Lafleur attained legendary status for Canadiens on, off the ice

Seen from behind, Guy Lafleur is reflecting at the floral-blanketed coffin of Jean Beliveau, his idol, mentor and inspiration, who is laying in state at Bell Centre on Dec. 8, 2014. In the background is Beliveau's enormous statue, brought onto the arena floor from an outdoor plaza celebrating the Canadiens' grand history, where it usually stands alongside those of Lafleur, the incandescent Maurice "Rocket" Richard and early-era superstar Howie Morenz.

Morenz was 34 when he died in the hospital of a coronary embolism on March 8, 1937, five weeks after a bodycheck sent him awkwardly into the Montreal Forum boards, shattering his leg. The Rocket died May 27, 2000 at 78 following a battle with abdominal cancer. Beliveau passed Dec. 2, 2014 at 83, after a lengthy illness that followed two strokes and a bout with throat cancer.

The single frame extracted from a video loop is breathtaking, a Montreal Canadiens legend kneeling at the casket of a fellow icon, a beloved friend who, in many ways, had guided him to NHL superstardom.

Now, Montreal is mourning the death of Lafleur, who died Friday at 70 following a 31-month battle with lung cancer, and the soul of this city is darkened once more.

In the view of the late Toe Blake, who won the Stanley Cup in 1944 and 1946 playing for the Canadiens and eight times as coach from 1956-68, only three Canadiens were guaranteed to bring fans out of their Forum seats with their speed, artistic creativity or their inexorable drive to the net: Morenz, Richard and Lafleur. With an asterisk, Blake added the name of Beliveau, who dazzled differently with his fluid skating, crafty stickhandling and towering leadership.

Morenz sparkled with his daredevil rushes in the 1920s and 1930s, a three-time Stanley Cup winner whose magic is seen rarely and only in grainy film. Richard was the short-fused keg of dynamite who led the Canadiens to eight championships from 1944-60, a legend who transcended hockey as the focal point for French-Canadians during a politically volatile time in Quebec.

Guy Lafleur at home with the Stanley Cup on June 6, 2021 with his son, Martin (left), wife Lise and son Mark.

Beliveau arguably was the greatest ambassador in NHL history, the graceful, classy winner of 10 championships as a player between 1956-71, adding seven more as a senior vice-president of the Canadiens.

Lafleur, the freshest of the four legends in the memory of fans, probably was the most electrifying player of his generation, the winner of five Stanley Cup championships from 1973-79. A flashy, intuitive scoring machine, he was a straight-talking reminder of the Canadiens' most recent dynasty that won four consecutively from 1976-79, and his death effectively has crushed the spirit of Montreal, well beyond a hockey arena.

Nearly two years after having knelt to pay his final respects to Beliveau, Lafleur was in Newfoundland, at the October 2016 home opener of the St. John's IceCaps, then the Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate. He came in to drop the puck for the opening-night face-off and mingle with fans, the trip almost a parachute drop, with a flight home before dawn the next morning.

Guy Lafleur in one his favorite photos, as a 10-year-old in his hometown of Thurso, Quebec, wearing the No. 4 of his boyhood idol, Jean Beliveau, and at the Montreal Forum with 56 pucks for each of his goals scored during the 1976-77 season.

Having signed hundreds of autographs and posed for countless photos, Lafleur gently was being ushered to the door at game's end when he saw the person driving the ice resurfacing machine circling the rink, waving up at him in an arena suite.

Grinning, Lafleur beckoned the driver and watched him clamor over the boards and race up through the stands for a photo and an autograph.

"My night is over only when there are no more photos to take and nothing left to sign," Lafleur said near midnight back at the hotel, still talking with fans less than three hours before his wakeup call. "I learned that from Jean."

