Which Montreal Canadien Wore It Best: #12

Dickie Moore was given two veteran linemates to start his career, Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard. 33 points in 33 games with them wasn’t a bad start to his Hall of Fame career. A few years later, Moore hit his prime on a line with Henri Richard and Maurice again. In 1958-59 Moore set the record for points in a season with 96, a record that would last for 7 seasons. That year would be Moore’s second straight Art Ross Trophy. One of the best left wingers in Habs history, Moore sites at 12th and 13th place all time in goals and assists in a Canadiens jersey. A rugged player, Moore took a ton of physical abuse in his career, but Moore played through injuries that would keep others out, possibly shortening his career. He made the most of his 12 years with the Canadiens though, winning 6 Stanley Cups and having his number retired in 2005.

The fastest forward of his era, “The Roadrunner” had a wicked wrist shot to go along with it, and sickening skill. Cournoyer was an elite goal scorer, with four 40 goal seasons on his resume, and 12 straight seasons with 24 for or more goals. A 10 time Stanley Cup champion, Cournoyer was named captain in 1975-76, spurring on the most dominant 4 seasons in Canadiens history. Cournoyer’s 15 goals in 17 games in the 1972-73 playoffs remains a Canadiens record for playoff goals, no surprise that he won the Conn Smythe Trophy that year. Cournoyer also played a major role for Canada in the Summit Series in 1972, playing on the top line with Phil Esposito. In fact Cournoyer set up Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the final game of the series.

So Habs fans, which player wore the number 12 best?