Red Wings, fans gather to celebrate Ted Lindsay's impactful life

DETROIT -- Kris Draper was a rookie with the Detroit Red Wings when he arrived early one morning to Joe Louis Arena, looking to hit the weight room and pump some iron.
Draper still remembers his shock and awe when he turned the corner upon entering the workout area to see someone already there, doing his reps.

It was Red Wings legend Ted Lindsay.
"He had this grey t-shirt on and these grey shorts on," said Draper, today the special assistant to the general manager with the Wings. "I came up and introduced myself and we started talking. Then I'm like, I wasn't quite sure if I should start working out or not, because it's Ted Lindsay.
"I thought I should maybe let him finish his workout before I started."
The aura that the man known as Terrible Ted carried within hockey circles was one of a take-no-prisoners competitor. But as every player who donned the Winged Wheel sweater would come to understand, Lindsay the man was much more impressive than Lindsay's legend.
The images of Lindsay seated on a stool in the Detroit dressing room, chatting amiably with one of the players, are etched in the minds of anyone who's spent any amount of time around this team.
"He'd always come and sit down and talk with the guys," remembered former Wings forward Kirk Maltby. "It didn't matter who it was. You didn't have to be a star guy. He would talk to anybody.
"Those are the things you appreciate now, that you really get to look back on it and think about it, and you wish you could do it one more time."
The life of Lindsay, who died Monday at the age of 93, was celebrated Friday at Little Caesars Arena with a public visitation that attracted hockey stars, celebrities and fans of the Wings.

"It's a sad day, but I get to relive a lot of happy memories of Ted Lindsay," said actor and Michigander Dave Coulier, star of the TV show Fuller House.
"I got to know Ted. Within the last seven years I really got to know Ted the man more than the legend.
"Once you knew the man, you realized why he was such a legend. Ted had a lot of heart, but just think of all the hearts that he will forever remain in of all the people that he touched and gave words of wisdom to, and advice and friendship. He really was bigger than life in so many ways."

You didn't need to be famous to be respected by Lindsay. Ann Arbor's Greg Lewan worked for years at Joe Louis Arena and crossed paths with Lindsay many times.
"He always stopped to say hello," Lewan said. "He always had time to chat. "He was a genuinely good man, and that's why I had to come here today to say goodbye."
The thousands who came to Little Caesars Arena to pay their last respects to one of the greatest players to ever wear a Red Wings jersey were able to see many of the honors that were bestowed upon him over the years, and to peruse books of photos provided by the Lindsay family.

The banner recognizing Lindsay's retired No. 7 and the four banners from the Stanley Cups he won in Detroit -- 1949-50, 1951-52, 1953-54 and 1954-55 -- were lowered from the rafters and positioned in a place of honor behind his casket.
In essence, there really were two Ted Lindsays. There was Lindsay the Hockey Hall of Famer, who won an NHL scoring title and served as team captain during his tenure as a Red Wings left-winger from 1944-57 and again in 1964-65.
"If he was on the other team, he was your worst enemy," former Wings forward Red Berenson said. "If he was on your team, he was your best friend. And he was loyal to that."
Lindsay's accomplishments commanded him a great and worthy presence within hockey circles, yet he was down to earth and approachable to all.
"Today is a celebration of an incredible life, on the ice, but I also think just as importantly off the ice," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "What he meant to this game, to this sport, to this city. The respect that he gave and got. The passion he had for the sport. The passion he had for the people in the sport.
"He was a fierce competitor on the ice. He was a fierce competitor off the ice, a great role model for so many people that have been in this game for a long time."

Lindsay's charity work has raised millions of dollars for autism research.
"The amazing thing with Ted is everything he did on the ice has obviously been applauded," Draper said. "He's been recognized for that. But everything he did off the ice I think is probably what Ted would be most proud of, what he's done with that."
He helped paved the way for better working conditions for hockey players by helping form the NHLPA in 1956 and serving as the first leader of the association.
"No one that plays now or played in the last 20 years would have the life and luxury we have if it weren't for Ted," former Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said.

Lindsay's role in forging the NHLPA was the essence of who he truly was as a person. He was always there to help out others.
"I ran into him at more hockey banquets and charity events and things that you didn't really have to go to," Berenson said. "He would go to just about any one he was asked to go to.
"It might have been a single team of women's hockey, when they were starting to get women's hockey going around Michigan, and Ted Lindsay was the first guy to stand up and say that was the right thing to do."
When Zetterberg underwent back surgery in 2012, among those who phoned the hospital the earliest to check on his condition was Lindsay.
"He called my wife Emma and asked how Henrik is?" Zetterberg recalled. "And Emma said, 'Well, he hasn't woke up, so I don't really know.'"
Zetterberg's upper lip quivered and his voice cracked with emotion as he recollected the night Lindsay presented him with his award from the NHL for playing his 1,000th game.
"That was special," Zetterberg said. "That picture is blown up both in my home and in my mom and dad's home back home in Sweden.
"I think Ted was probably the one that encouraged me the most to do work in the community and with charities. All the stuff he's done here in Detroit for autism, he's a true role model for everyone."

Coulier indicated he took lessons in coping with life as a celebrity from watching how Wings legends Lindsay and Gordie Howe gave of themselves to their adoring public.
When you saw guys like Ted and Gordie interact with people, it only takes a couple of seconds to make someone's entire day, or month, or year," Coulier explained.
"I just watched those guys and thought, 'That's the way you do it.' When you can just spend a moment and be true with people like that, and personable like that, I thought that was pretty brilliant."
Lindsay's dressing room interactions with Red Wings players over the years were of a similar ilk. He never showed up to play the role of the big shot.
"You would never know he was the giant of a player when you met him off the ice," Berenson said.

Instead, Lindsay was there to encourage, to offer uplifting words to a struggling player. To make them understand what it meant to be a Red Wing.
"He always took the time to talk to each and every player," recalled Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. "It didn't matter if you were Nick Lidstrom or someone barely playing, he really took the time to make sure everyone got their time and made everyone feel great about themselves."

Draper remembered a pep talk from Lindsay prior to Detroit's 1997 Stanley Cup final series against the Philadelphia Flyers.
"Everyone knows we're going to play Philly and apparently Philly was bigger, stronger and faster and it wasn't going to be much of a series," Draper explained. "Here we have Ted Lindsay talking about don't worry about the size of them.
"He's talking about our hockey team and what we've done and how fast and competitive we are. Don't worry about the size. This is Terrible Ted Lindsay telling you this. We believe him and everyone obviously knows what happened."
The Wings swept the Flyers and won the Cup that spring, the first earned by the franchise since Lindsay captained the team to the 1954-55 title.
"To be able to walk in that dressing room and be able to talk to Ted at those critical moments is something that was amazing," Draper said. "To me, it just shows you the class of the organization with Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch and obviously Chris (Ilitch) now, just allowing Ted Lindsay to be there whenever Ted Lindsay feels the right time is to be there.
"I don't think it's like that in every room. We're very fortunate to be able to do that and to me, that's the luxury of playing for an Original Six franchise. It's first class top to bottom."
To the hockey world, he was Scarface and Terrible Ted. To the Wings, and the people who knew him best, Lindsay was a ray of sunshine gleaming into their lives.
"Whenever Ted walked in the room he was always upbeat," Holland said. "He was always positive."
"We are celebrating a legend," Zetterberg said. "A true gentleman."