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Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, CM (born 9 July 1927 in Simcoe, Ontario), is a retired Canadian ice hockey player in the NHL. He played on more Stanley Cup winning teams (eight) than any player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens. He was also a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto-area riding of York West from 1962 to 1965.

[edit] Early career

Kelly attended secondary school in that community, then attended St. Michael's College School.^[1] He grew up listening to Foster Hewitt's broadcasts of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and was particularly inspired by the style of their hard-charging defenceman, Red Horner. Kelly also attended Doan's Hollow Public School in Port Dover. However, while playing junior hockey for the St. Michael's Majors, he was encouraged to refine his style by his coach, former Leaf great Joe Primeau.

[edit] NHL career

Although the Majors were usually a talent pipeline for the Maple Leafs, the NHL club passed on Kelly after a scout predicted he wouldn't last 20 games in the NHL, and the nineteen year-old joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1947. In 1954 he was runner-up for the Hart Trophy and won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman, the first time the trophy was awarded and also won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1951, 1953, and 1954 as the NHL's most gentlemanly player.

An exceptional player at both ends of the ice, Kelly was known not only for his great checking skills as a defenceman, but also for his exceptional puck-handling and passing skills as well. Kelly used all these elements to help the Red Wings move the puck down the ice very quickly. When injuries hampered the team, he sometimes played as a forward (a position he adapted to easily when needed). In over twelve years as a Red Wing the team won eight regular-season championships, the Stanley Cup four times and Kelly was chosen as a First Team All-Star defenceman six times.

Late in the 1959 season, Kelly broke his ankle. However, the Red Wings kept the injury a secret, and Kelly played through the pain as the Red Wings missed the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. However, midway through the next season, a reporter asked Kelly why he'd been off his game for much of 1959. Kelly replied, "Don't know. Might have been the ankle." When Red Wings general manager Jack Adams got wind of the story, he was furious, and immediately brokered a four-player deal in which Kelly was sent to the New York Rangers. However, Kelly scuttled the deal when he announced he would retire rather than go to New York. Maple Leafs head coach Punch Imlach stepped in and tried to talk Kelly into playing for him. Though he disliked Maple Leaf Gardens and as a young player was disappointed by the scathing assessment of that Toronto scout, Kelly agreed to be traded to the Leafs.

Once Kelly arrived in Toronto, Imlach asked him to become a full-time centre, figuring that Kelly could easily match up against the Montreal Canadiens' Jean Béliveau. The switch paid off. Already a great playmaker, Kelly turned Frank Mahovlich into one of the most lethal goal scorers in NHL history. He won his fourth Lady Byng Award in 1961. In his eight seasons with the Leafs, they won the Stanley Cup four times - the same number of times he'd won in Detroit.

In 1,316 regular season games, he scored 281 goals and 542 assists for 823 points. At the time of his retirement, he was 7th all time in career points, 5th in assists, 13th in goals, and second only to Gordie Howe in games played. In 164 playoff games, he scored 33 goals and 59 assists for 92 points.

[edit] Coaching career

After the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967, Kelly announced his retirement as a player, and negotiated with the expansion Los Angeles Kings to be their inaugural coach on the strength of Imlach's assertion that Toronto would not stand in the way of Kelly's coaching career. However, Imlach insisted that Los Angeles draft Kelly in the expansion draft, and after the Kings failed to do so, refused to release Kelly's rights until Los Angeles traded a minor-league defenceman to the Leafs.^[2]

Despite being the only rookie coach, and being in charge of the favorites to finish last, Kelly went on to guide the Kings to second place in the West Division and made the playoffs two years in a row.

In 1969'70, Kelly moved on to coach the Pittsburgh Penguins for three seasons, making the playoffs in his first and last seasons with the team. Kelly returned to the Maple Leafs as coach in 1973. He stayed in the position from 1973'74 to 1976'77. The team earned a playoff berth in all 4 seasons with Kelly as head coach but got eliminated in the quarterfinals each time.

His final regular season coaching record was 261'311'128.

[edit] Political career

Kelly was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 federal election at the York West riding under the Liberal party led by Lester B. Pearson. He was re-elected there in the following year's election in which his Progressive Conservative opponent was future NHL agent Alan Eagleson.

Kelly continued to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs during his terms as a Member of Parliament. During the Great Canadian Flag Debate, he received opposition from Leafs owner Conn Smythe who opposed Pearson's plans to replace the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf.^[3]

After serving two terms in the 25th and 26th Canadian Parliaments, Kelly left federal politics and did not seek re-election in 1965. He was succeeded in York West by fellow Liberal Robert Winters.

[edit] Achievements and facts

• Named a First Team All-Star on defence in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955 and 1957.
• Named a Second Team All-Star on defence in 1950 and 1956.
• Named was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955 (with Detroit)
• Named was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 (with Toronto)
• Kelly was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 22 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 greatest hockey players.
• In 2001, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
• On 4 October 2006, he and his number were honored by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
• In his later years, he was the owner of a bowling alley in Simcoe until the bowling alley burned to the ground.
• Currently 47th in all time games played and 96th in assists, as of the end of the 2008'09 NHL season.
• He is closely related to former NHL player Rob Blake

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Coaching record

[edit] See also

• Captain (hockey)
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Parliament of Canada biography
• Red Kelly's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Red Kelly's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Mighty Oaks a novel by Lorne S. Jones includes several chapters dedicated to Red Kelly's involvement with the Leaf's 1962 Stanley Cup win and his subsequent political success.