Up until 1979, pretty much all you had to do was play for the Montreal Canadiens for 10 or 12 years.
Red Kelly never played a shift for the Canadiens. But he won 8 Stanley Cups.
Leonard Patrick Kelly was born on July 9, 1927 in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. A defenseman, he starred for St. Michael's College Majors, a Toronto-based team in the Ontario Hockey Association. When a player stars for St. Mike's, he usually gets scouted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. But in 1947, the scout that Leafs president Conn Smythe sent to scout Kelly told him that Kelly would not last 20 games in the NHL.
Kelly, already nicknamed Red because of his hair, was 19. The Leafs did eventually sign him -- when he was 33.
The Detroit Red Wings, across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ontario, pounced on the Leafs' sin of omission. He played all 60 games in the 1947-48 season, and perhaps should have received the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. However, it went to his teammate, center Jim McFadden.
Led by the "Production Line" of right wing Gordie Howe, center Sid Abel and left wing Ted Lindsay, the Wings reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1948 and '49, losing to the Leafs both times. In 1950, they faced the Leafs in the Semifinals, and a now-mature Kelly was a big reason why they won, despite a head injury that nearly killed Howe. The Wings beat the New York Rangers in the Finals, and swept all 8 games in the 1952 Playoffs, taking both the Leafs and the Canadiens in 4 straight.
The 8 games led to the fan idea of throwing an 8-legged octopus onto the ice, one of the NHL's best traditions, but also one of its most disgusting.
In 1954, the James Norris Memorial Trophy, named for a former owner of the Wings, was introduced, to be awarded to the season's outstanding defenseman. Kelly was the 1st winner. He also finished 2nd in the voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy for the League's regular season Most Valuable Player. It went to Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Al Rollins, 1 of only 3 players to win the Trophy and to be currently eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame, but not in it. (The others are Tommy Anderson, defenseman for the 1942 Brooklyn Americans; and Jose Theodore, goalie for the 2002 Canadiens.)
The Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1954, and again in '55, defeating the Canadiens in contentious Finals both times. By the 1957 season, he had already been named an All-Star 8 times, and won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, for "most gentlemanly player," 3 times.
He and the Canadiens' Doug Harvey were the first true "rushing defensemen" or "offensive defensemen" in the NHL. Lots of people say Bobby Orr "changed the game" by becoming an offensive threat, by Kelly and Harvey paved the way for him, and for Paul Coffey, and for any other defenseman who's ever felt like making a run at a goal.
In 1959, he married Andra McLaughlin, and they were married for the rest of his life. They had 4 children, and he lived to see 8 grandchildren. He was a first cousin of 1950s Chicago Blackhawks player Lou Jankowski, and thus the great uncle of current Calgary Flames player Mark Jankowski; and a distant cousin of longtime player and executive Jack Riley and later playing star Rob Blake.
Also in 1959, Kelly broke his ankle. Much like the Yankees with Roger Maris' broken hand a few years later, they kept the extent of the injury a secret, even from the player. It would be the Wings' 1st time missing the Playoffs in 21 years.
Owner Bruce Norris even kept the injury a secret from his general manager, Jack Adams. When he found out, he traded Kelly to the New York Rangers. Kelly, then 32, said he would rather retire than play for the Rangers. George "Punch" Imlach, general manager of the Maple Leafs, stepped in, and made the Wings a deal.
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Kelly not only forgave the Leafs for snubbing him earlier -- after all, this was new management -- but switched positions, deciding that center would be easier on his ankle than defense. He won his 4th Lady Byng Trophy in 1961.
Imlach was building a team around veteran players like Kelly, George Armstrong, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, Bobby Baun, Allan Stanley, Eddie Shack, Don McKenney, former Ranger star Andy Bathgate, and, eventually, Kelly's old Wings teammates Terry Sawchuk, Larry Hillman and Marcel Pronovost. Imlach was far more successful with "overage destroyers" in hockey than the later George Allen would be with them in football.
