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#5: The Bionic Blueberry, by Andrew Saadalla

August 9, 2016, 12:49 PM ET [474 Comments]
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My list of top-10 all-time scoring right wingers continues with a man who was at the root of quite a few controversies following his successful playing career. Mario Tremblay, a current analyst for RDS and regular panelist featured on the popular “L’antichambre” talk show comes in at number 5.


Born in Alma, QC, Tremblay joined the Montreal Canadiens during the 1974-1975 season, playing in 63 games and scoring 21 goals. It didn’t take long before his teammates nicknamed him the “Bionic Blueberry”, a sort of homage to his hometown and the popularity of blueberries therein. Moreover, his tireless work ethic and ability to find the back of the net only added to his alias, and he’d be a part of five Stanley Cup winning rosters.

In 852 career regular season games, he posted 258 goals and 584 points playing a two-way game that did not go unnoticed. Strangely, instead of elevating his play during the playoffs, he’d be assigned defensive roles and he assumed more of a playmaking part as his 29 assists in 101 playoff games demonstrate. One of the highlights of his career, however, is scoring the Cup-winning goal in game 5 of the finals in 1978, securing a third straight Stanley Cup championship.

Tremblay would be a part of the infamous “Good Friday Massacre”, where a bench-clearing brawl took place between the Habs and the Quebec Nordiques during the Adams Division Finals in 1984:





His playing career would come to a crashing halt as a shoulder injury would keep him out of commission in 1986. A few short years later, he became the head coach of the only team he ever played for in relief of Jacques Demers in 1994-1995.

Sadly, superstar goaltender Patrick Roy and himself never saw eye-to-eye and would make headlines almost on a daily basis. Rumors of the two getting into fisticuffs outside of the arena and Tremblay firing pucks at Roy’s throat during practice did nothing to calm the storm.

Their feud would lead to the most controversial trade in the history of the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge:





Tremblay would be relieved of his duties one season later and joined the Minnesota Wild in 2001, sticking around for seven years and subsequently joining Bell Media’s RDS sports network.
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