Henri Richard (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #48)
Adjusted Stats
1955-1956 Mtl* 75 GP 27 goals 30 assists 57 points 0.76 PPG
1956-1957 Mtl* 74 GP 24 goals 48 assists 72 points 0.98 PPG
1957-1958 Mtl* 78 GP 36 goals 67 assists 103 points 1.31 PPG
1958-1959 Mtl* 74 GP 26 goals 37 assists 63 points 0.86 PPG
1959-1960 Mtl* 82 GP 37 goals 53 assists 89 points 1.09 PPG
1960-1961 Mtl 82 GP 29 goals 53 assists 82 points 1.00 PPG
1961-1962 Mtl 63 GP 25 goals 35 assists 60 points 0.95 PPG
1962-1963 Mtl 78 GP 28 goals 61 assists 88 points 1.13 PPG
1963-1964 Mtl 77 GP 18 goals 51 assists 69 points 0.89 PPG
1964-1965 Mtl* 62 GP 29 goals 36 assists 65 points 1.05 PPG
1965-1966 Mtl* 73 GP 26 goals 46 assists 72 points 1.00 PPG
1966-1967 Mtl 76 GP 25 goals 41 assists 66 points 0.87 PPG
1967-1968 Mtl* 60 GP 11 goals 23 assists 34 points 0.57 PPG
1968-1969 Mtl* 69 GP 17 goals 41 assists 58 points 0.84 PPG
1969-1970 Mtl 67 GP 18 goals 41 assists 59 points 0.89 PPG
1970-1971 Mtl* 79 GP 12 goals 38 assists 51 points 0.64 PPG
1971-1972 Mtl 79 GP 13 goals 34 assists 46 points 0.59 PPG
1972-1973 Mtl* 75 GP 8 goals 35 assists 42 points 0.57 PPG
1973-1974 Mtl 79 GP 19 goals 36 assists 56 points 0.71 PPG
1974-1975 Mtl 16 GP 3 goals 9 assists 12 points 0.73 PPG
Adjusted Playoff Stats
1955-1956 Mtl* 10 GP 4 goals 4 assists 8 points 0.80 PPG
1956-1957 Mtl* 10 GP 2 goals 6 assists 8 points 0.80 PPG
1957-1958 Mtl* 10 GP 1 goal 6 assists 7 points 0.73 PPG
1958-1959 Mtl* 11 GP 3 goals 7 assists 10 points 0.94 PPG
1959-1960 Mtl* 8 GP 3 goals 9 assists 12 points 1.55 PPG
1960-1961 Mtl 6 GP 2 goals 4 assists 7 points 1.12 PPG
1962-1963 Mtl 5 GP 1 goal 1 assist 2 points 0.40 PPG
1963-1964 Mtl 7 GP 1 goal 1 assist 2 points 0.30 PPG
1964-1965 Mtl* 13 GP 8 goals 4 assists 12 points 0.92 PPG
1965-1966 Mtl* 8 GP 1 goal 4 assists 5 points 0.66 PPG
1966-1967 Mtl 10 GP 4 goals 6 assists 10 points 1.03 PPG
1967-1968 Mtl* 13 GP 4 goals 4 assists 8 points 0.62 PPG
1968-1969 Mtl* 14 GP 2 goals 4 assists 6 points 0.42 PPG
1970-1971 Mtl 20 GP 5 goals 6 assists 11 points 0.55 PPG
1971-1972 Mtl 6 GP 0 goals 3 assists 3 points 0.47 PPG
1972-1973 Mtl* 17 GP 5 goals 4 assists 9 points 0.52 PPG
1973-1974 Mtl 6 GP 2 goals 2 assists 4 points 0.65 PPG
1974-1975 Mtl 6 GP 1 goal 2 assists 3 points 0.46 PPG
Career - 1418 GP, 431 goals, 815 assists, 1244 points, 0.88 PPG
Career-Highs - 37 goals (59-60); 67 assists (57-58); 103 points (57-58); 1.31 PPG (57-58)
Avg. (20 seasons) - 71 GP, 22 goals, 41 assists, 63 points, 0.88 PPG
Peak Avg. (56-64) - 76 GP, 28 goals, 51 assists, 78 points, 1.03 PPG, 4 Cups
Playoff Career - 180 GP, 49 goals, 77 assists, 127 points, 0.71 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 8 goals (64-65); 9 assists (59-60); 12 points (59-60); 1.55 PPG (59-60)
Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 3-time 2nd-team
11-time Stanley Cup Champion
I once heard Henri Richard in hockey compared to Bill Russell in basketball, since the two of them are the only professional athletes to have 11 championships in their career. Um, no. Russell is the 2nd-best basketball player of all time (give it up, Wilt fans), Henri Richard wasn't even the best hockey player within his own family! A better comparison to Russell would be Jean Beliveau, 10-time champion and best player of his era.
So, keeping the hockey/basketball comparisons going far longer than they should, who would that leave Henri Richard comparable with? Perhaps Robert Horry, role player extraordinaire for the Rockets, Lakers and Spurs, seven-time NBA champion (in a modern 30-team league!) despite the fact that he was never the top-three player on his own team. That actually ends up doing a bit of an injustice to Richard, so let's split the difference and say that Richard was somewhere between Russell and Horry: lucky to be on the most dominant teams of his era, but also a key contributor to them as well.
Henri Richard gets a high ranking because, for his peak, he was the perfect 2nd-line center if you were building a team. Could he put up astronomical numbers like the top class of centers (Sakic, Beliveau, Mikita)? No...although Richard did get 103 points in his 3rd full year, and 80+ in three other seasons. What Richard would consistently deliver is 70+ points, excellent two-way play, faceoff wins galore and usually a Stanley Cup by the end of the season. Eleven total (the NHL record) in twenty seasons. Not too shabby.
Of course, it can't be ignored that Richard may have benefited most by playing in the Original Six era. Unlike Howe, Beliveau, Mahovlich, etc., Richard's numbers drop considerably as soon as expansion hits. He turned from the prototypical 2nd-line center into a 3rd-liner who may have still felt he was a 2nd-liner. This is where Richard morphed into more of a Robert Horry-type: he still chipped in 50-55 points a season, but the four extra Stanley Cup rings he got during this period were more a product of Cournoyer, late Beliveau, Lemaire, young Dryden, etc.
For someone we'd assume must have been an amazing team player, older Henri Richard was involved in the infamous incident where he referred to head coach Al MacNeil as "incompetent" after MacNeil had benched him. As Ken Dryden describes in The Game, the province of Quebec inflated it into a French vs. English issue, and MacNeil was soon gone. Today, Richard might be lambasted as a malcontent. But given that MacNeil's firing led the way for Scotty Bowman to take over the reigns, Richard may have unintentionally led to the Canadiens' 1970s dynasty taking shape.
His final offensive averages may be the lowest (or among the lowest) of any center on the pyramid, and he may have benefited from playing in the Original Six era and racking up a boatload of rings, but hell...eleven championships is eleven championships, even if you are a passenger for a few of them. Henri Richard took advantage of his surroundings and played as well as he could, and his team's season ended in glory more often than failure. And just to pay tribute, I've gone the whole way without mentioning Maurice. Until just now.
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