Guy Lafleur Board Certified Card

Guy Lafleur is a very opinionated man - always was, always will be, but that's exactly why journalists and members of the public keep asking him questions; we know he'll provide a quip that will reflect exactly how he feels at that moment, the truth as he sees it, with no sugarcoating. He was at it again, calling the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton's and Brent Burns' playoff beards "a disgrace to hockey", saying P.K. Subban should be on Ritalin (and adding Yvan Cournoyer said back in their day, he'd have gotten smacked with a stick), reiterating that Brendan Gallagher is the heart of the Montréal Canadiens but changing his stance on captain Max Pacioretty from a couple of seasons ago, saying he can be the best player on the ice "when he feels like it", as opposed to when he called him a choker in the past.

Of course, the main reason why he gets away with it is because he was arguably the best forward of the 1970s - the Habs' career leader for assists (728) and points (1246, one of just three to reach the millennial mark with the team with Jean Béliveau and Henri Richard), and the second in goals with 518, behind only Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. Oh, and he has five Stanley Cups with the team he grew up dreaming of playing for, so he knows a thing or two about the team's legacy and fans' expectations.

His six 50-goal seasons are also a team record; Stéphane Richer holds second place with two, and four others have had one such season: The Rocket being the first NHLer to do so, Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Steve Shutt and Pierre Larouche being the others.

He shares the team record of most goals in a single season with Shutt (60), and holds the single-season team points record (136, in 1976-77). It was also that season that he set the team consecutive point streak record by having his name on the score sheet for 28 straight games.

So, yeah, Lafleur could hockey pretty well.

Because of that, many sets still include him in the modern era even though he retired following the 1990-91 season - often with special edition cards.

Here's one from Fleer/Skybox's 2001-02 Greats Of The Game set and Board Certified sub-set:

With the Joe Louis Arena closing in a couple of years, this piece of memorabilia will be even more rare. And Lafleur looks so natural in the Habs' classic red uniform.

Guy Lafleur Autographed Card

It's been a while, but my desktop computer (with over a hundred scans of possibly upcoming features as well as mouse and everything I liked writing on) has failed me, and it took me a while between work (day job as a translator and gigs playing music), sleep and Life to set my laptop up to post. But I think I'm good to go, and I want to start with a bang: Hall Of Famer Guy Lafleur, who lost a civil lawsuit against Montréal police earlier today.

I had previously featured him with the Montréal Canadiens and Québec Nordiques, as well as a book (an autobiography) he's signed and sent me a couple of years ago, but I thought I could go with a card showing the entirety of his NHL career:

It's card #403 from Score's 1991-92 Score (American) set that shows him in the Habs' classic bleu-blanc-rouge uniform (right), the Nordiques' home (white) uniform (left), and the New York Rangers' white (then-home) uniform, the team he came out of retirement to play for in between stints playing for teams from La Belle Province.

As it stands, Lafleur is the Canadiens' all-time points leader with 1246 (from 518 goals and 728 assists) in 961 games, forming the best line of its era with Jacques Lemaire and Steve Shutt on what was perhaps the best team of all time. He won a Conn Smythe Trophy in 1977, three consecutive Art Ross trophies, three consecutive Lester B. Pearson Awards (MVP as voted by the players, now known as the Ted Lindsay), and two consecutive Harts (while finishing top-5 in voting for five straight seasons) to go with five straight Stanley Cups.

Ironically, it was Lemaire's turn to coaching who forced the six-time 50-goal scorer into an early retirement, as the hard-line defensive coach was unhappy with his two-way play (or lack thereof) resulting in him getting relegated to third-line duties and scarce playing time.

Four years after retiring, following his induction into the Hall Of Fame, he managed to put up 18 goals and 45 points in 67 games with the 1988-89 Rangers, followed by 24 goals, 38 assists, 62 points and an All-Star Game appearance in 98 games spread over two seasons with the Nordiques to cap off a legendary career that also saw him suit up for Team Canada at two Canada Cups (winning in 1976 and finishing runner-up to the Soviet Union in 1981), as well as the 1979 Challenge Cup (losing the series 2-1 to the Soviets) and at the 1981 World Championships.

He signed that card for me at the Bell Centre, a year and a half ago, during the 2013 playoffs, around the same time he heavily criticized (current Habs captain) Max Pacioretty's failings at stepping up in the postseason.

These days, Lafleur operates a helicopter and transportation company and acts as a Canadiens ambassador, but always speaks openly and honestly about the team, often criticizing them when he doesn't like where they're headed. He has also operated restaurants once his playing career was actually over.

Guy Lafleur Autographed Biography

There's an expression used nowadays for elite players who are better than other elite players: ''generational talent''. And Guy Lafleur is the last generational skater the Montréal Canadiens have had (though I'm hoping P.K. Subban continues to develop as a leader and proves to be superior to the rest of his class).

But above his Hall Of Fame statistics and spectacular highlight reel-worthy plays, what always set Lafleur apart was his personality. Never content with spewing clichés, you can still count on him to deliver his actual, straightforward opinion on any subject - including the Habs - in any context, be it on the street, in his restaurants, in TV interviews, even at the Bell Centre. Always has, always will, even when he was employed by the team.

