Henri Richard

Lore & Background

Henri Richard was born in Montreal, the seventh of eight children, and his older brother Maurice 'Rocket' Richard was a Canadiens legend. Nicknamed 'Pocket Rocket' as a junior due to his shorter stature and relation to his brother, Henri played his entire professional career with the Canadiens. His style differed from Maurice's: Henri was a tactical playmaker who led the league in assists twice, while Maurice was a brute-force goal-scorer. Initially kept apart by coach Toe Blake, the brothers eventually played on a line with Dickie Moore after an injury forced them together, and Blake later said playing with Henri improved Maurice's game. Henri scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in overtime in 1966 and both the game-tying and Cup-winning goals in Game Seven of the 1971 Final.

Reader's Guide

Henri Richard's legacy is defined by his record 11 Stanley Cup championships, the most of any NHL player, tying Bill Russell for the most by an athlete in a North American sports league. He was named to the first All-Star team in 1958 and second All-Star team three times. He scored two Stanley Cup-winning goals, one of only five players to do so. After a controversial benching in the 1971 Final, he called coach Al MacNeil 'the worst coach I have ever played for,' leading to MacNeil's resignation. Richard later became team captain from 1971 until his retirement in 1975. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 and named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017. His 1,256 regular-season games in a Canadiens uniform remain a franchise record.

Did You Know?

• Henri Richard was born on February 29, 1936, a leap day.
• He won the Stanley Cup in each of his first five seasons, the longest championship streak in NHL history.
• He scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in overtime in 1966 on a pass that bounced off his body.
• He was posthumously diagnosed with stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy.