NHL Insider: Prankster Lapointe finally gets his due

Guy Lapointe never dared do anything to Scotty Bowman.

Everybody else was fair game, but never Bowman, the Hall of Fame coach who guided the Montreal Canadiens to five Stanley Cups, including four in a row, and has coached his teams to more victories than anybody in NHL history.

Lapointe was — and still is — the ultimate prankster.

"Every day you had to check to make sure your laces weren't cut or he didn't put hot stuff in your jock strap," said Hall of Famer Larry Robinson, winner of nine Stanley Cups. "One time, I get in my car on a winter day, turn on the wipers and he smeared Vaseline on my windshield. It was frozen in a minute, I couldn't see out and had to drive to a gas station with my head out the window."

The stories are endless. Such as when Lapointe, now the Wild's chief amateur scout, puts Tabasco on the rim of your glass in meetings or fills your coat pickets with forks, knives or salt or smears ketchup on your shoe at dinners. As a player, Lapointe would move your car to make you think it was stolen or mail your teeth to a road city. His wife wonders if he'll ever grow up.

"He never stopped," said Bowman, winner of 13 Stanley Cups in his career. "If he wasn't on the ice for practice, oh my, the boys knew they would be in trouble because he was up to something no good in the dressing room."

The Canadiens were a dynasty, and Lapointe kept the "boys" laughing. He was also so, so good — underappreciated in his day and way ahead of his time. In a day and age when defensemen didn't often join the rush, Lapointe, an excellent skater, loved to and scored 171 goals and 622 points in 894 games, topping 20 three years in a row. His 28 goals in 1974-75 is still a Canadiens' record.

"Guy was probably one of the best in his time had he not played in the same time with Brad Park, Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin," Robinson said. "To me, he was as good as any of those guys, but he didn't get acknowledged as much because people felt he was that good because he played on a great team.

"But he did it all. He played in all situations, he played a lot, he was offensive, was great defensively, could skate, blocked shots. It seems like he never came off the ice."

Today, Lapointe would be a megamillion-dollar defenseman. His first contract in 1968? Five thousand bucks, including a $1,500 bonus.

Robinson and Serge Savard got all the accolades. Seventy-five percent of the time, Bowman guesses, Robinson and Savard, who both attended Saturday's ceremony, were a tandem. Lapointe played with several partners, the best being the late Bill Nyrop, the former Edina multisport star who won three Stanley Cups with the Habs.

"Finally, we could play two sets of defensemen," Bowman said. "I mean, Guy, Larry and Serge. Nobody will ever have a defense like that again. It was tough even for those guys to make the All-Star team because they'd split the votes."

"The thing I recall like it was yesterday was my first game in Montreal and staring at my teammate Jean Beliveau, my hero, my idol, and just looking at him," said Lapointe, 66. "I grew up idolizing him like kids love top players today. Just wow. It was pretty special. I could not dream of something like that.

"I got all those Cups. Summit Series. Canada Cups. Hall of Fame. And now my jersey retired 25 minutes from where I grew up playing on the streets of Montreal? My career became magic. I was lucky, man."
NHL short takes

Edina's Bill Nyrop loved a challenge

Wednesday, Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman got talking to me about Bill Nyrop, who happened to be a huge influence in my career from his days as the commissioner of Sunshine Hockey League and owner, GM and coach of the West Palm Beach Blaze.

Nyrop, an Edina native who tragically died of cancer at age 43, won three Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.

Doesn't hold water

Toronto's Carter Ashton got dinged with a 20-game suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug program. He said he had clenbuterol in his system, something he got from an inhaler lent to him by another athlete because of an asthma attack.

However, it's used to treat horses and isn't supposed to be in inhalers in North America. Ashton isn't appealing.

Get the work in

Devastated by injury, the Blues Jackets are in a tailspin. After a recent loss to Carolina, Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards, who used to coach the Wild, bag-skated his team.

Maybe …

Calgary's Jiri Hudler doesn't like talking to the media.

"Maybe it's your personalities," defenseman Ladislav Smid quipped.

Wild's week ahead

Tuesday: at New Jersey, 6 p.m. (FSN)

Saturday: at Dallas, 1 p.m. (FSN)
Player to watch: Matt Moulson

Acquired by the Wild at last year's trade deadline, Moulson scored one goal in 10 playoff games before signing a five-year, $25 million deal with the Sabres. He has no goals this season.

VOICES

"It's important for guys like myself to step up in his absence."