Should Habs retire Guy Lapointe #5?

[Aurel Joliat]

The Habs have 105 years of history. 17 players have their jersey retired. Only 1 (Morenz) played in the first 30 years of the club... Lalonde, Joliat and Vezina deserve this honor a lot more than Gainey or in this case Guy Lapointe.

 

[Mrb1p]

Why didnt we just go like the NFL and create a ''ring of honor'' kinda thing ?

I mean we have 100+ years of history ....

 

[thom]

Guys Lach Bouchard and even Geofrion waited 40 to 50 yrs to get number retired.Down the road Lapointe might get number retired.After he broke his leg he was not quite the same.Hes a tough one for me because I respect him as a player.Lemaire is close but not sure,And its possible Koivo gets in because he was captain for 10 yrs.But these are decades in future

 

[vokiel]

Gallagher before Saku

I'm for retiring Brière before both of them... I don't mean the number on his jersey no.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm for retiring Brière before both of them... I don't mean the number on his jersey no.

 

[HatTricK09]

Gallagher before Saku

Gomez before Gallagher

 

[Kimota]

Lemaire > Shutt

I don't think either Lemaire or Shutt should have their jersey retired. But I wouldn't cry if they were.

 

[Whitesnake]

They should not retired so many jerseys. But now that it's done...you have no choice but to retire his jersey. The big 3 is one entity that will be part of the Habs history for life. There's one guy missing upstairs. Retire his jersey.

But my idea of jersey retiring would have been Plante, Harvey, Béliveau, Richard, Lafleur and Richard. And at worst, only Béliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. Those 3 had jerseys you just could NOT wear ever again.

For the others, ring of honors would have been perfect.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

They should not retired so many jerseys. But now that it's done...you have no choice but to retire his jersey. The big 3 is one entity that will be part of the Habs history for life. There's one guy missing upstairs. Retire his jersey.

But my idea of jersey retiring would have been Plante, Harvey, Béliveau, Richard, Lafleur and Richard. And at worst, only Béliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. Those 3 had jerseys you just could NOT wear ever again.

For the others, ring of honors would have been perfect.

Man... I don't know how you could do that and not have Harvey or Plante. Also Dryden and Howie Morenz would have to be there. And then there's Roy...

 

[Kimota]

They should not retired so many jerseys. But now that it's done...you have no choice but to retire his jersey. The big 3 is one entity that will be part of the Habs history for life. There's one guy missing upstairs. Retire his jersey.

But my idea of jersey retiring would have been Plante, Harvey, Béliveau, Richard, Lafleur and Richard. And at worst, only Béliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. Those 3 had jerseys you just could NOT wear ever again.

For the others, ring of honors would have been perfect.

Yea I agree. But the Habs have had some many great teams and all star players, it's been hard to figure out wich is a star, and who isn't. They have an embarassement of riches and did not know when to stop. I also agree with your choices, Plante, Harvey, Beliveau, Richard, Lafleur. That's it. Did they have numbers at the time of Howie Morenz? Cause I would say him too.

 

[Whitesnake]

Man... I don't know how you could do that and not have Harvey or Plante. Also Dryden and Howie Morenz would have to be there. And then there's Roy...

Well I do have Harvey and Plante with my initial idea. And I did forget Morenz. He has to be there to represent that era. Dryden, I would have been able to live with not having his number retire for 1 reason. Not enough years as a Hab. Honestly, after Dryden retired, we had some players wearing that number, and nobody cared and associated it with Dryden too much. For Roy....it might be harder...#33 would be tough to associate it with somebody else....So Roy would have been extremely debatable....but I'd have Plante to represent the goalies just for what he represented.

But then....since it does become debatable, that's why I only say Béliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. 'Cause no matter how you look at it, everybody else is below them. Those 3 will always be known as the greatest ever!

 

[Fire Everyone]

No. Too many damn numbers have been retired already. Gainey, really? It's a joke and a really bad one too. And his number is not the only one that shouldn't be up there.

Anyway, they should unretire most numbers and merely honour them.

 

[Mrb1p]

No. Too many damn numbers have been retired already. Gainey, really? It's a joke and a really bad one too. And his number is not the only one that shouldn't be up there.

Anyway, they should unretire most numbers and merely honour them.

The league had to create an award for Gainey. He changed the game.

One thing is, we have so many good players in our history that would get their numbers retired elsewhere ...

 

[groovejuice]

They should not retired so many jerseys. But now that it's done...you have no choice but to retire his jersey. The big 3 is one entity that will be part of the Habs history for life. There's one guy missing upstairs. Retire his jersey.

But my idea of jersey retiring would have been Plante, Harvey, Béliveau, Richard, Lafleur and Richard. And at worst, only Béliveau, Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. Those 3 had jerseys you just could NOT wear ever again.

For the others, ring of honors would have been perfect.

There is logic there, but I believe the number of SC won is important. Should we have the same number of retired numbers as the other Original Six teams? We almost double the number of cups won by the next highest.

Need to honour the top tier guys that got us there. I say add Lapointe, Lemaire and Shutt. Leave it there.

 

[groovejuice]

No. Too many damn numbers have been retired already. Gainey, really? It's a joke and a really bad one too. And his number is not the only one that shouldn't be up there.

Anyway, they should unretire most numbers and merely honour them.

I assume you didn't like Gainey as GM but in my mind he clearly deserved the honour as a player. He changed the definition of a forward to a point where the NHL had to create a new award for it.

