Patrick James "Whitey" Stapleton (July 4, 1940 – April 8, 2020) was a Canadian ice hockey player.

Stapleton was briefly the property of the Toronto Maple Leafs in June 1965 as part of a trade with the Bruins, but he was left unprotected in the intra-league draft and was claimed the next day by the Chicago Black Hawks.

[1][2] In 1973, Stapleton jumped from the NHL and signed a five-year deal with the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association (WHA) where he became player-coach, replacing Marcel Pronovost as coach.

He was a WHA first-team all-star in 1974 and won the Dennis A. Murphy Trophy as the league's top defenceman in the 1973–74 season.

When the Racers refused to honour his contract in 1977, Stapleton was transferred to the Cincinnati Stingers, where he played one season before retiring in 1978.

In 2008, Stapleton brought the puck that Paul Henderson fired into the net to win the 1972 Summit Series with the Russians to a Sarnia Legionnaires game.

[citation needed] In May 2010, Stapleton told the Toronto Sun that he would hang onto the puck until the 40th Anniversary of the Summit Series in 2012.

The ribbon was cut by his widow, Jackie and his son, Mike Stapleton, addressed the crowd “As a family, we’re deeply honoured to have a rink named after dad.