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Henri Richard, who Deke-Henri Furry was named for, passes away

By Wesley Coburn

MONTREAL- DECEMBER 4: Former Montreal Canadiens Henri Richard attends the Centennial Celebration ceremonies prior to the NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins on December 4, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Canadiens defeated the Bruins 5-1. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)
MONTREAL- DECEMBER 4: Former Montreal Canadiens Henri Richard attends the Centennial Celebration ceremonies prior to the NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins on December 4, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Canadiens defeated the Bruins 5-1. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images) /
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Henri Richard, Montreal Canadiens legend and one of the NHL’s greatest players ever, has passed away.

Henri Richard, the legendary Montreal Canadiens center and the reason for the middle name of Vegas Golden Knights superfan Deke-Henri Furry the Jack Russell Terrier, has passed away. He was 84 years old.

Known as “The Pocket Rocket” due to being shorter and much younger than his teammate and older brother Maurice, who was nicknamed “The Rocket” due to his fast skating ability, Henri Richard’s career lasted from 1955-1975, all of it spent with Montreal, where he racked up 358 goals, 688 assists, 1,046 points and 928 penalty minutes in 1,256 regular season games (in the playoffs, he added 49 goals, 80 assists, 129 points and 181 penalty minutes in 180 additional games).

Richard won the Stanley Cup 11 times as a player, the most in NHL history. He also made the All-Star Game nine times, including every year in a row from 1956-1961. He also won the 1974 Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy, given to a player who overcomes significant obstacles with good sportsmanship.

According to NBC Sports, in four of those Stanley Cup Finals Richard scored the Cup-clinching goal.

At the start of his career officials started wearing striped shirts for the first time for better optics on black-and-white television, and by the end the league had ballooned to 18 teams from the Original Six, and a center named Wayne Gretzky was just a few years away from joining the league.

Hockey Twitter was filled with memorial tributes all day, as expected.

As we mentioned earlier, Deke-Henri Furry got his middle name from the Pocket Rocket, and wears the No. 16 on his Knights sweater as a tribute.

Thus it seems somewhat fitting that Deke would be celebrating turning 10 months old today.

Though there haven’t been that many tributes yet from the hockey dogs of Twitter and Instagram, we would guess they will be coming, as Henri Richard was such a legend of the sport’s history.

“Henri Richard was one of the true giants of the game,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “The entire National Hockey League family mourns the passing of this incomparable winner, leader, gentleman and ambassador for our sport and the Montreal Canadiens.”

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For more news, analysis and opinion of all things Montreal Canadiens hockey, check out our FanSided Network sister sites Puck Prose and A Winning Habit.

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