The story of how Guy Lafleur became a Montreal Canadien | CBC Sports
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- čas přidán 21. 04. 2022
- Guy Lafleur is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and one of the greatest Montreal Canadiens of all time. But, how did he even get his start with the Habs?
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I hated the Montreal Canadiens. I despised Guy Lafleur. I was 10 years-old in '77. I cried many times over the goals he scored on my beloved Bruins. With all that being said, Guy Lafleur was a SUPERSTAR. After Bobby Orr and before Wayne Gretzky, there was "The flower". In retrospect, I feel privileged to have watched him play. R.I.P. Mr. Lafleur. Condolences to all his family and friends.
I don't know how you could ever have despised Guy Lafleur! I'm 4 years older than you and will never forget the good times I had watching him, Dryden, Lapointe, Savard, etc. at my grandma's house every Saturday night. Playing hockey in our yard, on the ice my father made, I was either Dryden, when in goals, or Lafleur or Phil Esposito when I wasn't. Anyway, thanks for the souvenirs!!
Dion would like Wayne Gretzky🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 it is what it is
That's when men were men! Thank you Mr. Lafleur, you made all the battles in the school yard against the leaf fans worth every second! The memories you gave us on Saturday nights, with Danny Gallivan calling the game are priceless!! Condolences to the Lafleur family.
Merci beaucoup bro
Leaf fans respect Lafleur's greatness too!
I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane. You won't be forgotten Sir. Light up that score board in heaven.
Rest in peace Guy.
The Great Flower.
10 forever.
130 goals in 62 games! Absolutely insane!
Very informative. I had no idea that is how LaFleur ended up with the great Canadiens of that era!
Sam Pollock is a genius. I knew about the trade for the first pick but not about the other trade to help the Kings be better than the Seals
Great memories watching him play. First Bossy now Guy. Great players great team
yes great players.
Seeing that healine reading 'LaFleur and Dionne could go to Montreal' makes wonder about THAT what if. 10 Cups in a row? 12? My poor mind boggles at this.
my mother, a noted hockey fan of many decades preceding my own obsession, in fact did see these 2 play together in an old timers game. She told me it was like watching them play keep away form BOTH sides. So much fun.
Guy Lafleur would have been good on any team, but Sam Pollock made one of the smartest deals in hockey history when he got him for Montreal. Guy was the spark that lit up that incredible Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s. I was lucky and privileged to see that Habs team play live several times, and Guy Lafleur was always a stand-out. But he was surrounded by other fantastic hockey talents as well. That was a team that to this day sets the golden standard for hockey greatness. RIP to one of the greatest players in NHL history.
I agree.
When you lose only 8 game in a complete season … The GOAT team.
The Canadiens GM would be a good options trader
He was the best player the ice ever had. I will miss him. Lung cancer took him . He was 70
I'm met him, Yvonne cornway and Peter mahovoge back in the day in my Hometown it was quite exhilarating as a kid. Good to have met and spoke with u Guy u will be missed
Omg!
Yvan Cournoyer and Peter Mahovlich!
Backstrom was the key to "seal" the deal!
I think Marcel Dionne would have done just fine as a Hab lol.
Would it have been with the same style and flair as Mr. Lafleur? Who knows...
RIP GUY
Lafleur was my favorite player growing up. To kids who never saw him live, even on tv, there was an extremely amount of charisma surrounding him. Even when he was slowing. Went from being a 50+ goal guy in thw 70s to having five straight 27-30 goal seasons from 80-84. The charisma and the having to Watch whenever he was playing never went away. Even when he came back after four years away from the league he had the flair, especially with the rangers in 88-89 when he would at times dominate, even at 37. His last two years playing with ultra young Sakic and Sundin he put up pretty good point totals 34 in 39. He was badly hurt snd missed half of the first season leading to a brawl for the dirty hit by Cam Neely almost killing Lafleur. Played one last year at 39, but now it was a final tour. Waved after every away game.
You mention Joe Sakic, whatever happened to him. He was a superb player, I remember the Olympics vs the americans.
@@monichat Sakic is G.M of the Colorado Avalanche.
@@John-tp5gc Thank you so much for that precious information. Sakic was my favourite player.
@@monichat Great player and a great guy. I saw him here in Montreal on Tuesday when he was attending Guy Lafleur's funeral.
