Alex Delvecchio ✝

After playing a single junior league season for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) (during which he led the league in assists) and six games with the Indianapolis Capitals of the American Hockey League (AHL), Delvecchio made his NHL debut on March 25, 1951, playing against the Montreal Canadiens in the Red Wings\' final game of the season. He spent six games with the team\'s minor league affiliate, the Indianapolis Capitals of the AHL, scoring nine points, before joining the Red Wings full-time in the 1951–52 season. He helped the team to win the Stanley Cup that year. He would go on to excel both at centre and left wing for 22 full seasons and parts of two others, and was notable for his spot on the "Production Line" with linemates Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay.\n', ' A broken ankle kept Delvecchio out of 22 games in 1956–57, but other than that, he hardly missed games, only missing 14 games over the final 16 seasons of his career.\n', ' No player except Nicklas Lidström in NHL history played more games in a career spent with only one team. Despite his impressive career, Delvecchio was never the Red Wings\' leading point scorer in a season, primarily due to Howe\'s presence. The closest he ever came was in the 1969–70 NHL season, where he was just three points behind Howe for the team lead.\n', '