What happened?

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.  I...

As we wave an enthusiastic goodbye and fare thee well to Pierre Gauthier and the Bob Gainey managerial era, I would like to discuss another Habs legend Guy Lafleur. I'd say from 1975 to 1980 Guy Lafleur was the best hockey player in the world. Guy didn't break many records during his time at the mountaintop. My blog wants to point out why. As great as Guy was, I always felt there was something missing or more a missed opportunity. Guy Lafleur was sensational with the Quebec Remparts during his junior career. In his final junior year he had 130 goals in 62 games. The Remparts also won the Memorial Cup. This may have been the last time Guy was unleashed to his full capacity. Through the shenanigans of Sam Pollock, Guy Lafleur was drafted first overall by the Stanley Cup champions. The year before Jean Beliveau retired a 10 time Cup winner, and big Jean classy as ever had offered his number 4 to Guy. Luckily Guy turned it down. Guy was bright enough to state he...