But he also had younger stars, like Frank Maholvich, Dave Keon, Jim Pappin, Ron Ellis and Mike "Shakey" Walton. Together, this team won the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967.
Frank Mahovlich with his 4th Stanley Cup,
and Red Kelly with his 8th.
Kelly retired after that 1967 Cup -- and the Leafs haven't been back to the Stanley Cup Finals since, 52 years. Curse of the Redhead? No: As with most teams that haven't won a World Championship in a long time, it's due to perennially bad management. There's no supernatural force at work.
Kelly's final totals were 281 goals and 542 assists, for 823 points -- very good totals for a guy who was a defenseman for 2/3rds of his career, especially then. At the time, he was 7th all-time in points, 5th in assists, and his 1,316 regular season games were 2nd behind his former Wings teammate Gordie Howe, then still active.
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While still playing, in 1962, Kelly stood for election to Canada's House of Commons, as the Liberal Party candidate for the York West riding (Americans would say "district") in Toronto, and defeated the Conservative Party incumbent, John Hamilton. There was another election the next year, and his Conservative opponent was Alan Eagleson, a man whose effects on hockey would turn out to be both tremendously positive and tremendously harmful. Kelly won again, and remained a Member of Parliament (MP).
At the time, there was a debate about replacing Canada's flag, known as the Red Ensign, because of the British Union Jack in the canton. Leafs owner Smythe, who had fought under that flag in both World Wars was vehemently opposed to replacing it.
Smythe was something of a hypocrite: He once had a large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, then as now Canada's head of state (and the granddaughter and daughter of his commanders-in-chief, Kings George V and VI), removed from one of the ends of Maple Leaf Gardens, to make way for more seats, and thus more money. He said, "She doesn't pay admission, does she?" (No. In 1951, still Princess Elizabeth, she visited the Gardens and saw a Leafs game on a tour of Canada.)
In spite of Imlach's stubbornness, MP Kelly supported the move for a flag more easily identifiable with the nation, and on December 15, 1964, the Red Ensign was replaced with the Maple Leaf Flag that is known and admired throughout the world. Kelly chose not to run for another term in the 1965 election, and never ran for public office again.
The Red Ensign, and the Maple Leaf Flag.
Note the coat of arms, including English lions, a Scottish lion,
an Irish harp, French fleurs-de-lys, and Canadian maple leaves.
With the NHL's Great Expansion of 1967 came 6 new teams, and the Los Angeles Kings wanted Kelly as their 1st head coach. The Leafs still held Kelly's rights, but a deal was made to send a player chosen in the expansion draft to the Leafs in exchange.
With former teammate Sawchuk in goal; defensemen Bill White, Bob Wall and Dale Rolfe; and forwards Bill Flett, Lowell MacDonald, Ted Irvine, Bryan Campbell and Brian Kilrea, the Kings had a good 1st season, as Kelly guided them to 2nd place in the NHL West Division, and got them into the Playoffs in 1968-69 as well.
He was hired away by the Pittsburgh Penguins, another 1967 expansion team, for 1969-70, and got them into their 1st Playoffs. He also served as general manager from 1970 to 1972, but was fired in 1973. He returned to the Leafs, coaching them from 1974 to 1977, making the Playoffs all 4 years. His NHL coaching record was 278 wins, 300 losses and 134 ties. Many other good players fared far worse as head coaches.
He was elected to the Hockey and Ontario Sports Halls of Fame, and named a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 22nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.
Oddly, it took a long time for his teams to honor him. Not until their 100th season, 2016-17, did the Leafs change their number retirement policy. While his 4 was previously an "Honoured Number," along with 1920s and '30s star Clarence "Hap" Day, it, and all the other Honoured Numbers, weren't retired until a ceremony on October 15, 2016, before the team's 1st home game of the season. They also dedicated statues of him, and the other retired number honorees, at Legends Row outside the arena now known as the Scotiabank Arena. The Wings waited even longer, finally retired 4 for him this past February 1.
