Jacques Lemaire, a Buffalo Sabre ??…sort of.

Jacques Lemaire’s uncorrected card #24 from the  1974-75 Topps/O-Pee Chee set

I guess back in the early ‘70s, hockey card producer O-Pee-Chee got wind of an inaccurate trade rumor.

Back then there was no Eklund, no Twitter, and essentially no internet period, so how they got there source is a mystery.
In any event , the then London Ontario based company (the brand name  is now part of Upper Deck) was led to believe that the Canadiens centre was about to be traded to the Buffalo Sabres.

The company did not verify it their facts and airbrushed Lemaire’s photo and applied the Sabres logo to the card.

You’d think at the time that the card producers would have wondered which Sabres to change to Canadiens players, no?

The card is now considered a UER (uncorrected error) in the collector’s market, and would have raised the eyebrows of youngsters, opening their packs of cards 35 years ago, with the season already under way.

Of course it’s not the first time the card company, or other ones, has made errors in it’s card production.
Onestophockeycards.com has a list of uncorrected O-Pee-Chee errors from 1968 onwards.

Though many are misspelled names (Guy La Fleur, Claude La Rose, Ragatien Vachon), or statistical errors, there are two different years in which Canadiens Hall of Famers Bob Gainey and Serge Savard are mistaken to be Doug Risebrough. Must have been sad for Risebrough, as his first ever NHL card didn’t even have his picture.

Clearly, confirming information was not a concern of hockey card manufacturers back in the day, or for that matter, neither was what position they played!!



Maybe this one explains why Mario Tremblay can be so bitter…Another rookie card error! It's actually the Habs 15th pick in the 1974 draft, Gord McTavish, who played all of 11 NHL games, none with Montreal.

Canadiens Hall of Famer Jacques Lemaire turns 65

OK so now we can say he’s officially retired! Happy 65th to Jacques LeMaire.

The Hall of Fame centre with the Canadiens, and current coach of the New Jersey Devils, was born on this day in 1945.

When you look at Lemaire’s statistics during his twelve-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, one thing that gets overshadowed was his defensive ability.

He was once referred to as Guy Lafleur’s defensive conscience during the Canadiens run of four Stanley Cups to close out the ‘70s.

His speed, anticipation and determination allowed Lafleur and linemate Steve Shutt to excel more offensively. Lemaire was the workhorse, winning the faceoffs, and digging pucks out of the scrums and getting the puck to his sharpshooting wingers.

In an interview with the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007, Lemaire gave insight into the importance of a good defensive forward.

"We talked more about defence than offence. It was always there. I remember my first year playing for Toe Blake -- he was always talking about it.

On the bench, he'd be telling us if this guy or that guy didn't come back on defence and he would bench them. You hear people say their team needs more offence and forget defence.

That's crap! Defence is what we talked about. Somebody has to get back and help the defense. We knew we could score enough goals. We didn't want to give goals to the opponent because if they got a goal, we had to get two."

Lemaire’s defensive capabilities made the Canadiens top scoring line even harder to play against, and he never went a season, since his rookie debut in 1967, without scoring less than twenty goals in a season. He’s finish with 365 goals (7th in Habs history) and 469 assists (5th) for 835 points (7th) in 853 regular season games. Lemaire had a career plus/minus of +349.

During the playoffs, Lemaire brought it up another notch. His 139 career playoff points put him second behind Jean Beliveau. He played on eight Stanley Cup winners with the Canadiens.

He had three overtime playoff goals in his career including Cup clinchers in 1977 and 1979. Only five other players have scored more than one overtime Cup winner.

Not positive, but could be Lemaire’s Cup winner in the 1977 Finals.

His 1979 Cup winning goal would be his last in the NHL.

Lemaire retired from the NHL and spent two seasons as a player-coach in Switzerland. He later returned to become head coach with Montreal at the end of the 1983-84 season, taking the team to the Wales Conference Finals. The following season, Montreal finished first in their division, but lost in the second round of the playoffs.

That summer, Lemaire became a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player.

The pressure of coaching in Montreal grew too hard for Lemaire and the following season he moved to the front office to become the Assistant to the Managing Director for eight seasons. The Canadiens would claim two more Stanley Cups (1986, 1993) over that span.

He then took a position as head coach with the New Jersey Devils in 1993 and developed what is now known as the “Trap" System”. He would win the Jack Adams award as coach of the year that season.

Coupled with the goaltending of Martin Brodeur, the Devils won the Stanley Cup in 1995 and Lemaire remained with New Jersey until 1998.

He was hired as the first coach of the Minnesota Wild in 2000, winning a second Adams Award in 2003, remaining there until he stepped down until the spring of 2009, returning to New Jersey.

After one final season with the Devils, he retired as an NHL coach in April of 2010 with 588 wins and a .561 win percentage.

Reader Poll results: Toe Blake's #6 should be retired next

A big thanks to all the readers who voted on this weeks poll to see which Habs legend should be retired next.

It was a close race but Hector "Toe" Blake's #6 got the nod with 31% of the votes.

#6 Hector “Toe” Blake

Though he has 500 wins as a coach with the Canadiens and nine Stanley Cups, Hector “Toe” Blake was one of the greatest players of his era.

He led the NHL in scoring in the 1938-39 season and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

With just two penalty minutes in the 1945-46 season, Blake took the Lady Byng Trophy.

He played on the famous “Punch Line” with Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach, and scored at least 20 goals a season with his linemates.

In thirteen season as a player, Blake won two Stanley Cups and scored 527 points in 569 games.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966.

Blake is already honored in the Canadiens Ring of Honor as well as their Builders’ Row.

