He made his National Hockey League debut for the Boston Bruins, playing 3 games with the team in 1955, but he was mostly mired in the minors during the early portion of his career.
He played 23 games with Boston over the next two seasons, while serving as a significant contributor[citation needed] on the Hershey Bears club.
He was part of a six-player blockbuster transaction in which he was traded along with Norm Ullman and Paul Henderson from the Red Wings to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Frank Mahovlich, Pete Stemkowski and Garry Unger on March 4, 1968.
The Maple Leafs and Red Wings were in fifth and sixth place respectively at the bottom of the East Division standings at the time of the deal.
The next year, he was hired as head coach of the team's top farm club, the AHL's Cincinnati Swords.