Canadiens: The Trade that Changed the Franchise History

Sam Pollock was the Montreal Canadiens' GM for over 14 years and in that span, the Tricolore won nine Stanley Cups. Of course, it's the players that actually win the Trophy by besting their opponents on the ice, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have the best GM at the helm.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Toward a Modern NHL

When he took over the role in 1964, the way to recruit players in the NHL had already changed, it wasn't about finding young talent and putting them in the teams that fed your organization, it was about drafting. Since the Canadiens' recruiting network had been so vast and efficient, the NHL granted them a compensation when the system changed; they could either select a player when their turn came or they could select two French Canadiens players of their choosing before any other team had made a pick.

While this was an interesting strategical advantage, the Habs didn't use that option until 1968 when they opted to take Michel Plasse and Roger Belisle and then again in 1969 when they picked Rejean Houle and Marc Tardif. After seven drafts and two in which the Canadiens used their option, the NHL decided to eliminate the "French Canadian rule". Interesting timing since in 1970, the first overall pick was Gilbert Perreault who became the face of the Buffalo Sabres franchise.

The Trade

A cunning fox, Pollock found a way to ensure the Canadiens would be picking first at the 1971 draft, despite winning the Stanley Cup. The GM made a trade with the struggling California Golden Seals in May 1970, sending Montreal's 1970 first-round pick, minor leaguer Ernie Hicke and cash to California in return of the Golden Seals' first-round pick at the 1971 draft and defenseman François Lacombe.

The Aftermath

The trade would go down in history as a master stroke when Pollock used that first-round pick to claim Guy Lafleur a few days after Jean Beliveau had announced his retirement. As one great Frenchman bowed out, a new one was selected. The transition wasn't flawless though, le Démon Blond struggled in the early days of his NHL career. In his first three seasons he racked up 64, 55 and 56 points pale numbers compared to the 209 points he had gotten in his last QMJHL season.

In 1974-75, the floodgates opened and Flower hit his stride, gathering 119 points giving him the fourth place in the league's scoring race. For the next five seasons, he would never score less than 125 points and would win three Art Ross Trophies, three Lester B. Pearson Trophies, two Hart Trophies and one Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP. At the end of his career, Lafleur had played in 1126 games and gathered 1353 points with the Canadiens, the New York Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques.

To this day, Lafleur remains the leader in assists (728) and points (1246) with the Montreal Canadiens. He's 10th in goal with 961, first in game-winning goals (94) and shots (3204) and third in hat tricks with 16. The Canadiens of the 1970s were a fantastic hockey machine, but one has to wonder if it would have won that many cups had Pollock never made that trade.

As for François Lacombe, he played a grand total of three games in the NHL, none of which were with the Canadiens, but that matters very little considering the legend Guy Lafleur became and what he has meant for the franchise.

Meanwhile, Hicke would play two seasons in California before being drafted by the Atlanta Flames in an expansion draft. He played a total of 520 games in the NHL and racked up 272 points in the process. As for the first-round pick the Golden Seal received in the trade, they used it to draft Chris Oddleifson who never played for them but did skate in 524 NHL games picking up 286 points along the way.

A National Treasure

Guy Lafleur remains the last true offensive juggernaut the Canadiens have been able to call their own. Nowadays, Montreal struggles to have a point-per-game player and nobody has been able to score 50 goals in a season since Stéphane Richer. Flower managed to hit that magical mark six seasons in a row.

When Lafleur left this world at the age of 70 in 2022, Montreal was shellshocked and in mourning. The legend had a national funeral which was televised and followed by hockey fans throughout the province. On top of being an amazing hockey player, Lafleur was also a remarkable human being who was always ready to lend a hand for a good case. Even as his health was declining, he kept on honoring the hundreds of signing request he would receive through the mail and even made a video appearance on TV when one of his biggest fan Chantal Machabee was appointed as the Canadiens' VP of Communications.

The homage as the Bell Centre was moving and that night, there was no advertisement on the boards, the night was all about Guy. A week later, when the Canadiens ended their season on a 10-2 win against the Panthers, some saw it as the final wink of an idol to his fans and the crowd chanted "Guy! Guy! Guy!" in unison just like it did when Flower dazzled them in the 1970s.

You may also like

Canadiens: The Start of a Dark Age
Canadiens: Trade Him He Has a Bad Knee
Canadiens: Let's Go All in for the Centennial
Canadiens: It Worked Once, Let's Bring Him Back

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens