He was nearly decapitated when a metal post pierced the windshield missing his head by inches while tearing off part of his ear. While driving home on March 24, 1981, Lafleur fell asleep at the wheel of his Cadillac and crashed into a highway fence. The album consisted of Guy Lafleur reciting hockey instructions, accompanied by disco music. In 1979, Lafleur released an album called 'Lafleur'.
After Montreal won the Stanley Cup, he borrowed it for the weekend without telling anyone to show his friends back home in Thurso, where he set it out on his front lawn for all his neighbours to see. At the end of the series, Lafleur's head was swathed in bandages after numerous slashes from Bruin players. ĭuring the 1978 Stanley Cup finals, Boston Bruins Head Coach Don Cherry ordered his players to put their sticks up and hit Lafleur whenever they encountered him. He became known among English fans as "Flower", while among French fans he was dubbed "le Démon Blond" (the Blonde Demon). He was one of the most popular players on a very popular team fans chanted "Guy, Guy, Guy!" whenever he touched the puck. He was a cornerstone of five Stanley Cup championship teams. Montreal Canadiens Īt first, Lafleur struggled to live up to expectations in the league, but by 1974 had developed his trademĪrk smooth skating style and scoring touch. Pollock hesitated between Lafleur and Marcel Dionne, but chose Lafleur with his overall no.1 pick. Backstrom's presence lifted the Kings out of last place, the Seals finished at the bottom, granting the Habs the first pick. Pollock cleverly traded the aging but still valuable Ralph Backstrom to the Kings for two insignificant players. The Kings were in danger of "beating" the Seals out for last place, and if this happened Pollock would lose his first overall pick. However, during the 1970-71 season, the Los Angeles Kings were playing even more poorly than the hapless California Seals. It turned out to be one of the most lopsided deals in NHL history. He persuaded Seals owner Charlie Finley to trade the Seals' pick and François Lacombe in return for Montreal's first round pick and a veteran Ernie Hicke. The Habs' astute General Manager, Sam Pollock, was keen to find a way to trade with the California Golden Seals to obtain their first round draft pick.
At the time, Lafleur idolized Jean Béliveau and Bobby Orr. I covered the 1976 Canada Cup games in the Forum, a couple dozen Montreal Stanley Cup playoff games (Lafleur won five) in the building, including two involving the Oilers (and ended up on the Canadiens’ flight to Edmonton for the Oilers’ remarkable best-of-five first-round sweep) and an assortment of regular-season visits.In his teens, Lafleur gained considerable recognition for his play as a member of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he led his team to the Memorial Cup in 1971, scoring an amazingġ30 regular season goals. It got me thinking how privileged I was to have that experience, and trying to figure out the number of times I’d had that opportunity.įirst of all, of course, was the 1975 New Year’s Eve classic between the Soviet Union Red Army and the Canadiens. While watching Gretzky from that great view from the ring-around-the-rink press box in Edmonton was exceptional (Connor McDavid seems a million miles away form the Roger Place press box, by comparison), there was no better location to watch a game and Guy Lafleur than that Montreal Forum press box.Īnd Cuthbert was right about watching the Canadiens’ all-time leading scorer with his hair flowing, going end to end in that sensational setting. “I don’t think there’s much more to say about Gretzky that hasn’t been said,” offered Lafleur. Lafleur said he’d seen enough in the four games Montreal had played against Edmonton to that point. Hockey legend Guy Lafleur poses with several awards after being introduced at his farewell tour featuring the Anciens Canadiens against the Hall of Famers at Bell Centre in Montreal on Dec. Lafleur in the scoring race? The best thing about him is that he’s such a team man.” Gretzky volunteered his thoughts on that.
Lafleur was hurt for a while,” said Gretzky, adding going against Marcel Dionne and Lafleur for the Art Ross trophy was like “going against Jesus and God.” And Gretzky said that night it wasn’t fair. Article contentĪ couple of days before, in Gretzky’s first season in the NHL, he had passed Lafleur to take over the lead in the league’s scoring race. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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