Detroit Red Wings All-Time Team and Line Combinations
Ted Lindsay
Ted Lindsay is so highly regarded, that the trophy awarded for the MVP as voted by the players brandishes his namesake. A member of the Production Line, Lindsay played left wing, opposite of Gordie Howe. During the early years of the Production Line, Lindsay proved himself to be the most dynamic scorer on the Detroit Red Wings. His 1949-50 season was particularly fantastic.
In a year in which the Production Line held the number one, two, and three spots on the league leaderboard for point scoring, Lindsay dwarfed his linemates Gordie Howe (68 points) and Sid Abel (69 points) by scoring 78 points in 69 games; convincingly winning the Art Ross trophy. The Detroit Red Wings went on to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games for the Stanley Cup Championship.
Lindsay spent 14 seasons with the Red wings, amassing 335 goals and 728 points in 862 games. He is an eleven time NHL All-star, a four time Stanley Cup Champion, and a one time Art Ross Trophy winner, but his most lasting legacy comes from his work off the ice.
He was amongst the first players to attempt to set up a players union. In 1958, he and a small group of players , took the NHL to court over the issue of pension. At the time, the players had very little power, and were open to being used and discarded by the league’s owners.
After a long and hard fought battle that saw Lindsay stripped of his captaincy and ostracized by the hockey world, Lindsay and his colleagues were able to get the owners to settle out of court. The players’ organization that Lindsay headed set the ground work for the official NHLPA union, which would be formed nine years later.