.
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Max Bentley then traveled to Montreal for a tryout with the Canadiens.
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Max Bentley chose to continue playing, but developed into a hypochondriac following the diagnosis.
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Max Bentley constantly complained of aches, pains and ailments, and carried so many drugs and medications he was known as a "walking drug store".
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Max Bentley caught the attention of the Chicago Black Hawks, and while the team was impressed with his play, they wanted him to start with their American Hockey Association affiliate in Kansas City.
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Gottselig sent Max Bentley up, reuniting him with brother Doug who had joined Chicago in 1939.
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Max Bentley played his first NHL game on November 21,1940, against the Bruins.
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Max Bentley finished three points behind brother Doug, who won the scoring title.
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Max Bentley added three assists in the game, tying the league record at the time for points in one game with seven.
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Max Bentley was called for only one penalty during the season, and as a result was voted the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player.
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Max Bentley's career was interrupted in 1943 when he joined the Canadian Infantry Corps.
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Max Bentley led the league in scoring with 61 points, and was awarded the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
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Max Bentley won the title on the final night of the season, finishing one point ahead of Montreal's Maurice Richard.
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Max Bentley eventually finished fifth with 54 points, seven behind Elmer Lach's league-leading 61.
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Max Bentley finished the season with significantly improved scoring totals, finishing third in the league with 62 points, behind Maurice Richard's 66, and Gordie Howe's league-record 86.
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Max Bentley finished with 13 points in the playoffs, tying him with Richard for the league lead.
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Max Bentley finished the season with 32 points in 54 games, while Doug played only 20 games.
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Max Bentley was initially placed on the suspended list by Toronto after he refused to report to training camp and attempted to purchase his release from the team.
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In 1956, Max Bentley joined his brother Doug in hockey management when the brothers launched a new Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team in Saskatoon.
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Max Bentley attempted to get into coaching, first offering his services to the WHL's Vancouver Canucks in the winter of 1961, before going south to coach the Burbank Stars of the California Hockey league in 1962.
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Max Bentley was known for his speed, passing and puck handling skills.
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Max Bentley learned his trade with his brothers as they constantly played street hockey in the summers and on the ice in the winters.
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Max Bentley's father flooded a sheet of ice that was the length of a regulation NHL hockey rink but much narrower, forcing the boys to develop the ability to maintain control of the puck while making fast, hard turns to reach the net.
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Max Bentley was nicknamed the "Dipsy Doodle Dandy from Delisle" in reference to his ability to skate around opponents who often found that the only way to stop him was via rough play.
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Max Bentley was able to score from nearly any angle, an ability that confounded even his brother Doug.
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Long-time prairie hockey promoter Bill Hunter said Max Bentley was "a phenomenal hockey player, an absolute artist with the puck".
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Max Bentley was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, two years after his brother Doug.
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Max Bentley was a long-time curler, often playing with his brothers, son and nephews.
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The Bentleys operated a large farm, raising cattle and growing wheat, and Max tended to return to the farm to recuperate during hockey seasons when he felt he needed to rest up.
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Max Bentley and his wife Betty had a son, Lynn, who was a hockey player and a younger son, Gary.
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Max Bentley died at his home in Saskatoon on January 19,1984, at the age of 63.
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