CRACKING THE CANADIENS’ LINEUP AS AN 18-YEAR-OLD, MARIO TREMBLAY DEVELOPED INTO ONE OF THE BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARDS IN THE LEAGUE DURING HIS 12 SEASONS WITH THE TEAM.

The term “worker” more than adequately describes the type of player that Mario Tremblay was. The right-winger rarely took an evening off during a 10-year NHL career - all spent with the Canadiens - and was universally regarded by his teammates as one of the most dogged competitors around.

The “Bionic Blueberry”, so nicknamed due to his Lac-St-Jean birthplace, took part in five Stanley Cup conquests, four in a row between 1976 and 1979 and again in 1986. Sidelined by a shoulder injury suffered on March 17 in a collision with Quebec Nordiques defenseman Robert Picard, Tremblay was unable to answer the call in the 1986 playoffs.

The injury forced him to hang up his skates the next September and, after working in radio and television for several years, Tremblay returned to the fold, named Canadiens head coach in 1994, a post he would hold for two seasons

Born in Alma, Quebec on September 2, 1956, Mario Tremblay joined the Canadiens at the 1974 Amateur Draft. Chosen 12th overall, he made his NHL debut the following season at the age of 18.

During his sophomore season, Tremblay was matched with Doug Risebrough and Yvon Lambert, both recent graduates to the big club. It turned out to be one of coach Scotty Bowman’s best decisions and paid dividends for the Canadiens in the 1975-76 campaign, with the three combining to form a feisty, two-way trio that played a major role in the first of four consecutive Stanley Cup titles.

During the 1978 Stanley Cup Finals against Boston, Tremblay took matters into his own hands in the fifth game, potting the marker that kept the Stanley Cup in Montreal for a third straight year.

A player who never backed down, Tremblay played a part in one of the NHL’s most unruly moments, the sixth game of the Adams Division Final between Montreal and Quebec, on April 20, that has been tagged the “Good Friday Massacre”. He was tossed from the game for his manhandling of Peter Stastny during the violent bench-clearing brawl that also saw teammates Chris Nilan, Mark Hunter, Mike McPhee and Richard Sévigny get sent to the showers for their parts in the proceedings.

The 1982-83 Molson Cup recipient maintained a career-long reputation as a player who could take care of business at either end of the rink. Even without Lafleur’s hands and Cournoyer’s speed, Tremblay managed to put five 25-goal seasons into the record book, picking up 60 or more points four times.

After taking part in 953 games in a Montreal sweater, Mario Tremblay accepted GM Réjean Houle’s offer and took over the coaching reins from Jacques Demers shortly after the start of the 1994-95 schedule. Tremblay ran the Canadiens bench for 159 regular season games, compiling a record of 71 wins and 63 losses, as tough and demanding with his team as he had been on himself in his playing days.

Always a model for teammates to emulate in terms of passion for the game and devotion to his job, Tremblay’s experience and enthusiasm has benefited the Minnesota’s young players for eight seasons. Hired by former linemate amd Wild GM Doug Risebrough, he has served as assistant coach under Jacques Lemaire until 2008-09. He joined Lemaire on the Devils' coaching staff in July 2009.