| abstract
| - Jean Arthur Béliveau (August 31st 1931 – December 2, 2014) was a Canadian professional centre who played in the National Hockey League for 20 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. He played intermediate hockey with the Victoriaville Panthers and then played junior hockey for the Victoriaville Tigres (1947-1949) and the Quebec Citadelles (1949-1951). He then joined the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Senior Hockey League (Major) (QSHL) in 1951-52 and won the Alexander Cup in 1952. Beliveau also played for the Aces in 1952-53. As long as the Quebec Aces were amateur then Beliveau could play for them, since the Montreal Canadiens owned his pro rights. The Canadiens tried to lure him to their team, but the ostensibally amateur Aces could pay Beliveau an enormous salary through complicated means. In 1953 the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) suspended the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA) because of a dispute over a junior player. The QSHL then decided to quit the QAHA and the CAHA and turn openly pro. This move lost them their biggest draw, Beliveau, who had to leave the QSHL. He then signed a lucrative contract with the Canadiens. Another reason that Beliveau signed with the Canadiens involved NHL rules. This rule involved any player who turned 22 before September, was on an NHL's team list but unsigned, was playing with an amateur team, and played at least 30 games with that team. The player could then be drafted by any other NHL team for $7500. Had Beliveau not signed with the Canadiens, any other team could have grabbed his NHL rights. In December 1952, Jacques Plante was signed by the Canadiens and taken away from the Montreal Royals for that exact reason. Béliveau, after two brief stints with the team in the past three seasons, joined the Montreal Canadiens in 1953-54. Three years later, he won the Art Ross Memorial Trophy given to the league's scoring champion and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player. He would win the Stanley Cup 10 times in his career, and captain the Habs for the last 10 years of his career. He won he Hart Trophy again in 1963-64 and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1964-65, the first time it was awarded. He was a First Team All-Star six times (1954-55, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1959-60, and 1960-61) and a Second Team All-Star four times (1957-58, 1963-64, 1965-66, and 1968-69). "Le Gros Bill" as he was nicknamed by the Montreal fans retired in 1971, being his team's all-time leader for points, second for goals and league's leader for playoffs scoring. Since his retirement, only two players passed him in Montreal in scoring: Guy Lafleur and Maurice Richard. Henri Richard is the only player to have played more games than him in a Habs jersey. In 1125 NHL regular season games, Beliveau scored 507 goals and 712 assists for 1219 points. In 162 playoff games he scored 79 goals and 97 assists for 176 points. In both the regular season and the playoffs Beliveau averaged better than a point a game. Béliveau's number 4 was retired by Montreal on October 9th 1971; the following year, he was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Beliveau has been recognized as one of the classiest players in the history of the game. After his retirement, he served as as an executive and spokesperson for the Montreal Canadiens and for hockey in general.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)