Red Wings, NHL pay tribute to Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay following his death

When the Detroit Red Wings take the ice to face the New York Rangers at Little Caesar’s Arena on Thursday night, there will be plenty of reminders of the legacy that the great Ted Lindsay left behind. 

There have been several tributes across the league in the days following Lindsay’s death on Monday, but the most notable will come in Detroit, where Lindsay played 14 of his 17 NHL seasons. The team is set to honor the Hall of Famer in several ways, which includes a locker installation inside the team’s dressing room.

The ice at Little Caesar’s Arena will also feature Lindsay’s No. 7 painted behind the net at each end of the ice. His No. 7 was retired by the Red Wings in 1991.

Fans attending Thursday’s game in Detroit will have several opportunities to reflect on Lindsay’s career and pay respects to a key figures that helped shape one of the league’s most prominent dynasties in the post-World War II era.

But Lindsay’s presence will felt far beyond just Detroit in the coming days. Board tributes reading “Ted 7” will be found not only at Little Caesar’s Arena, but in all 31 arenas across the league from Thursday to Sunday. The tributes will honor Lindsay’s incredible career and his wide-reaching impact on the sport.

Lindsay passed away at his home in Oakland Township, Michigan at the age of 93. Earning the nickname “Terrible Ted” thanks to the meanness he packed into his game, Lindsay was one of the league’s best players during a career that spanned two decades on the ice with the Red Wings and, later, the Chicago Blackhawks. 

He most famously played alongside Gordie Howe and Sid Abel in what was known as “The Production Line” in Detroit — one of the most notorious scoring lines in NHL history. Lindsay was an 11-time All-Star and won four Stanley Cups with Detroit. He was also the league’s Art Ross Trophy winner with 78 points during the 1949-1950 season.

Lindsay is believed to have sparked the tradition of Stanley Cup-winning teams skating around the rink with the trophy, which he did for the first time in 1950.

Lindsay finished his 17-year career with 379 goals and 472 assists in 1,068 games. He ranks sixth on the Red Wings’ all-time goals list and ninth on the franchise’s point leaderboard. After his playing days were over, Lindsay became a pioneer for the players union and a great ambassador for the sport. In 2010, the trophy given to the league’s most outstanding player as voted on by the NHLPA was renamed in honor of Lindsay.

“Ted Lindsay was one of the best players to ever to put on a pair of skates,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said in a statement following Lindsay’s passing. “But his greatest legacy was off the ice. A true trailblazer in seeking to improve conditions for all players, Ted was instrumental in organizing the original players’ association in 1957. All players, past, current and future, are in his debt. All those who have, and will follow him into the NHL, enjoy improved rights and benefits in large part due to the efforts he made.”