NHL Legend & Former Chicago Blackhawks player Ted Lindsay Dies at 93

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NHL legend and former Chicago Blackhawk Ted Lindsay passed away Monday at the age of 93. We remember his legacy as a superstar and labor leader for NHL players.

Ted Lindsay’s lasting mark on the NHL is unquantifiable. The Hall of Famer played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1943 to 1957 before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. He played in Chicago for 3 years before his retirement in 1960 and returned to Detroit in 1964 for one final season.

Terrible Ted

As a player, Ted Lindsay was known as “Terrible Ted” after his extraordinarily physical style of play. Lindsay wasn’t known as a great fighter, but when Terrible Ted was tangled with an opponent bigger, heavier blows landed, and blood flowed. Whoever dared to square up with the winger almost always left injured.

Early in his career, Lindsay would pummel the other team with his knees and elbows. The NHL was quick to create “Rule 51” which outlines the severity of penalties related to roughing. This became known as the “Lindsay Rule.”

Lindsay broke the professional hockey player mold before anyone knew one existed. He was an unflinching defender of his teammates and was always quick to backtalk his coach Jack Adams.

Clarence Campbell, then the President of the NHL, levied a $300 fine and three-game unpaid suspension to both Lindsay and Boston aggressor Bill Ezinicki after a particularly brutal quarrel. Jack Adams argued the penalty on behalf of Lindsay to get the fee down to $100, which Adams quietly paid for Ted.

Clarence Campbell personified class, dignity, and leadership. The Rhodes Scholar and lieutenant colonel of the Canadian Army made hockey his life’s work upon returning from World War II. The culture he envisioned for the NHL didn’t include personalities like Lindsay’s.

Ted Lindsay was the personification of everything Campbell loathed. Disrespect, cockiness, brash and loud. He also knew the player wasn’t intimidated with threats of suspensions or fines.

Publicity portrait of Canadian hockey player Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings, 1950s. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images) /

The Players Association

In Ted Lindsay’s era, players were only paid for the six-month hockey season. The Standard Player’s Contract stated that players could not earn money from their hockey careers; albeit directly or indirectly. Moreover, the league would not grant players copies of their own contracts.

The league also didn’t cover hospital costs or doctor visits that ran into the offseason. This meant that many players purchased extra insurance in the event their maladies extended into the summer.

The pension plan was $900 annually per player. The average salary in 1957 was $8,000. Roughly 25 percent of a player’s salary was out of pocket expenses or other costs.

After a chance meeting with Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians in 1956, Lindsay learned that Major League Baseball had signed a contract with lawyers Milton Mound and Norman J. Lewis.
The lawyers were shocked at how little financial commitment the NHL gave to their players. Lewis stated that “the conditions were far worse than any other sport.”

On February 11th, 1957, Ted Lindsay formally announced the creation of the National Hockey League Players Association. The Association wanted to guarantee protection for the player when their playing careers ended as well as increased hospitalization benefits.

In response to stirring the pot and effectively getting under the skin of Clarence Campbell and Jack Adams, Ted Lindsay and Glenn Hall were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. Transparency and fairness were seen as a sign of greed and lack of gratitude, and management did what they could to quiet the conversation.

The Pension Society board, players assigned to administer pensions, were not allowed to view the true state of the league’s pension fund. If they had, the players would have found a surplus in the league pension plan of several million dollars. The league owners would distribute the money amongst themselves unbeknownst to the players.

VANCOUVER, BC – FEBRUARY 26: The Ted Lindsay award as well as the rest of the NHL Trophies are on display prior to the 2014 Heritage Classic Game on February 26, 2014 at the B.C. Hall of Fame in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks square off in this year’s annual classic. (Photo by Kevin Light/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Legacy

Terrible Ted won the Stanley Cup four times (1950, 1952, 1954, 1955) and the Art Ross Trophy in 1950. For his role in establishing the NHL Players Association, the Lester B. Peterson Award was renamed the Ted Lindsay Award. This trophy is given to the player members of the Association vote as the most outstanding player in the league every season.

Patrick Kane received the Ted Lindsay Award at the 2016 NHL Awards for his stellar MVP season, accumulating 106 points in 82 games.

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We will never forget the impact Ted Lindsay left on the NHL and the fans. He will forever be remembered as a legend to all fans of the sport of hockey.

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NHL legend and former Chicago Blackhawk Ted Lindsay passed away Monday at the age of 93. We remember his legacy as a superstar and labor leader for NHL players.

Terrible Ted

The Players Association

Legacy

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