QMJHL Mourns the Passing of Guy Lafleur
Published on April 22, 2022 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) News Release
Longueuil, QC - It is with great sadness that the QMJHL was informed of the passing of the greatest player of its history, the legendary Guy Lafleur.
The one who was nicknamed "The Flower" terrorized his opponents on the ice, but charmed fans off of it thanks to both his smile and his tremendous generosity.
To say that Guy Lafleur was an outstanding player for the QMJHL is far from enough to evaluate the true impact he had on the league while he suited up for the Quebec Remparts between 1969-1971.
As part of the League's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2019, Lafleur was named the QMJHL's greatest player of all-time, just ahead of Mario Lemieux. To date, he remains the only player in the history of Quebec's junior circuit to score 100 goals or more in two consecutive seasons. In the very first year of the QMJHL's existence, in 1969-1970, Lafleur greatly helped popularize the league by scoring an incredible 103 goals for the Remparts.
The man whose #4 jersey was since immortalized across the entire league was even better the following season, finding the back of the net 130 times during the 1970-71 campaign. That season, Lafleur led the Remparts to the QMJHL's first ever Memorial Cup championship.
A natural scorer with generational talent, Lafleur impressed enough at the junior level to be selected by the Montreal Canadiens with the very first pick the 1971 NHL Entry Draft, joining the big club the following season.
Lafleur finished his QMJHL career with 233 goals in 118 regular season games, good for an average of nearly two goals per game (1.98). His record of 130 goals in a season stood until the 1983-84 campaign, when Mario Lemieux surpassed it with 133 tallies of his own.
Although he was known for his blistering shot, the Thurso, Quebec native was also a gifted playmaker. Lafleur recorded 146 assists during his junior career, giving him an incredible 379 points in 118 games. In the playoffs, Lafleur was just as dominant, collecting 47 goals and 86 points in just 29 games.
Lafleur holds several records, both in the QMJHL and the CHL, that will be hard to break. He is the first of three players in QMJHL history to score five goals in a single period, accomplishing the feat on February 5 of 1971, a game he finished with seven goals and four assists. His record total of 38 career hat tricks still holds 50 years later and will likely never be broken.
With an NHL career of 560 goals with the Canadiens, Rangers and Nordiques, Lafleur also became in 1988 the first QMJHL alumnus to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was later inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame as part of the league's first ever class in 1997.
In his honor, the Guy-Lafleur Trophy has been awarded annually to the best player in the QMJHL playoffs since 1977-1978.
The QMJHL family would like to offer its deepest condolences to all of Mr. Guy Lafleur's loved ones during these extremely difficult times.
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