Who Is Yasushin Tanaka?
Would you believe the biggest surprise of the Kings' very first training camp was Japanese forward Yasushin Tanaka?
"He's had more scoring chances than anybody and he's always in position around the net," observed Los Angeles General Manager Larry Regan. ("Leafs' Revolt Appears Ended." The Ottawa Journal, September 13, 1967.)
The 21-year-old, the first to be dispatched from Japan to pick up the finer points of North American hockey, impressed both Regan and Kelly with his skating and stickhandling. But the GM cautioned, "He hasn't hit anybody, but that aspect of the game is all new to him."
Tanaka wouldn't be long for LA's training camp, but a season later, he was still skating in North America, this time for the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks. "I'd really like to stay here another five years or more." (Hovelson, Jack. "Waterloo: Where East Meets West." Des Moines Register, January 19, 1969.)
There's no record, however, of Tanaka playing in North America beyond 1968-69. But he would represent Team Japan in both the 1972 and 1976 Winter Olympics, before retiring to manage a golf course in Hawaii.
Sheng Peng is a freelance hockey writer based out of Los Angeles, California. He covers the LA Kings and Ontario Reign for Today's Slapshot. His work has also appeared on VICE Sports, The Hockey News, and SB Nation's Jewels from the Crown.