DETROIT – Red Wings legend Ted Lindsay, who won four Stanley Cups with the organization, died overnight while in hospice care at the age of 93.
The "Production Line" of Gordie Howe, Sid Abel and Lindsay was one of the most iconic in Detroit sports history. Others who played during their era didn't want to line up against the trio.
WATCH: 1965 Red Wings file footage of Ted Lindsay
While "Terrible Ted" might now be gone, his legacy will live on for generations.
READ: Red Wings release statement on Ted Lindsay
The National Hockey League exists as it is today, in part, because of Lindsay. He was on the famed "Production Line" and made the Olympia the hallowed hockey barn it became.
Lindsay was so ferocious on the ice that penalties were invented because of his play -- elbowing, kneeing, etc. He spent a lot of time in the penalty box, and he was a tough guy on the ice. He was also beloved for what he did off the ice.
Born Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay, his statue is a fixture in Little Caesars Arena.
Red Wings announcer Mickey Redmond grew up in the same hometown.
"Ted knew my mother and father before they were married in Kirkland Lake, Ontario," Redmond said.
Lindsay retired the year before Redmond started scoring goals for the Montreal Canadiens. They remained friends until Lindsay's death.
Redmond said one of the things he'll always remember is Lindsay's unvarnished truths.
"What you see is what you got with Ted Lindsay," Redmond said. "He didn't pull any punches. He didn't tell you what you wanted to hear. He probably told you what his opinion was and what you needed to hear."
One of the Red Wings players who was always eager to hear from Lindsay was right winger Dino Cicarelli. Lindsay and Howe were constants in the Red Wings locker room.
"They were childhood idols for myself -- him and Gordie and a bunch of the Toronto group," Cicarelli said.
They often traded hockey shop talk, and Cicarelli said he marveled at the physical shape Lindsay was in long after retirement.
"We'd come in after practicing during the day and there's Teddy lifting weights, and what was he back then? In his 80s? He was an inspiration," Cicarelli said.
Redmond and Cicarelli said Lindsay's charity work was beyond inspiring, as well.
Funeral information
Visitation for family members and friends will be from 2-7 p.m. Thursday, with a Scripture service at 7 p.m.
Public visitation will be held Friday from 9:07 a.m. to 7:07 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
The funeral Mass for family members and close friends will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Rochester. Visitation at the church will begin at 9 a.m.
Memorial tributes can be sent to The Ted Lindsay Foundation, 1819 East Big Beaver Road, Troy, Michigan 48083.