Three Candidates For The Next Retired Canadiens Number
When your franchise wins 24 Stanley Cups (or 25 depending on which historian you speak with), you’re bound to have a plethora of candidates for number retirement. The Montreal Canadiens have honored 18 players through 15 numbers, the most in the NHL, by having their names and numbers floating the rafters of the Montreal Forum and eventually the Bell Center.
Amazingly, there are still a good number of players that are deserving of such treatment. While modern players such as Saku Koivu, Andrei Markov and perhaps Carey Price might get recognition someday, there are players of an older generation that are more deserving at this point.
The Canadiens have always used the prerequisite that a player must be part of the Hall of Fame in order for their number to be retired, so we will do the same.
Without further ado, here are three players that should have had their numbers retired already.
Steve Shut #22
Drafted: 1972 Montreal 1st Round, 4th Overall
NHL Totals: 930 GP 424 Goals 393 Assists 817 Points
MTL Totals: 871 GP 408 Goals 368 Assists 776 Points
Hall Of Fame: 1993
Some Other Notable Players To Have Worn #22: John Ferguson, Benoit Brunet, Steve Begin, Dale Weise, Cole Caufield
Steve Shutt is the name that comes up the most often when talking about the next retired jersey. His resume is just phenomenal. 5 Stanley Cups, a 3 time All-Star, tied with Guy Lafleur for most goals in a season by a Montreal Canadiens with 60 (the first left winger in NHL history to do so) and member of Team Canada in 1976.
Shutt gets some flack for playing on the same line as Guy Lafleur and some people think his statistics were inflated as a result. Regardless, Shutt scored 30 or more goals in 9 consecutive seasons and was an integral part of the Canadiens’ dominance of the 1970’s. Also noteworthy was Shutt’s powerplay presence as he was used almost exclusively at the point in favor of another defenceman, a practice that wasn’t as commonly used in those days.
Despite his blazing slap shot and high hockey IQ, Shutt was especially known for digging in many “garbage goals” through his career. He had the tenacity that could be comparable to Brendan Gallagher as a modern example.
Shutt was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in November of 1984 for future compensations that never happened. He was then claimed off waivers by the Canadiens in the summer of 1985, but by then Shutt announced his retirement at age 32.
Jacques Lemaire #25
Drafted: Signed As An Undrafted Free Agent In 1967
NHL Totals: 930 GP 424 Goals 393 Assists 817 Points
Hall Of Fame: 1984
Some Other Notable Players To Have Worn #25: Petr Svoboda, Vincent Damphousse, Ryan Poehling
Had the Selke trophy exist prior to its inaugural season in 1977-78, Jacques Lemaire might have won five or six of them.
The slick centerman got used to winning almost on a yearly basis, having won eight Stanley Cups during his 12 year career, all with the Canadiens. Believe it or not, he sits tied in 5th place for most Cups won by a player, trailing a pack of former Canadiens in Claude Provost (9), Yvan Cournoyer (10), Jean Beliveau (10) and Henri Richard (11).
He would also score two Stanley Cup winning goals.
Ironically, it’s an injury to Henri Richard that would put Lemaire down the middle in his rookie season, as he was a winger for the entirety of his playing career. That year he would finish second in the Calder Trophy race behind Derek Sanderson of the Boston Bruins.
Much like Shutt, arguments of him playing with Guy Lafleur are used to deny him of a jersey retirement. However, the 1984 Hall of Famer was one of the reasons the Canadiens dominated the 70’s along with Shutt and Lafleur as his wingers, playing one of the most trailblazing two-way game hockey has ever seen.
Lemaire gave Lafleur that extra space and wings. Their sportsmanship as well as their skills complemented each other perfectly, while Steve Shutt closed things off to complete the deadly trio.
However, under Scotty Bowman, Lemaire would spend the bulk of the early 70’s on a line between Pete Mahovlich and Yvan Cournoyer. It was then that he was started to be used heavily on the penalty kill and recognized as one of the game’s best players without the puck. When he was ultimately penciled in with Shutt and Lafleur, fans of a certain generation were reminiscent of the Punch Line of Elmer Lach, Toe Blake and Maurice “Rocket” Richard.
