François Lacombe (born February 2, 1948) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

, who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) and

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) between 1968 and 1980. He spent parts of three seasons in the NHL with the

Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

and

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

before moving to the WHA and playing for the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

and

Calgary Cowboys The Calgary Cowboys were an ice hockey team that played two seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1975–1977. The Cowboys played at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. The franchise was founded in 1972 as the Miami Screaming Eagles, t ...

, playing briefly for the Nordiques again when they joined the NHL.

Professional hockey career

After short stints in the NHL with the

and

, Lacombe spent the majority of his career, in the WHA, with the

, plus a single season with the

. He played 3 games for Quebec in the NHL following the

NHL–WHA merger The 1979 NHL expansion was the culmination of several years of negotiations between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA) that resulted in the WHA and its six surviving franchises folding in return for the owners ...

. Lacombe played a total of 78 regular-season NHL games, scoring two goals and adding 17 assists. He also appeared in 3 playoff games with Oakland in the 1969 Stanley Cup Playoffs, tallying one assist. Meanwhile, Lacombe played in 440 WHA games, scoring 38 goals and adding 139 assists. He appeared in 54

Avco Cup The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association ( 1972–1979). The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name originally derived from "Avia ...

playoff games in the WHA, scoring five goals and tallying ten assists. In 1970 Lacombe was traded to the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

along with California's first draft pick in 1971 (the Canadiens chose

Guy Lafleur Guy Damien Lafleur (September 20, 1951 – April 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six c ...

) for

Ernie Hicke Ernest Allan Hicke (born November 7, 1947) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Oakland Seals, Atlanta Flames, New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Ki ...

and Montreal's first round pick. The trade is considered one of the worst of all time.

Minor hockey

Lacombe is now coaching in

Châteauguay Châteauguay ( , , ) is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, located both on the Chateauguay River and Lac St-Louis, which is a section of the St. Lawrence River. The population of the city of Châteauguay at the 2021 Cen ...

with the

Midget AAA Patriotes. He was arrested on March 12, 2008, after allegedly throwing a garbage can at a player on an opposing team sparking a bench clearing brawl. The charges were later dropped.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacombe, Francois 1948 births Living people Buffalo Sabres players Calgary Cowboys players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Cincinnati Swords players Fort Worth Wings players French Quebecers Ice hockey people from Quebec Laval Titan coaches Maine Nordiques players Montreal Junior Canadiens players National Hockey League broadcasters Oakland Seals players People from Lachine, Quebec Providence Reds players Quebec Nordiques (WHA) players Quebec Nordiques announcers Quebec Nordiques players Sportspeople from Montreal Syracuse Firebirds players Canadian ice hockey coaches