Did you ever actually watch him play?

 

[Alexdaman]

Gallagher before Saku

and gomez on top.

 

[Franck]

No. Too many damn numbers have been retired already. Gainey, really? It's a joke and a really bad one too. And his number is not the only one that shouldn't be up there.

Anyway, they should unretire most numbers and merely honour them.

#5 is already retired for Geoffrion, so it's not like it would take another number out of circulation.

Besides, there's still 85 unretired numbers left, so it's hardly like the Habs are running out of numbers.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Well yea. A long time coming. Dude got jobbed big time.

Bowman said Lapointe was without a doubt his most complete D. There's nothing he could not do and was almost a fourth forward sometime.

I don't believe Bowman ever said that.....ever.

Savard was easily their most complete d-man.....Lapointe was great on the PP but was far behind Savard and Robinson 5 vs 5.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

His peak was the shortest, and he probably wasn't quite in the same league as Savard and Robinson defensively, but he was the most exciting of the big three. If another jersey is to be retired, he's the most obvious choice.

Robinson was easily the most exciting of the three.

Savard was the best of the three and was always on the ice in big situations but Robinson is the one who brought people out of their seats with his end to end rushes and crushing body checks.

There is a lot being made of Lapointe's stats by people who never really watched him. Lapointe had a big shot and was very sneaky on the back door plays but it was absolutely Robinson that wowed the fans with spectacular plays.

I am not bashing Lapointe at all but he was clearly the 3rd best d-man on those teams. He was a legitimate first pairing d-man on any other team but he was not relied upon like Savard and Robinson were when the game was on the line.

 

[BaseballCoach]

I don't believe Bowman ever said that.....ever.

Savard was easily their most complete d-man.....Lapointe was great on the PP but was far behind Savard and Robinson 5 vs 5.

Savard and Robinson had each other. Lapointe would play with Awrey, Bouchard, Nyrop or Langway and definitely carried them all. That to me is the true test of the coach's esteem. As for Lapointe's defensive abilities, they are being greatly under-rated here. It was about 1978 before Robinson became a first-pairing D on the PK. Until then, the first pairing was Lapointe-Savard, and they would play about 1min30 of each PK. Then we would get Robinson and Nyrop or Robinson and Engblom.

Lapointe was also not a ballerina out there. He could fight, and almost never lost.

The only think against Lapointe, the ONLY thing, is that injuries slowed him down faster than the other two in the Big Three, age-wise. But from 22 years old to 31 years old, he was as worthy of jersey retirement as anyone else on the list from his era, and better than many of them.

 

[BRAD HABSFAN]

I'm for retiring Brière before both of them... I don't mean the number on his jersey no.

 

[Habs Icing]

Robinson was easily the most exciting of the three.

Savard was the best of the three and was always on the ice in big situations but Robinson is the one who brought people out of their seats with his end to end rushes and crushing body checks.

There is a lot being made of Lapointe's stats by people who never really watched him. Lapointe had a big shot and was very sneaky on the back door plays but it was absolutely Robinson that wowed the fans with spectacular plays.

I am not bashing Lapointe at all but he was clearly the 3rd best d-man on those teams. He was a legitimate first pairing d-man on any other team but he was not relied upon like Savard and Robinson were when the game was on the line.

All I can say to you is this:

Savard and Robinson had each other. Lapointe would play with Awrey, Bouchard, Nyrop or Langway and definitely carried them all. That to me is the true test of the coach's esteem. As for Lapointe's defensive abilities, they are being greatly under-rated here. It was about 1978 before Robinson became a first-pairing D on the PK. Until then, the first pairing was Lapointe-Savard, and they would play about 1min30 of each PK. Then we would get Robinson and Nyrop or Robinson and Engblom.

Lapointe was also not a ballerina out there. He could fight, and almost never lost.

The only think against Lapointe, the ONLY thing, is that injuries slowed him down faster than the other two in the Big Three, age-wise. But from 22 years old to 31 years old, he was as worthy of jersey retirement as anyone else on the list from his era, and better than many of them.

Lapointe was as good as the other two. No doubt in my mind.

 

[swimmer77]

Savard and Robinson had each other. Lapointe would play with Awrey, Bouchard, Nyrop or Langway and definitely carried them all. That to me is the true test of the coach's esteem. As for Lapointe's defensive abilities, they are being greatly under-rated here. It was about 1978 before Robinson became a first-pairing D on the PK. Until then, the first pairing was Lapointe-Savard, and they would play about 1min30 of each PK. Then we would get Robinson and Nyrop or Robinson and Engblom.

Lapointe was also not a ballerina out there. He could fight, and almost never lost.

The only think against Lapointe, the ONLY thing, is that injuries slowed him down faster than the other two in the Big Three, age-wise. But from 22 years old to 31 years old, he was as worthy of jersey retirement as anyone else on the list from his era, and better than many of them.

That pretty much sums it up for me too. Guy Lapointe was my favorite out of those three and was absolutely skilled in his own right.

 

[Matteus]

I don't believe Bowman ever said that.....ever.

Savard was easily their most complete d-man.....Lapointe was great on the PP but was far behind Savard and Robinson 5 vs 5.

Read Dryden's book for for a Bowman quote to that effect.

 

[Matteus]

...The only think against Lapointe, the ONLY thing, is that injuries slowed him down faster than the other two in the Big Three, age-wise....

That and a crushing divorce according to rumors at the time.