The forgotten habs of the 70’s

Many people consider the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1970’s to be the greatest hockey team ever. The stats sort of agree. The curious thing about the team is that they lost several players that could have probably made the dynasty even more omnipotent and maybe led to 8-9 cups in the decade rather than the 6 won. Here are a few players that left the team.

Marc Tardif played on one of the greatest junior teams of all time. The junior Canadians were sensational in the late sixties led by future NHLers Rejean Houle , Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin, Jocelyn Guevremont, and Andre Dupont among others. Tardif was considered to be a future superstar when he joined the habs with his buddy Reggie Houle. Tardif won the cup with the habs in 1971 but was used sparingly on the talent laden club. In 1973, he won again with the habs and he scored 6 goals and 12 points in 14 playoff games outscoring Guy Lafleur who only had 8 points. The following year Tardif  joined the WHA. 

In the WHA his stats skyrocketed getting 65 and 71 goals in two different seasons and winning the WHA championship and scoring championship with the Nordiques in other seasons. Unlike his buddy Houle who had moved to the WHA at the same time but returned after 3 seasons to rejoin the habs. Tardif never returned to his old team. When the WHA disbanded and the Nordiques joined the NHL, an older Tardif had 4 more productive years before he retired in 1983. 

It would have been interesting if Marc Tardif in his prime had remained a hab. Would Steve Shutt have maintained his first line position with Lafleur or would Tardif have been there. Would the habs have been better equipped to compete in the two years the flyers won the cup if Houle and Tardif had stayed habs during that period. 

Chuck Lefley was considered good enough to play on the Canadian National team when he was a teenager. At the time pros were not allowed on the team. A teammate of Lefley was Ken Dryden. The habs picked Lefley 6th overall in the draft ahead of Darryl Sittler. 

Lefley was a great skater comparable to Bob Gainey with more offensive skills but lesser defensive skills than Gainey. He was on the 1973 habs team that won the cup. He had 9 less points than Lafleur during the regular season but the exact same points as Lafleur in the playoffs. The next season Lefley had only two fewer points than Lafleur during the regular season. 

The following season Lefley became the odd man out of the left wing and center competiton as the likes of Lambert and Wilson took away his ice time. After 18 games Lefley was traded to the Blues for Don Awrey. He had 49 points in 56 games that year with the Blues and in the following  year had 85 points in 75 games. He played one more less productive season with the Blues before he decided to play in Finland for one season. At the time few NHLers played in Europe. He came back to the Blues after that but was never the same player. Considering that the habs lost to the sabres in 6 games in 1975 the year Lefley was traded one might wonder if he could have helped them at the time.

Bill Nyrop joined the habs during the big 3 era and he slowly began to excel. Nyrop was born in a wealthy family so he did not depend on hockey as a living. Being American he played at Notre Dame before joining the habs. He played almost two full seasons in the AHL refining his craft. In 1976 he played for the American team in the Canada Cup. After the tournament he played two full seasons with the habs. He was plus 42 and plus 56 during those two seasons and the habs won the cup both seasons and had a combined 18 losses over those two years. Little wonder many were referring to Nyrop as one of the big 4.  

Strangely after those two seasons Nyrop left the team. He stated he wanted to concentrate on his business career and returned to his native Minnesota. He may also not have been pleased with the overabundance of talent with the habs many of whom were also vying for the same defence spot. Nyrop decided to try a comeback after two seasons and joined the North Stars for 42 games. Then he played in Germany for a year.

After he retired he attained his law degree and coached and owned a minor league team in Florida. Sadly he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and died at 43.

Would the habs have continued their dynasty into the 80’s with Nyrop and up and coming Rod Langway and Brian Engblom. Of course another probable dynasty saver would have been Mike Bossy if he had been drafted instead of Mark Napier…