The Montreal Canadiens family and hockey as a whole lost one of the best players to ever lace them up, Guy Lafleur. The Thurso, Quebec native passed away on Friday morning following a battle with lung cancer, his family announced.
Tributes have poured in from all across the hockey world including from the Canadiens, NHL, and several former and current players.
Lafleur, nicknamed ‘The Flower’ and ‘Le Demon Blonde’ had a massive impact on Quebec and the City of Montreal during the fourteen years he spent as a member of the Canadiens, but also in his retirement. He still has the most points (1,246) and assists (728), as well as the second-most goals (518), only behind Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard.
During his 17-year career, Lafleur won the Stanley Cup five times, was an All-Star six times, won The Ted Lindsay Award (formerly the Lester B. Pearson Award) and Art Ross Trophy three times, and was the recipient of the Hart Trophy twice.
Since Lafleur retired from hockey in 1991, and other than Mario Lemieux, Quebec hasn’t had a superstar or a player with the impact that he had. Martin St. Louis, Patrice Bergeron, Vincent Lecavalier, among others have shown/showed the province of Quebec hope in the last two decades, and surely there will be others, but will they have the impact and superstar prowess Lafleur had? It’s hard to say.
Hearing stories today from fans about Lafleur just showed that, while he was an incredible talent on the ice, he was a great human being off of it. He would stop and sign autographs and take pictures with everyone until no one was left, something he learned from his idol Jean Beliveau. There were also stories about how he would show up very early for practices in order to get his work in, and how his work ethic was extremely important to him.
Lafleur also did plenty of charity work in his retirement and in 2009, Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson signed him to a ten-year contract to work as a team ambassador, to show up to team sanctioned events, etc.
In the coming days and weeks, the life of Guy Lafleur will be remembered by many and it’s sounding like he will have a state funeral, an honour given to both Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard and Jean Beliveau. The Canadiens will likely wear a number 10 patch on their uniforms for the remainder of the season and a big tribute will happen likely on Sunday when they host the Boston Bruins, a team that Lafleur scored many important goals against.
My thoughts are with the Lafleur family at this difficult time. Rest in peace, Guy.