When Ted Green stepped onto the ice with the St. Boniface Canadiens in 1956-57, he was the property of the Montreal Canadiens. Three seasons later, he won the Memorial Cup with the Winnipeg Braves before the Boston Bruins secured his rights in the inter-league waiver draft of 1960.
In Green, the Bruins got a solid enforcer who provided the club with crease-clearing spine and leadership during the lean years of the early sixties. He put in eight seasons in Boston, watching the team accumulate an increasing number of Stanley Cup pieces when he suffered one of the more serious injuries in NHL history. Green's skull was fractured as the result of a stick-swinging duel with Wayne Maki of the St. Louis Blues during a pre-season match in 1969. Green was left paralyzed and close to death with no expectations of ever resuming his career on ice. But a year of convalescence and conditioning brought on an impressive recovery. With a metal plate in his head, Green returned to the Bruins line-up to finally savor a Stanley Cup victory in 1972, having missed the first win in 1970.
In 1972, Green became one of the high-profile NHLers who jumped to the WHA, in his case, with the New England Whalers. The team won the league's first Avco Cup in 1973. After two more seasons with the Whalers, Green closed out his career with the Winnipeg Jets where he enjoyed two more Avco Cup victories.
In 1979-80, Green stepped behind the bench to lead the Carman Hornets to a Manitoba intermediate championship. He then joined the Edmonton Oilers staff as an assistant, savouring five Stanley Cup victories. He tried his hand as the Oilers head coach from 1991-93 before stepping back to continue assisting with the organization. He later moved with Glen Sather to the Rangers, also as an assistant.
