Harold Cotton (ice hockey)
Canadian ice hockey player (1902-1984)
Harold William "Baldy" Cotton (November 5, 1902 – September 9, 1984) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans.
Playing career
Cotton's hockey career began in Pittsburgh after moving there to attend Duquesne University. In 1925, he began playing for the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateur Hockey Association while attending school. He would later sign with the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates, playing with the club for parts of 4 seasons. He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the middle of the 1928–29 season and would record a career high 38 points the following year in his first full season with Toronto. Cotton won his only Stanley Cup playing for the Maple Leafs in 1931–32. In 1935, Cotton was sold to the New York Americans where he played for two more seasons until his retirement in 1937.
Front office
After playing professional hockey, Cotton served as a scout for the Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars, retiring from hockey permanently in 1977.
Awards and achievements
1931–32 - Stanley Cup Champion - Toronto Maple Leafs
1933–34 - Played in Ace Bailey Benefit Game
Transactions
Signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates, September 26, 1925.
Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Gerry Lowrey and $9,500, February 12, 1929.
The public source identifies “Harold Cotton (ice hockey)” as canadian ice hockey player (1902-1984). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Harold, Cotton and hockey.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Harold Cotton (ice hockey)”, the useful work is to connect “canadian ice hockey player (1902-1984)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5660361. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1984, 1925 and 1928.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Harold Cotton (ice hockey)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Harold Cotton (ice hockey) primary sources, Harold Cotton (ice hockey) archive and Harold research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Harold Cotton (ice hockey)”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Harold Cotton (ice hockey)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.