Guy Lafleur at Arena Guy Lafleur, the hockey rink named for him in his hometown of Thurso, Quebec, with his family during a farewell tour with Canadiens alumni Dec. 12, 2010. From left: son Martin, mother Pierrette, Lafleur, Thurso Mayor Maurice Boivin, Lafleur's wife Lise, son Mark.

He grew adeptly into the responsibilities of being a Canadiens ambassador, in time wearing them like a favorite sweater. It was a wisdom he absorbed from Beliveau, the most approachable superstar in Montreal sports history, something he said that he had learned mostly by watching the Canadiens' greatest captain never put a foot out of place while moving forever in the spotlight.

Chosen No. 1 by the Canadiens in the 1971 NHL Draft, a 233-goal scorer in two seasons with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Lafleur would be adored as much for his flamboyance and free spirit as for his goal-scoring prowess. With Montreal between 1971-85, he scored 518 goals, second in Canadiens history to the 544 scored by the Rocket.

He then scored 107 points (42 goals, 65 assists) in 165 games for the New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques from 1988-91, having returned to the NHL following a nearly four-year retirement and his 1988 Hall of Fame enshrinement.

Guy Lafleur shakes hands with recently retired legend Jean Beliveau at the Montreal Forum during Lafleur's 1971-72 rookie season.

Lafleur won the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point-scorer in the NHL and was voted the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player as chosen by the NHL Players' Association in 1976, 1977 and 1978; the Hart Trophy, voted to the most valuable player in the NHL, in 1977 and 1978; and the Conn Smythe Trophy, voted to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in 1977. His No. 10 jersey was retired by the Canadiens on Feb. 16, 1985, and in 2017 he was voted one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.

Lafleur was decorated with many honors, inducted into numerous halls of fame. Most recently he was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada as a Distinguished Honoree for 2022 on March 9.

Nearly four decades since his final game in a Canadiens jersey, he still holds a host of Montreal records: most points (1,246), game-winning goals (94), assists (728), and 40- and 50-goal and 100-point seasons (six each).

In retirement, Lafleur became an enormously popular figure anywhere he appeared, on behalf of the Canadiens or travelling to represent myriad companies that paid for his endorsement. Along the way he developed business interests of his own, which included restaurants and a line of wine and spirits.
And he never lost his voice, many strong opinions shared.

Jean Beliveau presents Guy Lafleur with a puck plaque at the Montreal Forum on Nov. 11, 1975 to celebrate Lafleur's 53-goal 1974-75 season, then the most by a Canadiens player, and Hall of Famers Henri Richard, Lafleur, Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer in the Canadiens' Bell Centre dressing room during the team's 2009 Centennial celebrations.

If the Canadiens were struggling, Lafleur never hesitated to speak his mind, no matter that his observations sometimes ruffled the feathers of Montreal officials. He didn't mind his team losing if the effort was there. But if it wasn't, his criticism might be delivered with a blowtorch.

"That's Guy's character and style," then-Canadiens president Pierre Boivin said in 2003, having just heard his paid ambassador publicly shred a team that was about to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons.

"Guy's always spoken from the heart and called things the way he sees them. He's always been upfront, honest and communicative … and that's what's earned him a lot of fan affection. You never quite know what Guy's going to say or when he's going to say it. … [He's] a very important connection to our fans and a whole generation. His words have a lot of weight, even if we don't always agree."

Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur on Montreal Forum ice with the Stanley Cup during 1993 NHL All-Star Game festivities, and Lafleur with the Canadiens' ceremonial torch at Bell Centre in 2013.

The other side of that was Lafleur's unabashed love of the Canadiens, no one prouder of a Montreal win than the team's legendary No. 10.

But there was nothing "The Flower" -- the English translation of his last name -- enjoyed more than lending his support to a cause or reaching out to someone in need, often completely off the publicity radar.

Last June, weak from ongoing cancer treatment, he used a visit from the Stanley Cup to kick off a fundraiser for the Guy Lafleur Fund, which had been created earlier that year. The cancer research initiative would benefit the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM), where he had been undergoing treatment since late September 2019, his lung cancer detected as he was undergoing emergency cardiac bypass surgery.

