Henri Richard

Joseph Henri Richard (February 29, 1936 – March 6, 2020) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played centre with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1955 to 1975. He was nicknamed "Pocket Rocket" after his older brother, Canadiens' legend and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Henri played his entire professional career with the Canadiens and won the Stanley Cup 11 times as a player, the most in NHL history. Richard and Bill Russell of the National Basketball Association are tied for the record of the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. In 2017, Richard was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Early life Henri Richard was born on February 29, 1936, in Montreal, the seventh of eight children of Alice (Laramée) and Onésime Richard. His father worked as a machinist for the Canadian Pacific Railway, specifically at the Angus Yards. His older brother Maurice Richard played hockey for the Montreal Canadiens beginning in 1942, when Henri was six years old. Maurice Richard quickly became a superstar player for the Canadiens, earning the nickname Rocket Richard, and Henri Richard wished to emulate his brother and go into hockey. Henri joined the junior Montreal Canadiens as a 15 year old, and led the Quebec junior in scoring for two consecutive seasons before being promoted to the NHL.

Playing career

Henri Richard began his professional career playing on the same team as his older, more famous brother; and comparisons between himself and his brother were easy to make. He was nicknamed "Pocket Rocket" while still a junior in reference to his brother's nickname "Rocket Richard," as well as the fact that Henri Richard was shorter than his brother. The two Richard brothers' style of play was quite different. Maurice Richard was famous for driving at the net with brute force; however, Henri Richard preferred tactical playmaking and outthinking the opponent. Maurice shot left; Henri shot right. Maurice was a prodigious goal-scorer, the first to score 50 goals in 50 games, and led the league in goals on five occasions. Henri led the league in assists twice, in 1957–58 and in 1962–63.

Initially, Montreal Canadiens coach Toe Blake kept the two Richard brothers apart on the ice, fearing that his star Maurice Richard would give up goalscoring opportunities to his younger brother. However, one game against Chicago a couple of injuries forced Blake to play the Richard brothers together, and Henri assisted Maurice on a goal in the third period, and from then on he played the brothers together on a line with hall-of-famer Dickie Moore. Initially, Maurice would watch out for his brother, and go after anyone who pushed his younger brother around; but after Henri won a fight while Maurice was stuck in the penalty box, Maurice realized that his brother could take care of himself, and stopped looking out for him. Toe Blake later said that playing with Henri forced Maurice to become a better player, and helped prolong Maurice's career. Later in 1958, when Maurice Richard was injured, Toe Blake moved Marcel Bonin to the line to take Maurice's place, and Henri Richard's line continued to produce goals, showing the world that Maurice Richard was not simply carrying his little brother. In the 1971 Stanley Cup Final, Richard scored the game-tying and Stanley Cup-winning goals in Game Seven against the Chicago Black Hawks.

The 1971 Stanley Cup Final was a particularly controversial moment for Richard, as he was benched in game five by head coach Al MacNeil on May 13, 1971. After the game, in front of reporters in the Canadiens' dressing room, Richard went on to call MacNeil "the worst coach I have ever played for. ... He is incompetent." His comments resulted in MacNeil getting death threats and requiring police protection for him and his family during the rest of the series. Despite winning the Stanley Cup, MacNeil did not have much choice except to resign as the Canadiens coach on June 10, 1971, and was replaced by Scotty Bowman. MacNeil became the general manager and head coach of their top farm team, the American Hockey League's Nova Scotia Voyageurs. Another surprise, captain Jean Beliveau retired on June 9, 1971. With the captaincy now open, Richard was then elected as the team captain in mid-September 1971. By 1974, MacNeil and Richard reconciled. However, he insisted that the over $111,000 in donations collected for the event, be contributed towards the construction of a gymnasium for St. Arsene Orphanage on rue Cristophe-Colomb. His brother, Maurice, made his first appearance at the Forum in almost a decade, after a feud with the Canadiens organization, and received a warm welcome from the fans.

Henri Richard served as captain of the Canadiens from 1971 until his retirement on July 14, 1975. He was the ninth player to reach 1,000 career points, with 358 goals and 688 assists in 1,256 games. His 1,256 regular-season games played in a Canadiens uniform are a franchise record. Henri also scored two Stanley Cup-winning goals, one of five players to have done so.

A few months after he announced his retirement, the Canadiens retired his jersey, number 16, at a pre-game ceremony on December 10, 1975. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979. He later served as an ambassador for the Canadiens' organization.

Private life and death Richard met his wife, the former Lise Villiard, when they were only six-years-old. They were skating buddies and as he told The Gazette in a feature interview before his 1974 tribute night, "We'd be on the rink for an hour and a half or two hours and I'd never say anything. She'd do the talking, I'd do the listening." When he wanted to retire from running the business, he hoped to pass it on to one of his children, but none of them wanted to operate it, so he sold it in 1986. He died on March 6, 2020, at the age of 84 due to complications of the disease, in Laval, Quebec. Richard's son Denis revealed that he had been posthumously diagnosed with stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Career statistics

Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1951–52 Montreal Nationale QJHL 49 23 32 55 35 4 1 0 1 0 1952–53 Montreal Nationale QJHL 46 27 36 63 55 7 4 5 9 4 1952–53 Montreal Royals QSHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1953–54 Montreal Jr. Canadiens QJHL 54 56 53 109 85 7 6 7 13 6 1954–55 Montreal Jr. Canadiens QJHL 44 33 33 66 65 4 3 1 4 2 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens NHL 64 19 21 40 46 10 4 4 8 21 1956–57 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 18 36 54 71 10 2 6 8 10 1957–58 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 28 52 80 56 10 1 7 8 11 1958–59 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 21 30 51 33 11 3 8 11 13 1959–60 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 30 43 73 66 8 3 9 12 9 1960–61 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 24 44 68 91 6 2 4 6 22 1961–62 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 21 29 50 48 — — — — — 1962–63 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 23 50 73 57 5 1 1 2 2 1963–64 Montreal Canadiens NHL 66 14 39 53 73 7 1 1 2 9 1964–65 Montreal Canadiens NHL 53 23 29 52 43 13 7 4 11 24 1965–66 Montreal Canadiens NHL 62 22 39 61 47 8 1 4 5 2 1966–67 Montreal Canadiens NHL 65 21 34 55 28 10 4 6 10 2 1967–68 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 9 19 28 16 13 4 4 8 4 1968–69 Montreal Canadiens NHL 64 15 37 52 45 14 2 4 6 8 1969–70 Montreal Canadiens NHL 62 16 36 52 61 — — — — — 1970–71 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 12 37 49 46 20 5 7 12 20 1971–72 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 12 32 44 48 6 0 3 3 4 1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 71 8 35 43 21 17 6 4 10 14 1973–74 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 19 36 55 28 6 2 2 4 2 1974–75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 16 3 10 13 4 6 1 2 3 4 NHL totals 1,256 358 688 1,046 928 180 49 80 129 181

Career statistics taken from NHL.com.

Achievements NHL Award Year(s) All-Star Game 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1967, 1974 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy 1974 First All-Star team 1958 Second All-Star team 1959, 1961, 1963 Stanley Cup champion 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973

Awards taken from EliteProspects.com.