Winnipeg native Ted Harris’ path to the NHL was neither short nor simple. After finishing his junior eligibility in his hometown, the 6-foot-2 defenseman turned pro in 1955-56 and spent the next eight seasons in the minors.

After honing his craft in Philadelphia and Victoria, Harris found himself in Springfield where he spent four seasons under tutelage of the legendary Eddie Shore, an internship that trained him for a rough and tumble NHL career. Shore’s American Hockey League Indians won three straight Calder Cups between 1960 and 1962, icing a tough, talented team that could have held its own against a number of NHL squads of the era.

Spending the majority of 1963-64 with the Cleveland Barons, Harris captured AHL top defenseman honors and got his first taste of NHL action, playing in four games with the Habs. Sticking with the Canadiens out of training camp the next fall, the rugged defenseman became a fixture on the Montreal blue line for the next six seasons.

Game in and game out, Harris’ physical game played an important role in the Canadiens success in the 1960s. He tangled with incoming forwards, kept the Montreal crease free of upright enemy players, applied some of the heaviest checks in the NHL and, on more than a few occasions, inflicted fistic retribution on those foolish enough to take liberties with his more subtly skilled teammates.

Harris had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for the first time in sophomore season in 1964-65. Other Canadiens triumphs in 1966 and 1968 gave him as many NHL titles as AHL championships. The rugged rearguard earned his fourth and final Stanley Cup in the spring of 1969.

Left unprotected in the spring of 1970 and claimed by the North Stars in the intra-league draft, Harris spent the next four years as team captain, later playing in Detroit, St. Louis and Philadelphia before returning to Minnesota to step behind their bench.