Red Wings legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay has died at the age of 93.
He died under hospice care overnight.
Lindsay, known as “Terrible Ted,” played for the Red Wings in the 1940s and 50s and helped the team win four Stanley cups.
As a boy in the Ottawa area and then playing juniors in Toronto, he listened to Red Wings games on WJR.
He joined the Wings in 1944. He made the first all star team in 1947.
In the 1949–50 season, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer with 78 points and led the team to the Stanley Cup. Over the next five years, he helped Detroit win three more championships Lindsay was the first player to lift the Stanley Cup and skate it around the rink, starting the tradition.
His rough play caused the NHL to develop penalties for ‘elbowing’ and ‘kneeing’ to discourage hitting between players using the elbows and knees.
He started the movement among players to form the NHL players association.
That brought the wrath of GM Jack Adams, who traded Ted to the Black Hawks, also owned by the Norris family.
He retired in 1960.
But he wasn’t thru.
He made a comeback in 1964 after being out of hockey for 4 years. He wore the number 15, not the number 7 that he made famous.
He became a color commentator for NBC.
Then he became the general manager of the Wings,
Ted raised more than 4 million dollars for autism research in his later years. He earned the nickname “Terrific Ted.”
Leader of the Red Wings, and a community leader Ted Lindsay, dead at 93.
His number 7 jersey hangs from the rafters at Little Caesar’s Arena.