If you consider that Connor McDavid, Artemi Panarin, Trevor Zegras, Jack Hughes and the like are electrifying, then you must have seen Man Lafleur, because there has by no means really been anything at all like it and there’s under no circumstances been anyone quite like Le Démon Blond.
That was part of Lafleur’s magnetism and dynamism. His prolonged blonde hair waving in the wind, racing up the appropriate aspect with the puck on his adhere right until he would unleash that lethal slap shot of his that would, as usually as not, hit the back of the internet.
You do not have that any longer. The players don helmets and there are not the wide open areas of the 1970s on the ice. More’s the pity. And you can not even pretty totally practical experience the Lafleur Sensation by looking at YouTube clips of the Habs’ beloved No. 10, since you are not able to quite share the communal excitement and anticipatory excitement that constructed in one particular arena following a different accompanying those people rushes.
That is what they were, and that is what Lafleur delivered: a hurry.
But Lafleur, whom we dropped on Friday to cancer at age 70, was greater than hockey. He was greater than his numbers, which showcased 6 straight 50-objective and 100-position seasons and a career complete of 560 objectives and 1,353 points. He was far more than his two straight Hart Trophies and three Art Ross scoring titles. He was additional than his five Stanley Cup championships.
Lafleur was a cultural icon in Montreal and all through the province of Quebec. He held on superior the torch that experienced been passed to him by famous forebearers Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau as seamlessly as Jacques Lemaire handed him the puck on the ice. He handled existence beneath the searing highlight with a way of grace and appreciation that did him very pleased.
As it transpires, I was at The Discussion board when Lafleur manufactured his NHL debut in the opening video game of the 1971-72 period versus the Rangers, just after having been the to start with-all round alternative of the earlier draft by dint of Canadiens typical manager Sam Pollock’s offer of a life span with the California Golden Seals for that major select. Lafleur wore a helmet, as he did for the 1st two seasons of his occupation, which helped set a lid on his charisma.
I viewed him as a supporter for the first 5 yrs of his profession and later bought to know him professionally, masking a honest total of Montreal’s playoff online games in the late 1970s. He was always approachable, pleasant and cooperative. I was performing for the Devils when he arrived out of a a few-time retirement to be part of the Rangers for the 1988-89 season and scored 18 ambitions in 67 online games at age 37.
It kind of reminded me when Bernie “Boom-Boom” Geoffrion came out of a two-12 months retirement in 1966-67 and scored 17 goals at age 35 enjoying for the Blueshirts. Lafleur as a Ranger, now that was amazing.
How would you rank the most unforgettable plans in hockey background? Paul Henderson in Moscow of Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Collection would be 1st by acclamation, suitable? Then, and largely for the reason that of Ray Lussier’s iconic photo, potentially Bobby Orr traveling by way of the air following scoring the 1970 Cup winner, at No. 2? Perhaps you’d rank Sidney Crosby’s Golden Objective in opposition to Team Usa to acquire the Gold Medal in the 2010 Olympics at No. 3.
But there has never ever been a far more remarkable goal in Stanley Cup playoff record than the one particular scored by Lafleur on a fall pass from Lemaire that tied the Much too Numerous Men Recreation 7 versus the Bruins in the 1979 semifinals. Slap shot, lower, considerably aspect towards Gilles Gilbert. That was a prime case in point of a marquee athlete conference a marquee second and proudly owning it.
Lafleur played with flair. He was about taking part in on the lookout-fantastic hockey. He took your breath away on those people dashes down the boards as a member of just one of the great traces in hockey background, which experienced Lemaire at centre and Steve Shutt on the still left. He lifted you out of your seat. He was Salvador Dali on the ice, an artist who blended dream and truth. Off the ice, he was a rock star, acclaimed as these types of and reveling in residing that everyday living.
But Lafleur was even larger than that. The two through his career and immediately after his retirement, next 1991-92 and two closing seasons participating in for the Nordiques, he represented a lifeline to Beliveau and Richard, and the time when Montreal was the center of the hockey universe and Quebecers dominated the league. He usually was aware of who he was and what he represented.
At the time Lafleur had a quadruple-bypass in September 2019, I talked about him with Mike Bossy, who began his vocation with the Islanders 6 decades into No. 10’s career, prior to succeeding him as the NHL’s preeminent right wing.
“I hardly ever seemed at him as a rival,” Bossy, who passed one particular week to the working day in advance of Lafleur, explained to me. “He was a product.”
Just after Lafleur, they broke the mildew. Could he relaxation in peace.
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