An elite two-way forward, Ron Ellis brought life to an aging Leafs dynasty

Ron Ellis looked around the dressing room beneath the stands at Maple Leaf Gardens and quickly realized that one of these guys just didn’t belong. It was 1964 and the Leafs had won three straight Stanley Cups. The team was a dynasty, stacked with stars like Dave Keon, Red Kelly and Frank Mahovlich. Ellis was just 19 years old, a rookie among legends. His success scoring goals in junior meant nothing now.

“All these guys were stars on their junior team,” Ellis recalled when I spoke to him back in 2012. “For me to have a career and not just a cup of coffee, I was going to have to diversify my game.”

Over the next two decades, Ellis became one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL.

“I knew I wasn’t a Bobby Hull. I knew I wasn’t a Jean Béliveau,” he said. “I knew where I fit in.”

As a winger, he averaged more than 20 goals a season, while backchecking with such tenacity that Johnny Bower considered him one of the most valuable assets on the team.

Ellis died at the age of 79 Saturday and was recently the recipient of the NHL Alumni Association's Keith Magnuson Man of the Year Award for his countless contributions to his community and the hockey world.

His career began as a standout 13-year-old centre for the Melville Dodgers. He was playing in the Ottawa Auditorium when a Leafs scout noticed his speed and scoring touch. That season Punch Imlach and King Clancy flew to Ottawa to convince Ellis’s parents to let him move to Toronto to join the Leafs organization. They agreed, and Ellis spent three seasons with the Toronto Marlboros. In his final season with the Marlies, coach Jim Gregory had him switch from centre to right wing, knowing that the Leafs were stacked up the middle.

The Marlies went on to win the Memorial Cup that season, with Ellis leading the team with 46 goals.

When he joined the Leafs, he instantly brought life to an aging dynasty. Fans nicknamed him “Ronnie the Robot.” He scored 23 goals in his first season, tying Mahovlich for most on the team.

But his most memorable moment came two seasons later, when Ellis again led the team with 22 goals. The Leafs limped through that 1966–67 season, but managed to fight their way into the Stanley Cup Final against Montreal. In Game 6, halfway through the second period at Maple Leaf Gardens, Kelly broke into the Montreal zone and fired a shot on Gump Worsley as Ellis rushed to the net and ripped the rebound into the corner. It was the first goal of the game, giving the Leafs the advantage en route to a 3–1 victory to win the Stanley Cup.

It was the end of an era for the Leafs, but it was still just the beginning of Ellis’s career. In 1968, Mahovlich was traded to Detroit for Paul Henderson and Norm Ullman, two forwards with a tendency to gamble on offence. They were a perfect tandem to play with Ellis.

“He was one of the most conscientious defensive hockey players who ever played in the NHL,” said Henderson. “He could put the puck in the net, too.”

They became one of the league’s best lines. Ellis scored a career-high 35 goals in 1969–70.

As a veteran, Ellis was a mentor to rising stars like Lanny McDonald.

“He was helpful in trying to explain what I needed to be successful,” McDonald said. “Even though he knew I would end up taking over his spot and his ice time. But that’s the kind of guy he was.”

Ellis retired in 1975, after years of being worn down by the grind of professional hockey and dealing with what he’d later discover to be a lifelong struggle with depression. He returned in 1977, playing three more seasons before being unceremoniously cut from the team by Imlach partway through the 1980–81 season, at age 35.

He was the last player remaining from the 1967 team — a staple through two eras of Leafs hockey. And though his name is often overshadowed by Hall of Famers like Keon, Mahovlich and McDonald, Ellis was no less of an icon for Leafs fans. That humble kid in the locker room found a way to skate with legends.