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Who was the first NHL player to use a slap shot?

A slap shot is a forehand shot in which the shooter draws the stick back above the waist (the back swing) before swinging the stick quickly forward and slapping the puck. It is not unusual for slap shots to travel more than 100 miles per hour. The advantage of the slap shot is its velocity; the disadvantages include a lack of accuracy, the long time it takes to release the shot (slap shots are commonly blocked by doughty defenders), and the opportunity given to defenders to take the puck during the back swing. As to who in the NHL first employed the slap shot, like many things in hockey, that’s shrouded in controversy and speculation. Early practitioners of the slap shot in the 1950s were Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and Andy Bathgate. Geoffrion, who played most of his career with the Montreal Canadiens, says he got his colourful nickname “Boom Boom” because of that very shot: “One day I was practising at the Forum and shooting the puck hard against the boards and it was making a pretty big noise. A newspaper guy, Charlie Borie, asked me if it would be okay if he started calling me ‘Boom Boom.’ Since that day, the name stayed.”