André Lacroix, WHA's scoring king, dies at 81
He set pro hockey's single-season assist record with San Diego and scored Canada's only win over the Soviets in 1974.
André Lacroix never got the credit a 798-point pro career should buy a guy, and that's on the WHA's reputation, not on him. He died Tuesday at 81. If his name doesn't ring a bell, that's exactly the problem this one's here to fix.
Lacroix broke in with the Flyers in 1967. He was a 5-foot-8 center out of Lauzon, Quebec, and nobody figured him for a league scoring leader. He led Philadelphia in points in both 1968-69 and 1969-70. Then he found his real stage when the WHA opened for business in 1972.
He won that league's first scoring title with the Philadelphia Blazers, then kept piling up points with the Jersey Knights, San Diego, Houston and New England. His best season topped 140 points, including a pro single-season assist record. Only Bobby Orr had cracked 100 helpers before him. Wayne Gretzky finally broke the mark years later.
He also delivered on the one night the WHA got the biggest spotlight it ever had. Playing for Team Canada in the 1974 series against the Soviets, Lacroix scored the winner in Canada's only victory, a 4-1 night at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The NHL got him back in pieces. Chicago had him for a season after a trade out of Philadelphia, and Hartford closed out his career in 1979-80 once the WHA-NHL merger folded his league into this one. That year he skated alongside Gordie and Mark Howe and got to run it back with Bobby Hull.
His full NHL line reads modest next to the WHA numbers, a reminder of how much of his best hockey happened somewhere the record books still don't fully respect. Add up both leagues and he finished just a few points shy of 1,000 for his career, without ever winning a title.
He stayed around the game after he hung up the skates, working in youth hockey and doing radio for the Whalers.
The Flyers put out a short statement Tuesday: "The Philadelphia Flyers mourn the loss of original team member, André Lacroix," with condolences to his family, friends and former teammates.
Ferda take: an assist record and a 798-point WHA résumé ought to be a Hall of Fame argument, not a trivia answer. Lacroix isn't in the Hockey Hall of Fame. On a day like this, that looks like an oversight worth fixing.
