A short time ago, we featured an article on the late Wayne Maki. We got grief from some readers because of what he did to Ted Green nearly 50 years ago. Fair enough. It was a nasty stick fight that nearly ended Green’s life. It made us realize that Ted Green had yet to be featured at Vintage Hockey Cards Report.
A Memorial Cup champion in Junior and a Stanley Cup champion with the Boston Bruins, Ted Green would also win the Avco World Trophy in the World Hockey Association on three occasions. He played in the WHA from the league’s start to finish and was inducted into the WHA Hall of Fame.
Junior and Minor Pro
Hockey Card Collection
NHL Career
WHA Career
Coaching Career
Rookie Card
Career Stats
Ted Green – Junior and Minor Pro
Green played three years in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) from 1956-57 to 1958-59 with the St. Boniface Canadiens. In his final year, he joined up with the Winnipeg Braves after St. Boniface was eliminated from the playoffs.
Ted Green Collection
The Winnipeg Braves met the Peterborough TPT’s in the 1959 Memorial Cup final. With the help of Ted, along with the likes of Gary Bergman and Ernie Wakely, the Braves won the championship, taking four of five games from the Petes.
His first two years of pro hockey were spent in the WHL with the Winnipeg Warriors. In his rookie season, Green finished eighth in the league with 109 penalty minutes.
1960-61 would prove to be Ted’s last year of minor pro hockey, while also getting his first taste of the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins. The Warriors, still with Ernie Wakely in net and players like Nick Mickoski and Real Chevrefils on the roster, finished last in the eight team WHL. Green finished fourth in the league with 127 PIM, four ahead of Ed Van Impe of the Calgary Stampeders.
Also in 1960-61, Ted joined the Kingston Frontenacs for the the last 11 games of the EPHL regular season. Chevrefils went with him and he joined Tom Williams and Harry Sinden. The Frontenacs lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds with Green playing in all five games.
Ted Green – NHL
Between 1960-61 and 1971-72, Ted Green played 620 regular season games in the National Hockey League, all with the Boston Bruins. Over that time, the blue liner scored 48 and assisted on 206 for 254 points while sitting 1,029 minutes in the penalty box. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Green added 12 points in 31 games.
In 1963-64, Ted finished fourth with 145 PIM, six behind leader Vic Hadfield of the New York Rangers and just one ahead of Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks. The following year, he tied John Ferguson of the Montreal Canadiens for fifth with 156 PIM.
Green placed sixth in 1967-68 with 133 PIM but his career was changing. The following year, 1968-69, Ted had a career high 46 points and was named a Second Team All-Star at defense. Ted Harris of the Habs joined him on the Second Team while Bobby Orr and Tim Horton took First Team honours.
Then came the life-threatening injury. Ted missed all of the 1969-70 season. Despite that, his name is inscribed on the Stanley Cup as a member of that championship Bruins team. The affect of the injury shows in the stats. Prior to 1969-70, he had 948 PIM in 488 games, a 1.94 PIM per game average. After 1969-70, he sat just 385 PIM in 584 games (NHL/WHA combined) for an average of just 0.66 PIM per game.
Ted Green wore an ‘A’ on his jersey with the Bruins from 1967-68 to 1970-71. He helped the team to another Stanley Cup championship in 1971-72. Like many others, he would leave the NHL after that season for promise of more money in the World Hockey Association.
Ted Green – WHA
Ted Green played in the WHA from the league’s inaugural season in 1972-73 to it’s final season in 1978-79. Over that time, he scored 42 and assisted on 138 for 180 points over 452 regular season games. In an impressive 61 playoff games, he added 18 points. Green spent his first three years with the New England Whalers and his final four with the Winnipeg Jets.
He helped the Whalers to the first Avco World Trophy championship in 1972-73 with a win over the Winnipeg Jets in the finals. In 1975-76, it was with those Jets that Ted won his second championship with a win over the Houston Aeros. In 1977-78, he helped Winnipeg win another, toppling his former team, the New England Whalers, in the finals. The Jets would lose in the finals to the Quebec Nordiques in 1976-77.
Ted Green was an original inductee to the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame.
Ted Green – Staff
From 1982-83 to 1999-00, Ted Green held positions with the Edmonton Oilers, including assistant coach, associate coach and head coach. He was part of Stanley Cup championships with Edmonton in 1983-84, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1989-90. The fifth win was as head coach.
Ted Green moved on from the Oilers and served as assistant coach with the New York Rangers from 2000-01 to 2003-04.
Ted Green – Rookie Card
The Ted Green rookie card appears as number 2 in the 1961-62 Topps set and he is shown with the Boston Bruins. He was included in the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set, despite missing the whole season.
Green’s 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee set refers to his place of birth as Eriksdale, Manitoba, which is correct. All his other cards give St. Boniface as his hometown.
Despite playing in every WHA season and being a high profile player, Ted was included in just the 1975-76 and 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee sets. He was not included in the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee set as a member of the New England Whalers and did not appear in the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee set as either a member of the Bruins or the Whalers.
Ted Green Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1956-57 | St. Boniface Canadiens | MJHL | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 76 |
| 1957-58 | St. Boniface Canadiens | MJHL | 23 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 97 |
| 1958-59 | St. Boniface Canadiens | MJHL | 25 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 120 |
| 1959-60 | Winnipeg Warriors | WHL | 70 | 8 | 20 | 28 | 109 |
| 1960-61 | Winnipeg Warriors | WHL | 57 | 1 | 18 | 19 | 127 |
| 1960-61 | Kingston Frontenacs | EPHL | 11 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 30 |
| 1960-61 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1961-62 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 66 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 116 |
| 1962-63 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 70 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 117 |
| 1963-64 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 70 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 145 |
| 1964-65 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 70 | 8 | 27 | 35 | 156 |
| 1965-66 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 27 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 113 |
| 1966-67 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 47 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 67 |
| 1967-68 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 72 | 7 | 36 | 43 | 133 |
| 1968-69 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 65 | 8 | 38 | 46 | 99 |
| 1970-71 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 78 | 5 | 37 | 42 | 60 |
| 1971-72 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 54 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 21 |
| 1972-73 | New England Whalers | WHA | 78 | 16 | 30 | 46 | 47 |
| 1973-74 | New England Whalers | WHA | 75 | 7 | 26 | 33 | 42 |
| 1974-75 | New England Whalers | WHA | 57 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 29 |
| 1975-76 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 79 | 5 | 23 | 28 | 73 |
| 1976-77 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 70 | 4 | 21 | 25 | 45 |
| 1977-78 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 73 | 4 | 22 | 26 | 52 |
| 1978-79 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| NHL Totals | 620 | 48 | 206 | 254 | 1029 | ||
| WHA Totals | 452 | 42 | 138 | 180 | 304 |