all world hockey: T Michael Travers: The Ted Lindsay Award

Recently, a Toronto hockey buddy asked, "Why is there a trophy named after Detroit Red Wing, Ted Lindsay"? 

I offer my answer below and apologize for retrieving some details from other blog pieces I’ve written about Lindsay and things you may have read before.

Architect of the National Hockey League Player's Association

The Ted Lindsay Award is the replacement of the 2nd most important award in the NHL next to the Stanley Cup.  Today’s "Lindsay Trophy" was formerly known as The Lester B. Pearson Trophy. 

Who?

The "Lindsay" is given to the player who is voted best in the league BY THE PLAYERS.

The companion award, the Hart Trophy, is the best player in the league as chosen

by sportswriters.   With the re-naming of this very special award, the NHL finally got it right. 

According to Bobby Hull, Ted Lindsay was "the best left winger to ever play the game”. 

Original Six Referee, "Red" Storey, said, "If I was starting a new NHL franchise, Lindsay would be the first player I'd draft".

While creating a Hall of Fame career, Lindsay had the nerve and the guts to challenge greedy owners of the 1940s and 50s and demand better working conditions for NHL players and their families. 

When Lindsay was chosen for induction into the Hall in 1966, he didn't attend the ceremony because, at that time, the event was stag. Indicative of the owners … it was the “boys club” … no wives/partners allowed. He claimed he wouldn't have had a career without the support of his wife -- if she wasn't invited, he wouldn't attend.

He was surprised when I told him, "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, did exactly the same thing because his wife, Marlene, the daughter of legendary, Montreal Canadien, Howie Morenz, wasn't invited. 

The players of today have only one person to thank for their millions in salary and outstanding working conditions ... the architect of their "union", Ted Lindsay.

Today, it's hard to imagine the pressure Lindsay was under to create the NHLPA. He told me the players would never have joined if he'd called it a "union" - it had to be a "Player's Association".

17th Captain Doug Harvey

When he attempted to secure support, his own Detroit teammates, Howe and "Red" Kelly, refused to join.

He was the NHL’s most-hated player ... how could he arrange to meet with players to get them to agree to anything?  His only helper who was willing to support his challenge to owners and stick his own neck out was Hab's rival, Doug Harvey.

All NHL owners gathered together with one purpose … to destroy Lindsay and his “Association”. To punish him for his activity, he was traded from Detroit to the worst team in the league, Chicago. And, he'd just finished his best points season in the NHL. He was exiled to the Hawks for 3 years.

A friend started with the Maple Leafs in 1968 as a full-time player - the year after their last Stanley Cup win. His salary for the year was $12,000 -- from the league's most financially successful team. This type of thing was the very reason Lindsay had issues with owners like Leafs, Conn Smythe.

In the Original Six era, every NHL player had to have a summer job to supplement their NHL salary because playing professional hockey didn't provide enough money to pay their bills while team owners became very, very rich. That type of pay scale continued to exist into the 1970s. Even superstar, Phil Esposito, had to return to Sault St. Marie to work summer construction following his Boston Bruins Stanley Cup win. 

 

When he created the NHLPA, Lindsay was in his early 30s. In your personal life, would you have felt comfortable/confident enough to personally challenge your own pay scale, and your own company and organize to attempt to get better conditions for your workmates? 

Lindsay's victory on behalf of players was so remarkable, that the CBC created a made-for-television movie, Net Worth. 

In 1995, he participated as a consultant on the film. He told me he was "very pleased with the portrayal of Red Wing GM/coach, Jack Adams, by award-winning Canadian actor, Al Waxman". He said, "When I first joined the Wings, Jack Adams was my friend, my tutor, my mentor ... shortly after, he was my enemy". 

    The ninety-minute feature film is now offered on YouTube. (insert, "Net Worth Movie").

Sport has changed.

Every professional player with the slightest bit of success or notoriety can now claim millions in annual salary. An international soccer star just signed a two-year contract for $770,000 a week!  That, of course, has nothing to do with Lindsay but he did provide one of the building blocks for better sports contracts. This soccer star example is way over the top but it does show that team owners wouldn't offer this crazy money if they couldn't afford it.

I think every hockey player in the NHL owes Lindsay an annual thank-you-cheque of, say,

$100. -- payable on the eve of training camp -- like the one that's coming up for the 2021- 22 NHL season. The hidden benefit may be a less strained relationship between fans and millionaire hockey journeymen. And, all those cheques would go to the Ted Lindsay Foundation that's attempting to find a cure for Autism.

But, getting back to the original question ...

Why was Ted Lindsay given the honour of having this award named for him?

He was just the type of personality to get the attention of NHL owners when players needed it the most. He was poised, driven, ruthless, and opinionated. He was a leader. Committed to helping players get financially rewarded by team owners who'd become super-wealthy on their backs. He was principled and refused to take any crap from owners, including his own -- they were all his opponents.

He was way ahead of his time and, was willing to suffer the consequences of his actions when he filed an antitrust lawsuit against NHL owners  -- alleging a monopoly since 1926. Just imagine the nerve of this guy. When he played he would do anything to hurt you — in person or on the scoreboard. When he wasn't playing, everything he did was for you. 

A trophy in his name, presented to the league's best player, as chosen by that player's peers, seems righteous. 

When I was a kid of 7 or 8, I spent a lot of time in Detroit visiting relatives. Lindsay became one of my hockey idols simply because of that connection.

Through a stroke of luck, we met and became friends about 40 years ago. During our time together, over lunches and dinners, I asked a million questions about him and his time in NHL history. He was gob-struck when, on my computer, I showed him a YouTube vintage video of him playing and raising hell. I had a million more questions to ask but he passed away in Feb. 2019 at 96 years of age.

In 2002, I recommended his name for inclusion in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and he was inducted that year. 

As many of you know, I have an extensive collection of valuable - priceless sports items including the jersey that Blue Jay skipper, Cito Gaston, wore when he won Canada's first World Series in 1992. However, the most valuable item in my collection is a copy of the "Net Worth" book signed to me by Ted.

He signed it one night at my place after dinner. We had just finished off a bottle of Wayne Gretzky 99 wine.

I told him that the wine with Wayne's name on it would never have been possible if he hadn't formed the NHLPA. The effect of the creation of his "association" was far-reaching. It gave every NHL player recognition, improved salary, and brand value that they all enjoy today. 

Typical of his nature, I'm not sure Ted understood how his NHLPA efforts and Gretzky's wine connected. 

One day, I received a fabulous phone call ... it was the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ted Lindsay had requested my presence at the introduction of the NHL's newest award ... The Ted Lindsay Award. You can only imagine how special that phone call was -- how special that invitation was. 

Photos attached.