Red Kelly CM
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1969
Kelly with theToronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s
Born	(1927-07-09)July 9, 1927 Simcoe, Ontario, Canada
Died	May 2, 2019(2019-05-02) (aged 91) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position	Defence /Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Detroit Red Wings Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career	1947–1967
Member of theCanada Parliament forYork West
In office June 18, 1962 – November 7, 1965
Preceded by	John Hamilton
Succeeded by	Robert Winters
Personal details
Party	Liberal
Spouse	Andra Carol McLaughlin ​ ​ (m. 1959)​

Leonard Patrick "Red"KellyCM (July 9, 1927 – May 2, 2019) was a Canadian professionalhockey player and coach. Kelly won eightStanley Cups, four each with Detroit and then Toronto. These cup victories are more than any other player who never played for theMontreal Canadiens. He was also one of the only two players to have never played for the Canadiens and to be part of two of the nine dynasties recognized by the National Hockey League (NHL) in its history. In 2017, Kelly was named one of the “100 Greatest NHL Players” in history.

While still playing in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he also served as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto-areaYork West electoral district from 1962 to 1965. During that time, he also won two more Stanley Cups. Starting in 1967, he retired as a player to become the head coach of the expansionLos Angeles Kings. He would coach another ten years in the NHL, with a stop-over in Pittsburgh and ending with the Leafs in June 1977.

Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly was born on July 9,1927 inSimcoe, Ontario, to farmer Lawrence Daniel and housewife Mary Frances Kelly (née Owen).^[1] Growing up in a rural area, he was known as "the red-headed kid" when he would get picked for teams based on his red hair and not by his name.^[2] That is how he got the nickname "Red" and was most commonly known publicly by that name. He initially attended high school atSimcoe Composite School before attending Toronto'sSt. Michael's College high school.^[1]

He grew up listening toFoster Hewitt's broadcasts of theToronto Maple Leafs hockey games, and was particularly inspired by the style of their hard-chargingdefenceman,Red Horner. He continued to play hockey even after not making the Toronto bantam feeder team for the St. Michael's high school team.^[2]

His family was Catholic and in 1943, paid for him to attend St.Michael's, which was a Basilian Order Catholic school. In 1944, he made the school's top-tierjunior ice hockey team.^[3] However, while playing junior hockey for theSt. Michael's Majors, he was encouraged to refine his style by his coach, former Leaf greatJoe Primeau.^[4] With the Majors, he won aMemorial Cup in 1947, as the best junior ice hockey team in Canada. He played with the team until he graduated in 1947.^[3]

The Maple Leafs passed on Kelly after a scout predicted he would not last 20 games in the NHL (despite the Majors' long relationship with the Leafs) and the 19-year-old joined theDetroit Red Wings in 1947.^[5] In 1954 he was runner-up to Chicago'sAl Rollins for theHart Memorial Trophy.^[6] On April 29, 1954 Kelly won the inauguralJames Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman, getting 162 out of possible 180 votes, with Montreal's Doug Harvey coming in at distant second with 57 points.^[7] He also won theLady Byng Trophy in 1951, 1953 and 1954 as the NHL's most gentlemanly player.^[8] In over 12 years as a Red Wing, the team won eight regular-season championships and four Stanley Cups. He was chosen as a First Team All-Star defenceman six times.^[9]

Kelly played much of the1958–59 season with a broken ankle. However, this was a closely guarded team secret until midway through thenext season, a reporter asked Kelly why he had been off his game for much of 1959. Kelly replied, "Don't know. Might have been the ankle."^[5] When Red Wings GMJack Adams got wind of the story, he was furious, and immediately brokered a four-player deal in which Kelly was sent to theNew York Rangers. However, Kelly scuttled the deal when he announced he would retire rather than go to New York.^[10]