That's the kind of trades I've only seen in video games when building a stacked roster..
Rest in peace Guy 💙🤍♥️
Say hi to my Dad ♥️ he was a huge fan and got to play against you once during a tournament in Montreal
The 2nd part of that trade is most interesting. Who has the forsight to also trade "help" to a division rival of the team they just traded with to ensure the rival got better and the first team tthey traded with finished dead last?
That’s the more genius part of this…
The trade with California happened in May 1970; the trade with L.A. happened in Jan 1971. So it wasn't exactly foresight. Backstrom wanted out of Montreal, and L.A. was ahead of California in the standings at the time of the trade; in fact, 5 teams finished behind the Kings in the standings during the 1970-71 season.
It's amazing that Pollock engineered this one, while Selke Jr. and the Seals were so equally inept that they didn't have the foresight to see this coming.
R.I.P Lafleur
Nice tribute and information clip
I remember the slap shots and breakaways.
did not know about the extra trade with LA. Wow.
How about him growing up and playing against gilbert Perreault and marcel dionne??
P.s. Dionne is the nicest, happiest person ever. I grew up playing against his son Garret who again is the nicest person.
RIP.
Seen him play. Remember the speed the hair...rip guy
That trade is exactly the kind of thing I would do. I think like Pollack. If I were Kyle Dubas for example I would trade my 2022 1st rounder to some team that you forecast will not be so good in 2024 for a 2024 1st and a 3rd lets say. Some teams would make that trade. The Leafs cannot really use/pay and high drafts now but down the round will need them. He should have been making deals like this all along and stock piling draft picks. Instead he makes deals like the Nick Foligno trade and we all know how well that worked out. Dubas has no imagination. Montreal was lucky to have had a guy like Pollack running the ship. Smart GM
Shut up shutting up!
Dion was a better 2 way player & better fit on a weak Kings team & Guy was Guy, pure goal scorer.
L.A. never drafted Dionne; Detroit did. The Kings traded for him in 1975.
Hmmmmm, i knew all about this and the genius of Pollack. What i didn't know is that it was Frank Selke JR. that right there tells me that there were some back door shenanigans going on . No wonder Pollack always played it down .
Sam Pollock was a very clever guy...
How did we get the number 1 draft pick after being a winning team? why not the California Seals , Cleveland Barons , Colorado Rockies, Washington Capitals , Buffalo Sabres , Minnesota North Stars ?
Not everybody knows who the Quebec Ramparts are ? I would say if you ask 100% of people living in the US that work for teams or are fans of teams
about 20% have heard of that team?
20% ?? I think you're high on your estimate, but regardless, TRUE FANatics, like me, DO know of the Quebec Remparts.
@@kennethwalter1376 you do but if you asked Sam Rosen commentator of the New York Rangers do you think he does?
the fans that have season tickets to the Rangers , fans that have season tickets to the Devils , announcers for the Coyotes , season ticket holders people who work behind the scenes do you think they know? the list goes on ?
Hi, I'm a hockey historian. This story is one we all grew up with, and it's highly entertaining. But it's actually mythical, with little basis in reality.
When the first trade was made in May 1970, the Seals were not in fact the worst team in the NHL. They had finished fourth in the West Division, beating out the Flyers and the Kings for a playoff spot.
And then when Backstrom was traded to Los Angeles in January 1971, mostly due to his own request, the Kings were already well ahead of the Seals in the standings. They were in no real danger of the Seals overtaking them. Trading Backstrom to LA had no real impact on where California ended up finishing. The Seals did it all on their own.
That's the real story. Perhaps not as entertaining as the myth, but for a country that likes to claim that "Hockey is Our Game," it would really be nice if we could start taking its history more seriously.
That is true. Still pollock new haw good that draft was the Seals could have finished in bottom 5 and the Habs would have the chance of Who was left Dionne Rick Martin Jocylyn Guevrement, Gene Carr.
Another fact that this video failed to point out was that Boston already owned the Kings' first round pick from the Eddie Shack trade in 1969, so L.A. had no chance of landing Lafleur anyway.
@@marcoc8494 Great point!
