Marcel Dionne was second in goals in NHL history at one point in time, behind only Gordie Howe. He was born in 1951, 10 years before Wayne Gretkzy don't forget. As a life long Kings fan I had the pleasure of seeing Marcel Dionne playing when I was a kid, in purple and gold, over the air on channel 9. Ah, the good old days.
In the world of sports dynasties the Montreal Canadians are unmatched. The man with the most Stanley Cups as a player was not Wayne Greatzky, it was not even Maurice The Rocket Richard, it was his brother Henri Richard with 11. That's right, 11 Stanley Cups as a player, all with the Montreal Canadians.
Montreal was always known to scout the best frogs (as French-blooded eastern Canadians are affectionately known), the legacy goes back to the Jean Beliveau days. They always had the best frogs and the best teams. One wonders what the Canadians would have accomplished if they had Marcel Dionne and Mario Lemieux to continue that old tradition. Just imagine it.
But you can't blame Montreal for passing on Marcel because there happened to be 2 great frog stars in the same draft in 1971, Dionne and Guy Lafleur, who was a full 4 inches taller than Marcel. Though the Canadians had been keeping an eye on Marcel since he was 12 years old they went with Guy Lafleur, the first pick overall. Detroit got Marcel with the 2nd pick overall.
He joined the Kings in 1975. Everyone knows about the Oilers dynasty around that time but I tell you what, the Kings were a thorn in their side. Before their dynasty even started the Kings eliminated them. And even though we were the 8th team and barely made the playoffs against the 1st team we played with heart and gave them hell. Dionne racked up the goals, ruling the ice despite often being the smallest guy on the ice. It was a lethal combo of talent, heart, intelligence, work ethic and toughness that made him so great.
He had six 50 goal seasons. He retired with 731 goals, second only to Gordie Howe at that time. He is now 5th all time. Gretzky, Hull and Jagr have passed him since.
We just can't emphasize how much we loved Marcel Dionne as a player. We remember him and Bernie Nicholls fondly. How exciting. Imagine what he would have achieved if the Canadians took him instead of Lafleur. In 1992 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after retiring in 1989.
Source: Legends of Hockey - Marcel Dionne. Excellent short that can be found on yt.
Dionne with the hops.