Lemaire flew under the radar a bit due to his consistency. In his 12 years in the NHL he scored at least 20 goals in each season and only dropped under 50 points once, and that was during his rookie season when he tallied 42 points.
At the end of the 1978-79, Lemaire, then 33, was offered a 5 year $1.25 million contract. Surprisingly, he rejected the offer and went off to sign a 3 year contract with HC Sierre of the Swiss League, making him a player, coach and General Manager. The contract also guaranteed him $75,000 annually tax free. Lemaire was quoted saying of the move “I always wanted to do something reckless, have an adventure, see how other people live, discover something new. Well, that time is now. I’ve always been interested in coaching, and when this opportunity presented itself, it seemed like the perfect thing,”
Lemaire would end up playing two seasons where he tallied 42 goals and 29 assists for 71 points in 40 games.
The Lasalle, QC native would return to the NHL during the 1983-84 season where he was assistant coach to Bob Berry. He would then replace Berry as Head Coach with 17 games to the season. Following the 1984-85 season, Lemaire would leave coaching and become the Canadiens’ assistant general manager, a position he held until 1993. Following the team’s Cup victory, Lemaire was hired as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils where he would lift the Stanley Cup for the 11th time in total in 1996.
Lemaire is currently a part-time Special Assignment Coach for the New York Islanders since 2018. He had previous held the same position with the Toronto Maple Leafs since 2015 under Lou Lamoriello only to eventually follow him to Long Island.
Jacques Lemaire is listed as one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players Of All Time.
Guy Carbonneau #21
Drafted: 1979 3rd Round, 44th overall
NHL Totals: 1318 GP 260 Goals 403 Assists 663 Points
MTL Totals: 912 GP 221 Goals 326 Assists 547 Points
Hall Of Fame: 2019
Some Other Notable Players To Have Worn #21: Doug Jarvis, Chris Higgins, Brian Gionta, Eric Staal
The last captain to hoist the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. The 1993 conquest was his second Stanley Cup with the team as he was part of that fairy tale 1986 squad that stumped the NHL as well. He would go on to win a third Cup as part of the Dallas Stars in 1999.
Carbonneau was the modern day Bob Gainey. His pre-30 years saw him accomplish yearly 20 goals as well as elite defensive skills while patrolling center ice. Even as his offensive skills dwindled, Carbonneau was still in elite form defensively and was a prime choice for defensive zone duties.
The 2019 Hall of Famer would go on to win three Selke Trophies, although it could have easily been four as he was narrowingly beat by St. Louis Blues centerman Rick Meagher in the 89-90 season by only 5 votes. Carbonneau had already won 2 consecutive Selke’s the previous seasons.
He was also an extremely respected leader not only due for risking his body on the ice but for being a no nonsense teammate that expected the best out of everyone.
Despite his success with the Canadiens as a player, Carbonneau was ousted and traded to the St. Louis Blues during the 1994 offseason in return for Jim Montgomery, merely 14 months after the Canadiens won their last Stanley Cup. Team President Ronald Corey forced then General Manager Serge Savard to rid of Carbonneau at any price after the captain was photographed on a golf course giving “the finger” to a nearby paparazzi. Corey, who was notorious for protecting the “image’ of the Canadiens and under constant scrutiny by the Molson management team, quickly scrambled to rid of this issue before further damage was done. Corey had acted similarly vis-a-vis Patrick Roy the following year.
Carbonneau would return to the team as head coach in 2006. He led the team to 90 and 104 point seasons and made the second round of the playoffs after winning the division in his sophomore season. He continued to show his fiery emotions even as a coach and wasn’t afraid to show his inner Pat Burns and blow fuses at the media for asking repetitive and inane questions.
Despite being 2nd in the division with 77 points in 66 games, then General Manager Bob Gainey inexplicably fired Carbonneau as coach, further questioning his place within the team’s history as a person.
The team has honored him with a celebration after he was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He is currently an in-studio analyst for RDS.