Red Kelly (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #33)
Adjusted Stats
1947-1948 Det 82 GP 9 goals 20 assists 29 points 0.35 PPG
1948-1949 Det 81 GP 8 goals 17 assists 25 points 0.31 PPG
1949-1950 Det* 82 GP 20 goals 33 assists 53 points 0.64 PPG
1950-1951 Det 82 GP 23 goals 49 assists 72 points 0.88 PPG
1951-1952 Det* 78 GP 22 goals 43 assists 65 points 0.83 PPG
1952-1953 Det 82 GP 29 goals 41 assists 69 points 0.84 PPG
1953-1954 Det* 73 GP 24 goals 50 assists 74 points 1.01 PPG
1954-1955 Det* 82 GP 21 goals 43 assists 64 points 0.78 PPG
1955-1956 Det 82 GP 23 goals 48 assists 71 points 0.87 PPG
1956-1957 Det 82 GP 13 goals 33 assists 47 points 0.57 PPG
1957-1958 Det 71 GP 17 goals 23 assists 40 points 0.56 PPG
1958-1959 Det 78 GP 10 goals 16 assists 26 points 0.33 PPG
1959-1960 Det/Tor 80 GP 15 goals 21 assists 35 points 0.44 PPG
1960-1961 Tor* 75 GP 24 goals 60 assists 84 points 1.12 PPG
1961-1962 Tor* 68 GP 26 goals 32 assists 59 points 0.86 PPG
1962-1963 Tor* 77 GP 24 goals 48 assists 73 points 0.94 PPG
1963-1964 Tor 82 GP 14 goals 44 assists 58 points 0.71 PPG
1964-1965 Tor 82 GP 23 goals 35 assists 58 points 0.70 PPG
1965-1966 Tor 74 GP 9 goals 28 assists 38 points 0.51 PPG
1966-1967 Tor* 71 GP 17 goals 29 assists 46 points 0.64 PPG
Adjusted Playoff Stats
1947-1948 Det 10 GP 3 goals 2 assists 5 points 0.48 PPG
1948-1949 Det 11 GP 1 goal 1 assist 2 points 0.21 PPG
1949-1950 Det* 14 GP 1 goal 4 assists 5 points 0.37 PPG
1950-1951 Det 6 GP 0 goals 1 assist 1 point 0.23 PPG
1951-1952 Det* 5 GP 1 goal 0 assists 1 point 0.29 PPG
1952-1953 Det 6 GP 0 goals 4 assists 4 points 0.68 PPG
1953-1954 Det* 12 GP 7 goals 1 assist 8 points 0.65 PPG
1954-1955 Det* 11 GP 2 goals 5 assists 7 points 0.67 PPG
1955-1956 Det 10 GP 2 goals 4 assists 6 points 0.60 PPG
1956-1957 Det 5 GP 1 goal 0 assists 1 point 0.20 PPG
1957-1958 Det 4 GP 0 goals 1 assist 1 point 0.23 PPG
1959-1960 Tor 10 GP 3 goals 8 assists 11 points 1.14 PPG
1960-1961 Tor 2 GP 1 goal 0 assists 1 point 0.56 PPG
1961-1962 Tor* 12 GP 4 goals 6 assists 10 points 0.83 PPG
1962-1963 Tor* 10 GP 2 goals 6 assists 8 points 0.79 PPG
1963-1964 Tor* 14 GP 4 goals 9 assists 14 points 0.98 PPG
1964-1965 Tor 6 GP 3 goals 2 assists 5 points 0.91 PPG
1965-1966 Tor 4 GP 0 goals 2 assists 2 points 0.53 PPG
1966-1967 Tor* 12 GP 0 goals 5 assists 5 points 0.43 PPG
Career - 1564 GP, 371 goals, 713 assists, 1086 points, 0.69 PPG
Career-Highs - 29 goals (52-53); 60 assists (60-61); 84 points (60-61); 1.12 PPG (60-61)
Avg. (20 seasons) - 78 GP, 19 goals, 36 assists, 54 points, 0.69 PPG
Peak Avg. (49-57) - 80 GP, 22 goals, 43 assists, 64 points, 0.80 PPG, 4 Cups
Playoff Average - 164 GP, 35 goals, 61 assists, 97 points, 0.59 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 7 goals (53-54); 9 assists (63-64); 14 points (63-64); 1.14 PPG (59-60)
Accolades - 1 Norris Trophy, 4 Lady Byngs
All-Star Teams - 6-time 1st-team, 2-time 2nd-team
8-time Stanley Cup Champion
The conventional wisdom of those who saw them play is that Doug Harvey was the premier defenceman of the 1950s, and Red Kelly was a close #2. I have to defer to the conventional wisdom since I have only seen a few games here or there that involved both defencemen (god bless you, NHL Classic station), and since Doug Harvey won seven Norris trophies to Kelly's one. Having said that, when you look at their numbers, it is Kelly who leaps out at you.
During the Red Wings' great run in the 1950s, Kelly had seven straight 20+ goal seasons as a defenceman. Seven! Lidstrom never did that. Neither did Bourque, Coffey, Potvin, you name it. Only one other defenceman has...some obscure guy by the name of Orr. Kelly's peak is so good that I gave serious consideration to placing him at the tail end of Level 5, but again, because I have so little first-hand knowledge of Kelly's game, he was punished.
Kelly was the anti-Eddie Shore, who's ranked just ahead of him on the Pyramid. He won multiple Lady Byng trophies as the league's most gentlemanly player, while Shore racked up countless enemies. But perhaps Kelly's greatest legacy is that they actually invented the Norris trophy for him (had it been around before, no doubt Kelly would have won two or three more). You know you're great at your position when someone says "Hey, maybe we should create an award to recognize the guy who's, you know, the best defenceman?".
Then a strange thing happened, something that makes Kelly quite unique among NHL greats (and among all NHL players for that matter). He got traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and discovered in a game that he could be more valuable during the twilight of his career as a defensive center. And valuable he was: Kelly thrived as a consummate 2nd-line center, sort-of the late-career Ron Francis of his day, chipping in 15-25 goals, 55-70 points, and excellent two-way play, while being a part of four more Stanley Cup championships. Very few players have made the transition from defence to forward, or vice versa (Atlanta's Dustin Byfuglien is in the process of enjoying a successful transition as of the time of this writing, and Sergei Fedorov dabbled at playing defence briefly).
It really didn't matter where you put Kelly...he would excel at both ends of the ice, and he was a winner. Eight Stanley Cup rings attest to that. I don't care if you played in the Original Six era, eight championships is still impressive. Kelly retired in 1967, a winner one more time with the Leafs (who'd have known it would be their last?). One of the iconic players of the Original Six era left the league just as his era came to a close.
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