Maple Leafs head coach and general managerPunch Imlach stepped in and tried to talk Kelly into playing for him. Though he dislikedMaple Leaf Gardens and was still smarting from the scout's assessment of him 13 years earlier, Kelly agreed to be traded to the Leafs.^[10] Once Kelly arrived in Toronto, Imlach asked him to switch positions and become a full-timecentre, figuring that Kelly could easily match up against theMontreal Canadiens'Jean Béliveau. The switch proved to be a success, as, already a great playmaker, Kelly turnedFrank Mahovlich into one of the most lethal goal scorers in NHL history.^[4]

Kelly won his fourth Lady Byng Award in 1961. In his eight seasons with the Leafs, they won four Stanley Cups–the same number of times he had 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, Kelly was seventh all time in career points, fifth in assists, 13th in goals, and second only toGordie Howe in games played. In 164 playoff games, he scored 33 goals and 59 assists for 92 points.

Over his 20-year playing career, he won eight Stanley Cups, four each with Detroit and then Toronto. These cup victories are more than any other player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens ahead of him are:Henri Richard (11),^[11]Jean Beliveau (10),^[12]Yvan Cournoyer (10),^[13] andClaude Provost (9).^[13] He was also one of the only two players to have never played for the Canadiens and to be part of two of the nine dynasties recognized by the National Hockey League (NHL) in its history.^[14] In 2017, Kelly was named one of the “100 Greatest NHL Players” in history.^[15]

After the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967, Kelly announced his retirement as a player, and negotiated with the expansionLos 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. Imlach insisted, however, that Los Angeles draft Kelly in theexpansion draft,^[16] and after the Kings failed to do so, refused to release Kelly's rights until Los Angeles traded minor-league defencemanKen Block to the Leafs.^[17][18] Kelly guided the Kings to second place in the West Division and made the playoffs two years in a row.

He left the Kings for a one-year contract to succeedRed Sullivan as coach of thePittsburgh Penguins on July 2, 1969.^[19] After the Penguins ended the1969–70 season with its first-ever playoff appearance and advanced to the semifinals, Kelly signed a five-year, $250,000 contract on May 21, 1970, to continue as coach, and also replacedJack Riley as general manager.^[20][21] With the team struggling in sixth place in theNHL West Division during a stretch of winning only two of 22 contests and having failed to qualify for the postseason in1970–71, Kelly was pressured to relinquish his general manager title back to Riley on January 29, 1972, in order to concentrate on his coaching duties.^[22] Amid a slump in which the Penguins won only two games with three draws and seven losses and slid into fifth place in the eight-teamNHL West Division, Kelly was fired and replaced byKen Schinkel on January 13, 1973.^[23]

Kelly returned to the Maple Leafs after signing a four-year contract to succeedJohn McLellan as coach on August 20, 1973.^[24] He stayed in the position from the 1973–74 season to 1976–77. The team earned a playoff berth in all four seasons with Kelly as head coach but got eliminated in the quarterfinals each time. A bizarre aspect of his tenure as Maple Leafs coach occurred during the1975–76 quarterfinal series when he promotedpyramid power amongst his players to counter thePhiladelphia Flyers' use ofKate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America." He hung a plastic model of apyramid in the team's clubhouse after a pair of away defeats to start the series. The players embraced thesuperstition after observing team captainDarryl Sittler first place hishockey sticks beneath the pyramid and then stand under it for exactly four minutes. The Maple Leafs managed to win all three of its home matches before losing the series' decisive Game 7.^[25] Kelly was fired at the end of the 1976–1977 season, on June 17, 1977.^[26] That ended 30 consecutive years at ice level in the NHL as a player and coach. Kelly coached 742 regular season games during his NHL career of which his team won 278, lost 300 and tied 134. He coached 62 NHL playoff games winning 24 of these.^[27]

