ABEL, Sid(ney) Gerald

(b. 22 February 1918 in Saskatchewan, Canada; d. 8 February 2000 in Farmington Hills, Michigan), hockey player who was the center in the famed Detroit Red Wing "Production Line" with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Abel made his debut with the Red Wings in 1938. He played only thirty-nine games over the next two seasons but emerged as a regular in 1940, recording eleven goals and twenty-two assists in forty-seven games. For the 1942–1943 season Abel, though only twenty-four years old, was named team captain and led the Red Wings to a four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals. Tallying forty-two points on eighteen goals and twenty-four assists in forty-nine regular season games, Abel excelled in the playoffs, collecting thirteen points in ten games (five goals, eight assists). Yet after winning the Stanley Cup, Abel left the NHL for nearly three years.

Like many players, Abel joined the military during World War II, fighting with the Canadian armed forces. However, Abel did not completely forget about hockey; from 1943 until 1945 he managed to play a few games with the Montreal Royal Canadian Air Force team, the Montreal Canada Car, and the Lachine Rapides. Abel returned to the Red Wings late in 1946, playing in only seven regular-season and three playoff games, as the Bruins eliminated Detroit in the semifinals. Back with the club full-time in the 1946–1947 season, Abel could not prevent a disappointing fourth-place finish and another early exit from the playoffs. Given their lackluster performances during the 1945–1946 and 1946–1947 seasons, no one could have predicted that the Red Wings were about to make hockey history.

Following the 1946–1947 season, Red Wings coach Jack Adams resigned after twenty-one years to concentrate on his duties as general manager. One of the first decisions new coach Tommy Ivan made was to put Abel on a line with a rugged left winger named Ted Lindsay and a promising right winger named Gordie Howe, who had just completed his rookie season. The trio meshed effortlessly from the outset. By the end of their first season together (1947–1948), the press had christened them the "Production Line," an epithet inspired as much by their blue-collar work ethic as by their prolific scoring.

Although less celebrated, Abel was arguably the most important member of the line. His unmatched talent, savvy, and creativity propelled the Red Wings to Stanley Cup championships in 1950 and 1952. Hockey historian Ed Fitkin maintained that Abel "will go down in the Red Wings' history as the greatest competitor and inspirational force the Red Wings ever had." Certainly Lindsay and Howe relied on him for guidance and leadership.

Abel savored his role as mentor. On the ice, Howe said, it was Abel who controlled the pace and action of the game, orchestrating his wingers' heroics. "Sid gave Ted and I [sic] a lot of room to work with.… He was the leader, that's why he wore the 'C.'" Abel contributed at least as much to the development and maturity of Howe and Lindsay away from the rink. "Sid taught us so much," Howe declared. "We used to sit up in the trains for hours after the game, and he'd go over everything. He'd take us through the whole game, pointing out what we did right and what we did wrong. I think I learned more on the trains than I did on the ice."

In the 1949–1950 season, Lindsay (23 goals, 55 assists, 78 points), Abel (34–35–69), and Howe (35–33–68) led the NHL in scoring and brought the Red Wings a Stanley Cup championship, at last avenging the heartbreaking defeat that the Toronto Maple Leafs had administered in 1942. The Production Line stayed together for two more seasons, winning another Stanley Cup in 1952, before Abel asked to be released from his contract to become player-coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. Abel played only thirty-nine games for the Hawks in the 1952–1953 season and only three in the 1953–1954 season, retiring to concentrate solely on coaching. Returning to Detroit as an analyst on Red Wings television broadcasts, Abel replaced Jimmy Skinner as Red Wings coach midway through the 1957–1958 season, when Skinner had to resign because of ill health.

Abel coached the Red Wings until 1968, compiling a record of 340 wins, 339 losses, and 132 ties. He also served as general manager between 1962 and 1971. During Abel's tenure as coach, the Red Wings, although no longer the most talented team in the NHL, reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1961, 1963, 1964, and 1966, but never won. Almost universally admired, Abel, according to Wings defenseman Bill Gadsby, "treated players like men. He never singled out anybody in the dressing room. The guys respected that."

Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969, Abel finished his career with 189 goals and 283 assists in 612 regular season games, all but 42 of them in a Red Wings uniform. He added 28 goals and 30 assists in 98 playoff contests. Twice during his illustrious career, in 1949 and 1950, Abel was First Team All-Star, and twice, in 1942 and 1951, he was a member of the Second Team. He became the first player in the history of the NHL to attain All-Star status at two positions, having been selected as a left-wing in 1942 and as a center in 1949. Abel also won the Hart Trophy in 1949 as the league's Most Valuable Player.

Between 1976 and 1986 Abel again provided expert commentary on Red Wings radio and television broadcasts. "Old Bootnose," as Abel was known after Maurice Richard broke his nose in a fight, died just before his eighty-second birthday following a long battle with heart disease and cancer. His wife Gloria survived him, along with his two children. Abel is buried at Glen Edan Memorial Park in Livonia, Michigan.

Despite having played for and coached the Blackhawks, as well as briefly coaching the St. Louis Blues (1971–1972) and the Kansas City Scouts (1975–1976), Abel always thought of himself as "a Red Wing through and through." The Red Wings organization honored that commitment in 1995, retiring Abel's number 12 jersey to the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. Appropriately, it hangs between Gordie Howe's number 9 and Ted Lindsay's number 7.

For full-length works on Abel and the Red Wings, see Stan Fischler, Motor City Muscle: Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, and the Championship Detroit Red Wings (1995); Paul R. Greenland, Wings of Fire: The History of the Detroit Red Wings (1997); Richard Bak, The Detroit Red Wings: The Illustrated History (1998); and Brian McFarlane, The Detroit Red Wings (1999). For specific team information, see Bob Duff, "Franchise Histories: Detroit Red Wings," in Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League (1998). Chuck Carlton, "Production Line Center Was Ready, Willing, and Abel," Hockey News 53, no. 24 (2000), is an obituary that provides insight on Abel's role in the famous line.

Mark G. Malvasi