It took just 6 hours from posting to get an answer – see comments below for this stranger’s identity!
After Mario Tremblay completed his first season with the Montreal Canadiens in 1974-75, his rookie hockey card came out the following season. The Mario Tremblay rookie card is number 223 in the 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee set. The problem is, the picture on the front of the card is not of Tremblay.
Classified as an uncorrected error card (UER), a mystery man appears on the front of the card. Please, if you, the reader, knows who this imposter is, let us know! The most detailed sources of information on the web, ie. Beckett and The Trading Card Database simply state that the picture ‘is not him’. I read in a hockey card forum that the person on the front of the card is, in fact, Tremblay’s brother and it was a bit of a practical joke.
Regardless, the Mario Tremblay rookie card is an uncorrected error and is valued at $5.00 by Beckett Hockey Monthly.
Tremblay was the 12th overall pick at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, going to the Canadiens. He put up decent numbers for two years in the QMJHL with the Montreal Blue-Blanc-Rouge (the current Rouyn-Noranda Huskies). His 100 points in 1973-74, his final season of junior, seem like a lot by today’s standards. However, he was just fifth on the team, 53 points behind team leader, Bob Sirois. Pierre Larouche of the Sorel Black Hawks won the Jean Beliveau Trophy that year with a whopping 251 points. In fact, there were five players in the QMJHL that season to top the 200 point plateau.
After a 15 game stint in the American Hockey League with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs to start the 1974-75 season, Tremblay became a regular with Montreal. He would remain a Hab throughout his NHL career and retire after the 1985-86 season. He played a total of 852 regular season NHL games over 12 seasons. Mario played on all four Stanley Cup championship teams of the Montreal Dynasty during the 1970’s. He played 56 regular season games in 1985-86 but didn’t appear in the playoffs as the Canadiens captured another Cup.
Four times a 30 goal scorer, Tremblay was overshadowed by the greats that played for Montreal at the same time, like Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt and even Pierre Larouche for a few years.
Mario returned to the Habs as head coach for two seasons, 1995-96 and 1996-97. He spent several years as assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild. Most recently, he was an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils in 2009-10.
The player pictured on the hockey card is Gord McTavish:
I am under the impression that it is Gord McTavish, who was a prospect for the Canadiens at the time.
Oh ya – this picture clarifies it’s McTavish: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Canadiens-Gord-Mctavish-1970s-Photo-/260701715710
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