#111 - Guy Lapointe

Guy Lapointe (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #111)

Adjusted Stats

1968-1969   Mtl*      1 GP     0 goals     0 assists     0 points       0.00 PPG (no Stanley Cup ring for Lapointe)
1969-1970   Mtl        5 GP     0 goals     0 assists     0 points       0.00 PPG
1970-1971   Mtl*      82 GP   16 goals   30 assists   46 points     0.56 PPG
1971-1972   Mtl        73 GP   12 goals   40 assists   52 points     0.71 PPG
1972-1973   Mtl*      80 GP   19 goals   35 assists   53 points     0.67 PPG
1973-1974   Mtl        75 GP   13 goals   40 assists   54 points     0.72 PPG
1974-1975   Mtl        82 GP   26 goals   43 assists   69 points     0.84 PPG
1975-1976   Mtl*      79 GP   19 goals   43 assists   63 points     0.80 PPG
1976-1977   Mtl*      79 GP   24 goals   48 assists   72 points     0.91 PPG
1977-1978   Mtl*      50 GP   12 goals   28 assists   40 points     0.80 PPG
1978-1979   Mtl*      71 GP   12 goals   38 assists   50 points     0.70 PPG
1979-1980   Mtl        46 GP   5 goals     18 assists   23 points     0.51 PPG
1980-1981   Mtl        34 GP   1 goal      7 assists     8 points       0.24 PPG
1981-1982   Mtl/Stl   56 GP   1 goal      20 assists   20 points     0.36 PPG
1982-1983   Stl         55 GP   2 goals     19 assists   21 points     0.38 PPG
1983-1984   Bos       46 GP   2 goals     13 assists   14 points     0.31 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1970-1971   Mtl*      20 GP   4 goals     5 assists     8 points      0.41 PPG
1971-1972   Mtl        6 GP     0 goals     1 assist       1 point       0.16 PPG
1972-1973   Mtl*      17 GP   5 goals     6 assists     12 points    0.68 PPG
1973-1974   Mtl        6 GP     0 goals     2 assists     2 points      0.33 PPG
1974-1975   Mtl        11 GP   5 goals     4 assists     9 points      0.83 PPG
1975-1976   Mtl*      13 GP   3 goals     3 assists     6 points      0.45 PPG
1976-1977   Mtl*      12 GP   3 goals     8 assists     11 points    0.88 PPG
1977-1978   Mtl*      14 GP   1 goal       6 assists     7 points     0.49 PPG
1978-1979   Mtl*      10 GP   2 goals     5 assists      7 points     0.73 PPG
1979-1980   Mtl        2 GP     0 goals     0 assists      0 points     0.00 PPG
1980-1981   Mtl        1 GP     0 goals     0 assists      0 points     0.00 PPG
1981-1982   Stl         7 GP      1 goal      0 assists      1 point      0.11 PPG
1982-1983   Stl         4 GP      0 goals     1 assist       1 point      0.20 PPG


Career - 914 GP, 164 goals, 422 assists, 585 points, 0.64 PPG
Career-Highs - 26 goals (74-75); 48 assists (76-77); 72 points (76-77); 0.91 PPG (76-77)
Avg. (14 seasons) - 65 GP, 12 goals, 30 assists, 42 points, 0.64 PPG
Peak Avg. (71-79) - 74 GP, 17 goals, 39 assists, 57 points, 0.77 PPG, 5 Cups

Playoff Career - 123 GP, 24 goals, 41 assists, 65 points, 0.53 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 5 goals (74-75); 8 assists (76-77); 12 points (72-73); 0.88 PPG (76-77)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 3-time 2nd-team
6-time Stanley Cup Champion

During one of the richest decades for defencemen in NHL history, the 1970s, Guy Lapointe managed to emerge as one of the elite blueliners in the league for about a decade. Along with Larry Robinson and Serge Savard, he formed a powerful trio that made up quite possibly the best blueline corps any team has ever had. Lapointe is not ranked higher because his peak was briefer than those of some of his rivals. With only 914 career games played, he wasn't around for long enough to earn a spot in the top 100 on my Pyramid, but his accomplishments are still hall-of-fame worthy.

In his book The Game, Ken Dryden points out that for a good period of time in the early-to-mid 1970s, Lapointe was considered one of the most complete defencemen in the league. The numbers bare this out: he was always good for 50+ points (and 60+ as the team started to turn into a dynasty) and a sterling +/- (+31 per 82 games played for his career). However, according to Dryden, Lapointe was also valuable in the dressing room as something of a prankster who kept the atmosphere light. This may seem negligible, but considering that the Canadiens were playing in hockey-mad Montreal and wrestling with the pressure of being an elite team with high expectations, a jokester like Lapointe was absolutely necessary to keep them winning.

Lapointe's four-year stretch from 1974 to 1978 is pretty much as good as it gets for a two-way defenceman: an average of 61 points and a +56, with Lapointe peaking (as so many Canadiens did) in that magical 1976-1977 season with 72 points and a +69 for the team that I consider to be the greatest in NHL history. As with the other members of that great Canadiens' team that are on my Pyramid, I give big points to people who peaked at the time that a dynasty was getting underway.

It is that stretch that earns Lapointe his place on my list, but the fact that he never played over 56 games after 1979 is what prevents him from being in the area of a Pronger or even his rival Brad Park, who didn't enjoy the team success Lapointe did but earns points for being so highly regarded by his peers. Still, even if Lapointe's injuries caught up with him, he has the distinction of being one of the premium defencemen in the league for the greatest team in the league for a period of about six or seven years. That's long enough.