Marc Tardif

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Marc Tardif
Born	(1949-06-12) June 12, 1949 (age 76) Granby, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
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

Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played left winger in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally for the Quebec Nordiques. He also represented Canada in the 1974 Summit Series. A dominant force in the WHA, Tardif had four consecutive seasons with 95+ points from 1975 to 1979 and served as the first captain of the Nordiques when they joined the NHL. On April 4, 1978, he became the second professional hockey player to record 150 points in a season. In addition to his two Stanley Cup championships, he also won the Avco World Trophy to go along with winning the Gordie Howe Trophy for most valuable play in the WHA (1976, 1978).

Tardif finished as the all-time leading goal scorer in the WHA, scoring 316 goals in 446 games. In his professional career between the two leagues, Tardif scored 510 total goals.[1]

Born in Granby, Quebec, Tardif honed his skills for local school leagues in the winter. He was recruited to play for College Laval, a private school, at the age of 14. A year later, Canadiens scout Ron Caron signed him to a deal with the farm team of the Montreal Junior Canadiens with the Thetford Mines Canadiens, where he met fellow future NHLers Rejean Houle and Gilbert Perreault.

Tardif played two seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (1967-1969), winning the Memorial Cup in 1969 with Houle and Perreault on the team.[2] 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) for the Montreal Voyageurs. He was one of the leading scorers on a team studded with future NHL stars, including Jude Drouin, Guy Charron, Guy Lapointe and Pete Mahovlich.

Tardif with the Montreal Canadiens, c. 1970

Tardif played eighteen games of the 1969-70 season, with his first game on October 11 seeing him earn a ten-minute misconduct penalty for exchanging words with referee (and future WHA mainstay) Bill Friday.[3] He made the Canadiens for good the following season, playing credibly for the eventual Stanley Cup champions. In 1972, Tardif scored 31 goals. Troubles with head coach Scotty Bowman led to speculation about Tardif's future in Montreal by the beginning of 1973.[4]

1973 photo of Tardif

On June 5, 1973, Tardif signed a three-year contract (speculated to be over $350,000) with the Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association, one that gave him what he wanted most: a long-term, no-trade, no-cut contract.[5] Despite taking until his 10th game to score a goal, he was the Sharks' leading scorer that season, and was named to play for Team Canada in the 1974 Summit Series the following fall.[6] The Sharks, however, finished with the league's poorest record, and moved to Detroit as the Michigan Stags in April 1974.[7] In July of that year, Tardif was selected to play on Team Canada for the 1974 Summit Series, which exclusively had WHA players play the Soviet Union prior to the start of the 1974 WHA season; missing training camp for the series, Tardif recorded one total point.[8] In the Stags home opener on October 29, Tardif scored a goal that tied the game (which ended up with a win in overtime) but found himself booed, with team executives speculating that Michigan fans naturally get on "superstars".[9] By December, there were rumblings of the franchise possibly folding or relocating. On December 7, Tardif, alongside Steve Sutherland, were traded to the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for Pierre Guité, Alain Caron, and Michael Rouleau (the Stags moved to Baltimore in January and folded after the season ended).[10]

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 on the road to the Avco Cup Final against the eventual champion Houston Aeros. On December 8, 1975, Tardif signed a contract with Quebec for ten years that was estimated to be worth $1.6 million. Tardif immediately became an icon for the French Canadian locale.[11][12][13] The next season, he led the WHA in goals, assists and points by wide margins and became only the third professional player to score 70 goals in a single season (after Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull), while the Nordiques rampaged to 50 wins.[14] 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. Tardif did not skate for four months and dealt with dizzy spells for a time. So incensed were the Nordiques that they threatened to not play the rest of the playoffs unless the league agreed to their three demands (the suspension of Jodzio, the suspension of the Calgary coach for the rest of the series and the resignation of a WHA executive; Quebec ultimately played and two of the demands were met).[15][16] On May 26, 1976, Tardif was awarded the league MVP.[17] Tardif stated in later years that the brawl made him a "more careful player" and teammates stated he was never the same player.[18][19][20]

Despite doubts that he might not be ready until January 1977, Tardif (now wearing a helmet) came back to form, playing 62 games while only being hindered by a knee injury.[21] He 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 historic season. On April 4, 1978 against the Edmonton Oilers in Quebec, Tardif had a four point night (two goals, two assists), and his assist in the second period made him the second hockey player with 150 points in a season (after Esposito).[22] It was a professional hockey record that was broken by Wayne Gretzky in the 1980-81 NHL season; Tardif received his second league MVP award. In the 1978 WHA playoffs First Round game versus Houston, Tardif scored the game-winning goal in overtime in Game 2 for what ended up as the last overtime goal scored in the WHA postseason. On July 7, 1978, Tardif was awarded the MVP award by the league for the second time.[23]

Tardif remained a star when the Nordiques joined the NHL after the WHA folded in 1979, serving as the team's first NHL captain. In the 1979-80 season, Tardif asked for a new contract that saw him make $250,000 a year that would run for three years. The 1980-81 season saw him plagued by injuries, being the subject of trade rumors and disagreements with head coach Michel Bergeron.[24]

Tardif retired on October 3, 1983,[25] and the Nordiques retired his No. 8 jersey in tribute to their first great scoring star on November 1.[26] 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. Despite his achievements, he has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as of 2026.

With his wife Lisette Poulin, Tardif lives in Quebec for most of the year while spending some time in Florida during winter. Soon after his retirement, he became involved in business as a parter at a GM dealership in Quebec. Currently, he owns car dealerships in Quebec City and Charlevoix and operates them with his son Marc-Andre. In 2020, Tardif tested positive for COVID-19 but made a full recovery.[27][28]

• 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 WHA All-Star Game in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979
• Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1982
• Inaugural member of the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame (2010)[29]

				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

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1974	Canada	SS		5	0	2	2	10

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

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