Theodore Samuel "Teeder" Kennedy (December 12, 1925 – August 14, 2009) was a professional ice hockey player. A centre, he spent 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, until Auston Matthews in 2022. 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. Disappointed and heart sick at the idea of not playing for his favourite team, Montréal who owned his rights eventually traded him to Toronto for defencemen Frank Eddols. A move that contributed to the falling out between Conn Smythe who was away fighting the war with the 48th Highlanders in Europe, and Frank Selke who was left behind to manage the team, resulting in the latter eventually leaving the Leafs organization for the Canadiens.

Although young, Kennedy was successful with Toronto from the start. In his first season, the 18-year-old finished second on the team in scoring and then in his sophomore year was considered the star of Toronto's upset of the record-breaking Montreal Canadiens of 1944–45. He established himself as the leader of the team and became captain in 1948. Although not the best skater in the league, Kennedy was a fierce forechecker and skilled playmaker. Kennedy was a perfect fit into coach Hap Day's emphasis on defence and positional play. He gained a reputation for scoring the important goal and excelling in the playoffs. Kennedy holds the Toronto Maple Leafs' all-time record for career points in the Stanley Cup Final and is the youngest player in the history of the NHL to have scored a Stanley Cup winning goal. A Sports Illustrated poll of hockey experts in 1998 rated Kennedy as having the best face-off skills in the history of the NHL.

Early life Ted "Teeder" Kennedy was born December 12, 1925, in the small village of Humberstone, Ontario,Diamond (1998) p. 736. which in 1970 was amalgamated into the city of Port Colborne. note: published birth-dates for Kennedy prior to 1970 usually give his place of birth as Humberstone. Ted's father, Gordon Kennedy, was killed in a hunting accident eleven days before he was born and his mother, Margaret, was left to raise a family of four children.Ulmer p. 62. To supplement her income she took a job selling confectioneries at a local hockey arena which became young Ted's second home.Leonetti Maple Leafs Top 100 p. 14. When Ted was seven years old a family friend took him to Toronto to see the first two games of the 1932 Stanley Cup Final and from watching those games Maple Leaf right winger Charlie Conacher became his childhood hero. He wore Conacher's no. 9 throughout his minor hockey career. In Port Colborne, Kennedy was childhood friends with Elmer Iseler, who found fame as a choir conductorPitman, p. 73. and Don Gallinger who became infamous when he was banned for life by the NHL for gambling while playing with the Boston Bruins in 1948.

Kennedy played with the Port Colborne Lions in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association as a bantam, midget and juvenile. His nickname "Teeder" is a short form of his real name which was used by other neighbourhood boys because they could not pronounce "Theodore" and was overheard by a local reporter with the Welland Tribune.Coleman p. 86. During Kennedy's NHL years, newspapers often used the spelling "Teeter". Kennedy was captain of the midget Port Colborne Lions when they won the O.M.H.A. Championship in 1941. The Toronto Star described the 15-year-old Kennedy as a "shifty rightwinger" who had "paced the Lions to victory, scoring five goals, two of which were solo efforts." On May 7, 1941, at a banquet in Port Colborne honouring the championship team, one of the speakers was Hap Day, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He spoke to the players, advising them that "keen desire" and "hard work" was required to get to the top in hockey as in any job in life and that hockey salaries were "equal to other leading professions". Day then presented members of the team with jackets bearing the championship crest. In only two years, Kennedy was playing for Hap Day's Toronto Maple Leafs.

The next season Kennedy's juvenile team made it to the finals. During the season, Kennedy had scored seven goals in one game and six in another and it was efforts such as those which were attracting the attention of professional hockey people. The first team to approach Kennedy was the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, although for Kennedy "It was a boyhood dream to play for Toronto." Dinty Moore, also of Port Colborne, brought Kennedy to the attention Montreal General Manager Tommy Gorman and Kennedy was put on their negotiation list.Goyens (1994) p. 65. note: the Goyens book says it was Toronto referee Bert Hedge who brought Kennedy to the attention of Tommy Gormon. However, Tommy Gorman in a 1947 letter to The Evening Citizen paper of Ottawa said it was Dinty Moore. (See Koffman The Evening Citizen June 20, 1947, p. 22.) The Gorman letter to the Citizen was in response to an article by Dan Parker in the June 16, 1947, Evening Citizen (p.17) in which Gorman rebutted Parker's story of how Canadien's lost Kennedy. In the fall of 1942, Montreal contacted the sixteen-year-old about joining the Canadiens. Kennedy's mother was wary of a career in hockey for her son as he was also headed towards studying business at the University of Western Ontario. She agreed to let her son attend the training camp when Montreal scout Dinty Moore assured her Ted was going to receive a good education at Montreal's prestigious Lower Canada College and they were going to cover the cost. Upon arriving in Montreal, foreshadowing future troubles, Kennedy discovered there was no one from the Canadiens to greet him at the train. The teenager was left to his own devices to check into a hotel and make his way around the new city. Then later, as he tried to combine hockey and school, he became concerned his studies were suffering and approached Canadien management to ask if they could find him accommodation closer to the school. He felt they were unresponsive and he soon became disillusioned with the experience in Montreal. After three weeks in Montreal he was feeling homesick and upon completing spring training with the Montreal Royals, he returned to Port Colborne in mid-November.Fitkin (1950) p. 11.

