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Serge Savard

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Serge Savard
OC CQ
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1986
Savard in 2019
Born (1946-01-22) January 22, 1946 (age 78)
Landrienne, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Montreal Canadiens
Winnipeg Jets
National team  Canada
Playing career 1966–1983

Serge Aubrey Savard OC CQ (born January 22, 1946) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman, most famously with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also served as the Canadiens' Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations and as their general manager. He is a businessman in Montreal, and is nicknamed "The Senator." In 2017 Savard was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.[1]

Playing career

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Savard played minor league hockey with the Montreal Junior Canadiens and the Omaha Knights. He made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens in 1966-67. In 1968–69, his second full NHL season, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player, the first defenceman to do so. In fifteen seasons with the Canadiens, Savard played on eight Stanley Cup championship teams: 1967-68, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, and 1978-79. In 1978-79, he won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance and dedication to the game. Savard played the last two seasons of his career with the Winnipeg Jets before retiring in 1983. He was the second last active player of the Original Six era. (Wayne Cashman was the last, as he and the Boston Bruins advanced further in the playoffs that year than the Jets did.)

Savard was known for the "Savardian Spin-o-rama", a quick pivoting turn with the puck done in order to evade opponents; the term was coined by sportscaster Danny Gallivan. [a][2] Savard has said that it was Doug Harvey, a Montreal defenseman whom Savard idolized, who created the move which inspired him.[3]

Savard played for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He was in the starting lineup for games 2 and 3 in Toronto and Winnipeg. He suffered a hairline fracture in his leg which forced him to sit out games 4 and 5. He returned to the lineup for the last three games.[4]

Post-playing career

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After Savard retired as a player, he was named the general manager of the Canadiens, and served as the general manager of the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the American Hockey League. Savard won the Calder Cup with Sherbrooke in 1985. He was the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens when they won the Stanley Cup in 1985-86 and 1992-93 .

In 1994 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2004, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. He is currently the chairman of the annual Canada Day festivities in Montreal.[citation needed] He lived a few years in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec. His son Marc ran unsuccessfully in the 2004 Canadian federal election for the Liberal Party in the riding of Saint-Bruno-Saint-Hubert .[citation needed]

In 1998, he was ranked number 81 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.[5]

Since 1993, Savard has been a partner in a firm of real-estate developers, Thibault, Messier, Savard & Associates, based in Montreal.[6]

In September 2004, Savard was arrested in Montreal under suspicion of drunk driving. He pleaded not guilty in November 2004, but changed his plea to guilty in May 2006.[7]

On November 18, 2006, the Montreal Canadiens retired his jersey number 18 in a ceremony at the Bell Centre.[8]

In April 2012 after the dismissal of Pierre Gauthier, Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson called upon Savard to assist and advise him in the team's search for a new general manager.

Savard was part-owner in a resort called El Senador located in Cayo Coco, Cuba until it was sold in 2005.[9] The name was a Spanish translation of his nickname.

Savard has been a longtime fan of harness racing.[10][11] He has co-owned many successful horses, including Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Shadow Play[12] and Meadowlands Pace champion Lawless Shadow.[13]

Awards

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Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1963–64 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA-Jr. 56 3 31 34 72 17 1 7 8 30
1965–65 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA-Jr. 56 14 33 47 81 7 2 3 5 8
1964–65 Omaha Knights CPHL 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 1 4
1965–66 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA-Jr. 20 8 10 18 33 10 1 4 5 20
1966–67 Montreal Canadiens NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1966–67 Houston Apollos CPHL 68 7 25 32 155 5 1 3 4 17
1966–67 Quebec Aces AHL — — — — — 1 0 0 0 2
1967–68 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 2 13 15 34 6 2 0 2 0
1968–69 Montreal Canadiens NHL 74 8 23 31 73 14 4 6 10 24
1969–70 Montreal Canadiens NHL 64 12 19 31 38 — — — — —
1970–71 Montreal Canadiens NHL 37 5 10 15 30 — — — — —
1971–72 Montreal Canadiens NHL 23 1 8 9 16 6 0 0 0 10
1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 74 7 32 39 58 17 3 8 11 22
1973–74 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 4 14 18 49 6 1 1 2 4
1974–75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 20 40 60 64 11 1 7 8 2
1975–76 Montreal Canadiens NHL 71 8 39 47 38 13 3 6 9 6
1976–77 Montreal Canadiens NHL 78 9 33 42 35 14 2 7 9 2
1977–78 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 8 34 42 24 15 1 7 8 8
1978–79 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 7 26 33 30 16 2 7 9 6
1979–80 Montreal Canadiens NHL 46 5 8 13 18 2 0 0 0 0
1980–81 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 4 13 17 30 3 0 0 0 0
1981–82 Winnipeg Jets NHL 47 2 5 7 26 5 0 0 0 2
1982–83 Winnipeg Jets NHL 76 4 16 20 29 3 0 0 0 2
NHL totals 1,040 106 333 439 592 130 19 49 68 88

International

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Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1972 Canada SS 5 0 2 2 0
1976 Canada CC 7 0 3 3 0
Senior totals 12 0 5 5 0

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ It was not named after Denis Savard, who was adept at the same manoeuvre, as many have thought.

References

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  1. ^ "100 Greatest NHL Players". NHL. January 27, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  2. ^ "Legends of Hockey – Spotlight – One on One with Serge Savard". Archived from the original on 2011-10-27.
  3. ^ Legends of Hockey:Serge Savard. YouTube video.
  4. ^ "#23 Serge Savard". Archived from the original on July 7, 2002.
  5. ^ Kay, Jason (April 2, 2015). "THE TOP 100 NHL PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME, THROWBACK STYLE". thehockeynews.com. Retrieved June 16, 2018. In 1997, to celebrate our 50th anniversary, The Hockey News compiled and released an authoritative list of the Top 50 Players of All-Time......81. Serge Savard
  6. ^ "Serge Savard". bloomberg.com. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  7. ^ "Savard pleads guilty to drunk driving". Archived from the original on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2006-06-20.
  8. ^ "Canadiens to retire the jerseys of Serge Savard and Ken Dryden in 2006-07". NHL.com (Press release). September 20, 2006. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  9. ^ "Serge Savard vend sa participation dans un hôtel de Cuba". tvanouvelles (in French). December 16, 2005. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  10. ^ Perry Lefko (2009-08-25). "Serge Savard on the right track". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  11. ^ "Savard seeks standardbred success -CA". The Globe and Mail. 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  12. ^ "Canadiens legend Serge Savard finds success as owner of Shadow Play". The Hockey News. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  13. ^ "Lawless Shadow declared Meadowlands Pace winner after DQ". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
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Wikiquote has quotations related to Serge Savard.
Preceded by Montreal Canadiens captain
1979–81 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy
1969 		Succeeded by
Preceded by General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens
1983–95 		Succeeded by
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