It was just in time: Red Kelly died this past Thursday, May 2, 2019 -- the 52nd anniversary of the Leafs' last Cup so far -- at the age of 91.
Red Wings CEO Christopher Ilitch: "Red Kelly was one of the most accomplished players in the history of
the Detroit Red Wings, a tremendously impactful figure to the game of
hockey, and a wonderful person and family man... Red was a
true hockey legend and had the remarkable distinction of being
considered one of the best at his position as both a defenseman and a
forward during his career. His on-ice achievements speak for themselves,
between eight Stanley Cup championships and his collection of league
awards and honors. Beyond that, he was a gracious and humble person, and
he will be sorely missed by all who knew him."
Steve Yzerman, Wings legend, now back with them as general manager after serving in the same post with the Tampa Bay Lightning: "Red Kelly was one of the most dominant players in the history of the
game. He truly redefined how people viewed the defense position,
and how it was played for decades to come. Being a former captain of the
Red Wings during an era that featured numerous Hall of Famers
demonstrates how well-respected he was within the organization, which is
a sentiment that I know is still true today. Red was a great man and
the hockey world will sorely miss him. The Red Wings organization would
like to offer its deepest sympathies to Red's friends and family."
Dick Duff, a Hall-of-Famer who won 3 Cups with him on the Maple Leafs, 5 more with the Canadiens, and an original 1970 Buffalo Sabre: "Some guys just understand the game, whether they were defense or forward... Red was also a sound person who represented the Leafs and the game."
From the Johnny Bower Foundation (Bower himself died in 2017): "He and JB had a lot of great times together. A champion on the ice and in life."
Leafs President Brendan Shanahan, himself a Hall of Fame player (including 4 years with the New Jersey Devils and 3 Cups with the Wings): "The entire organization mourns the passing of Red Kelly. He was a gentleman, but a fierce competitor. Above all, he was a family man, and he will be missed by his hockey family."
Toronto Mayor John Tory, despite his name matching his party (members of a "Conservative Party," anywhere in the world, are called "Tories"), and thus politically opposed: "Red Kelly was one of the stars I idolized, Number 4 anchoring our beloved Leafs in their Stanley Cup winning ways. He was a role model as an athlete and his decent, humble, respectful way took him to the House of Commons as a popular MP."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a fellow Liberal: "Red Kelly was a powerhouse defenseman and a true gentleman who cared about the game, his community, and all of Canada – he's leaving an unforgettable legacy. We'll miss you, Red."
And whoever writes the Twitter feed for the NHL Public Relations office called him "a man whose hockey career is so storied and distinguished that it may never be duplicated."
A player would have to be not just an exceptional player, but an exception person, to make a serious run at it.
Red Kelly was an exceptional player, and an exceptional person.
UPDATE: His final resting place is not publicly known.
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From Kelly's 8 Stanley Cup teams, the following players are still alive:
* 1950 Detroit Red Wings, 3: Marty Pavelich, Pete Babando and Doug McKay.
* 1952 Wings, 4: Pavelich, Glenn Hall, Alex Delvecchio and Vic Stasiuk.
* 1954 Wings, 4: Pavelich, Delvecchio, Stasiuk and Dave Gatherum.
* 1955 Wings, 5: Pavelich, Delvecchio, Stasiuk, Marcel Bonin and Larry Hillman.
* 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs, 9: Hillman, George Armstrong, Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Eddie Shack, Bobby Baun, Dick Duff, Bob Nevin and John MacMillan.
* 1963 Leafs, same 9.
* 1964 Leafs, 10: Hillman, Armstrong, Mahovlich, Keon, Shack, Baun, Duff, Nevin, Don McKenney and Jim Pappin.
* 1967 Leafs, 12: Hillman, Armstrong, Mahovlich, Keon, Shack, Baun, Pappin, Pete Stemkowski, Mike Walton, Brian Conacher, Ron Ellis and Larry Jeffrey.
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