Guyle Fielder, the Seattle Totems legend who carried the city’s hockey story long before the NHL arrived, died Saturday at 95. The Idaho-born, Saskatchewan-raised center had been preparing to move back to the Seattle area to live with family when he fell ill earlier in the week. Across a 22-season professional career, he helped the Totems to three Western Hockey League championships and piled up a statistical legacy that still looms large in Seattle hockey circles.
Final days and family
According to the Seattle Kraken, Fielder suffered a massive stroke at his Arizona home while packing to move north to Sammamish and never regained consciousness. He died Saturday with family at his side. “It was all very peaceful,” his niece Jackie Malsam told the team. The Kraken noted he had been planning a permanent move after selling his Arizona home and had been staying with longtime companion Betty Johnson.
A career that built Seattle hockey
Per The Seattle Times, Fielder spent 22 professional seasons, retiring in 1973 after starring mostly in the Western Hockey League. He led the WHL in scoring nine times and was a six-time league MVP, and he helped the Totems to titles in 1959, 1967 and 1968. Local coverage and team records place his pro point total above 2,000, ranking him among the all-time leaders in North American professional hockey.
Kraken award and tributes
The Kraken honored Fielder’s legacy by creating the Guyle Fielder Award for the player who best shows “perseverance, hustle and dedication,” according to the team’s awards page. Jaden Schwartz has won the prize in each of the last three seasons, while Yanni Gourde captured the inaugural honor. The team says the award, along with a replica locker and tributes around town, helps connect the NHL’s arrival to Seattle’s Totems-era past.
Honors on and off the ice
Fielder’s late-career recognition included the Seattle Sports Commission’s Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award in 2024 and a special on-ice salute from the Kraken, per local coverage. He made rare visits back to Seattle in recent years and was celebrated at Climate Pledge Arena and the Kraken Community Iceplex as the city reconnected with its hockey history. Family members told reporters those moments had meant a great deal to him late in life.
Remembered as a passer and character
Contemporaries and modern writers point to Fielder’s playmaking and personality as reasons his legend endured. As The Hockey News recalls, teammates and critics called him a magician with the puck and compared his creative passing to that of other all-time greats. For Seattle fans, those stories, along with his three Totems championships, remain the lasting measure of a player who helped define hockey in the region.
