Guy Lafleur and an old friend
The greatest hockey team I've ever seen was the Montreal Canadiens of the late 1970s. That was the team that really introduced me to the game. And their signature player was Guy Lafleur.
Guy Damien Lafleur -- that middle name may have been an omen, but he never played for the New Jersey Devils -- was born on September 20, 1951, outside Ottawa in Thurso, Quebec. He scored enough goals in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament to set a record.
In 1971, he led the Quebec Remparts to the title in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They were set to play the St. Catherines Black Hawks, Champions of the Ontario Hockey Association, for the Richardson Cup, the championship of junior hock ey in Eastern Canada. But the recent Franco-Anglo tensions in Quebec led the Hawks to refuse to return to Quebec City for Games 6 and 7, and the tournament was abandoned. Since the Remparts were leading, they were advanced to the Memorial Cup, the championship of Canadian junior hockey, and beat the Western Hockey League Champions, the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Sam Pollock, general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, knew that the top 2 picks in the 1971 NHL Draft would be Lafleur and Dionne, both French-Canadians who could prove very popular among the French fans at the Montreal Forum. He made a deal with Charlie Finley, owner of baseball's Oakland Athletics, basketball's Memphis Pros, and hockey's California Golden Seals: The Canadiens' top pick and Ernie Hicke for the Number 1 pick and Francois Lacombe. Finley, already known for his cheapness, didn't want to pay a huge bonus for the top pick in the Draft.
Pollock still wasn't sure which player to take, but chose Lafleur. Dionne was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, and starred for them and the Los Angeles Kings, ultimately scoring 731 goals, but never appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1973, but Lafleur was not a big reason why. It took until the 1974-75 season for him to really get going. But when he did, fans got excited. Like Bobby Hull (whose own had since been replaced by hockey's most famous toupee), his long blond hair flew behind him as he skated at high speed. English fans literally translated his name, and nicknamed him "Flower," while French fans le Démon Blond -- the Blond Demon. (And this was before the film The Omen, whose lead character was named Damien Thorn, was released.) Both sets of fans chanted, "Guy! Guy! Guy!" (pronounced "Gee," not "Gigh") when he got the puck.
The nickname "The Flying Frenchmen" had been attached to the Canadiens about as long as "The Monsters of the Midway" had been to the Chicago Bears. But never did they fly better than in the late 1970s. They could field an entire starting lineup of future Hall-of-Famers, and then some: Goaltender Ken Dryden; defensemen Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, and, in the last of the 4 straight Cup-winning seasons, Rod Langway; center Jacques Lemaire; left wings Steve Shutt and Bob Gainey; and right wings Yvan Cournoyer (their Captain) and Guy Lafleur. They were coached by Scotty Bowman, who would end up winning more Cups than any other coach, 9.
First, in 1976, they used their supreme skill to dethrone the 2-time defending Champions, the thuggish Philadelphia Flyers. Then, in 1977 and 1978, they beat another aggressive team, the Don Cherry-coached Boston Bruins, who liked to call themselves "The Lunch Pail Athletic Club." Finally, in 1979, they beat the New York Rangers.
He played in 6 NHL All-Star Games. In 6 straight seasons, 1975 to 1980, he scored at least 50 goals in a season, topping at 60 in 1978. In 1977, he had 80 assists, then an NHL record.
In 1976, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. He won it again in 1977 and 1978, both times adding the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player. In 1977, a season in which the Canadiens won 60 games, tied 12 and lost only 8, and then went 12-2 in the Playoffs, he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Playoffs. In 1976 and 1981, he helped Canada win the Canada Cup, hockey's version of the World Cup at the time.
Canada Cup, 1981: Guy Lafleur, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky.
That's 13 Stanley Cups in 16 years.
Several key players retired after the 1979 Cup, and the Canadiens have never been the same: Since then, they've been to just 4 Stanley Cup Finals, winning only in 1986 and 1993. In 1984, former teammate Lemaire was named head coach, and his defense-first philosophy (which would pay off for the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals) didn't sit well with Lafleur.
Another former teammate, Serge Savard, was the general manager, and Lafleur asked to be traded. Savard knew that trading the most popular Canadiens player since the retirement of Jean Béliveau would be a public relations nightmare, and refused. So Lafleur retired after the 1985 season. Despite the acrimonious departure, the Canadiens retired his Number 10 anyway. His 1,246 career points are the most all-time in Canadiens history and his 518 goals remain 2nd behind Maurice Richard's 544.
In 1988, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. But, only 37 years old, he missed the game, and Phil Esposito, who had played for the Rangers against him in the 1979 Finals and was now their general manager, signed him to a one-year contract. He got a standing ovation in his 1st game back at the Forum, and scored twice, though the Canadiens won, 7-5.
He then turned down a $1 million offer to play alongside Wayne Gretzky with the Los Angeles Kings, and returned to Quebec City, and played the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons with the Quebec Nordiques. In both seasons, the Nords finished with the worst record in the NHL. But center Joe Sakic learned a lot from Lafleur, and would be the team's Captain from 1990 until 2009, moving with them to become the Colorado Avalanche, and winning the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001. Lafleur retired again, with his final career totals being 560 goals and 1,353 points.
In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 11th on its list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, 3rd among right wings behind Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. He was named to the Order of Canada and the Order of Quebec. A statue of him was dedicated outside the Bell Centre, the Canadiens' new home arena. At the start of the 2021-22 season, the QMJHL retired the Number 4 he wore with the Remparts, in honor of his hero, Béliveau, for the entire league.
He had no brothers, but 4 sisters. He was married to Lisa, and had 2 sons, Mark and Martin. (Howe also had sons named Mark and Marty, but that's probably a coincidence.) In 2007, legal proceedings were launched against Mark, and, in an attempt to protect him, Guy also opened himself up to charges. In 2009, he was convicted of giving contradictory testimony, but the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the conviction.
He had appeared at many functions in his retirement, including the 1996 closing of the Montreal Forum and opening of the Bell Centre (then named the Molson Centre), and had played in the 2003 Heritage Classic against the 1980s Edmonton Oilers stars that inspired the outdoor hockey wave of the 21st Century.
Left to right: Canadiens legends Henri Richard and Ken Dryden,
Blackhawks legend Tony Esposito, Lafleur, Hull, Cournoyer.
But in 2019, his health began to fail. He had quintuple bypass heart surgery. Soon thereafter, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Today, April 22, 2022, at age 70, Guy Lafleur died at his home in Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose father Pierre was Prime Minister during Lafleur's Cup runs: “A hero to so many of us. I remember meeting him as a kid and being overwhelmed in a way that meeting presidents and queens didn’t necessarily overwhelm me.
Wayne Gretzky, paying tribute to both Lafleur and Bossy, teammates on the 1981 Canada Cup win: “An honor to play with both.”
Patrick Roy, goaltender on the Canadiens' 1986 and 1993 Stanley Cup wins, now head coach of the Quebec Remparts: "I hope NHL teams won't offer a moment of silence in honor of Guy Lafleur as raise the roof with an ovation he deserves for the thrills he provided."
He wasn't the greatest player ever, but he was the greatest player on the greatest team ever. The late 1970s Canadiens, more so than the strong local sides nearby, the New York Rangers and Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers, showed a kid in Central Jersey just how the game of hockey should be played. Lafleur was the face of hockey to me, and remained so after the rise of the Islander dynasty, whose star, Mike Bossy, died a few days ago; and after that of the Oilers, led by Wayne Gretzky.
Guy Lafleur was the Flying Frenchman.
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