Guy Lafleur

Lore & Background

Lafleur was born in Thurso, Quebec, and started playing hockey at age five after receiving his first hockey stick as a Christmas present. As a youth, he played at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament three consecutive years from 1962 to 1964, scoring a tournament record of 64 points. In his teens, he played for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, leading his team to the Memorial Cup in 1971 with 130 regular season goals. He idolized Jean Béliveau and Bobby Orr, and gained the nickname 'Le Turbo de Thurso' while playing with the Remparts.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock traded to obtain the first overall pick in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft, choosing Lafleur over Marcel Dionne. Lafleur wore No. 10 after Béliveau advised him to 'be the first Guy Lafleur' rather than a second Béliveau. After struggling in his first three seasons, Lafleur developed his trademark smooth skating style and scoring touch by his fourth season, 1974–75. Fans chanted 'Guy, Guy, Guy!' whenever he touched the puck. Opposing players often hooked and slashed Lafleur, but he never retaliated. He was known for his charisma and down-to-earth persona, and was frequently in demand with the press and fans.

Lafleur was a cornerstone of the Canadiens' four straight Stanley Cup championships from 1976 to 1979, and was named playoff MVP in 1977. During the 1978 Stanley Cup Final, Boston Bruins head coach Don Cherry ordered his players to put their sticks up and hit Lafleur; after the series, Lafleur's head was swathed in bandages. After Montreal won the Stanley Cup, he borrowed it for the weekend to show his friends in Thurso, setting it on his front lawn. In 1979, he released the album 'Lafleur!', consisting of hockey instructions accompanied by disco music.

Reader's Guide

Lafleur's significance lies in his unprecedented scoring achievements: he was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in six consecutive seasons and also the first to record 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. His career spanned 17 seasons from 1971 to 1991, during which he played for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Quebec Nordiques. He won five Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979) and was named playoff MVP in 1977. Lafleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017, and was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2022.

After retiring in 1985 due to a rocky relationship with coach Jacques Lemaire, Lafleur came out of retirement in 1988 to play three more seasons with the New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques. He remained one of the few players who did not wear a protective helmet due to a grandfather clause. According to Wayne Gretzky, Lafleur 'was quicker and faster without wearing full shoulder pads.' His obituary on Sportsnet described him as a 'Jackson Pollock painting on ice, a frenetic innovator who pushed the boundaries of his art beyond what had ever been conceived.'

Did You Know?

• Lafleur scored a tournament record of 64 points at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament from 1962 to 1964.
• He scored his 500th career goal on December 20, 1983, against the New Jersey Devils at Byrne Meadowlands Arena.
• Lafleur released an album titled 'Lafleur!' in 1979, consisting of hockey instructions accompanied by disco music.
• He was the third Montreal player to record 500 goals and only the tenth player in NHL history to do so.