His nickname, "Bootnose" was given to him after an altercation with Maurice Richard. Abel had punched Richard and knocked him to the ice saying, "how do you like that, you Frenchman?" Richard immediately popped up and leveled Abel with a single blow, breaking his nose in two places, hence his nickname.

Abel's early hockey career was played in Saskatoon and Flin Flon. In the 1937-38 season with the Flin Flon Bombers, Abel led the league in playoff assists with four. Just before the 1938-39 season, Abel was signed to the Detroit organization and split his time between the Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL. In his 15 games with the Red Wings that season, Abel certainly didn't light up the league, recording only 1 goal and 1 assist, and equaling those numbers in the playoffs that same year. The following season was almost a repeat, except that Sid spent his time in the minors with the Indianapolis Capitals. In 24 games with the Wings that season he managed 1 goal and 5 assists.

Abel put in his first full professional season in 1940-41, playing with Don Grosso and Eddie Wares. That year Sid posted a respectable 11 goals, 22 assists in 47 games. In the semi-finals of that season Sid and team mate Gus Marker must have annoyed the Toronto Maple Leafs one too many times, because the two of them instigated a brawl that saw 17 players each fined $25.00.

Abel continued with the Red Wings for the next two seasons, 1941-42 and 1942-43 with 18 goals in each season and 31 and 24 assists respectively. In 1942-43, Abel was part of the Stanley Cup Championship team notching 5 goals and 8 assists in 10 games. Sid spent the next two years in the military playing for a couple of Montreal area teams. He returned to the NHL in the 1945-46 season but only played 7 games that season.

It was in the 1946-47 season that Abel was teamed up with Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe to form the famed Production Line. It is one of the most well known, and possibly one of the most prolific scoring lines in NHL history to date.

Abel wasted no time in re-establishing himself as a scoring threat by turning on the red light 19 times and adding 29 assists. He was also rewarded for his leadership abilities and was named Captain of the Red Wings in 1946. In 1948-49 Abel and Lindsay tied for third in league scoring with 54 points each and the following year Lindsay, Abel and Howe finished 1-2-3 in league scoring, with Detroit also winning the Stanley Cup. Abel also won the Hart Trophy in 1949. Abel followed up in the 1950-51 season by establishing a career high point total with 34 goals and 35 assists. He and his team mates again finished first in the league in 1951-52 and won the Stanley Cup for the second time in 3 years.

On July 22, 1952, Sid was traded to Chicago and became a player/coach and in 1953-54 he left the ice surface to concentrate on his coaching duties and later returned to Detroit as a commentator for Red Wings televised games. When Wing's coach Jimmy Skinner took ill midway through the 1957-58 season, Sid once again found himself behind the bench and continued to do so until the 1967-68 season and served as General Manager until being replaced in 1970-71.

During his coaching career in Detroit his teams reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1961, 1963, 1964, and 1966. During his career Sid was named to the NHL 2nd All Star team twice and the 1st All Star team twice. He won the Hart Trophy in 1949 and played in 3 NHL All Star games and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969.