Not so long ago, he was still touring the Bell Center on game nights. As if nothing had happened, he entered a box and engaged in conversation with fans amazed to see their childhood idol in front of them.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Guy Lafleur was a giant on a human scale.
Leaving from Thurso, a small town in the Outaouais where the smell of pulp and paper floated, he became a hero in the image of Quebec, perfectly in tune with the evolution of society, like the other hockey legends who preceded him.
In the 1950s, Maurice Richard symbolized the awakening of French Canadians, able to stand up and shine well beyond the borders of Quebec.
In the 1960s, Jean Béliveau, gentleman of the ice cream, embodied the Quiet Revolution and its great movement to modernize Quebec.
With his flamboyant style, Guy Lafleur personified the effervescence of the 1970s, the decade when everything seemed possible. And on the ice, everything was.
It was the time when Montreal was still the metropolis of Canada, the glorious era of the Olympic Games, the electrifying era of disco…
Artist and poet in his spare time, the Blond Demon had a sense of showmanship. He knew how to put electricity in the air, as in that famous seventh game of the Stanley Cup semi-finals in 1979. When he tied the score against the Boston Bruins, one minute before the end of the third period, the roof of the Forum almost lifted under the cries of the crowd, say those who were there.
This legendary goal, certainly the most famous of his career, led the team to the cup for a fourth consecutive year. What an era! It was a generation of superstars who sweated body and soul and touched people’s hearts. Guy Lafleur was the pride of Montreal, leading a talented team that could put the bullying Boston and Philadelphia bullies in their place.
And even if he was a great among the greats, with five Stanley Cups to his name, Guy Lafleur always remained accessible, generous and authentic. At the restaurant he had opened in Rosemère, he took care of the customers himself, chatted hockey with the fans, distributed figurines bearing his likeness to the children.
That is why Quebecers recognized themselves in him. His story was the story of Quebec.
His life resembled that of his followers, with its ups and downs. When his son had setbacks in court, for example, we saw the father support his family in pain.
Guy Lafleur was connected in real life, he whose salary as a hockey star was not stratospheric.
In 1973, he had signed a million dollar contract… for 10 years. His salary of $85,000 for the first year represented about 10 times the average salary of a Quebecer.
In today’s dollars, that pay would be worth about half a million dollars, infinitely less than the team’s biggest star, Carey Price, who averages C$13.3 million a year. … which represents approximately 240 times the remuneration of an average Quebecer.
Several years ago, Guy Lafleur, who did not mince words, did not hesitate to say that the rise in player salaries had contributed to undermining the feeling of belonging to the team.
It’s true. Hockey has changed, society too. Gone are the days when hockey players, like workers, spent their lives in one place.
Recognized for his independence, Guy Lafleur is also the only one of the three great legends of the Canadiens to have played for other NHL teams – in New York, then in Quebec – after having retired for the first time in Montreal.
Today, everything is moving. Quebec players are more rare within the team. Last year, the Canadiens even played some games without any Quebec player in the lineup, for the first time in team history.
With the commercialization and globalization of sport, fans have become consumers and hockey teams have become products. The players are interchangeable. Idols, ephemeral.
But the little guy from Thurso will remain in our hearts for a long time.