AFTER MAKING HIS PROFESSIONAL DEBUT IN THE WHA , RIGHT WINGER MARK NAPIER SHOWCASED HIS TALENTS IN MONTREAL, POSTING TWO 40 GOAL SEASONS WITH THE CANADIENS.

Mark Napier’s amateur career ended at the age of 18, the result of the young right-winger’s dominating offensive talents. A speedy forward who could bury the puck with the frequency of a veteran, he picked up 160 points in 1974-75 and capped off his spring with a Memorial Cup Championship.

After his stellar play in junior, the WHA came calling. Napier signed on with his hometown Toronto Toros and soon proved that he belonged in the pro ranks. His 43-goal, 93-point season earned him the league’s 1976 Rookie of the Year award. The Toros moved to Birmingham, becoming the Bulls to start 1976-77. Napier went with them, lighting the lamp 60 times.

Eligible for the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft, the 20-year-old Napier’s rights were claimed by Montreal. He joined them in time to start the 1978-79 season and, wearing the number 31 on his back, saw action in 54 games. Playing against the stiffer NHL competition, Napier scored 11 times in his rookie campaign and added three more tallies in the postseason.

His first Stanley Cup Championship, in the spring of 1979, was the fourth and final of the Habs’ consecutive triumphs in the late 1970s. Seeing more ice time as the 1980s arrived, Napier scored 16 goals in his second year and more than doubled that number in 1980-81.

Established as one of the team’s top snipers, Napier notched 40 goals in each of his last two seasons with the Canadiens. Playing in the long shadow of Guy Lafleur, Napier still managed to bring the Forum crowd to its feet on several occasions.

After scoring 145 goals and assisting on 159 others in his 367 regular season games in Montreal, Napier was traded to Minnesota shortly after the curtain opened on the 1983-84 campaign. Fifteen months later, he was dealt to Edmonton and figured prominently in that spring’s Stanley Cup Championship, recording 10 points in postseason play.

In 1985-86, his only full season as an Oiler, Napier passed the 20-goal benchmark for the fifth time and was on the move again before the end of the next campaign. This time, he was headed to Buffalo, where he played until the spring of 1988.

Not ready to call it quits, Napier spent four years in Italy before coming back over the Atlantic. He also spent two years coaching the OHA St. Mike’s Majors in the late 1990s.

Still playing on a regular basis, Napier frequently skates with NHL Old-timers in charity games and has served as Executive Director of the NHL Alumni Association.

Eligible to play for either side in the Old-timers confrontation between Habs and Oilers of the past at 2003 Heritage Classic played outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium, Napier took to the ice sporting the bleu, blanc, rouge he wore for the best years of his career.