Guy Chouinard was a superstars as a junior in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and went on to become the first player in Atlanta / Calgary Flames history to record 50 or more goals in a single season. The Guy Chouinard rookie card appears as number 316 in the 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee set and is value at $2.
Chouinard played three years in the QMJHL from 1971-72 to 1973-74, all with the Quebec Remparts. It was in his final two years that he really shone. In 1972-73, Guy led the league in assists with 86 and was fourth in points with 129. The Remparts won the QMJHL playoff championships and were awarded the President’s Cup after defeating the Cornwall Royals in the finals. After advancing to the Memorial Cup, the Remparts lost in the final game 9-1 to the Toronto Marlboros.
In his final year in the QMJHL, Chouinard increased his point total significantly, recording 160. However, that total placed him just eighth in the league. The QMJHL was led by Pierre Larouche of the Sorel Eperviers (Black Hawks) that season with an amazing 251 points. Quebec once again took the President’s Cup, defeating Larouche’s Eperviers in the finals. The Remparts once again played in the Memorial Cup final game, this time losing 7-4 to the Regina Pats.
The Atlanta Flames selected Guy in the second round of the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, 28th overall. He played in the NHL from 1974-75 to 1983-84 with the Flames and St. Louis Blues. But, before his NHL career started, he played for the Omaha Knights of the Central Hockey League. He was honoured as the CHL Rookie of the Year, playing 70 games and totalling 68 points on 28 goals and 40 assists. He also saw his first NHL action with Atlanta that year.
Chouinard played a total of 578 NHL regular season games, scoring 205 goals and assisting on 370 for 575. By far, his best year in the National Hockey League came in 1978-79 when he scored exactly fifty goals to become the first Flame to accomplish the feat. In 80 regular season games, he also assisted on 57 goals for 107 points.
In 1978-79, he placed fourth in the NHL for goals. Guy was one of just four players to reach the fifty goal plateau that year. Mike Bossy led the league with 69 goals. Chouinard’s 107 points placed him sixth in the league, one point behind teammate Bob MacMillan. Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders took the Art Ross Trophy with 134 points.
Post NHL, Chouinard was a head coach off and on in the QMJHL from 1986-87 to 2009-10. He coached the Longueuil Chevaliers, Victoriaville Tigres, Laval Titan, Quebec Remparts and Prince Edward Island Rocket. With the Chevaliers, he coached the team to a President’s Cup championship after defeating the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the finals. He reached the finals again in 1989-90 with the Victoriaville Tigres, losing out to the Laval Titan.
Guy’s son Eric was recently playing in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with the Nurnberg Ice Tigers. He has played in the DEL since 2006-07. Previously, the younger Chouinard played 90 games in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota Wild.