Montreal Canadiens Legend Passes Away

Friday, April 22, 2022

 


On Friday morning, it was announced that Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur had passed away at age 70 from lung cancer. This comes a week after the death of Islanders legend Mike Bossy who died of the same illness. 

Nicknamed "Le Demon Blond" or "the Blonde Demon" in English for his electrifying play, Lafleur was the most dominant player on the most dominant team of the 1970s. Lafleur won three consecutive Art Ross Trophies as the league's top scorer between 1976-1978. He also took home two Hart Trophies in 1977 and 1978. While those trophies say a lot about his individual success, they don't tell the whole story of his dominance of the late 1970s where he scored five consecutive 50-goal seasons and 100-point seasons from 1975-1980.

Lafleur's best season came during the 1976-77 campaign where he scored 56 goals and 80 assists for 136 points in 80 games. To this day, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens are still the most dominant team single season team with a 60-8-12 record for 132 points in an 80 game season and Lafleur was the offensive leader of the team. The Canadiens continued their regular season success into the playoffs going 12-2 en route to their second straight and 20th Stanley Cup in team history. For his efforts, Lafleur won the Conn Smythe as MVP of the playoffs.

The next season saw Lafleur score his career high in goals with 60, becoming the second in team history to score 60 as Steve Shutt completed the feat during the 1976-77 season. Together, Lafleur and Shutt along with centre Jacques Lemaire dominated the league and led the Canadiens to four straight Stanley Cups from 1976-1979.

Following the 1978-79 season, a good chunk of the team's core left (coach Scotty Bowman) or started retiring like goaltender Ken Dryden, and Lemaire. With that being the case, it was harder for Lafleur to produce the feats for the Canadiens that he had in the seasons prior. He did put up his last 50-goal 100-point season during the 1979-80 season but the team couldn't find playoff success. As the next few years rolled along Lafleur saw less and less playing time and grew to become frustrated with management. At one point, he had demanded a trade as now head coach Jacques Lemaire wanted a more defensive style team which led to Lafleur being benched at times. Habs GM at the time, Serge Savard knew it would be too hard to explain why they traded Lafleur so he told him that it wasn't possible. This forced Lafleur to take his retirement early on in the 1984-85 season. After 14 seasons with the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, Guy Lafleur finished with 518 goals and 728 assists for 1246 points in 961 games. His 728 assists and 1246 points rank him first in Habs history in those categories. His 518 goals place him second behind only Maurice "Rocket" Richard. In total, he won five Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.

Four years later, Lafleur made a comeback with the New York Rangers for the 1988-89 season where he spent a season before finishing his career with two more seasons with the Quebec Nordiques. While, he wasn't what he once was, Lafleur held his own and remained a serviceable player. At the end of his career, he had finished with 560 goals and 793 assists for 1353 points in 1126 games.

Following his first retirement in 1984, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and had his #10 jersey retired by the Canadiens on February 16th 1985.

Since his official retirement in 1991, Lafleur had been serving as a team ambassador for the Montreal Canadiens right up to his death.  He continued to be seen at big events for the team over the years. While, he may be gone his spirit and energy will never be taken from the city of Montreal. 

Photo Credits: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports



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