Marc Tardif

Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally for the Quebec Nordiques, and is the all-time leading goal scorer in the WHA.

Marc Tardif
Born	(1949-06-12) June 12, 1949 (age 75) Granby, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Position	Left wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Montreal Canadiens Los Angeles Sharks Michigan Stags Quebec Nordiques
National team	Canada
NHL draft	2nd overall, 1969 Montreal Canadiens
Playing career	1969–1983

Playing career

Born in Granby, Quebec, Tardif played two seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens - in the final year the National Hockey League 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 American Hockey League (AHL) Montreal Voyageurs, one of the leading scorers on a team studded with future NHL stars, including Jude Drouin, Guy Charron, Guy Lapointe and Pete Mahovlich. 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 Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association. 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 as the Michigan Stags, where Tardif played brilliantly before a trade to the Quebec Nordiques, just weeks before the Stags folded.

In Quebec, Tardif became one of the league's preeminent stars. He finished the 1974–75 WHA season with 50 goals, and added a league-leading 10 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 became only the second professional player to score 70 goals in a single season, while the Nordiques rampaged to 50 wins. Tardif's playoffs were cut short after he incurred serious head injuries in an attack (on April 11, 1976) by Calgary Cowboys enforcer Rick Jodzio, 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 Nordiques, and recovered to post another 100-point campaign while leading the team to their only WHA championship, and followed that up in 1977–78 with a 154-point campaign - setting a professional hockey record eventually broken by Wayne Gretzky (who would score 164 points in the 1980-81 NHL season)- 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, serving as the team's first NHL captain. Tardif retired on October 3, 1983,^[3] 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; in the two combined professional leagues, he scored 510 goals and 1,067 points. He owns car dealerships in Quebec City and Charlevoix.^[4]

Awards and achievements

• Stanley Cup champion — 1971, 1973 (with Montreal)
• Avco Cup champion — 1977 (with Quebec)
• First in WHA history in career goals, second in points, third in assists, and 20th in games played
• Won WHA scoring titles in 1976 and 1978
• Won the Gordie Howe Trophy as the WHA's most valuable player in 1976 and 1978
• Named to the WHA's First All-Star Team in 1976, 1977 and 1978
• Named to the WHA's Second All-Star Team in 1975
• Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1982
• Inaugural member of the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame (2010)^[5]

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	MC		—	—	—	—	—		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	MC		—	—	—	—	—		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	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.
2. "WEEK OF DISGRACE ON THE ICE". Vault. Sports Illustrated. 26 April 1976. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
3. "Quebec Nordiques veteran Marc Tardif, one of the first... - UPI Archives". UPI. October 3, 1983. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
4. MacDonald, Ian (10 December 2009). "Former Hab Tardif was WHA Pioneer". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 12 February 2019 – via PressReader.
5. "WHA Hall of Fame Members". Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2013-09-13.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Réjean Houle	Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick 1969	Succeeded by Ray Martyniuk
Preceded by Michel Parizeau	Quebec Nordiques captain 1976–81	Succeeded by Robbie Ftorek