Newsy Lalonde: The Imperial Tobacco Hockey Cards

Édouard Cyrille Lalonde was a pretty impressive hockey player and a true pioneer of what is now the National Hockey League. Better known as ‘Newsy’, Lalonde is credited for scoring the first goal in the long and storied history of the Montreal Canadiens. For a good decade, it was a showdown between Lalonde and Joe Malone for the NHA and NHL scoring title.

The Hockey Cards

There are ancient hockey cards scattered about from the early part of the century with Newsy’s mug on the front. There are even more featuring him as a lacrosse superstar. Today, we’ll take a look at the three from the Imperial Tobacco sets from the 1910’s that include what is regarded as the Newsy Lalonde rookie card.

All 36 cards from the 1910-11 Imperial Tobacco C56 set are considered rookie cards because, well, there really wasn’t anything before that. The full set of cards is conservatively valued at $10,000, although a Lalonde card has sold for $100,000. Each card was tiny, compared to the standard size of sports cards over the past half century or more. The ‘cigarette cards’ were 2 5/8″ tall and 1 7/16″ wide. The Newsy Lalonde rookie card appeared as number 36 and is valued at $1,000. His, along with two Art Ross cards and one of Fred ‘Cyclone’ Taylor are the features of the set and are all valued the same.

In 2011-12, the Imperial Tobacco C55 set featured Lalonde on card number 42 in the 45 card set. This card is actually rated as the most valuable of Lalonde’s three Imperial Tobacco cards at $1,500. The complete set is valued at $15,000 and the Georges Vezina rookie card is the highlight at $6,000.

1912-13 was the last of the Imperial Tobacco cards, to the disappointment of underage smokers everywhere. This was the largest set at 50 cards and most valuable at $20,000. The number 44 card of Lalonde is valued at $1,200 while Vezina once again is the most valuable at $5,000.

The Player

In the National Hockey Association, Newsy played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1909-10 to 1916-17. He played for the Canadiens in the inaugural 1917-18 season of the National Hockey League and continued with the club until the end of the 1921-22 season. For a great part of that time, he was the team’s captain.

As mentioned, he was usually among the top two or three in goals scored and points. He led the NHL in 1918-19 with 32 points in 17 games. He was tied for the lead in goals with Montreal Canadiens teammate Odie Cleghorn with 23. In 1920-21, he led the NHL with 41 points in 24 games.

Over his NHA career, Lalonde played 109 games, scoring a whopping 166 goals and assisting on 21 more for 187 points. In the NHL, he played 99 games, scoring 127 and assisting on 27 for 154 points. Newsy surely wasn’t the puckhog that the stats might indicate. Assists simply were as generously handed out back then as they are today.

Newsy Lalonde was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950. Considering that the Hall opened in 1945, it seems rather insulting that it took five years to induct one of the greatest players in the game. Of course, Rogie Vachon, Fred Shero and Pat Burns are other fine examples of NHL people done wrong by the Hall of Fame – justice finally came to Shero and Burns posthumously.

The Coach

At times, acting as a player / head coach of the Montreal Canadiens in the NHA and NHL, Lalonde first solely acted as a head coach with the New York Americans in 1926-27. The team finished fourth, ironically, in the five team Canadian Division and out of post season contention. He played one game for the Americans that season in an emergency situation.

Newsy was the head coach of the Canadiens from 1932-33 to 1934-35. The Habs were just two years removed from a Stanley Cup championship in 1930-31 but had tough times ahead. Montreal would not even reach the finals again until 1943-44 when they won the Stanley Cup with a sweep of the Chicago Black Hawks.

Lalonde did, however, win a championship as a head coach. In the CAHL (Canadian-American Hockey League), he took the Quebec Castors (Beavers) to the finals in 1927-28 before losing to the Springfield Indians. In 1931-32, Newsy was behind the bench as the Providence Reds swept the Boston Cubs in the finals for the championship. The CAHL existed from 1926-27 to 1935-36 and is a direct ancestor of the modern day AHL.