ONE OF THE FIRST PLAYERS TO EVER DON A CANADIENS JERSEY, RIGHT WINGER DIDIER PITRE WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL SKATER, EARNING HIM THE NICKNAME “CANNONBALL” FROM HIS TEAMMATES.

When Jack Laviolette was put in charge of signing the original Montreal Canadiens roster, one of the first players he turned to was Didier Pitre. A teammate of Laviolette’s with the Soo Indians of hockey’s first professional loop, the IHL, “Cannonball” Pitre was an awesome offensive machine who could score almost at will.

That Pitre was already contractually obligated to the Nationale de Montreal mattered little to the upstart National Hockey Association’s French-Canadian franchise. In the early years of professional hockey, he was not the first nor the last player to take the free agent route despite having a valid pact already in place.

One of hockey’s early speed merchants, legend has it that Pitre skated as fast backwards as he did forwards. He also had the hardest shot in the game. At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, Pitre generally avoided the rough stuff, although when trouble crossed his path he met it head-on.

A charter member of the Habs, Pitre could usually be found at or near the top of the heap in the scoring department. In his prime, the dominating right-winger scored better than a goal per game, registering five 20-goal campaigns with the Canadiens during the team’s NHA years.

Pitre’s 27 goals in 1911-12 put him in second place among all NHA skaters. The following season, he got 24 and, declaring himself a free agent, decided that the pastures were greener west of the Rockies. Pitre spent the 1913-14 season with the Vancouver Millionaires.

Rejoining the Canadiens in 1914-15, he proved that he hadn’t left his scoring touch on the West Coast, netting a career-high 30 goals. The following year, he continued his offensive productivity, notching 24 tallies during the regular season. He also became adept at feeding his teammates, picking up 15 assists in a time when assists were almost as rare as helmets.

Pitre added four more goals in the playoffs that led to the Canadiens’ first-ever Stanley Cup Championship in 1916. He scored five times in the next spring’s showdown, but the result wouldn’t be repeated, as the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to capture hockey’s top prize.

The NHA folded after the 1916-17 season and a new league rose from the debris to fill the demand for high-level hockey. The 34-year-old Pitre had slowed down somewhat but he was still a potent offensive force, scoring 61 times in the NHL’s first four years of play.

After spending the last two years of his career on the blue line, Pitre hung up his skates for good. In 13 seasons in a Canadiens uniform, Pitre appeared in 254 games, scoring 220 goals and assisting on 59 others.

Didier Pitre, an original Canadien and one of the team’s early stars, passed away a month short of his 50th birthday in July 1934 and was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.