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Hockey fans have lost another legend.
NHL Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur has passed away after a battle with lung cancer, his family announced on Friday. He was 70.
“Guy I love you, you are done suffering we will miss you greatly,” his sister, Lise Lafleur, wrote on Facebook.
Guy Je t'aime, tu as fini de souffrir tu vas nous manquer énormément …. 😢😢
Posted by Lise Lafleur on Friday, April 22, 2022
Lafleur played 17 seasons in the NHL, capturing five Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. Nicknamed “The Flower,” Lafleur retired after the 1984-85 season, but returned in 1988-89 with the New York Rangers. He played the next two seasons with the Quebec Nordiques before hanging up his skates for good in 1991.
He finished his NHL career with 560 goals and 793 assists in 1,126 regular-season games and added 58 goals and 76 helpers in 128 playoff games.
“He flew down the ice, it was just amazing,” sportswriter and Green Zone contributor Darrell Davis recalled of watching Lafleur play.
“(He was) one of those last non-helmeted guys. That’s what you think of all the time, that long hair, kind of balding.”
The beloved Lafleur began his playing career with the Habs in 1971 after being selected with the first pick in the draft and became one of the game’s most prolific scorers. He was the first NHL player to score at least 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons and holds several of the Canadiens’ scoring records.
He won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer three times, the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP twice and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs once. He was a six-time first-team all-star at right wing.
Davis said he is one of the best to ever play.
“He’s right at the top of that list,” Davis said. “You might not have been a Montreal Canadiens fan, but you couldn’t hate the guy. He was just that exciting.”
Lafleur was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019, when tumours were discovered by doctors performing emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery.
Lafleur is the second NHL icon to die in the past week. Former New York Islanders great Mike Bossy died on Good Friday.