Kelly was elected to theHouse of Commons of Canada in the1962 federal election in theYork Westelectoral district, the firstLiberal party member to do so since1935.^[28] He defeated Conservative incumbent John Hamilton, 30,762 to 27,060 votes.^[29][30] He was easily re-elected in thefollowing year's election, beating hisProgressive Conservative opponent, future NHL agentAlan Eagleson by an almost 13,000 vote margin.^[31] The victory meant that he was now part of Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson's newly elected Liberal government.^[32] Kelly continued to play with theToronto Maple Leafs during his terms as a Member of Parliament and won two more Stanley Cups in that time.^[33] During theGreat Canadian Flag Debate, he received opposition from Leafs owner Conn Smythe who opposed Pearson's plans to replace the Red Ensign flag with the Maple Leaf.^[34] He did not seek re-election in 1965, but left federal politics after his two terms in the25th and26th Canadian Parliaments, because he wanted more time with his family.^[35] He was succeeded in York West by fellow LiberalRobert Winters.

While a member of parliament, Kelly appeared as himself on the October 29, 1962, episode of the game showTo Tell the Truth. He received three of four possible votes.^[36]

• Named afirst team All-Star on defense in1951,1952,1953,1954,1955 and1957.
• Named a Second Team All-Star on defense in1950 and1956.
• Name was engraved on theStanley Cup in1950,1952,1954,1955 (with Detroit)
• Name was engraved on the Stanley Cup in1962,1963,1964,1967 (with Toronto).
• Kelly was elected to theHockey Hall of Fame in 1969.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 22 onThe Hockey News'list of the 100 greatest hockey players.
• In 2001, he was made a Member of theOrder of Canada.
• Inducted to theOntario Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.^[37]
• Toronto Maple Leafs#4 retired on October 15, 2016^[38]
• In the fall of 2016, Kelly published his autobiography "The Red Kelly Story" by ECW Press with co-authors L. Waxy Gregoire and David M. Dupuis, both from Penetanguishene, Ontario. This book went on to win the 2016 Ontario Speaker's Book Award.
• In January 2017, Kelly was part of the first group of players to be named one of the100 Greatest NHL Players in history.^[15]
• Detroit Red Wings#4 was retired on February 1, 2019^[39]

Kelly married fellow red-head Andra Carol McLaughlin, an American figure skating star, in 1959.^[5] They had four children. Kelly's son Leonard Patrick Kelly Jr. represented Canada in the 1992 Albertville and the 1994Lillehammer Olympics inLong-track speed skating.^[40][41]

Kelly's grandson George Waddell represents GBR in ice dance with his partner Sasha Fear. Another grandson Bruce Waddell represents Canada in ice dance with his partner Natalie D'Alessandro. Kelly was the granduncle of hockey playerMark Jankowski of theCalgary Flames. On May 2, 2019, Kelly died at the age of 91.

Note: NDP vote is compared to CCF vote in 1958 election.

• Captain (hockey)
• List of NHL players with 1,000 games played

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRed Kelly.

• Biographical information and career statistics fromNHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Red Kelly – Parliament of Canada biography

• 1927 births
• 2019 deaths
• Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
• Canadian ice hockey centres
• Canadian ice hockey defencemen
• Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent
• Canadian sportsperson-politicians
• Detroit Red Wings captains
• Detroit Red Wings players
• Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
• Ice hockey people from Ontario
• James Norris Memorial Trophy winners
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winners
• Liberal Party of Canada MPs
• Los Angeles Kings coaches
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
• Members of the Order of Canada
• National Hockey League All-Stars
• Pittsburgh Penguins coaches
• Sportspeople from Norfolk County, Ontario
• Stanley Cup champions
• Toronto Maple Leafs coaches
• Toronto Maple Leafs players
• Toronto St. Michael's Majors players
• Canadian ice hockey coaches
• 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada
• 20th-century Canadian sportsmen
• Kelly family (winter sports)

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Canadian English from January 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English
• Pages using Template:Post-nominals with missing parameters
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• S-bef: 'before' parameter begins with the word 'new'
• Template:Succession box: 'before' parameter begins with the word 'new'
• S-bef: 'before' parameter includes the word 'created'
• Template:Succession box: 'before' parameter includes the word 'created'