this is so sad. when i was a kid, he was the icon of icons. even by the late 80s people were still getting used to gretzky in the pantheon and mario was just a kid with a lot of question marks. but guy lafleur, even retired and almost ten years removed from his peak, was what you would picture when you pictured hockey greatness: flying down the ice with his hair blowing behind him.
there really isn’t anyone in hockey in the last thirty years you could compare him to, in terms of iconicness. earlier, rocket richard and bobby orr obviously, maybe hull too but i’m so not sure about that. but i liken his legend to dr j in basketball. one of the all time all time greats for sure, but what he meant beyond ranking the best players of all time 1-25 even exceeded his on-ice/court resume.