Back in 1977 he survived a car crash with then teammate Bob Dailey and broke his neck, requiring a body cast. The next year, in a game against the Los Angeles Kings, his neck was cut on a diving play by the skate of Marcel Dionne.
The play happened in the first period and it took the rest of the game for trainers to stich up MacLeish’s neck. He said that his recovery included postgame drinks and cigarettes.
“Joe Watson said there was some smoke and beer coming out of my neck,” MacLeish told the Flyers website in 2005. “I am not sure what it was, but it was definitely something. Around 4 a.m. that morning I woke up and I was bleeding all over the place because the stitches had broken. We called the team trainer and he took me to get new stitches.”