Vachon enjoying farm living, reflects on trade to Kings 50 years later

Fifty years since he was acquired by the Los Angeles Kings in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, almost four decades since he played his last NHL game, five years since he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Rogie Vachon laughs at his new role in life.

He's a backup goat-tender.
Vachon is nine months into country living, having left the bustle and gridlock of Los Angeles after more than 40 years to settle under the big, unhurried sky of Montana, where he shares a spacious home with his son, Nick, daughter-in-law, Renee, and his granddaughter, Chloe.
On their eight-acre spread are three Nigerian Dwarf goats, six chickens and soon, a horse on which Chloe will train to be a barrel racer. Sixty years after he left his family's dairy farm in rural Palmarolle, Quebec, a teenager taking his first steps toward a 16-season NHL career, Vachon is delighted to be back on the land.
"It's not my job to take care of the animals, it's 'Coco's'," he said of Chloe, laughing. "If she can't, Nick does. But if the family takes a trip for a few days, the goats and chickens are my responsibility.
"It feels great to be here. I can go out and smoke my cigar, cut the grass, work in the garden and breathe fresh air all the time."

Rogie Vachon in a 1977 game in St. Louis with the Los Angeles Kings.
Vachon can hardly believe it's been half a century since his trade from the Canadiens to the Kings on Nov. 4, 1971, becoming the face of a four-year-old NHL team whose games were largely ignored by fans loyal to baseball, basketball and football.
"Oh man, the culture shock was huge," Vachon said. "I left Montreal after we'd won the Stanley Cup three of the four years I was there, moved to L.A. and honestly, we had a terrible team. There were barely any fans in the stands, 10,000 on a big night.
"I was very happy after I adjusted, and we had some pretty good years. When I got there, the team was very bad. When I left L.A. (signing as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings in 1978), we had a very solid team and I was very proud of that."

Rogie Vachon watches a flying puck during a 1969-70 game with the Montreal Canadiens.
He has not forgotten his first game against the Canadiens, a 5-3 loss at the Montreal Forum, a 50-shot barrage on Dec. 1, 1971, the night after he'd married Nicole Blanchard in Burlington, Vermont. Through a storm, the newlyweds were whisked north by a car-racing friend from Quebec, the goalie's honeymoon ending in a blizzard of pucks.
Vachon had burst onto the NHL scene with the Canadiens in 1967, called up from Houston of the Central Hockey League at age 22 to play 19 games from February into April, then nine more in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Famously, pot-stirring Toronto Maple Leafs coach Punch Imlach sniffed that his team wouldn't be beaten in the Final by "a Junior-B goalie;" Toronto prevailed against Montreal to win the championship in six games, but the unmasked Vachon drew raves for his postseason performance, going 6-3 with a 2.38 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.

Rogie Vachon defends the Canadiens net against Toronto during a late 1960s game at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The acrobatic 5-foot-8, 165-pound goalie would win the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1968, 1969 and 1971, with Gump Worsley winning the 1967-68 Vezina Trophy that then was awarded to the team with the League's best goals-against total.
But with Ken Dryden about to own the Canadiens net through the 1970s, not yet a rookie when he won the Conn Smythe Trophy in leading Montreal to the 1971 championship, Vachon's request for a trade was granted. He was sent to the Kings for goalie Denis DeJordy, defensemen Dale Hoganson and Noel Price and forward Doug Robinson.
Vachon played nearly seven seasons for Los Angeles, then two each with the Red Wings and Boston Bruins before retiring in 1982. In 795 NHL regular-season games, he was 353-293 with 128 ties, a 3.00 goals-against average, .896 save percentage and 51 shutouts. In 48 playoff games, he was 23-23 with a 2.77 GAA, .907 save percentage and two shutouts.

Rogie Vachon of the Montreal-district N.D.G. Monarchs stops Toronto Marlboros' Grant Moore during a 1964 junior game at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Internationally, Vachon helped Canada to victory in the 1976 Canada Cup with a 1.39 GAA, .940 save percentage and two shutouts in seven games, selected to the All-Star team, named the tournament's best goalie and Canada's most valuable player.
In retirement, he returned to Los Angeles to serve as goalie consultant, assistant coach, twice interim coach and team president before stepping down as an ambassador in 2008.
His biggest impact with the Kings, however, came while serving as general manager from 1984-92, acquiring Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers in a monumental trade on Aug. 9, 1988.
The Hall of Fame called in 2016, 34 years after his final save, Vachon long having given up any hope of a ringing phone.
"It was really a proud moment," he said of his Hall election. "You look back and say, 'Well, I'm in the Hall of Fame. How many have played the game over the years and how many are here?' The percentage is so low. You feel good to be part of a special group."

Rogie Vachon with Los Angeles in the mid-1970s and in 2016 with fellow Kings whose numbers have been retired by the team. Back row, from left: Dave Taylor, Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Rob Blake. Front row: Vachon, Marcel Dionne.
Nicole, his wife of 44 years, died nine months before induction. He'd remained in their home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice until a change of scenery slowly began to appeal.
Shortly after Nicole's death to glioblastoma, his son's wife, Renee, began working as director of the
Uncle Kory Foundation
, which raises funds for brain-cancer research. Nick assists with the production of video content.
Nick Vachon, who played one game at center for the New York Islanders in 1996, announced in January that he was leaving his job as the Los Angeles Junior Kings/LA Lions' GM of hockey operations to spend more time with his family. He and his father talked about the country, he found their dream home in Montana, the Vachons sold two houses in Los Angeles, bought an RV and moved 1,200 miles northeast.
"Plenty of room for two families under one roof," Rogie said.

Rogie Vachon during his 2016 Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend and in the Montreal Canadiens dressing room in the late 1960s.
Jade and Mary, Vachon's daughters, live in California and Tennessee, respectively. Nick's son, Calvin, is a promising 16-year-old goalie with Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school in Minnesota; fiercely proud grandfather Rogie watches most of his games online.
"The way Calvin plays, the way he reacts mentally, I can see a similarity between us. He doesn't quit on anything," said Vachon. "But these days goalies play a totally different style than when I played."
He has joined a spectacular course to play his beloved golf, shooting in the low 80s on a good day.
"The best club in my bag is my putter. The worst would be the other 13 clubs," he joked. "At 76, I'm not as long as I used to be."

Rogie Vachon tees off at the golf course near home, with a mountain backdrop.
In their first full winter in Montana, Vachon is eager to settle with Nick to watch NHL games, pleased when the Kings or Canadiens are on view in their den. Jerseys of each team are framed in the house, Vachon's No. 30 having been retired by the Kings in 1985, the first so honored by Los Angeles.
There are small reminders of his hockey career throughout the house but Vachon is happiest now in a flannel shirt. The game in his rear-view mirror, family and a country life are the center of his life, far from the city lights of his NHL stops in Montreal, Los Angeles, Detroit and Boston.
"My Hall of Fame jacket is in a closet," he said. "I'm very proud of it, but you know, I haven't worn it since induction weekend."
Photos: Renee Vachon; Nick Vachon; Hockey Hall of Fame (Graphic Artists, Lewis Portnoy, Frank Prazak); Getty Images (Denis Brodeur, Dave Sandford, Bruce Bennett)