New York Rangers: Red Kelly passes away, almost a Blueshirt

Hockey legend Red Kelly passed away on May 2 at the age of at age 91.   What most people don’t know if he was almost a member of the New York Rangers.

Red Kelly was traded to the New York Rangers in 1959, but he refused to report to New York and the Detroit Red Wings instead traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The Rangers lost out on one of the best players of his generation.  Here’s the story.

Red Kelly and Montreal’s Doug Harvey were the two top defensemen in the NHL during the 1950’s.   Kelly anchored the Red Wings’ defense for 13 years.  He was an All-Star eight times, winning the Norris Trophy in 1953-54 and also was the Lady Byng Trophy winner three times.

A teammate of Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups while Kelly was with Detroit.

A trade to the Rangers

In 1960 a newspaper story suggested that the Wings had forced Kelly to play on a broken ankle and that prompted Red Wings GM Jack Adams to trade Kelly to the Rangers for defenseman Bill Gadsby and forward Eddie Shack.  Forward Billy McNeill was supposed to accompany Kelly to New York.

In those days players did what they were told and when Adams forced Kelly to play on a heavily taped broken ankle, he did it and wasn’t supposed to make waves.  Kelly did mention it to a reporter, and when the story appeared, he was banished to the Rangers, one of the worst teams in the NHL.

Kelly refused to report to New York and announced that he was retiring and was suspended by the Red Wings.

Toronto GM Punch Imlach contacted Kelly and convinced him to agree to a trade to the Maple Leafs.  Kelly was converted to a center and played eight years with the Leafs where he won four Stanley Cups and yet another Lady Byng Trophy.

What could have been

Kelly was a star with Toronto. A key cog for the dominant Maple Leaf teams of the early sixties, in his eight years in Toronto, they made the playoffs every year.  Meanwhile, the Rangers made the playoffs only once in Kelly’s first seven years in Toronto.   In the one year that they did make the playoffs, who do you think they played?  Of course, it was Red Kelly and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Rangers lost to the Leafs in six games in the first round of the playoffs and Toronto went on to win the first of three consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

In the six game series, Kelly had three goals and four assists including the double overtime goal that won game five.

As for the other players in the ill-fated deal, Bill Gadsby was eventually traded to Detroit in 1961, but by that time the Detroit dynasty had ended.  Bill McNeill also refused to report to the Rangers and was suspended, ultimately returning to the Wings the next season.  Eddie Shack was traded to Toronto by the Rangers in 1960.

As for the Blueshirts, without Kelly, Gadsby or Shack, the team was a perennial doormat until Emile Francis came along and the team became a Stanley Cup contender in the late sixties.