Larry Pleau

Lawrence Winslow (Larry) Pleau (Born January 29, 1947 in Lynn, Massachusetts) is senior vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Blues. He is also a former NHL player and head coach.

Junior career

Larry Pleau played three seasons for the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the OHA from 1964–1967.

Professional career

Pleau was one of the top American hockey players in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing for Team USA at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble as well as the 1969 Ice Hockey World Championship tournament in Stockholm.He spent the 1968–69 season with the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League, becoming the league's rookie of the year.He then played three seasons for the Montreal Canadiens from 1970-1972. He helped Montreal to the Stanley Cup championship in 1971 and played a total of 98 games for the club. He was included on the team winning picture and has a cup ring, but did not play enough games to be engraved on the Stanley cup. After being selected off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 1972, he instead choose to sign a contract with his hometown New England Whalers of the upstart World Hockey Association. Pleau became one of the Whalers' early stars and appeared in the 1973, 1974 and 1975 WHA All Star Game as the Whalers representative. He was also a member of the United States team at the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup although he did not appear in the tournament itself. He played seven seasons for the Whalers before retiring in 1979.

Coaching career

He was the Head Coach of the Hartford Whalers from 1980-1983. He then coached the Binghamton Whalers of the AHL from 1984–1988. He was re-hired by the Hartford Whalers in 1987 and coached them until 1989.

Front office career

Pleau joined the New York Rangers as assistant general manager of player development in 1989, and was later promoted to assistant general manager and director of player personnel. He stayed with the Rangers for eight years, including the Rangers' Cup-winning season in 1993–94.

He moved to the Blues in 1997 as general manager. While Pleau presided over the Blues winning the President's Trophy in 1999–2000, the Blues steadily declined over the next few seasons, culminating in finishing dead last in the league in 2005–06, missing the playoffs for the first time in 25 years and for only the fourth time in franchise history. Following the season, the Blues were sold to Dave Checketts. Pleau kept his job as general manager, but had to give most of his powers over hockey operations to John Davidson.

Pleau was also assistant general manager of the silver medal-winning American hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and was general manager of Team USA during the 2003 and 2004 IIHF World Championships and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Pleau is expected to announce his retirement within 2 years time with current Assistant General Manager Doug Armstrong taking over as General Manager.

Awards & Achievements

*Eastern Hockey League Rookie of the Year (1969)
*1971 Stanley Cup championship (Montreal)
*Played in the 1973, 1974 and 1975 WHA All Star Game
*1987 Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award winner - Coach of the year (Binghamton) AHL
*1994 Stanley Cup championship (NYR) as Assistant General Manager
* United States Hockey Hall of Fame, 2000

References

*legendsofhockey|14000
*hockeydb|4319