page_title: Ted Kennedy (ice hockey)
section_title: Latter years
hierarchical_section_title: Ted Kennedy (ice hockey) / Playing career / Latter years
caption_attribution_description: Hart Memorial Trophy on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The trophy is awarded annually by the NHL to the season's most valuable player. Taken by Kmf164 on November 19, 2005.
context_page_description: Theodore Samuel "Teeder" Kennedy was a professional ice hockey centre who played his entire career with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1943 to 1957 and was captain for eight seasons. Along with Turk Broda, he was the first player in NHL history to win five Stanley Cups, and he was the last Maple Leaf to win the Hart Trophy for most valuable player. He was an essential contributor to the Maple Leafs becoming what many consider as the National Hockey League's first dynasty. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966. He has been called the quintessential Maple Leaf and by some the greatest player in the team's history. In 2017 Kennedy was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
  Kennedy was raised in the small Ontario town of Humberstone, now Port Colborne. Kennedy was born just eleven days after his father was killed in a hunting accident. His mother, left alone to raise four children, took a job at the local hockey arena which became Kennedy's second home. After a stellar junior hockey career, Kennedy first came to the attention of the Montreal Canadiens and attended their training camp while still in high school.
context_section_description: 1950–51 season was Kennedy's last Stanley Cup. In the years following until Kennedy's retirement in 1957 the Leafs either finished out of the playoffs or lost in the first round. However, Kennedy continued to play productive hockey. The Leafs never missed the playoffs in the years Kennedy played a full season.
  On October 13, 1951, the Leafs and the Chicago Black Hawks played an afternoon exhibition of hockey, prior to their regularly scheduled evening game, for Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, during her visit to Canada. It was captain Teeder Kennedy, representing the players, who greeted the Princess at the game. Kennedy said it was a thrilling moment and recalled thinking at the time, "Here's a kid from the little village of Humberstone, Ontario being presented to the Queen." The 1951–52 season was dominated by Gordie Howe and the Red Wings as they finished the regular season in first and then swept third place Toronto in the first round of the playoffs and Montreal in second round without losing a single game.
  In a game in Boston in January of the 1952–53 season Kennedy suffered a separated shoulder in a scuffle with Milt Schmidt of the Bruins and underwent surgery. Originally thought lost for the season, Kennedy trained hard and was able to return to the Leafs in mid-March. However, Toronto still finished out of a playoff position. Despite missing more than two months of the schedule Kennedy still finished second in points on the team. For his efforts Kennedy received the J. P. Bickell Memorial Trophy which is awarded by the Maple Leaf Gardens board of directors as the player most valuable to the Leafs.
  For the 1953–54 season, Kennedy finished tied for second on the team in points and was elected to the NHL's 2nd All-Star team. The Leafs finished in 3rd place and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Detroit in five games. At the end of the season, Kennedy announced his intentions to retire. Conn Smythe told reporters he had tendered Kennedy "the highest offer ever made a hockey player". This was a raise above his $25,000 yearly salary (approximately $200,000 in today's dollars) according to a contemporary newspaper report. However, Smythe said that Kennedy had told him that lately he felt "he hadn't produced in proportion to what he's been paid." Smythe insisted the Leafs needed Kennedy as Toronto was a young team.
  Smythe was able to talk Kennedy into playing the 1954–55 season. At the conclusion of the season, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy, for most valuable player, and is the last Toronto Maple Leaf to have won the trophy. To this point Kennedy had had an impressive career. He had played on five Stanley Cup teams, something no other NHL player had achieved at the time. Toronto had only missed the playoffs twice during his eleven years, one of which Kennedy was injured. By age 22 he had won three Stanley Cups and was the youngest player to have scored 100 goals. Yet, Kennedy had never won an award, nor been elected to a first All-Star team. Although he did finish third in the league in assists, awarding Kennedy the Hart was considered as much as an acknowledgement of his career as his performance in the season. Kennedy along with first ever Hart recipient Frank Nighbor, are the only forwards to have won the award without finishing in the top ten in league scoring. After the Leafs were swept in four straight games in the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings, Kennedy announced his retirement. For the second time, Kennedy was awarded with the J. P. Bickell Memorial Trophy as most valuable Toronto Maple Leaf.
  After missing the entire 1955–56 season, he came out of retirement to play half of the 1956–57 season to help the Leafs who were short on players due to injuries and were struggling to make the playoffs. Kennedy returned November 27 to train himself back into shape after the Leafs had won only one game in their last 11. He scored 22 points in 30 games, but the Leafs finished out of the playoffs. He shared the captaincy with Jim Thomson. A highlight of the season was March 16, 1957,
caption: Hart Memorial Trophy for most valuable player. Kennedy is the last Maple Leaf to have won the trophy.
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