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Red Kelly: Most Stanley Cups By A Non Montreal Canadien

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red kelly toronto maple leafs 1965-66 topps nhl hockey cardMore Stanley Cup rings that any National Hockey League player that did not play for the Montreal Canadiens. One of four in NHL history to win the Lady Byng Trophy four or more times. The first ever head coach of the Los Angeles Kings. Just a few special features that more than justify Leonard Red Kelly’s spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 

Playing Career

Hockey Card Collection

Coaching Career

Rookie Card

Career Stats

Red Kelly – The Player

Kelly learned how to win at the junior level. With the 1946-47 Toronto St. Michael’s club, he played an integral role in the team winning the Memorial Cup championship. Toronto easily ousted the Moose Jaw Canucks in the final series in a four game sweep.

The following year, Red was in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings and never looked back. In all, he played 1,316 regular season games in the NHL with Detroit and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The defenseman turned forward amassed 823 points on 281 goals and 542 assists. In the playoffs, he played an additional 164 games and added 92 points. His career lasted from 1947-48 to 1966-67.



Red Kelly Collection

1951-52 parkhurst button

1952-53 parkhurst button

1953-54 parkhurst button

 

1954-55 parkhurst button

Topps 1954-55 button

topps 1957-58 button

1958-59 topps button

topps 1959-60 button

 

parkhurst 1960-61 button

1961-62 parkhurst button

parkhurst 1963-64 button

1964-65 topps button

1965-66 topps button

1966-67 topps button

 


On the NHL’s all-time list for regular season games played, Kelly still stands in the 54st position, tied with Alexei Kovalev. For career playoff games, Red is currently tied for 55th with Clark Gillies, Sergei Zubov and Brian Skrudland. When you consider the shorter regular season and playoff schedules of the Original 6 era, these numbers are pretty amazing.



Kelly won four Stanley Cup championships with the Red Wings in 1949-50, 1951-52, 1953-54 and 1954-55. After being traded to the Maple Leafs near the end of the 1959-60 season, Red went on to help Toronto to four Stanley Cup championships in 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64 and 1966-67. No other non Montreal Canadiens player has won as many Stanley Cups.

Most of his individual success came as a Red Wing. Red won the Norris Trophy in 1953-54 as the league’s top defenseman. That year, he totalled 49 points over 62 games. He was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most gentlemanly player on four occasions. Only Frank Boucher, Wayne Gretzky and Pavel Datsyuk have won four or more, as well. Kelly was a First Team All-Star six times and a Second Team All-Star twice. Red served as Detroit’s team captain in 1956-57 and 1957-58.

With the Maple Leafs, Kelly shone individually in 1960-61. His 50 assists were second in the league to Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens. Red placed sixth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 70 points. He would never achieve numbers that high again.

Following the 1966-67 Stanley Cup victory by the Toronto Maple Leafs, their last, Red Kelly retired as a player. In 1969, the three year waiting period was waived and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame just two years after retirement. Along with Kelly, Sid Abel, Bryan Hextall and Roy Worters also entered the Hall.

Red Kelly – The Coach

Immediately following his retirement from the game as a player, Kelly jumped behind the bench. He became the first ever head coach of the Los Angeles Kings and coached the expansion franchise through their first two years in the National Hockey League.

In 1970-71, Red jumped to another one of the six 1967 expansion teams, taking over as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He coached Pittsburgh for most of three seasons.

Finally, he made the mistake of working for Harold Ballard. Kelly took the job as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1974-75 and built up a pretty decent team. He coached Toronto for three years before leaving the game for good.

Red Kelly – Rookie Card

1951-52 parkhurst red kelly rookie hockey cardFive years into his career, the Red Kelly rookie card finally appeared on cardboard. As with most players in the era, the 1951-52 Parkhurst set housed their first ever hockey card. The Red Kelly card appears as number 55 in the set and is valued at around $300 or five times the value of a common card.


Red Kelly Career Stats

Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM
1944-45 St. Michael’s Majors OHA 1 0 0 0 0
1945-46 St. Michael’s Majors OHA 26 13 11 24 18
1946-47 St. Michael’s Majors OHA 30 9 24 33 13
1947-48 Detroit Red Wings NHL 60 6 14 20 13
1948-49 Detroit Red Wings NHL 59 5 11 16 10
1949-50 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 15 25 40 9
1950-51 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 17 37 54 24
1951-52 Detroit Red Wings NHL 67 16 31 47 16
1952-53 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 19 27 46 8
1953-54 Detroit Red Wings NHL 62 16 33 49 18
1954-55 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 15 30 45 28
1955-56 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 16 34 50 39
1956-57 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 10 25 35 18
1957-58 Detroit Red Wings NHL 61 13 18 31 26
1958-59 Detroit Red Wings NHL 67 8 13 21 34
1959-60 Detroit Red Wings NHL 50 6 12 18 10
1959-60 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 18 6 5 11 8
1960-61 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 64 20 50 70 12
1961-62 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 58 22 27 49 6
1962-63 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 66 20 40 60 8
1963-64 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 11 34 45 16
1964-65 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 18 28 46 8
1965-66 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 8 24 32 12
1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 61 14 24 38 4
NHL Totals 1316 281 542 823 327

 

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