Guy Lafleur will always have wanted the return of the Nordiques, the last team for which he played in the NHL. Convinced that the departure of the “Fleurdelysé” for Colorado should have been avoided, the blond Demon has even already sent a letter to commissioner Gary Bettman to express his grievances.
The missive, dated September 7, 2005, dates back to the days of Mark Charest’s NHL Quebec committee.
The latter, a former employee of the Nordiques, was then campaigning for the return of a National League concession in the Old Capital. He also unveiled in 2007 the project for a $660 million multi-sports complex located in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, near Quebec, which never saw the light of day.
Mr. Charest says he approached Guy Lafleur at the time, whom he knew from the time of the Nordiques. He offered to write a letter to the commissioner, as a former player, which the legendary number 10 accepted “immediately”, says Mr. Charest.
“Not write anything”
The two men then met in Quebec to discuss its content.
“Guy was a very good person, very human, but he did not write letters all the time, to anyone, said Mr. Charest in the last days. He didn’t want to write just anything. »
“There was a bearing in his letter, he spoke [du retour de la LNH à Québec] institutionally,” he adds.
In it, Lafleur affirms that from his years in the junior, with the Remparts, he considered Quebec as a natural market for the NHL.
The prolific forward also expresses the disappointment he felt when the Nordiques, for which he played between 1989 and 1991, moved to Colorado four years after his retirement.
Mr. Charest says that he never got a response to this letter, but that it was mentioned to him by Gary Bettman in 2008, during a meeting concerning the NHL in Quebec, at the Château Frontenac.
« [Guy Lafleur] believed in it a lot [au retour des Nordiques]. He still believed in it recently. He told me that he would like that to happen one day,” mentioned Mr. Charest.
” With all my heart “
His former coach and longtime friend, Michel Bergeron, was unaware of this letter. But he too says Flower was a strong supporter of the NHL’s return to Quebec.
“He had the return of the Nordiques at heart. As soon as a journalist spoke to him about it, Guy never hid behind an answer like ”I have no comments”. He said yes, he wanted it, ”pointed out Mr. Bergeron.
As late as mid-March 2021, Guy Lafleur had declared, during the unveiling of the statue in his effigy at Place Jean-Béliveau in Quebec, to wish “with all my heart that the Nordiques return”.
Be part of the decision makers
However, he felt that the “timing was not good”, in particular because of the pandemic which forced NHL teams to play in front of empty stands.
“If the Nordiques had come back, he would have liked to have a position in the organization,” said Bergeron. He didn’t want to be a mere adviser. He would have liked to have decision-making power, which he never had. [quand il était aux relations publiques] with the Canadian [dans les années 1980]. »
Courtesy picture
Guy Lafleur sent a letter to the commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, in September 2005. Below, a free translation of said letter.
“Dear Mr. Bettman,
As a former NHL hockey player, I understand the difficulties faced by smaller markets when hockey expanded in the mid-1990s. When I was playing my junior hockey in Quebec City, it was only natural to believe that one day the NHL would come to this city. Several years later, I was extremely disappointed when the Nordiques were sold so quickly and moved to Colorado without all the steps taken to keep them here. For this reason, in my opinion, Quebec, Canada and hockey in general have lost something vital to the spirit of this sport.
I recently met with Mark Charest to discuss the possibility of bringing NHL hockey back to Quebec. After realizing the immense potential of his project, and because I firmly believe that it would be very good for hockey, I wholeheartedly accepted to be part of a special committee representing hockey players who strongly support the efforts made in this sense.
While continuing to be a strong advocate for the development of hockey, I believe in this project and I support it. I believe that the NHL will do what is necessary to help this committee fulfill its mandate.
Cordially,
Guy Lafleur »