@@JonathonJackson70 Thanks! It seems some younger people are unaware that Detroit selected Dionne #2 overall in the 1971 Draft, and that L.A. traded for him in 1975 when he became disgruntled with losing in The Motor City.
guy lafleur is my uncle
the question everybody should be asking should be: how good was ernie hicky? what is good player comparison from today's age
Another Canadian legend gone, god damn it! Pierre Trudeau, Neil Peart and, now, The Flower!!! A sad day for Canada, but an opportunity to celebrate his legend! So crack open the nearest bottle of Molson Canadian beer, light up an Export 'A' cig in his memory, watch Don Cherry's latest installment of Rock'em Sock'em! and pour yourself some EXTRA maple syrup on those pancakes tomorrow morning! I'll miss Guy... RIP... and I hope his family accepts the STATE FUNERAL offered by the Province of Quebec (Canada)! Millions will appreciate it!!! LL
Guy Lafleur smoked Du Maurier cigarettes. One of the times I met him he offered me one, but I was smoking Players lights, and declined. One of the greatest to ever play the game and a very kind gentleman.
@@daviddemarchi9110 Wow. You declined a cig from The Flower? You must've been a very LOYAL smoker of Players! ;-) LL
It is very debatable as to Guy being the Seals' saviour had Montreal not arranged these trades with them and Los Angeles. Guy was already homesick for Quebec City when he became a Canadien and probably that would have been even more so the case if he went all the way over to the Bay Area. He undoubtedly would have helped the Seals as they were that fairly decent and solid team in 1971-72 (under coach Vic Stasiuk) that fell just that few points out of a playoff spot in the West Division. However, he may have gotten fed up with owner Charlie Finley's cheap and eccentric ways (like others on that team) and the WHA would likely be that even more tempting, as he was already in talks with the Quebec Nordiques even as a Montreal Canadien. It took Jean Beliveau's intervention with a good solid offer to stay with Montreal.
You're right. He probably would have jumped to the WHA and Nordiques rather than put up with Charlie Finley's crap.
Marcel Dionne, Reggie Leach and anyone else.
What is are stupid discussions that mean nothing. He was taken by the Habs and did what he did to become a legend. Dione was a legend two. But his problem is he never won a cup, and played mostly in western conference that very few people watched.
this didn't explain why Selke of the Seals traded away such a good spot in the draft for the spot of one of the best teams. Even with Hickie, he would have known it was a bad move. And throw in the fact that Selke's father had been GM of the Canadians for 2 decades. Pretty shady.
Oh Oh....sour conspiracy theory Leaf fan trolling the internet !
I was thinking the same, must have been some money that changed hands as the trade just doesn't make sense otherwise. Selke must have known that there were 2 hot shot kids coming up in the 71 draft (a 100 goals by Lafleur was a good indicator during the time of the trade) But hey don't get me wrong, I can't imagine seeing LaFleur in another jersey.
@@eddyf4426 2 look at guevrement and rick Martin and Carr, while Carr and guevrement did not live up to the expectations It was pretty good bet the seals would be bottom 5 team\
.
We're the Canucks really in existence?
1967 - LA, Pittsburgh, Philly, St. Louis, Minnesota & California Seals. Vancouver & Buffalo also signed on as expansion cities but didn't play until 1970.
Mr Polock was a gangster...... merci beaucoup
Is there ANYthing new here?
Lafleur was great, but, Dionne would have also done well in Montreal. Just saying.👉
Yeah it's not like the Habs would have suffered if they had to settle for Dionne
Dionne actually finished his career with a 1.3 point per game average vs 1.2 for Lafleur. And that was with Dionne playing in far less skilled teams. But Lafleur was so much more spectacular to watch. And his back checking was awesome. And he could be relied upon in the playoffs for clutch goals and set ups. For me, the only other player that matches his exciting speedy style was Orr.
Also its hard to believe how much of a smoker he was while sustaining that speed. And I agree while lafleur was in booming montreal, Dionne was playing 11 years with the lowly kings.
@@roberthuot7887 The Kings finished in 4rth in league in 1980-81 and got upset in first round.
Montreal screwed the Seals.
Dionne was better.
Typical crooked stuff that Habs did.
What is crooked about it? All the Seals and Kings had to do is refuse. Sam didn’t put a gun to their head.
@@hymansahak181 it's just shady sht like buying an entire league to get the rights for Beliveau.