THOUGH HE PLAYED A ROBUST GAME, PIERRE BOUCHARD RARELY DROPPED THE GLOVES; HIS TOWERING FRAME DETERRED MOST OF HIS OPPONENTS.

Nicknamed “Baby Butch” after his father, who enjoyed a Hall of Fame career on the Canadiens’ blue line, Pierre Bouchard spent eight years as a rearguard with Montreal, an important cog in the machine that dominated the NHL in the 1970s.

Chosen with the fifth pick in the 1965 Amateur Draft, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman spent his junior year with the Montreal Nationale and Montreal Junior Canadiens before turning pro at 19. After a year of seasoning each with the AHL’s Cleveland Barons and Montreal Voyageurs, Bouchard cracked the Canadiens lineup at the start of the 1970-71 campaign.

Playing behind long-established teammates, Bouchard brought an element of toughness to the blue line corps. His rookie season ended with one of the Canadiens’ most unexpected Stanley Cup Championships in the spring of 1971. Despite being in a transition year, the Habs captured the Cup, earning Bouchard the first of his five mentions on the venerable trophy.

Rewarded with more ice time as he matured, Bouchard played a clean but hard-hitting brand of hockey. A policeman who served as a deterrent rather than an enforcer, he rarely went looking for trouble, sent to the penalty box far less frequently than many of his counterparts throughout the league.

As the 1970s advanced and the Canadiens’ “The Big Three” of Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe came to the forefront as the NHL’s premier offensive defensemen, Bouchard soldiered on in his familiar defensive role. A traditional stay-at-home blue-liner who used strength and positioning to make up for a lack of speed, he was a consistent, reliable presence for the Canadiens throughout the decade.

Rarely a threat to make it onto the score sheet, Bouchard picked up three points in his rookie campaign and increased his totals until he was producing on average a dozen points a year. In his 489 regular season games with the Habs, Bouchard totalled 16 goals and 66 assists. He also scored three and assisted on 10 others in 76 postseason games.

An outgoing man with a wonderful sense of humor, Bouchard made contributions to the Canadiens which went far beyond his on-ice efforts. The expectations of Montreal’s hockey fans often made the city a pressure cooker for players and Bouchard’s drolleries provided a welcome reprieve, allowing teammates to shift their focus elsewhere.

A second Stanley Cup came Bouchard’s way in 1973 and he was part of three consecutive championship squads from 1976 through 1978. Claimed off waivers by the Capitals prior to the 1978-79 season, Bouchard finished his career in Washington, retiring in 1982 to concentrate on a post-playing career in business and broadcasting.