Back home, Kennedy played with the Port Colborne Sailors of the OHA Sr. league for the 1942–43 hockey season. The Port Colborne coach was former NHL star and Hall of Fame inductee Nels Stewart who had been hired in November. Stewart became a mentor to Kennedy, working on his playmaking skills. Kennedy credits Stewart with teaching him how to "operate in front of the net". Kennedy finished the season second in the league, only one point behind scoring champion, Dillon Brady of Hamilton. It was during this time that Kennedy debuted as a player at Maple Leaf Gardens. OHA senior teams played at the Gardens on Friday evenings and this included Kennedy and the Port Colborne Sailors. At the end of the season, in early February 1943, in spite of his having abandoned the Royals, Montreal scout Gus Ogilvie was sent to induce Kennedy to sign a contract with the promise that if he signed, he would finish the season with the Canadiens in the NHL. Concerned about his treatment in Montreal, he declined, despite being warned by Ogilvie, "Well, you know, Ted, if you turn pro, it will have to be with the Canadiens." Kennedy now thought his dreams of playing in the NHL were over. However, Nels Stewart believed in Kennedy, considering him "a coming great", and recommended him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Shortly thereafter, Kennedy was called out of his grade 11 Latin class to the principal's office.Ulmer p. 65. Kennedy, the high school student, was at first worried about what he may have done wrong, but it turned out to be a phone call from Nels Stewart. Stewart had arranged a meeting with General Manager of the Leafs Frank Selke and Kennedy had to travel immediately to Toronto. Unlike Montreal, the Maple Leafs had someone there to meet Kennedy when he got off the train. Kennedy signed a contract that evening.

Playing career

Style of play Although Kennedy was not a gifted skater, he compensated with a fierce determination and tireless hard work.Batten (1994) p. 42. Among modern era players his style of play has been compared to Bobby Clarke and Jarome Iginla. Line-mate Howie Meeker said that while he was a much better skater than Kennedy, . Kennedy was a perfect fit into coach Hap Day's coaching style of emphasizing defense, positional hockey and physical play.Ulmer p. 68. He brought to the Leafs a classy, humble leadership and the knack for scoring goals when they were most needed. He fought for every inch of iceLeonettie (2002) p. 82. and was difficult to separate from the puck. He was also known for his agility,Diamond (1994) p. 49. stick-handling, playmaking,Obodiac p. 109. passing skills and physical toughness.

Dick Irvin once compared the styles of Syl Apps, previous captain of the Leafs, to Kennedy in how the two centres used their wingers. "Apps used to hit the defence at top speed and Gordie Drillon would come along and pick up the garbage", said Irvin, whereas Kennedy would "go into the corners and get the puck out to their wings." Hap Day had said he could see Nels Stewart's influence on Kennedy. Like Stewart, Kennedy had a more upright lie on his hockey stick which kept the puck closer to his feet.Fitken (1950) p. 66. Kennedy was also widely believed to be the best faceoff man in hockey and seldom lost an important faceoff.Fischler (2003) Who's Who p. 215. Along with his regular shift, he also played a role on the penalty kill.

Making the team On March 3, 1943, Kennedy signed a professional contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but management of the Leafs still wished to see Kennedy playing in an NHL game. Late in the 1942–43 season, they received permission from Kennedy's mother to take him out of school so he could accompany them on a road trip. He played in two of the final three games of the regular season, but did not continue with them into the playoffs. Making his NHL debut March 7, 1943, against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, he was put on the Leafs' third line on rightwing, instead of his customary centre position, on a line with Bud Poile and Gaye Stewart. He was told by coach Hap Day to simply "stay with your check and keep him from scoring." Kennedy's line scored three goals and he picked up one assist in a 5–5 tie. He then picked another assist in the next game in Boston. Kennedy had impressed the Leaf coaches,Leonetti (2002) p. 82. but his rights were still "officially" owned by the Montreal Canadiens.Diamond (2003) Hockey's Glory Days.