Death; Ron Ellis, Canadian former ice hockey player, Has Passed Away at 79: Ron Ellis, a 79-year-old player for the Toronto Maple Leafs who appeared in over a thousand games as Canada’s representative in the 1972 Summit Series, passed away. On social media on Saturday, the Maple Leafs announced his passing; the cause of death was not divulged. Throughout his 15-year NHL career, Ellis was a member of the Toronto team. He finished with 1,034 games played and 640 points (332 goals, 308 assists). He was a four-time all-star who was a member of the Maple Leafs, the club that finished last in the 1966–1967 Stanley Cup competition.
The Maple Leafs released the following statement in an official capacity: “We mourn the loss of Ron Ellis, a lifetime Leaf whose legacy is woven into the fabric of the blue and white.” “Ron played for Toronto his whole NHL career. He scored the fifth-most goals in the history of the team and was one of just five Maple Leafs to have skated in more than 1,000 games. Ron will be sincerely missed because he was a great gentleman of the game.” Ellis was a reliable scorer who twice reached the 30-goal threshold. He has 11 seasons with 20 goals or more.
Former Leafs player Ace Bailey requested that the team bring his No. 6 out of retirement for Ellis to wear, and in 1968, Ellis received a special honor. For the last 11 seasons of his career, Ellis wore Bailey’s number, eight. In all eight of Canada’s Summit Series games, Ellis was a member of a line that included Bobby Clarke and Paul Henderson, as the Canadians trounced the Soviet Union. Ellis, a Lindsay, Ontario native, was a junior hockey player for the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, where he won the Memorial Cup in 1964.
Before committing to the team full-time the following year, he participated in just one game with the Leafs during the 1963–64 NHL season. In 62 games during his debut campaign (1964–1965), he recorded 23 goals and 16 assists. Before helping the Leafs upset Montreal in six games to win the Stanley Cup, he had 22 goals and 23 assists in 1966–1967. He scored the first goal in Toronto’s Cup-clinching 3-1 victory over the Canadiens, the first of his two goals in the playoffs.
In training camp the following season, Ellis, then thirty years old, announced his retirement at the age of thirty-nine, following a career-high 61 points (32 goals, 29 assists) in 1974–75. He played for the Leafs for four more seasons after returning from the 1977 World Hockey Championship with the Canadian squad. Ellis operated his own athletic supply company in Brampton after he retired a second time, and then he joined the Hockey Hall of Fame as the president’s and director of public relations’ assistant.
Regarding the physical toll hockey took on his body, Ellis was forthright. In his autobiography, “Over the Boards: The Ron Ellis Story,” he opened up about his struggles with clinical depression and how he linked them to brain traumas he received while playing. “I had my share of concussions and my doctors believe it led to some problems with depression I’ve had later in life.” In a 2014 interview, Ellis stated.