GM says Howe was greatest Red Wing

Howe died Friday in OH, where he was living with son Murray.

Flags were lowered to half-mast in his hometown of Saskatoon.

“Certainly on the ice, he was not shy”, Torrey said in a phone interview. “He was strong as an ox”. He was mean as a rattlesnake and you treaded lightly when you came around him.

Howe was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 1972.

Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe signs autographs while attending the NHL Fan Fair as part of the 2012 NHL All-Star Weekend at Ottawa Convention Centre on January 27, 2012. “Soon after the first stroke, Howe traveled to Mexico where he underwent the first of two stem-cell treatments, which seemed to reverse the effects of the stroke”.

“He wasn’t a holler guy”.

“I’ll never forget he and I spent some very wonderful times together by ourselves on the ice at Olympia with only the goaltender”, Redmond said. “That was handsome”, Howe said in reaction to the ovation he received from the fans at The Palace. Out of compassion he warned his friend while skating in warmups.

“I was hoping to see (Howe) inaugurate that arena someday”, Ramsdell said, gesturing up the street to the new stadium, still under construction. Curiously, Howe netted just two of these in 26 National Hockey League seasons – on October 11, 1953, when he recorded a goal and assist and fought Fern Flaman in a 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, and on March 21, 1954, when he fought Teeder Kennedy, scored and set up a Ted Lindsay goal in a 6-1 victory, also versus the Leafs.

And even then, said Henderson, Howe demanded respect be paid.

“That was the biggest mistake (opponents) ever made calling him an old fart”, he said.

“The fact that I had an opportunity to skate five years with them”, Howe told the AP in 2011, “I think that’s every father’s dream”.

Former NHL executive Bill Torrey, who went to training camp with Gordie Howe in the 1960s, remembered him as a shy, mellow person off the ice and someone who was the opposite on the ice.

All three Howes joined the WHA’s New England Whalers in 1977 and when the league folded two years later, the Whalers joined the NHL, giving Howe one more season in hockey’s top league.

“He’d say ‘I’ll try my best but it’s hard, ‘” recalled Cournoyer.

“He was not a dirty player”, Cournoyer added. Like Ben Wallace, and he played his game the right way like the 2004 Pistons. He wanted the puck. “I think that’s the biggest thing I ever achieved”.

“On behalf of the generations who were thrilled by his play and those who only know of his legend, and on behalf of all the young people and teammates he inspired, we send heartfelt wishes of condolence, comfort and strength to the Howe family and to all who mourn the passing of this treasured icon of our game”.

With the death of Gordie Howe on Friday, hockey lost one of its all-time greats.

“Certainly a sad, sad day for the hockey world”, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. As one of the greatest players to ever play in the National Hockey League, the majority of his career being in Detroit, it was an honor to wear the same uniform, spend time with, laugh, joke and seek advice from him.