Jacques Plante - Legacy

Legacy

Plante was one of the first goaltenders to skate behind the net to stop the puck. He also was one of the first to raise his arm on an icing call to let his defencemen know what was happening. He perfected a stand-up, positional style, cutting down the angles; he became one of the first goaltenders to write a how-to book about the position. He was a pioneer of stickhandling the puck; before that time, goaltenders passively stood in the net and simply deflected pucks to defencemen or backchecking forwards.

Plante was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978, and into the Quebec Sports Pantheon in 1994. His jersey, #1, was retired in 1995 by the Montreal Canadiens. The Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy was established in his honor as an award to the top goaltender in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Jacques Plante Trophy was established in Switzerland after Plante's death; it is given out annually to the top Swiss goaltender. The main arena in Shawinigan the town he grew up in, was renamed to Aréna Jacques Plante.

Plante was selected by Sports Illustrated magazine to its 1991 all-time All-Star team.

His injury and subsequent donning of a mask was depicted in an installment of Canada's Heritage Minute series.