Canadiens Richard vs Béliveau: Why Is the Answer Complicated?
When you talk about the greatest forwards in Montreal Canadiens history, you don’t really start with a debate — you start with two names that feel like they belong in the foundation of the franchise.
The first Canadiens’ forward is Maurice “Rocket” Richard.
Richard wasn’t just a goal scorer. He kind of defined what goal scoring looked like in his era. This is the guy who hit 50 goals in 50 games, led the league in goals five times, and played with a kind of intensity that basically turned every shift into a headline. He finished with 544 goals in a Canadiens sweater, and what gets lost sometimes is how much weight those goals carried. This wasn’t padded production. This was original, heavy, physical, emotional hockey. He wasn’t just scoring — he was setting the tone for an entire generation of the sport in Montreal.
Related: The Canadiens' Success Has Created New Problems.
The second Canadiens’ forward was Jean Béliveau, and things felt a little different.
Béliveau wasn’t about chaos. He was about control. Ten Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies, a Conn Smythe, and over 1,200 points in a Canadiens uniform. But what really separates him is how effortless it all looked. He was big, smooth, and almost calm to the point where you wondered if he was moving faster than everyone else or just seeing the game two seconds ahead. In a lot of ways, he feels like the “complete” forward before that term really existed.
Why isn’t this debate over the Canadiens’ forward still unsettled?
So if you stop there, it’s easy: Richard is the fire, Béliveau is the structure. That’s your top two. But hockey history in Montreal never really lets you stop there.
Because then you start thinking about Guy Lafleur, with his speed and flair and that late-70s dominance. Or Howie Morenz, who basically lit up the league in a completely different era and was one of the first true superstar forwards the game ever saw. And depending on how far back you go, the list just keeps stretching.
More excellent forwards are in the Canadiens’ system.
Even today, there's Nick Suzuki, who's the captain of an emerging good Canadian team. That’s the real tension in a Canadiens piece like this — it’s not that the answer is unclear. It’s that the definition of “best” keeps changing depending on the era you’re willing to trust.
And in Montreal, of all places, history is always part of the argument.