A RUGGED BLUE-LINER WHO WOULD OFTEN JUMP IN THE OFFENSIVE RUSH, JEAN-GUY TALBOT SUITED UP FOR MORE THAN 700 GAMES FOR THE CANADIENS.

One of a dozen men who played on all five Stanley Cup Championship teams from 1956 through 1960, Jean-Guy Talbot spent a total of 13 seasons on the Montreal blue line. His name is engraved seven times on hockey’s Holy Grail.

The 5-foot-11 rearguard spent his junior career with the Trois-Rivieres Reds and, at age 20, joined the Quebec Aces. Talbot spent two seasons in Quebec City, playing alongside Jean Beliveau the first year before moving to the Shawinigan Cataracts in 1954-55.

A tough and physical defenseman, Talbot made the team out of training camp in the fall of 1955 and would be a mainstay of the Montreal powerhouses of the 1950s and 1960s. Sometimes overlooked in the shadows cast by the many future Hall of Fame rearguards he played with, Talbot was always there when the team needed him.

The Cap-de-la-Madeleine native contributed at both ends of the rink. He dished out bone-rattling bodychecks that made entering the Canadiens' zone a risky endeavor for opposing forwards. There was a price to pay for standing in front of the Montreal net and Talbot extracted it, levelling forwards and causing them to think twice before repeating their actions.

Emerging from most confrontations in possession of the puck, he was one of the best in the league at launching Montreal’s feared counter-attack. An able skater and precise passer, Talbot was a solid two-way performer.

Playing for Toe Blake was serious business and great things were expected of the players. It was not easy to perform night after night for the most demanding hockey fans in the world but Talbot played as big a role in the dressing room as on the ice. When things got tense and the team needed a good laugh, Talbot was one of the men teammates turned to.

As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, Talbot, who learned the ropes at the feet of Doug Harvey and Tom Johnson, became a steadying influence on the new additions to the defense corps. Jacques Laperrière, Jean-Claude Tremblay, Terry Harper and Ted Harris all benefited from Talbot’s veteran presence as Montreal won Stanley Cups in both 1965 and 1966.

After 791 games with Montreal, Talbot was picked up by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. He is 18th in all-time games played and sits 12th on the Canadiens' all-time penalty minutes list with 884 minutes.

Living out of a suitcase, Talbot divided the first year of the 12-team NHL between Minnesota, Detroit and St. Louis, where he found a home for the next few seasons before winding down his playing career in Buffalo.

Stepping behind the bench, Talbot returned to the NHL as a coach with both the Blues and the Rangers in the 1970s.

An arena in Jean-Guy Talbot’s hometown of Cap-de-la-Madeleine bears his name.