And he is always there to speak with fans, have his picture taken with them, signing autographs. I've had a TTM success with him in the past, myself, though this time, I won this autographed biography (authored by his long-time friend and confidante Yves Tremblay) by winning the first half-season of a hockey pool I'm in at Publications Sports:

The signature can be found inside, on the first blank page, as is customary:

It reads ''Amitiés, Guy Lafleur 10'', which literally (usually) means ''friendship'', but in this context is more of a greeting or salutation, or the equivalent of ''best wishes''.

All in all, I'm very delighted to have this book, which I'll read as soon as I'm done with Chris Nilan's autobiography (Fighting Back). For those who need a reminder, Lafleur's resume is quite spectacular:

-560 regular-season goals (518 with the Habs), 58 playoff goals.
-1353 regular-season points (1346 with Montréal, a team record), 134 playoff points (in 128 games).
-six straight 50-goal and 100-point seasons
-holds the Habs team record of 136 points in a single season (1976-77)
-shares team record of 60 goals in a single season (1977-78) with Steve Shutt
-3 Art Ross trophies
-2 Hart trophies
-3 Lester B. Pearson Awards (now Ted Lindsay Trophy) as MVP voted by players
-1977 Conn Smythe trophy (despite playing on a team with 8 Hall Of Famers)
-5 Stanley Cups
-one of three players to play in the NHL after being named to the Hall Of Fame

Truly, an all-time great player and person.

Guy Lafleur: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 1)

Few players can claim to have been the best in a season, let alone in a decade or a generation. Guy Lafleur, however, sure can. His tenure with the Montréal Canadiens alone got him elected into the Hall Of Fame in his first year of eligibility (1988), and you'd figure he was a shoe-in, what with 1346 points (the team's all-time leading scorer), on the strength of 518 goals and 728 assists in 14 seasons.

He is tied for the team record of goals in a season (60) with his former linemate Steve Shutt, while the center of that line, Jacques Lemaire, is now widely regarded as one of the three best coaches in NHL history (with Scotty Bowman and Toe Blake) - and the reason why Lafleur retired in the first place, putting an unusual amount of pressure on the superstar to play a defensively-minded game rather than being the offensive catalyst.

He holds the team's points in a season record (136) and was the first player in NHL history to have six consecutive 50-goal and 100-point seasons. He has 3 Art Ross trophies (1976, 1977, 1978), 2 Hart trophies (league MVP in 1977 and 1978), 3 Lester B. Pearson Awards (now the Ted Lindsay trophy for the best player as voted by the players, 1976, 1977, 1978) and a Conn Smythe Trophy (1977) to go with his 5 Stanley Cups and 1976 Canada Cup.

One of the most beloved players in Habs history, the Forum crowd would enter chants of ''Guy! Guy! Guy!'' every time he touched the puck, scored, or was named one of the game's three stars.

Feeling he had been forced into retirement unjustly, and with the lingering feeling that he had a few more goals left in him, Lafleur trained like a boxer to get back in shape and attempted a comeback in time for the 1988-89 season, with the New York Rangers, becoming the second (after Gordie Howe, before Mario Lemieux) of three players to come back to the NHL after being named to the Hall Of Fame. In his first game back to the Forum, Lafleur netted a hat trick (3 goals!) against the best goalie of all time - Patrick Roy - in a 7-5 Rangers loss; he was named the first star, to the usual chants of ''Guy! Guy! Guy!'' that rang through the Forum for the whole game.

He was sent to the Québec Nordiques with head coach Michel Bergeron in the off-season and, despite diminished ice time, was among the best players on the team, even earning an invitation to the 1991 All-Star Game, an invitation he declined, stating ''Joe Sakic has been by far our best and most deserving player, I withdraw myself so he can attend as our team's representative''. Sakic was named, and Lafleur was subsequently invited as ''the commisionner's choice'', an honor for a soon-to-be-retiring player of high caliber he shared with Bobby Smith that year.

Now onto the cards!

First, the oldest Guy Lafleur card in my collection, from Topps' 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee set (card #187, the In Action sub-set):

Hair in the wind, about to take off at full speed, a complete view of his whole body position and uniform, and even the stick's curved blade. I like this card so much I even have two more of them (unsigned).

And now for some 2008-09 cards by Upper Deck:

The card above is from the special-edition 2008-09 Montreal Canadiens Centennial set, the Trophy Winners sub-set (card #256). I thought it'd be cool to have an off-ice card signed. He is pictured with all the trophies he won in the 1977-78 season.

But UD went all out for these cards:

Believe it or not, these two are variants of the same card, from the 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee set (card #579, the Legends sub-set). The card on the left is the regular version, while the one on the right is the ''retro'' variant. Even the backs were different:

(continued on the next post)

Guy Lafleur: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 2)

(continued from the previous post)

But the real prize of this mailing might be the one card I had of him as a member of the Québec Nordiques, where the signature shines the brightest:

From Score's 1990-91 Score set (card #290), as he is about to enter his final season, having just passed Maurice ''The Rocket'' Richard on the all-time goals list (The Rocket remains ahead of him on the Montréal Canadiens' all-time goals scorers, though). One of my favourite uniforms of all sports.

I sent Lafleur these 5 cards and a fan letter on February 10th, 2012 (to his home) and got them back less than a week later, on the 16th, signed in magnificent blue sharpie with his legendary number (10) added on the end. He is class incarnate, still responding to fan mail in record time despite owning a helicopter business and two restaurants where he makes appearances daily.

As much as he is beloved, I think he gives back even more than he receives in that department. I don't think anyone other than Gary Carter and Jean Béliveau have ever given back so much love and time to the community.