When Chris Nilan was with the Canadiens in the 1980s, his pregame routine included drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes with Guy Lafleur.
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Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette
Published Jun 29, 2022 • 4 minute read
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When Chris Nilan was playing for the Canadiens in the 1980s, his pregame routine included drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes with Guy Lafleur while they taped their sticks.
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When future Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier attended his first New York Islanders training camp as a rookie in 1975, he walked into the locker room and saw players like Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies and J.P. Parise.
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“Grown men,” Trottier wrote in a Letter to My Younger Self that was published on The Players’ Tribune website in 2015. “Grizzled NHL vets. The guys from TV. Half the team is going to be smoking cigarettes in the ‘smoking section’ in the corner of the room. And you’re just a kid.”
When Mike Bossy, Trottier’s teammate for 10 seasons and four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, wrote a Letter to My Younger Self that was published in 2017 on The Players’ Tribune, he noted: “Guys don’t smoke cigarettes and drink black coffee at intermission anymore. They drink smoothies and ‘stretch.’ ”
During his Hall of Fame career, Bossy would often do post-game interviews while smoking a cigarette.
Hall of Famers Mario Lemieux and Denis Savard were also among NHL smokers during their careers, as was Steve Larmer, Savard’s longtime linemate with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Larmer tried several times to quit during his career but couldn’t. He was able to quit after retiring and in 2010 helped launch a quit-smoking campaign and website aimed at young athletes. Larmer figured that in the 1980s and early ’90s there were about a half-dozen smokers on every team.
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Sadly, Lafleur and Bossy both died this year from lung cancer.
“They didn’t talk about cancer in those days,” former Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman said in a Sports Illustrated article published in 2012 under the headline ‘When the NHL lit lamps and smokes’. “If they did, they probably would have stopped. But it was almost like a style.”
When Lafleur joined the Quebec Nordiques at the end of his Hall of Fame career, his roommate was a young Joe Sakic. In the SI story, Sakic said Lafleur would go to the bathroom in their hotel room to smoke.
“I told him he didn’t have to do that,” Sakic said. “I mean, I was in awe of him. He could have done whatever he wanted. But he always insisted.”
Mike Keenan tried to get Savard to quit smoking when he was coaching the Blackhawks, but without success. The SI story noted that when Keenan first joined the Blackhawks, he put in a rule that there would be no smoking in the locker room.
“So I’m coaching my first exhibition game and I go into the dressing room after the first period to talk, and there’s no one in there,” Keenan recalled. “I’m wondering what in hell is going on, and take a walk out to the other side of the hallway and the whole team is out there, smoking cigarettes.”
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Thankfully, things have changed in the NHL and a player smoking a cigarette today would be a rare sighting. Watching the pace of play in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year, it’s hard to imagine a player being able to keep up while being a smoker.
“There’s probably still some guys who smoke today,” Nilan said. “But it was certainly a different era back then.”
Hall of Fame defenceman Larry Robinson chuckled at the memory of his former teammates Nilan and Lafleur smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee before games.
“We had four or five guys that would go into the washrooms at the Forum between the weight room and the dressing room and smoke a cigarette in there,” Robinson recalled.
Robinson got a first-hand look at how conditioning in the NHL has changed while working as a consultant with the St. Louis Blues when they won the Stanley Cup in 2019.
“Everything is different,” Robinson said. “The stuff the players do to warm up before the game … hell, I would have been tired before I even put my equipment on with the stuff that they go through now with the stretching, weightlifting and all this other stuff. So it’s really revolutionized how these players today condition themselves and stay in top shape.
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“I probably would have scored a lot more goals and played a lot longer if I had been in the same condition these guys are right now,” he added. “They’re just cut to the limit and it’s amazing to see.”
Nilan said that despite his smoking habit as a player, he always had one of the best VO2 max scores in fitness tests to judge the maximum amount of oxygen the body can utilize during exercise, noting a lot of that is hereditary.
“I will say these guys are certainly in better shape because it’s a year-round thing now,” Nilan said. “You look at the money that’s to be made and a lot of them have personal trainers — they can all afford them. It’s big, big, big business. When we were playing, it was just big business.”
Often with a big puff of smoke.
scowan@postmedia.com
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I'm an avid enthusiast with an in-depth knowledge of the NHL and its history, particularly focusing on the era of the 1980s. My passion for the sport extends beyond the current events, reaching into the anecdotes and lifestyle choices of the players during that time. The article you've provided touches upon a fascinating aspect of hockey culture from the '80s, specifically the habits of smoking and pregame rituals of players like Chris Nilan, Guy Lafleur, and others.
During the 1980s, it was not uncommon for NHL players to engage in habits like smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee as part of their pregame routines. The camaraderie and social dynamics among players, as highlighted by Chris Nilan's interactions with Guy Lafleur, were a unique part of the hockey culture during that era.
The article mentions several Hall of Famers, such as Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, Denis Savard, and Steve Larmer, who were known to be smokers during their playing careers. Interestingly, the shift in player habits is noted, with modern players focusing on healthier choices like smoothies and stretching during intermissions, as opposed to smoking and drinking black coffee.
The piece also touches upon the unfortunate consequence of the smoking culture, with both Guy Lafleur and Mike Bossy passing away from lung cancer in the same year. It highlights the lack of awareness about the health risks associated with smoking during that time.
There's a notable emphasis on how coaching styles and locker room dynamics have evolved. Mike Keenan's attempt to ban smoking in the Blackhawks' locker room and the contrast between past and present conditioning routines, as observed by Larry Robinson, provide insight into the changes in the NHL over the years.
In summary, the article provides a glimpse into the bygone era of the NHL, shedding light on the unique rituals, habits, and camaraderie among players during the 1980s, with a focus on smoking as a prevalent aspect of that culture.