Emile "Butch" Bouchard was a close second with 25 percent, followed by Elmer Lach and Jacques Lemaire, who tied for third.

Which Montreal Canadiens number should be the next to be retired?

Fifteen members of the Montreal Canadiens have been honored by having their jersey numbers retired.

The Canadiens acknowledged all of their Hall of Fame players last season by constructing the Ring of Honor around the Bell Centre.

But As the club continues it centennial celebrations, is there room in the Bell Centre rafters for a few more names to hang in the upper echelon?

Here are a few suggestions. I’ve added a link on the players names (below the photo) to the Canadiens “Our History” site profiles.

Before you ask, Saku Koivu is still an active player, so he was excluded from the list.

#3 Emile “Butch” Bouchard

Bouchard played fifteen years (eight as captain) and won four Stanley Cups along the way.

Known for his solid checking and his excellent ability to clear the puck to his forwards, Bouchard was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame 1966.

#6 Hector “Toe” Blake

Though he has 500 wins as a coach with the Canadiens and nine Stanley Cups, Hector “Toe” Blake was one of the greatest players of his era.

He led the NHL in scoring in the 1938-39 season and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

With just two penalty minutes in the 1945-46 season, Blake took the Lady Byng Trophy.

He played on the famous “Punch Line” with Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach, and scoredat least 20 goals a season with his linemates.

In thirteen season as a player, Blake won two Stanley Cups and scored 527 points in 569 games.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1966.

Blake is already honored in the Canadiens Ring of Honor as well as their Builders’ Row.

#16 Elmer Lach

A fourteen year member of the Canadiens.

His 26 goals and 54 assists won the NHL scoring title and Hart Trophy in 1944-45, the same year Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games.

Lach won his second NHL scoring title, receiving the inaugural Art Ross Trophy, in 1947-48.

With three Stanley Cups to his name, he was inducted into the HHOF in 1966.

It’s an outside shot to see #16 retired a second time as Henri Richard’s jersey has already been put to the rafters.

As the oldest living Canadiens Hall of Famer (91, Bouchard is 90) it would be a nice gesture.

#22 Steve Shutt

Inducted into the HHOF in 1993, Steve Shutt’s 408 goals with the Canadiens rank him first for left wingers and fifth in team history.

Shutt is only one of two players to record 60 goals in a season and his nine straight 30 goal seasons remains a franchise record.

He ranks eighth all-time in Canadiens scoring (776 points) and won five Stanley Cups in his thirteen years in Montreal.

#25 Jacques Lemaire

In twelve seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, “Coco” never had a season with less than 20 goals and was an exceptional defensive forward as well.

He ranks in the top ten in franchise scoring with 366 goals (7th), 469 assists (5th) and 835 points (7th).

His 139 points in the playoffs place him second to Jean Beliveau.

Lemaire won eight Stanley Cups with the Canadiens and joined the HHOF in 1984.

#26 Mats Naslund

“Le Petit Viking” only played in eight seasons with the Canadiens, but made the most of it.

He is the last player to record 100 points for the Canadiens and had 612 points (11th all-time) in 617 games with the bleu-blanc et rouge.

Naslund was a member of the 1985-86 Stanley Cup winning team, and took the Lady Byng Trophy in 1987-88.

His five assists in the 1988 All-Star Game is a league record.

Naslund would be an extreme long shot, being he only player in this list that is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

If you have any other worthy suggestions, email me or leave a comment. I will add a profile to the player you suggest.

Carey Price: Looking forward to the new season

Carey Price appeared in before the Montreal media today at the Montreal Canadiens’ annual golf tournament at the Laval-sur-la-lac Golf Club.

“It’s just like old times,” the 22-year-old opened with, referring to the swarm of microphones that surrounded him this morning.

“It’s something I’m getting used to.”

Price said the he was refreshed and took time to reflect on things and prepare mentally for the upcoming season.

He then commented on the off-season house cleaning of the Canadiens at a player an coaching level.

“It’s always hard to see guys leave,” he said. “It’s never easy to see a teammate leave or a bunch of teammates leave.”

“I’ve met all the guys that we’ve acquired and I really  like them. I think we’re going to have a real good chemistry this year.”

Over the summer, new head coach Jacques Martin paid Price a visit during his off-season workouts. The visit left a real positive mark on the young goaltender.

“That was pretty important,” Price said. It gives the players a lot of confidence, especially for myself knowing that he cares about me enough to come all the way to Calgary to see me skate.”

The pair discussed Price’s off-season, what the plans for the upcoming season would be and what Martin expects from his players.

“He understands the position of goaltending,” Price said, noting Martin was a former goalie. “I think having a coach who understands that is going to help me a lot.”

Although goaltending coach Rollie Melanson was dismissed by the Habs, Price had nothing but good thoughts on his former instructor.

“Rollie kinda made me the goalie who I am today,” he said. “He really rounded my game off since I was drafted.”

Price said the moves made on defense (Hal Gill, Paul Mara, Jaroslav Spacek) will help him to deal with the bodies in front of the net, something that led to the destruction of his confidence last year.

“I’ve always loved big defensemen,” he said. “I think the acquisitions we made are going to be really good.”

He will be coming into the summer at the same size as last season and feels that his 2008 summer workouts to get his weight down may have added to wearing him down last season.

Price’s key focus this season will be his better preparation for a game, something he admits he didn’t do as strongly in his career.

It will be a challenging season for the young goalie, factoring in a tightened schedule this year, due to the Olympics, a RFA season as well as a very capable Jaroslav Halak looking over his shoulder in the event he should falter.