"Buddy"

#19 -- Real Cloutier, Sabres

I don't think I ever saw him play during his career, but Real "Buddy" Cloutier is one of the guys that symbolizes early 1980s hockey for me: the insane WHA scoring totals, the ill-fitting eggshell helmet, the mustache. He was also one of the very first signatures I got in this set when I started collecting it, back in the 1990s.

Looking at those early '80s Nords teams, I'm amazed by the level of scoring talent they had -- the Stastnys three, Cloutier (when healthy), Goulet, Tardif, Dale Hunter, Wilf Paiement. At least in that end of the rink, they were up there with the best, but they never got up there to the Oilers/Islanders level.

Checking up on him for this post, I was amazed: Cloutier's career was over at age 29. I knew he flamed out of the NHL relatively quickly, but I figured a) he was a bit older, given those long years in the WHA, b) he went and bounced around Europe for a while, or c) both of the above. But no. 97 points in '81-'82, 67 in '82-'83, a trade to Buffalo and 60 in '83-'84, and the year that this card came out, zero in the NHL, 43 in the IHL/AHL combined, and that was that. Sabres Legends has a good writeup on him, giving some insight into what happened.

I got this one through the mail in the summer of 2010, probably about the fifth time I've got a copy of this card signed.

#289 - Richard Sevigny

Seems appropriate to start this off with a player from one of the two teams I collect (Nordiques and Blues).

Richard Sevigny's always been most interesting to me for an on-ice incident that had nothing to do with his talents as a goaltender. In 1984, the Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens engaged in one of the most notorious brawls ever -- the Good Friday Massacre. Sevigny was on the Canadiens at the time, and ended up fighting Clint Malarchuk, and racked up more than 30 penalty minutes for his trouble.

The most interesting thing? After that playoff series (won by the Habs), Sevigny was with the Nordiques the next year. Now, the Canadiens and Nordiques had a pretty nasty rivalry in the 1980s. And players going directly between two fierce rivals is pretty rare (I can't think of any players that went directly between the Oilers and Flames; in the 1990s, Uwe Krupp went straight from the Avalanche to the Red Wings... I think there were a few that went between the Islanders and Rangers over the years). To go straight from one team to the other directly after one of the bloodiest fights in hockey history? That must've made for a few awkward moments.

I can only think of one other player off the top of my head who went directly between the Nords and Habs -- Jean Hamel, who the Canadiens picked up before the 1983-84 season... and who also played a major part in the Good Friday Massacre. But we'll get to him later in the set.

Sevigny, for his part, played 35 games for the Nordiques over parts of three seasons, down the depth chart behind Dan Bouchard, Mario Gosselin, and Clint Malarchuk -- the last of those the guy Sevigny fought back in 1984.

He's now reachable through Canadiens alumni.

For those who like their hockey fights, here's the fight in question.



Richard Sevigny's stats at HockeyDB
Richard Sevigny's profile at Hockey Draft Central
Richard Sevigny's profile at Legends of Hockey