"The hospital asked me about creating a fund and I was happy to do it," Lafleur said over coffee a few days after the Cup visit.

Guy Lafleur's statue outside Bell Centre, and speaking to the crowd during the Canadiens' 2009 Centennial celebrations.

There's no question that he saw his finish line on the horizon, choked with emotion as he spoke. But he was going to run the race to the very end, no matter the speed he'd be going with his final steps.

"They need so much money to do research," Lafleur said. "I'm always wondering, we go to the moon and to Mars, at some point will they find a cure for cancer? The research is so important. Success means helping to improve the lives of cancer patients.

"It's very small, very thin, who we are and what we do on this Earth. As individuals we don't mean much. There's a saying in French that I believe. It translates to, 'I'm running out of my borrowed time.'

"That's what I realize. I try to help others now, but it's not the same. I want to do much, a lot more. But I can't. The disease is too common and it's not only the elderly. It's young kids. I remember doing work on behalf of leukemia research when I started with the Canadiens. Kids … I mean, why does a kid get cancer?"

The minor-hockey sweater Guy Lafleur wore as a 10-year-old in Thurso, Quebec, the No. 4 in honor of his hero, Jean Beliveau, with his first pair of skates from age 5; Lafleur's last game-worn skates and last game-worn Quebec Nordiques road jersey from March 30 and 31, 1991. The four items were auctioned in 2001.

Even as he tried to focus on his cancer battle, Lafleur would offer a motivational word to others who were near their end, sometimes showing up unannounced on their doorstep.

"I hear from many, many people who have cancer," he said. "I've done video calls with people, made telephone calls. Not through the Canadiens, but with people who know me or find me. Someone will ask, 'Would you phone this person for me?' I'll encourage them the best I can. It's important to do this.

"As players we had the adulation of fans. I have to give back because these people were my bread and butter when I played, my energy. Do I take strength from them now? Yes I do. Do I give them strength? I hope that maybe we break even."

His own strength almost fully drained, Lafleur having ended debilitating cancer treatments in late January, he drew energy until his final days in palliative care from the outpouring of love and affection showered upon him by family, teammates, opponents, friends and fans.

He had returned to Bell Centre in February 2021, just a few months after having undergone heart and lung surgeries, joking about the long zipper scar down his chest while taking inventory of his visits to the operating room.

"Well, I had my tonsils out," he said, laughing, then once again considering his statue which had been unveiled 12 years earlier.

Guy Lafleur on June 8, 2021, and photographed during his 1971-72 rookie season with the Montreal Canadiens.

He knew much about the legend of Morenz, had been close to the Rocket, and not a day went by that he didn't miss Beliveau. A brotherhood in granite-mounted bronze, they are four icons, franchise immortals on the oldest and most storied team in the NHL.

"I never would have dreamed of the life I've had," he said that night, standing in the Canadiens alumni lounge near photos of himself, Beliveau and his friend, Yvan Cournoyer, the 10-time Stanley Cup champion who today in robust health at age 78 is the Canadiens' elder statesman. "It's unbelievable, the support I've had since my cancer fight began. It's been so encouraging. I can't thank people enough."

As was Beliveau when the great captain's health declined, Lafleur was true to himself to the end, his family by his side. One of the most thrilling Canadiens ever to lace up a pair of skates, he took his exit in a way that was cut from Beliveau's fine cloth: with a peacefulness and dignity, comfortable that he had lived his life on his own terms.

Photos: Montreal Canadiens (video feed; 2010 family photo courtesy Bob Fisher); Hockey Hall of Fame (Paul Bereswill; Graphic Artists); Connor McCollam (2021 family photo); Getty Images; Lelands.com (skates and jerseys); Guy Lafleur collection (childhood); Dave Stubbs (Lafleur 2021)