Thursday, March 18, 2010

March 18th Birthday Greetings to a Trio of Former Habs

Birthday Greetings from Ya! The Habs Rule! to one Hall of Fame defenceman, another popular player, former captain and coach and one, well he played for the Habs so lets give him that.

image Guy Lapointe (b. 1948):

LaPointe was the third member of the Canadiens “Big Three” (along with Larry Robinson and Serge Savard) during the ‘70s.

“Pointu” played on all six Canadiens Stanley Cup teams during that decade, and was a First Team All-Star selection once and on the Second Team three times.

He holds the team records for goals by a rookie defenseman (15 in 1970-71) and goals by a defenseman in the regular season (28 in 1974-75).

LaPointe missed most of the 1979-80 season due to a shoulder injury, and battled injuries for the rest of his career. He would be traded to the St. Louis Blues during the 1981-82 season.

He retired, after playing a season with the Boston Bruins, in 1984 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.

Did you know?: LaPointe was picked by the Quebec Nordiques during the WHA’s General Player Draft in 1972, and the Pro Draft the following year. He never jumped to the new league.

image Guy Carbonneau (b. 1960):

THE BIG 5-0 !!!

“Carbo” would be the eventual successor to Canadiens Hall of Famer Bob Gainey as not only the team’s captain, but also as the Canadiens top defensive foward.

His tough checking, penalty killing and exceptional faceoff skills earned him three Selke Trophies (1988, 1989, 1992).  His offensive skills should not be overlooked either, as Carbonneau averaged almost 20 goals a season during his time in Montreal.

He won two Stanley Cups with the Canadiens (1986, 1993) and a third with the Dallas Stars (1999) before announcing his retirement the following season.

Carbonneau served as the Canadiens head coach for just under three seasons, and is currently an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada.

He has also been participating in TVA’s highly popular TV series “La série Montréal Québec (The Montreal-Quebec City Series)>,” as the coach of the Montreal based team.

After much speculation, he was named as head coach for Canada’s Under-18 team on March 16, 2010.

image

Jan Bulis (b. 1978):

Bulis came to the Canadiens via trade with the Washington Capitals along with Richard Zednik and a 2001 1st Rounder(Alexander Perezhogin) for Trevor Linden, Dainius Zubrus and a 2001 2nd round draft choice (later traded to Tampa Bay - Andreas Holmqvist).

His best season with Montreal, and also his last, was in 2005-06 when he scored 20 goals and 20 assists.

After a season wit the Vancouver Canucks, he jumped to the KHL where he plays for Mytishchi Atlant.

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