"It was a tremendous privilege for the Montreal Canadiens to retire my No. 10 (in 1985), as it for the QMJHL now to retire my No. 4. They didn't have to do that. I'm very happy," Lafleur said Thursday, one day after the league announced it will retire the number he wore for two seasons.
It will be the second number retired by the league. Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby had his No. 87 retired league-wide this season.
Before wearing No. 10 for the Montreal Canadiens, Lafleur scored 379 points (233 goals, 146 assists) in 118 games for Quebec during the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons. The native of Thurso, Quebec, voted the league's greatest player of all time in 2019, was captain of the 1971 Memorial Cup-champion Remparts.
Lafleur played 1,126 games in the NHL, scoring 1,353 points (560 goals, 793 assists) for the Canadiens, New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques. He played for Montreal from 1971-85 before retiring for three seasons, then returned for 1988-89 with the Rangers and 1989-91 with the Nordiques. He won the Stanley Cup five times for the Canadiens (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979), the Art Ross Trophy three times (1976, 1977, 1978) as the leading point-scorer in the NHL, the Hart Trophy twice voted as most valuable player (1977, 1978) and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the 1977 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Lafleur is a three-time recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award), voted by the NHL Players' Association as the most outstanding player in the NHL. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and the QMJHL Hall of Fame in 1997.
"Even in retirement, Lafleur continues to be a first-class ambassador for the QMJHL," QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Courteau said. "His legacy and contributions to the league are second to none and the retirement of his No. 4 pays tribute to his incredible career and accomplishments."
Lafleur was the No. 1 pick in the 1971 NHL Draft. Even before his first game he was under tremendous pressure to be the next great French-Canadian star. Before him were two beloved Canadiens captains: Maurice "Rocket" Richard, who won eight Stanley Cup championships between 1942-60, and Jean Beliveau, Lafleur's boyhood idol, who started with the Canadiens in 1953 and retired in 1971 following his 10th and final championship.
Lafleur said that, no matter the offer Beliveau made to him, he wanted no part of wearing No. 4, which the latter wore with distinction throughout his NHL career. As it turned out, that wouldn't have happened because Beliveau's number was retired by the Canadiens on Oct. 9, 1971, the night Lafleur made his NHL debut.
"Jean offered me his number if I wanted it, but I said, 'No thanks, I have enough pressure coming in. And the fact you're retiring, I don't want any more pressure on my back,'" Lafleur said. "There's no way I would have worn Jean's number. No way."
The Canadiens retired Lafleur's No. 10 on Feb. 16, 1985, joining Beliveau's No. 4 and Richard's No. 9 (retired in 1960) in the Montreal Forum rafters.
