A RELIABLE AND STURDY DEFENSEMAN, JACQUES LAPERRIÈRE SPENT HIS ENTIRE CAREER WITH THE CANADIENS, CAPTURING FIVE STANLEY CUPS.

Calm and unflappable, Jacques Laperriere played every one of his nearly 700 games with the Canadiens. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 1963-64, establishing himself as a blue line fixture for the next decade.

Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing in at 190 pounds, “Lappy” was one of the bigger men in the league. He could mix it up if need be but preferred not to. Unlike most players of his size, Laperrière chose brains over brawn, an approach that served him well throughout his career.

Never a high scoring offensive performer, Laperrière used his ability to anticipate the play to great advantage, usually defusing potential threats before they could materialize. With long arms even for a man of his height, Laperrière had an incredible reach, which he used to break up oncoming attacks without having to lay the body.

Laperrière’s stay-at-home style played a major role in half a dozen Stanley Cup Championships in the 1960s and 1970s. His accurate passing was essential to the team’s lightning-fast ability to turn the game around and counter-attack.

Laperrière’s best postseason performance came in 1970-71. He went on an uncharacteristic scoring spree, notching four goals and assisting on nine others in the 20 games preceding the Canadiens’ eventual Stanley Cup triumph.

The Finals that year saw the Canadiens emerge victorious over the Chicago Blackhawks. Laperrière played the last five games of the series with a broken bone in his arm, adding four assists to his total, with three of them coming after suffering the fracture.

Playing through pain was an ongoing reality for Laperrière – just part of the job. Injuries plagued Laperrière throughout his career, forcing him to miss almost 100 games over the course of his 10 seasons with the Canadiens. A leg injury suffered shortly after the midway mark of the 1973-74 calendar forced the four-time All-Star to retire at the age of 32.

In 1981-82, Laperrière rejoined the Canadiens, this time as an assistant coach. He spent 16 years behind the Habs bench, serving under six different head coaches while developing many of the youngsters who followed in his footsteps. His name was engraved twice more on the Stanley Cup following the Canadiens’ 1986 and 1993 championship seasons.

He also spent time behind the bench in Boston and in New Jersey.
Jacques Laperrière was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. An arena in his hometown of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec has been named in his honor.