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Alex Delvecchio 1931-2025 - Sept. 5 2025 - Vol. 79 Issue 2 - Ken Campbell

WHEN YOU have Ted Lindsay on one side of you and Gordie Howe on the other, that doesn’t leave much room for the limelight to hit you. But that was fine with Alex Delvecchio, who rarely overwhelmed anyone but never wanted to anyway. All Delvecchio did was go about his business, and business was very, very good for a very, very long time. In fact, he did it longer for the Detroit Red Wings than any other player did for one NHL team until some fellow named Nicklas Lidstrom came along.

Alex Delvecchio died at 93 July 1, the day when modern-day players annually sign multi-million-dollar contracts, thanks in part to the trail players such as Delvecchio blazed for them. Even though he played 22 full seasons in the league, Delvecchio never accrued the wealth that even third- and fourth-liners can today. Nor did he ever receive his due, even though he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977 and his number is hanging in Detroit right there with those of Howe, Lindsay, Terry Sawchuk, Sid Abel, Steve Yzerman, Red Kelly and Lidstrom.

It’s hard to consider a Hall of Famer underrated, but Delvecchio fits the description. For five seasons, he centered ‘The Production Line’ with Lindsay on the left and Howe on the right in the midst of some of the franchise’s best years, and he did so happily in a supporting role while Howe and Lindsay took turns being the star attraction.

And Delvecchio couldn’t have been more different than his linemates. Lindsay, nicknamed ‘Terrible Ted,’ was a firebrand who whacked first and asked questions later and became the driving force behind the formation of the NHL Players’ Association. Howe was ‘Mr. Hockey,’ and his temper and elbows could be lethal. Delvecchio, meanwhile, went by the nickname ‘Fats,’ and in the five seasons he centered The Production Line, he had a total of 131 penalty minutes. Lindsay had 30 more PIM in 1955-56 alone. Delvecchio won the Lady Byng Trophy three times in his career and registered single-digit PIM totals in six seasons.

RED KELLY, TED LINDSAY, GEORGE ARMSTRONG, ALEX DELVECCHIO & KRIS DRAPER

“There were very few ripples in the way he went about his business,” said former teammate Mickey Redmond, now a broadcaster for the team. “He avoided the limelight like it was the plague. He did not like that stuff at all. He was uncomfortable with accolades, and he didn’t like being told he was good. He didn’t need that.”

DISTINGUISHED DIGITS

Delvecchio’s No. 10 is one of a select few numbers to hang from the rafters in Detroit.

Delvecchio was a terrific puckhandler and passer who could read the rhythms of the game, which made him the perfect linemate for the reckless Lindsay and the bull-in-a-china-shop Howe. After winning the Stanley Cup in his rookie year, Delvecchio was put with Howe and Lindsay when Abel was traded prior to 1952-53. Lindsay once said of Delvecchio’s passing skills that you could put a table full of fine china between him and his intended target, “and he could throw the puck across the ice and that puck would land and he wouldn’t break one of those glasses.”

Delvecchio won the Stanley Cup three times in his first four NHL seasons, then never won it again. The Red Wings remained competitive through the 1950s and the first half of the ’60s, qualifying for the final four times between 1961 and ’66 before the franchise fell into a state of disrepair that took almost three decades to fix.

But Delvecchio and his standard of play were a constant for the Red Wings, even through the lean years. Redmond came to the Red Wings from the Montreal Canadiens in a trade for Frank Mahovlich in 1971, and in 1972-73, with Delvecchio as his center, Redmond registered his first 50-goal season. That was the last full season that Delvecchio played, and he registered the second-best totals of his career in assists (53) and points (71). He assisted on 23 of Redmond’s 52 goals that season, and Redmond had a helper on 10 of Delvecchio’s 18 goals.

Redmond said Delvecchio was a master at coming through center ice in second gear to draw the defenseman, which would allow him to enter the zone in fourth gear. “At the old Olympia, he knew exactly which board to hit on the dump-in that the puck would come back too far for the goalie to come and get it,” Redmond said, “And I would come in down the right side and let one rip from the faceoff dot. It was pretty special stuff. He was a winger’s dream, whether you were a right winger or a left winger. If you couldn’t get scoring chances playing with a guy like Delvecchio, you were doing something wrong.”