With our next pick,
The Flying Elbows would like to round out our top line by selecting our
#1 LW...
The man who gave us the elbowing penalty and the NHLPA (indirectly)... also the first man to finish first in goals, assists, points and PIMs... but, more importantly, the man who started one of the most beloved traditions in all of sports in skating around the rink with the Stanley Cup... from Renfrew, Ontario...
"Terrible" Ted Lindsay!
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Ted Lindsay: Someone once said no one in the NHL was a stranger to Ted Lindsay, only someone he hadn't fought yet. He was the most hated player of his generation, someone who felt his stick could be usefully employed as a hacksaw and ended up taking more than 700 stitches to his face during his career. But while he liked to rough it up, "Terrible Ted" was also a very skilled forward and a key reason the Detroit Red Wings won four Stanley Cups during his time there. Lindsay was only 5-feet-8 and weighed 163 pounds, but playing on what was called the "Production Line" with Gordie Howe and Sid Abel, he retired as the highest-scoring left wing in history. An eight-time All-Star, and the league's scoring champion in 1950, Lindsay was the first player to finish first in goals, assists, points and penalty minutes. Despite everything he accomplished on the ice, Lindsay's most noteworthy contribution was sowing the seeds for the first players association. Lindsay got a union organized in the late 1950s because he wanted answers about the players' pension funds, but it was crushed quickly by the owners and ended up getting the star player traded to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks in 1957. He spent three years in Chicago before mending fences and returning to Detroit for one final season in 1964-65.
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Although small in stature compared to most players in the league, he was a fierce competitor who earned the nickname "Terrible Ted" for his toughness. His rough play caused the NHL to develop penalties for 'elbowing' and 'kneeing' to discourage hitting between players using the elbows and knees.
In the 1949-50 season, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer with 78 points and his team won the Stanley Cup. Over the next five years, he helped Detroit win three more championships and appeared with Howe on the cover of a March 1957 Sports Illustrated issue. Ted was the first player to lift the Cup and skate around the rink with it, starting a great tradition.
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