Always in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, right from junior, Ron Ellis won a Memorial Cup with the Toronto Marlboros and was one of the last players to ever win a Stanley Cup championship in a Maple Leafs jersey.
Despite an great career in the National Hockey League, Ellis does not have a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame (except as a member of the 1972 Team Canada Summit Series team). Despite never accumulating more than 25 penalty minutes in a single season, Ron never had his name engraved on the Lady Byng Trophy.
Ron Ellis – Junior
Ron Ellis played four years of junior hockey in the OHA with the Toronto Marlboros from 1960-61 to 1963-64. Over his time with the Marlies, Ellis scored 86 and assisted on 73 for 159 points over 126 regular season games. A sign of things to come, he sat just 46 minutes in the penalty box over his junior career.
Ron Ellis Collection
In his final season, the Marlboros produced nothing short of a great team and Ellis was at the head of the class. Toronto finished first overall in the eight team league, 12 points ahead of the second place Montreal Junior Canadiens.
Toronto took out the Junior Canadiens in the finals for the OHA championship. The Marlboros then beat the Scotty Bowman coached Montreal NDG Monarchs for the Richardson Cup and the chance to compete for the Memorial Cup. It was an easy sweep of the Edmonton Oil Kings for the Mem Cup championship.
In 1963-64, Ellis was named the OHA’s Second Team All-Star right winger, behind Yvan Cournoyer of the Junior Canadiens. Ron finished fourth in the league with 46 goals, behind Cournoyer, Ron Buchanan of the Oshawa Generals and Dennis Hull of the St. Catherines Black Hawks. He finished ninth in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy with 84 points.
Ellis jumped right to the Maple Leafs out of junior and did not spend any time in the minors.
Ron Ellis – NHL
Ellis played 1,034 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1963-64 and 1980-81, all with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Over that time, he scored 332 goals and assisted on 308 for 640 points. He sat just 207 penalty minutes.
In the playoffs, Ellis played 70 games, adding 26 points. He was a member of the 1966-67 Stanley Cup champion Maple Leafs. It would be the last time Toronto would win the championship, or even reach the finals, for that matter.
In his rookie season, 1964-65, Ron finished second in voting for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings was the winner that season. Ellis scored 23 goals over 62 regular season games in that first full year in the league.
Ron was a 20+ goal scorer in eleven of his first 12 full seasons in the National Hockey League. He topped out with 35 goals in 1969-70, finishing seventh overall in the league, just eight goals behind the leader, Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins. He remains sixth for most career points in a Maple Leafs jersey with his 640.
Notably, Ellis wore number eight from the start of his career until Ace Bailey decided his number six should come out of retirement. Ron wore number six for the rest of his career and the number was re-retired for Bailey once Ellis had retired as a player.
At the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, Ron played all eight games and added three assists. Of course, Canada came out on top in the series by the slightest of margins.
Ellis returned to the international stage in 1977 to play for Canada at the IIHF World Championships held in Vienna, Austria. Despite having not played since 1974-75, Ron totaled nine points in ten games for Canada. Canada finished fourth in the tournament, behind Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the Soviet Union.
As mentioned, Ellis did not spend much time in the sin bin. He had more than 20 PIM in just three seasons with his most coming in 1974-75 with 25 over 79 games. Yet, he never won the Lady Byng Trophy.
Ron Ellis – Rookie Card
The Ron Ellis rookie card appears as number 82 in the 1965-66 Topps set. He is, of course, shown as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
His cards through the years hinted at his seemingly ever-changing off-season occupation. His 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee card mentioned he operated a restaurant in the summer months.
The following year, his 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee card stated he operated a tourist camp in the summer. Indeed, he did help run Holiday Hockey Camp with Paul Henderson, Dennis Hull, Rod Seiling and others.
His 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee card stated he wanted to become a teacher.
His first retirement came after 1974-75 but it was too late not to be included in the 1975-76 OPC and Topps sets. The O-Pee-Chee card had a note on the front saying Ellis had retired but the Topps did not.
Ron Ellis Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1960-61 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1961-62 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 33 | 17 | 12 | 29 | 16 |
| 1962-63 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 36 | 21 | 22 | 43 | 8 |
| 1963-64 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 54 | 46 | 38 | 84 | 20 |
| 1963-64 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1964-65 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 62 | 23 | 16 | 39 | 14 |
| 1965-66 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 19 | 23 | 42 | 24 |
| 1966-67 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 67 | 22 | 23 | 45 | 14 |
| 1967-68 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 74 | 28 | 20 | 48 | 8 |
| 1968-69 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 72 | 25 | 21 | 46 | 12 |
| 1969-70 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 76 | 35 | 19 | 54 | 14 |
| 1970-71 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 78 | 24 | 29 | 53 | 10 |
| 1971-72 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 78 | 23 | 24 | 47 | 17 |
| 1972-73 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 78 | 22 | 29 | 51 | 22 |
| 1973-74 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 70 | 23 | 25 | 48 | 12 |
| 1974-75 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 79 | 32 | 29 | 61 | 25 |
| 1977-78 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 80 | 26 | 24 | 50 | 17 |
| 1978-79 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 63 | 16 | 12 | 28 | 10 |
| 1979-80 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 59 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 6 |
| 1980-81 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 27 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| NHL Totals | 1034 | 332 | 308 | 640 | 207 |