Former Oilers coach and seven-time Stanley Cup champ Ted Green dies at 79

Former Edmonton Oilers coach and Stanley Cup champion Ted Green has died. He was 79.

The Oilers announced Green's death on their Twitter account Saturday and a team spokesman said Green had died Tuesday.

Green won the Stanley Cup as a player with the Boston Bruins in 1970 and 1972, and five more times as an assistant coach with Edmonton (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and co-coach (1990).

Hockey commentator Don Cherry, who coached the Bruins shortly after Green left for the World Hockey Association, praised the former defenceman on his weekly Coach's Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada.

"He was a tough guy, let me tell you," said Cherry. "He was a Stanley Cup champion when he was with the Boston Bruins and he was a Stanley Cup champion in Edmonton."

Green, known as "Terrible Ted" through his playing days, appeared in 620 games in the NHL and 452 in the WHA with the New England Whalers and Winnipeg Jets.

The Eriksdale, Man., native spent 188 regular-season games behind the Oilers bench as head coach from 1991 to the 1993-94 season.

He led the team to the conference finals in 1992, but Edmonton missed the playoffs the following year and Green was fired in 1993 after a 3-18-3 start to the season. 

The New York Rangers held a moment of silence for Green Saturday before their afternoon game against the Oilers at Madison Square Garden.

This report by The Canadian Press was originally published Oct. 12, 2019.

The Canadian Press