In the 1971 Amateur Draft, Lafleur was selected in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens. When he was drafted, it was with high expectations. He was to save the struggling franchise. Though he scored at least fifty points in each of his first three seasons, he did not post brilliant numbers until the mid-1970s.
When Lafleur's contract with the Canadiens expired in 1974, he had an offer to join the World Hockey League's Quebec Nordiques. Though he did not take the offer, it would have removed him from the pressure of expectations of the Canadiens. Instead he plowed through, refusing to be intimated by those who played tough defense on him. Lafleur continued to develop his own strong defensive skills to complement his artistic offensive skills.
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments Add a comment…