Red Kelly July 9 NHL History
1927: Red Kelly, who plays on eight Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs on the way to induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, is born in Simcoe, Ontario.

July 9 NHL History

1905: Clarence Campbell, the NHL’s third president, is born in Fleming, Saskatchewan. He succeeds Red Dutton in 1946 and serves for 31 years. Campbell helps the NHL expand from six teams to 12 in 1967 and eventually to 18 before he steps down in 1977. One of Campbell’s most memorable decisions is to suspend Canadiens star Maurice Richard for the end of the regular season and all of the 1955 Stanley Cup Playoffs after Richard punched a linesman. The Clarence Campbell Bowl is presented each year to the Western Conference playoff champion.

1927: Red Kelly, who plays on eight Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs on the way to induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, is born in Simcoe, Ontario.

Kelly, a smooth-skating defenseman, joins the Red Wings in 1949 and is named a First-Team All-Star six times during a seven-season stretch from 1950-57. He also wins the first Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 1954 and helps the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup four times. The Maple Leafs acquire Kelly on Feb. 10 1960, and coach Punch Imlach converts him to a center, saying he needs someone to check Montreal Canadiens star Jean Beliveau. Kelly has an NHL career-high 70 points in his first full season with Toronto and linemate Frank Mahovlich scores 48 goals.

Kelly helps the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup in 1962, ’63 and ’64, and again in 1967. He retires after the 1967 Cup with 823 points (281 goals, 542 assists) in 1,316 NHL games. Kelly ends his career with more championships than anyone who’s never played for the Canadiens.

The expansion Los Angeles Kings acquire Kelly’s rights and name him their first coach. He spends two seasons with the Kings and 3 1/2 with the Pittsburgh Penguins before coming back to coach the Maple Leafs to four consecutive playoff berths from 1973-77.

Kelly is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969.

1997: The new Nashville franchise, still unnamed at the time, hires David Poile as general manager. Twenty years later, Poile is still the only GM in Predators history (though he’s since added the title of president of hockey operations). They make the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 2017 but lose to the Penguins in six games.

2006: The New York Rangers sign free agent forward Brendan Shanahan. He scores 52 goals and has 108 points in 140 games during two seasons with the Rangers, then retires after playing 34 games for his original team, the New Jersey Devils, in 2008-09. Shanahan ends his NHL career with 656 goals and 1,354 points in 1,524 games; he is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

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