The Time Guy Lafleur Played With Joe Sakic And Mats Sundin

In a series of articles where we honor Guy Lafleur, we now look back at the time where Quebec Nordiques fans celebrated having #10 with their team.

June 16th, 1989 will probably go down as one of the greatest dates for all fans of the Quebec Nordiques.

Michel Bergeron would make his comeback as head coach of the Quebec Nordiques after two seasons with the New York Rangers. One of his first demands when signing his contract was “I want Guy Lafleur”.

On that June day, the rights to pending free agent Guy Lafleur was sent to the Quebec Nordiques. In return the Rangers would get the Nordiques’ 1990 5th round pick. The Rangers would select a future Hall of Famer in defenceman Sergei Zubov with that pick.

Lafleur was 38 at the time and it didn’t take much convincing to sign the Thurso native to a contract. He was happy to have one last round of hockey with Quebec.

The Hall of Famer would join two other star veterans in Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet, who represented the face of the franchise during the 1980’s. Lafleur would also be joining a rising star in Joe Sakic, who was set to play his sophomore year in the NHL.

Despite having these four stars up front, the celebration was short lived as the Nordiques would end up having one of their worst seasons in franchise history. Quebec would finish with an abysmal 12-61-7 record and give up a franchise worst 407 goals split between seven different goaltenders.

The injury bug was spread twofold as 49 different players donned the blue and white Fleur-de-Lys  jersey that season. Lafleur wasn’t spared as he only appeared in 39 games that season, but still finished with a respectable 12 goals and 22 assists for 34 points, producing at a near point per game.

Joe Sakic would be the only true star of the team as he exploded with 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points. This would be the first of six career 100 points seasons for Burnaby Joe. Fun fact: Sakic wore #88 in his rookie season before switching to #19.

That season would also be the last where we would see Lafleur show us flashes of his youth. Le Demond Blond was clearly slowing down but was still able to give a show and lift fans off their feet.

At the conclusion of the season, the Los Angeles Kings were reported to have offered a $1 million contract. Lafleur rejected the deal and ultimately signed another one year deal with the Nordiques.

The 1990-91 season wouldn’t be any better for the Nordiques. After clearing the bench of Michel Bergeron and assistants Guy Lapointe and Alain Chainey, the team would bring in Dave Chambers to coach the squad along with Jacques Martin and Robbie Ftorek as his assistants.

Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet were traded away a day apart and the 1989 first overall pick in Mats Sundin was ready to make his NHL debut.

The team had an incredible group of young and up and coming superstars in Sakic, Sundin and Owen Nolan then 18 years old. A 22 year old Ron Tugnutt would be given the starting goaltending job.

All that wasn’t enough as the team finished with another dreadful 16-50-14 record. Lafleur would play 59 games but the game was officially starting to get too quick for the aging legend. He would finish the year with 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points.

In a scenario only Hollywood can come up with, Guy Lafleur would score his 560th and final career goal against his former team the Montreal Canadiens. At the Montreal Forum no less.

That summer the Minnesota North Stars partook in an expansion draft and selected Lafleur with their 20th and final pick. The North Stars quickly attempted to sign the Hall of Famer to a contract but Lafleur rejected it claiming he was going to retire. The very next day, Lafleur’s rights were traded back to the Nordiques in return for Alan Haworth, respecting Lafleur’s wishes to retire as a member of the Quebec Nordiques.

In 98 games in La Belle Province’s capital, Lafleur would score 24 goals and 38 assists for 62 points. Considering he was pushing 40 and playing for a mediocre team, these are very respectable numbers.

Lafleur will always be remembered as one of the greatest to wear a Montreal Canadiens jersey. However, his epilogue with the Rangers and Nordiques are not to be ignored. He proved to the world that he still had it and fans across North America had a treat before their eyes as they saw the legendary #10 perform one last time.

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