Jean Béliveau Jean Arthur Béliveau ( August 31st 1931 – December 2 , 2014 ) was a Canadian professional centre who played in the National Hockey League for 20 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens . He played intermediate hockey with the Victoriaville Panthers and then played junior hockey for the Victoriaville Tigres ( 1947 - 1949 ) and the Quebec Citadelles ( 1949 - 1951 ) . He then joined the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Senior Hockey League ( Major ) ( QSHL ) in 1951 - 52 and won the Alexander Cup in 1952 . Beliveau also played for the Aces in 1952 - 53 . As long as the Quebec Aces were amateur then Beliveau could play for them , since the Montreal Canadiens owned his pro rights . The Canadiens tried to lure him to their team , but the ostensibally amateur Aces could pay Beliveau an enormous salary through complicated means . In 1953 the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association ( CAHA ) suspended the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association ( QAHA ) because of a dispute over a junior player . The QSHL then decided to quit the QAHA and the CAHA and turn openly pro . This move lost them their biggest draw , Beliveau , who had to leave the QSHL . He then signed a lucrative contract with the Canadiens . Another reason that Beliveau signed with the Canadiens involved NHL rules . This rule involved any player who turned 22 before September , was on an NHL ' s team list but unsigned , was playing with an amateur team , and played at least 30 games with that team . The player could then be drafted by any other NHL team for $ 7500 . Had Beliveau not signed with the Canadiens , any other team could have grabbed his NHL rights . In December 1952 , Jacques Plante was signed by the Canadiens and taken away from the Montreal Royals for that exact reason . Béliveau , after two brief stints with the team in the past three seasons , joined the Montreal Canadiens in 1953 - 54 . Three years later , he won the Art Ross Memorial Trophy given to the league ' s scoring champion and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player . He would win the Stanley Cup 10 times in his career , and captain the Habs for the last 10 years of his career . He won he Hart Trophy again in 1963 - 64 and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1964 - 65 , the first time it was awarded . He was a First Team All - Star six times ( 1954 - 55 , 1955 - 56 , 1956 - 57 , 1958 - 59 , 1959 - 60 , and 1960 - 61 ) and a Second Team All - Star four times ( 1957 - 58 , 1963 - 64 , 1965 - 66 , and 1968 - 69 ) . " Le Gros Bill " as he was nicknamed by the Montreal fans retired in 1971 , being his team ' s all - time leader for points , second for goals and league ' s leader for playoffs scoring . Since his retirement , only two players passed him in Montreal in scoring : Guy Lafleur and Maurice Richard . Henri Richard is the only player to have played more games than him in a Habs jersey . In 1125 NHL regular season games , Beliveau scored 507 goals and 712 assists for 1219 points . In 162 playoff games he scored 79 goals and 97 assists for 176 points . In both the regular season and the playoffs Beliveau averaged better than a point a game . Béliveau ' s number 4 was retired by Montreal on October 9th 1971 ; the following year , he was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame . Beliveau has been recognized as one of the classiest players in the history of the game . After his retirement , he served as as an executive and spokesperson for the Montreal Canadiens and for hockey in general .