Matthews Richard split BADGE

Maurice Richard Jr. believes that his late father, one of the most beloved Montreal Canadiens of all time, would be happy Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews won the 2020-21 Rocket Richard Trophy as the top goal-scorer in the NHL.

Honest.
"I imagine my father would be satisfied," Richard Jr. said, laughing at the notion that the stomachs of many Canadiens fans are turning because the name of a Maple Leafs player will for the first time be engraved on the Richard Trophy.
"I think Auston is the type of player my father would have liked, and he's one of best I've ever seen play. He's fast, he has a good shot and he's very good from in close to the net."

Rocket Richard Maple Leafs group

Auston Matthews (center) celebrates his 40th goal of 2020-21 on May 6 at Scotiabank Arena with teammates Joe Thornton (left) and Justin Holl.
With 41 goals in 52 games this season, Matthews is the first Maple Leafs player to lead the NHL in goals since 1945-46. That season's top scorer was Gaye Stewart (37 goals in 50 games), the most recent of six Toronto skaters who 13 times since the NHL's first season of 1917-18 birth have led or shared the top spot in that category.
Matthews will try to continue his impressive production in the Stanley Cup First Round when the Maple Leafs play the Canadiens. The best-of-7 series begins with Game 1 in Toronto on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
He scored 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 10 games against the Canadiens this season. They included his dazzling, blink-of-an-eye 35th goal scored April 28 in Montreal, when he batted the puck out of the air as it bounced off Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki, cradled it for an instant then swept it with a single motion past goalie Jake Allen.
"That's the kind of goal I could imagine my dad scoring," Richard Jr. said. "My father was average height and weight in his time (5-foot-10, 170 pounds), but Auston is very talented for a large man (6-3, 220). He plays and controls the puck around the net in some ways how my father did."

Trophy Split

NHL's Maurice Richard Trophy (right), introduced in 1999. At left, trophy presented to Richard in 1949 that features his milestone 50th goal puck, scored in 50th game of 1944-45; 200th goal puck, scored in 1949; and 45th goal puck of 1944-45, breaking NHL single-season record.
Matthews was 2 years old when the Maurice Richard Trophy was unveiled on Jan. 23, 1999 in Tampa Bay during festivities for the NHL All-Star Game.
"When I was playing 50 years ago, no one went to ask [the League] for a trophy like this," Richard said that day. "But I'm really happy it's going to be in the NHL now, and that it will have my name on it."
Says Richard Jr. now, "My father didn't like to talk about himself and what he did in hockey, but he was very happy that the NHL introduced the trophy in his name. It will enable him to be remembered for many years."
Richard died the following year, on May 27, 2000 at the age of 78.
The Rocket, who scored 966 points (544 goals, 422 assists) in 978 NHL games, would have won his own trophy five times. He was the first player to score 50 goals in a season, No. 50 coming in the 50th and final game of the 1944-45 season, and the first to the 500-goal plateau, reaching that on Oct. 19, 1957. Despite his offensive prowess, Richard won just a single individual award -- the 1946-47 Hart Trophy as the NHL most valuable player. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Maurice Richard trophy split

Maurice Richard symbolically hangs up his skates for the final time upon retirement in 1960, and Maurice Richard Jr. in a Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec hotel in 2020, a portrait of his father coincidentally outside his room.
Richard had a spirited, often blood-boiling rivalry against the Maple Leafs that spanned 18 seasons, from 1942-60.
In 193 regular-season games against the Maple Leafs, Richard scored 191 points (108 goals, 83 assists); 22 of those goals were game-winners. He also played 28 games against the Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring 31 points (22 goals, nine assists).
Only one of the Rocket's milestone goals came against the Maple Leafs -- his 82nd and final playoff goal, scored April 12, 1960 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The four-game sweep would give Richard his eighth championship, the last four from 1957-60 coming as team captain.
There was also Richard's historic playoff performance at the Montreal Forum against the Maple Leafs in Game 2 of the 1944 Semifinals, the Rocket earning first, second and third star by scoring five goals -- an NHL first -- in a 5-1 victory.

rocket bower 1959

Maurice Richard in close on Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower during a 1959 game at Maple Leaf Gardens.
But beyond the statistics, there always was something special about Richard facing the Maple Leafs, games that featured his legendary feuds with Toronto forward Bill Ezinicki and his late 1940s rumbles with rugged defensemen Garth Boesch, Bill Barilko, Gus Mortson and Jim Thomson. More than once he was fined and/or suspended for battles that got out of hand.
For nearly two decades, Richard was heckled mercilessly in Toronto; so too would be his younger brother, Henri, who joined him with the Canadiens in 1955-56 and played until 1974-75.
"What many people don't remember is that a lot of Maple Leafs fans in fact liked my father, he had a lot of supporters there," Richard Jr. said. "Of course, many more hated him because of what he did to Toronto."
The Rocket scored 74 points (43 goals, 31 assists) in 95 games at Maple Leaf Gardens.

rocket conn smythe

Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe (center), here with his assistant Frank Selke (right) and trainer Tim Daly before the team's 1928 training camp, tried unsuccessfully at least twice in the 1940s to buy Maurice Richard's contract from the Canadiens.
Conn Smythe, who owned the Maple Leafs from 1927-61, adored Richard's style so much that in 1945 he directed his assistant, Frank Selke, to try to buy the star's contract from the Canadiens. He was laughed off.
Four years later, still consumed by the idea, Smythe told Selke, now general manager of the Canadiens, that he'd pay anything to buy the Rocket. Again, his offer was spurned, but the thought was so intriguing that a Toronto newspaper published a photo of Richard in which they'd dressed him in a Maple Leafs sweater.
"We'll pay real money for Richard," Maple Leafs coach Hap Day crowed.
Replied Selke, "We can't use money to play right wing."
At one point, Smythe sat in the Forum stands for a game and exchanged taunts with Richard's mother-in-law, near whom he'd been seated. Their arguments having flamed out by late in the game, Smythe finally asked her what she'd been saying to him in French the entire night.
"My advantage, Mr. Smythe," came the reply, "is that I can tell you what a (expletive) you are, in both languages."

maurice richard stats

Richard Jr., who is 76 years old, still enjoys the stories, today congratulating Matthews for adding his name to his iconic father's trophy.
And he jokes a little about his own history, too.
Playing for the University of Montreal in the 1964-65 Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association, Richard Jr. suited up against the University of Toronto for a 1965 road game at Varsity Arena.
"With my name, I figured I was in for a long night," he said. "Imagine my surprise when Toronto fans cheered me."
Photos:HHoF Images/Getty Images/Maurice Richard Jr.