In honor of Labor Day, we remember the legacy of Red Wings captain and labor trailblazer Ted Lindsay, who gave up career security to advocate for the rights of his fellow players
In honor of Labor Day, we remember the legacy of Red Wings captain and labor trailblazer Ted Lindsay, who gave up career security to advocate for the rights of his fellow players
To Ted Lindsay, his actions to start what would one day become the NHL Players’ Association stemmed from a simple purpose.
“I did it because I believed in it,” Lindsay said. “The owners met 10 times a year. We never met.”
One of hockey’s storied figures — the one whose name dons the league’s player-voted MVP trophy — Lindsay was also one of its biggest advocates for organized labor within the sport. For that, he faced exile from the Red Wings and a number of character attacks by executives within the sport. Years later, his efforts are nonetheless essential for protecting the livelihood of so many players in the league.
Lindsay’s efforts began in 1957, alongside Montreal defenseman Doug Harvey. The two of them thought the NHL’s lack of player organization was a detriment to the players, giving owners and general managers autocratic power over the livelihoods of so many athletes.
In their eyes, their grievances with the NHL were small but significant. They wanted to ensure fair pension plans, establish a minimum salary and assist fellow players with moving costs when traded. Most players made modest contracts in this era partly because of how much power league owners had over their workers. Collective organization gave the players the power to negotiate for better treatment.
Through a network of captains, Lindsay and Harvey enrolled every player in the league save for Toronto’s Ted Kennedy to their union. In February of the 1956-57 season, they announced the formation of a player’s union. The NHL’s front offices had no idea the movement had taken place until the announcement. Their workers had collectively organized themselves.
"I was doing it because I believed in it," Lindsay said. "I was doing it not to irritate owners, I was doing it to help out (other players). All of us needed help, we needed a voice as a group, not as an individual."
For this movement, managers took exception. Detroit’s own general manager Jack Adams stripped Lindsay of his captaincy in 1957, and he slandered his character with fake contract figures and ad hominem attacks through the press. Then, Adams shipped Lindsay off to the much worse Chicago Black Hawks organization in what amounted to exile. On the heels of an 85-point season where he and Gordie Howe led the league in scoring, Lindsay’s career was all but derailed as punishment. In today’s NHL, this move would be like Edmonton trading off Leon Draisaitl, or Boston trading Brad Marchand.
Lindsay and Harvey’s unionization efforts stalled after owners convinced players to abandon the union in 1959, but their efforts paid off 10 years later when the NHLPA formed. By then, Lindsay was out of the NHL, but not before former teammate Sid Abel brought him back to Detroit for one last season in 1964-65. Despite owners’ frustrations with him, Lindsay still earned a Hall of Fame nod in 1966. In 2010, the NHLPA renamed the Lester B. Pearson Award after Lindsay, honoring the league’s best player in the eyes of the union’s players.
Lindsay’s sacrifice to create the modern NHL has paid off. The NHLPA does all he could imagine and more for its players, organizing an even larger league of players to benefit them all through collective bargaining. Without Lindsay and Harvey's groundwork, it’s hard to imagine negotiating power such as minimum contracts, no-trade and no-move clauses and guaranteed contracts would exist. That’s not to mention the legal and medical resources the NHLPA provides players.
To Lindsay, what became of his efforts was worth it, even if it cost him so much.
"At least it got started,” Lindsay said. “And it's paying dividends now.”
Also from THN Detroit
Red Wings First Rounder Zadina Signs in Switzerland
From the Archive: "Catch Them if You Can," Remembering 2016's Team North America
Red Wings Captain Shares Tribute to Johnny, Matthew Gaudreau
The Top Five Red Wings Goaltenders of All-Time
National TV Networks Banking on Another Red Wings Playoff Push
Red Wings Prospect's Big Game Leads Norway Closer to Olympic Qualification