By Rick Stephens, Editor-in-Chief, All Habs Hockey Magazine
MONTREAL, QC. — The bigger they are, the… Well, you know the rest.
Once upon a time, Georges Laraque was on top of the heap when it came to enforcers in the NHL. The Hockey News declared Laraque the “Best Fighter” in the league way back in 2003. His reign on the title, particularly while a member of the Edmonton Oilers, continued for a few years after that.
Five years ago, during the 2008 free agent frenzy, the Canadiens signed Laraque to a handsome $4.5 million contract. The expectation by management and Habs fans was that protection for smaller, skilled players had been secured for three years.
Undisclosed injuries and poor conditioning initially played a part in Laraque’s lack of effectiveness. But it quickly became clear that Laraque just wasn’t willing to fulfill the role for which he had been contracted — the only role that allowed him to be an NHL player.
Broadcaster Yvon Pedneaut justified the signing saying, “No one around the team was happy with an injured [Mike] Komisarek being roughed up by the Bruins in the playoffs. That plays a part in why Georges [Laraque] is here now.”
It didn’t take long for fans to realize that the mystique of Big Georges Laraque had become nothing more than an old fairy tale. In only the second home game of the Centennial season, the Canadiens hosted the Phoenix Coyotes.
Early in the second period, Coyotes defenseman Kurt Sauer demolished Habs forward Andrei Kostitsyn with a double forearm smash to the head. Kostitsyn, who had a 53-point season the year before, suffered a concussion and did not return to the game. AK46 went on to miss two more games as a result of his injury.
After the game head coach Guy Carbonneau said, “I don’t know if it was dirty, but they’re trying to erase blows to the head, and it was definitely a blow to the head.”
The situation seemed tailor-made for the Canadiens new free agent signing. His job was simple and singular — to protect his teammates. But what unfolded left Habs fans puzzled and dismayed.
Carbonneau deployed his enforcer.
Laraque politely invited Sauer to fight.
Sauer, having eliminated one of the Canadiens top scoring-threats from the lineup for the night, was satisfied with his work and politely declined by shaking his head.
Laraque skated back to the bench. (If you’re scoring at home, Laraque did facewash Sauer in a scrum later in the game.)
After the game, Laraque explained his actions this way:
“The code is from heavyweight to heavyweight, not from lightweight – whatever [Sauer] is – to heavyweight. He’s not forced to go with a guy like me. You respect a guy who backs up his actions, if something like that happens, but at the same time you can’t blame a guy if he doesn’t want to answer the bell to me.”
To jog your memory, Sauer was no shrinking violet, measuring in at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds (same height, about 20 lbs. lighter than Laraque.) So it was left to consummate character guy Tom Kostopoulos to stand up for his fallen teammate by taking on the much larger Sauer. Needless to say, Kostopoulos got his clock cleaned.
A new year, same difference. Poor Tom. Except in 2008-’09, the Canadiens had heavyweight sitting on the bench honing his philosophy about the gentlemanly settling of differences while being paid $1.5 million to be a hockey enforcer.
We would be ‘treated’ to Laraque holding court many times during the season, pontificating about ‘the code’ essentially code itself for why-I-chose-not-to-fight-the-guy-who-abused-my-teammate. Having signed a lucrative deal for his past exploits, it was the time, in his mind, for BGL to abandon his job, his teammates and his fans to turn his attention to passing trifles.
“When you drop the gloves, you know what you have to do, it’s your job,” said Laraque, “If you don’t fight, you disappear.”
But despite losing his focus, Laraque didn’t disappear. Instead, over time, Laraque made headlines for things unrelated to his hockey role: a beer ad featuring Georges playing street hockey with scantily clad women, a public spat with Leafs GM Brian Burke over parkas, dropping his figure skating partner on her head, and his involvement in a fraud investigation to name a few.
And who can forget the frenetic Laraque in this commercial for an internet service provider?
The decline of BGL’s reputation and relevance was swift and steep.
So when planning to launch a political career for a fringe party, how does one capture attention? If you are Georges Laraque, you return to the arena of your previous fame and trash an innocent.
Laraque told La Presse that the Canadiens newly-acquired enforcer George Parros wouldn’t intimidate anyone saying that the Bruins, Leafs and Senators are “relieved” at the signing. Laraque went on to warn Habs fans saying, “Knowing the Montreal market, people will begin to wonder why they got this guy after two or three beatings.”
Instant headlines.
With the spotlight recaptured, Laraque went on to announce his candidacy for federal parliament (later that same day.) No matter that the accusations left collateral damage, this time not a teammate but once again a member of the Canadiens. A pathetic ending to a hockey career had led to a despicable act to launch a political one.
All part of the plan boasted Laraque on Twitter!
Thanks for all my haters to making me trending… Hahahaha you're doing exactly what I want!
— Georges Laraque (@GeorgesLaraque) July 9, 2013
To his credit, Parros didn’t get drawn into the muck saying that he doesn’t engage in negativity, particularly on Twitter. He followed that with an expression of gratitude to fans writing, “Thanks to all my twitter fans who have had my back though! I’ll do it on the ice, you can do it socially! #donedeal” I expect that it’s a deal that this hockey player will honour.
It’s unclear whether Laraque’s latest dalliance will be fruitful — voters have done stranger things in the past. But when Canadiens fans sit back to tally up the Laraque list of accomplishments in Montreal, they know that the words are a-plenty and the actions are few.
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