Beloved hockey legend dies as NHL fans pay tribute
Forbes Kennedy, the fierce PEI hockey legend who logged 603 NHL games across four Original Six franchises, has died at 90. The Charlottetown Islanders confirmed his passing Tuesday morning.
The Dorchester, New Brunswick native built a career out of refusing to back down. He weighed 150 pounds. He fought everyone.
Kennedy broke into the NHL in 1956-57 with the Chicago Blackhawks. Sixty-nine games, 102 penalty minutes as a rookie. The tone was set early.
Detroit grabbed him next. He spent parts of four seasons with the Red Wings, including a 1957-58 campaign where he piled up 135 PIM in 70 games.
Boston is where he stuck longest. Four straight seasons in a Bruins sweater from 1962-63 through 1965-66, anchoring a bottom six that asked him to agitate, forecheck, and finish his hits.
Then came Philadelphia. The 1967-68 Flyers gave him 73 games. He delivered 28 points and 130 penalty minutes. Useful nights for an expansion club still figuring out its identity.
The 888-minute legacy a 150-pound center left behind
His final NHL stop was Toronto. Thirteen games with the 1968-69 Maple Leafs produced 38 penalty minutes, a fitting parting shot from a player who never measured his game by goals alone.
The career totals tell the story plainly. 603 NHL games. 70 goals, 108 assists, 178 points. And 888 penalty minutes, the number any teammate from that era would lead with.
Playoff hockey suited him too. Twelve postseason games, two goals, four assists, six points. Sixty-four more minutes in the box.
The Charlottetown Islanders called him a fierce competitor who left a lasting mark at every level. The word "fierce" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and it should.
Players like Kennedy don't really get replaced. The league professionalized, padded up, and slowly squeezed the 150-pound enforcers out of existence. He was already a throwback when he retired in 1969.
PEI loses one of its own this week. The hockey world loses a man who treated every shift like rent was due.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 25, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Jankowski | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||