Marc Tardif

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Echoedmyron (talk | contribs) at 17:39, 5 October 2018 (→‎WHA years: + references). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Marc Tardif
Born (1949-06-12) June 12, 1949 (age 74)
Granby, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Los Angeles Sharks (WHA)
Michigan Stags (WHA)
Baltimore Blades (WHA)
Quebec Nordiques (WHA/NHL)
National team  Canada
NHL draft 2nd overall, 1969
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 1969–1983

Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey left winger who is the leading goal scorer in the history of the World Hockey Association, principally for the Quebec Nordiques.

Playing career

Born in Granby, Quebec, Tardif played two seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The NHL Montreal Canadiens - in the final year the team had the privilege to do so - invoked its right to select two French Canadian players first and second overall to pick Tardif in the first round, second overall, of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft. Tardif spent most of the 1969–70 NHL season with the minor league Montreal Voyageurs, one of the leading scorers on a team studded with future NHL stars - Jude Drouin, Guy Charron, Guy Lapointe and Pete Mahovlich among them. He made the Canadiens for good the following season, playing credibly for the eventual Stanley Cup champions. In 1972, Tardif scored 31 goals.

WHA years

In 1973 Tardif signed with the World Hockey Association, playing with the Los Angeles Sharks. He was the Sharks' leading scorer that season, and was named to play for Team Canada in the 1974 Summit Series the following fall. The Sharks, however, finished with the league's poorest record, and moved to Detroit, where Tardif played brilliantly before a trade to the Quebec Nordiques.

In Quebec, Tardif became one of the league's preeminent stars. He finished the 1975 season with 50 goals, and added a league-leading ten goals in the playoffs en route to the AVCO Cup finals against the eventual champion Houston Aeros. The next season, he led the WHA in goals, assists and points by wide margins and becoming only the second professional player to score seventy goals in a single season, while the Nordiques rampaged to fifty wins. Tardif's playoffs were cut short after an attack by Calgary Cowboys enforcer Rick Jodzio in which he incurred serious head injuries, leading to one of the first cases where a hockey player was charged in a court of law for assault.[1][2]

The next season Tardif was named the captain of the team, and recovered to post another hundred-point campaign while leading the Nordiques to their only WHA championship, and followed that up in 1978 with a 154-point campaign (setting a professional hockey record eventually broken by Wayne Gretzky), for which he received his second league MVP award.

Retirement

Tardif remained a star when the Nordiques joined the NHL after the WHA folded in 1979, acting as the team's first NHL captain. Tardif retired after the 1983 season, and the Nordiques retired his No. 8 jersey in tribute to their first great scoring star. He finished his career scoring 316 goals and 350 assists for 666 points in the WHA, and 194 goals and 207 assists for 401 points in the NHL. He currently owns a car dealership in Quebec City.

Awards and achievements

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1966–67 Thetford Mines Canadiens QJHL 40 36 44 80 89 11 13 13 26 2
1966–67 Thetford Mines Canadiens M-Cup — — — — — 19 11 14 25 42
1967–68 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA-Jr. 54 32 34 66 62 11 3 9 12 18
1968–69 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA-Jr. 51 31 41 72 121 14 19 12 31 60
1968–69 Montreal Junior Canadiens M-Cup — — — — — 7 6 9 15 16
1969–70 Montreal Voyageurs AHL 45 27 31 58 70 8 3 6 9 29
1969–70 Montreal Canadiens NHL 18 3 2 5 27 — — — — —
1970–71 Montreal Canadiens NHL 76 19 30 49 133 20 3 1 4 20
1971–72 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 31 22 53 81 6 2 3 5 9
1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 76 25 25 50 48 14 6 6 12 6
1973–74 Los Angeles Sharks WHA 75 30 40 70 47 — — — — —
1974–75 Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades WHA 23 12 5 17 9 — — — — —
1974–75 Quebec Nordiques WHA 53 38 34 72 70 15 10 11 21 10
1975–76 Quebec Nordiques WHA 81 71 77 148 79 2 1 0 1 2
1976–77 Quebec Nordiques WHA 62 49 60 109 65 12 4 10 14 8
1977–78 Quebec Nordiques WHA 78 65 89 154 50 11 6 9 15 11
1978–79 Quebec Nordiques WHA 74 41 55 96 98 4 6 2 8 4
1979–80 Quebec Nordiques NHL 58 33 35 68 30 — — — — —
1980–81 Quebec Nordiques NHL 63 23 31 54 35 5 1 3 4 2
1981–82 Quebec Nordiques NHL 75 39 31 70 55 13 1 2 3 6
1982–83 Quebec Nordiques NHL 76 21 31 52 34 4 0 0 0 2
NHL totals 517 194 207 401 443 62 13 15 28 75
WHA totals 446 316 350 666 418 44 27 32 59 35

International

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1974 Canada SS 5 0 2 2 10

References

  1. ^ "5 Suspended in W.H.A. Brawl". The New York Times. 15 April 1976. Retrieved 5 October 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ "WEEK OF DISGRACE ON THE ICE". Vault. Sports Illustrated. 26 April 1976. Retrieved 5 October 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ WHA Hall of Fame Members

External links

Preceded by Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick
1969 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Quebec Nordiques captain
1976–81 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marc_Tardif&oldid=862637098"