Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Alex Delvecchio are the three names atop the Detroit Red Wings all-time scoring list. The first has been a hockey legend for over a half century, the second’s achievements are still fresh in our minds. The third, who served as team captain for a dozen years and later as both coach and GM is often overlooked when discussing the Motor City’s all-time greats.

Born in Fort William, Ontario, now part of Thunder Bay, when winters were long and parents still operated under the assumption that fresh air was good for kids. Like all Canadian kids in the 1940s, he took to the ice. His play caught the eye of the Detroit organization, who sent him to Oshawa to finish his junior years under the watchful eye of Generals coach, Larry Aurie, who had spent his NHL career with three different Detroit teams, the Cougars, Falcons and Red Wings.

The 18-year-old forward tore the OHA apart in 1950-51, finishing second in scoring with 49 goals and 72 assists. The next fall he was turned pro by Detroit and assigned to the AHL Indianapolis Capitals, where he spent all of six games and picked up nine points before being called up to the big club.

For the next 22 years the 6-foot, 200-pounder quietly toiled in the edge of the spotlight, a man well-liked by his teammates and respected by his opponents. The Red Wings were the class of the NHL as the 1940s became the 1950s. They finished in first place seven years in a row and featured the feistiest forward line in the game, The Production Line of Howe, Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel.

Delvecchio saw third line duty as a rookie but still managed to put 37 points on the score sheet in 1951-52. He also had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, the first of three mentions. He made the second All-Star team at center in his sophomore campaign and added back to back Stanley Cups in 1954 and 1955. By then he was an established NHL star, a crafty playmaker who had enough of a nose for the net to score 20 or more on a regular basis.

With more than a few teammates willing to handle the rough stuff, Delvecchio spent two decades as one of the most gentlemanly competitors in a game that was not for the faint at heart. He was voted the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded to the player who best combines sportsmanship with excellent play, in 1959, when he was named to another second All-Star team, this time as a left wing, and following the 1965-66 and 1968-69 seasons.

While not an overwhelming physical presence, Delvecchio was nonetheless one of the more durable athletes of his era. He missed only a handful of games in his first six years before being limited to only 48 games in 1956-57. In the next decade he suited up for all but two of the games on the schedule, at one point playing in 548 consecutive Red Wings games.

All dynasties crumble over time and Detroit’s Red Wings were no exception to the laws of history. Their Stanley Cup triumphs of the early 1950s gave way to the Montreal Canadiens, who reeled off five straight championships, but Detroit continued to challenge, reaching the finals against Chicago in 1961 and losing to the Black Hawks.

In both 1963 and 1964, they returned to the last round but were bested by Toronto. In 1966 they lost to the Habs. In 1966-67, the final year of the six-team league that had endured unchanged since 1943, the Red Wings won only 27 of 70 games and missed the playoffs for only the third time since Delvecchio, their captain since 1962-63, had broken in with the team.

Things didn’t improve significantly for the rest of Delvecchio’s years wearing the red and white. The team settled into a slump that would go on for a generation but Fats, as he was known to his teammates, more than held his own while the team descended into mediocrity. He scored 20 or more in five of his last six complete seasons and hit a career high with 83 points in 1968-69, second on the team to the ageless Howe and good for seventh in the league, not too shabby for a 38-year-old.

A month or so before his 42nd birthday, Delvecchio was summoned by the team brain trust. He had an uneasy feeling that his days with the Red Wings were through. He was only partly right as it turned out. He was named coach and set out trying to make chicken salad from something far less appetizing, an endeavor where his sense of humor came in handy on a daily basis.

Delvecchio later added the GM’s job to his bench duties but there was no turnaround in sight in the Motor City and he was let go in 1977, replaced by Ted Lindsay. The third man to score 1000 points in the NHL, Alex Delvecchio was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame the same year.