{"id":579879,"date":"2026-04-12T14:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579879\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T14:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:29:12","slug":"how-kings-legend-rogie-vachon-became-l-a-s-first-hockey-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579879\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kings legend Rogie Vachon became L.A.’s first hockey star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The eighth in an occasional series<\/a> of profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.<\/p>\n

The black-and-white photo<\/a> is as dated as it is iconic.<\/p>\n

It shows Rogie Vachon<\/a>, left hand tucked into a pocket of his bell-bottom jeans and a cigar wedged between two fingers of his right hand, which rests on the hood of a new Mercedes in an empty parking lot outside the Forum. His open V-neck shirt has huge lapels, his hair hangs down to his shoulders and a bushy mustache creases his smiling face, leaving Vachon looking more like the bassist for Spinal Tap than an NHL goaltender.<\/p>\n

And that was the point.<\/p>\n

Hockey was a bruising, inelegant sport played in the frozen tundra of Canada and the upper Midwest when Vachon was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Kings in the winter of 1971. The NHL had expanded to California four seasons earlier, yet even taken together the Kings and California Seals weren\u2019t drawing enough fans to merit the word \u201ccrowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the punchline of a bad joke for a lot of years,\u201d said Mike Murphy, who played with Vachon on those early Kings teams.<\/p>\n

\"Kings <\/p>\n

Rogie Vachon was the first player to have his jersey number retired by the Kings following his retirement.<\/p>\n

(Bruce Bennett Studios \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hockey was wilting in the sun. If the sport was going to survive in the desert it needed stars, it needed personalities and it needed a cultural makeover \u2014 especially in Los Angeles, where the box-office draw was everything.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Vachon, a small-town farm boy from French-speaking Quebec, came in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really a culture shock,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Montreal we won three [Stanley] Cups in four years. And then I come to L.A.; it\u2019s sunny every time we go to practice or the game. Not a whole lot of people in the stands. Our team was pretty lousy too.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah it was a hell of a culture shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which brings up back to that 1975 photo, with the long-haired Vachon and his ferret-sized mustache looking fabulous in front of the Forum.<\/p>\n

The clean shave and conservative haircut he had been forced to wear in Montreal were gone and Vachon was all Hollywood cool, as if Central Casting had created a West Coast hockey player \u2014 one with an unforgettable French-Canadian name full of soft vowels and voiced fricatives \u2014 and dressed him in a purple-and-gold No. 30 jersey.<\/p>\n

And it worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fans really adopted me when I got there, probably because of my style,\u201d said Vachon, who stretched out to 5-foot-8 if he stood on his tippy toes, but had a heart bigger than his body. \u201cI was pretty quick. Small, but you know the style I was playing was very aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we started winning games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NHL would never be the same.<\/p>\n

By the end of his third full season in L.A., Vachon had become Southern California\u2019s first hockey star and the face of a franchise that badly needed one. He was not just a crowd favorite, NHL All-Star and the team\u2019s first Vezina Trophy finalist, but he started the Kings on a streak that would see them qualify for the playoffs nine straight times, still a franchise record.<\/p>\n

Not even Wayne Gretzky could match that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very popular,\u201d said Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Miller, who began calling Kings games in Vachon\u2019s second season in L.A. \u201cHe was very approachable. He was so dynamic and friendly. He made people want to come out and see games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vachon, 80, did more than help the Kings survive, he helped them thrive. As a player he led the team to its first winning record, then returned to become the general manager who traded for Gretzky and drafted Hall of Famers Luc Robitaille<\/a> and Rob Blake<\/a>. He also had a winning record in three stints as an interim coach, making him the only man in franchise history to serve as a player, assistant coach, head coach and general manager.<\/p>\n

\"Kings <\/p>\n

Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon tries to avoid a collision with Chicago\u2019s Stan Mikita and the Kings\u2019 Dave Hutchison during a game in March 1977.<\/p>\n

(Fred Jewell \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In his last five seasons as the Kings\u2019 goaltender, Vachon ranked in the top five in wins four times. In 1974-75, he led the NHL in save percentage (.927), had a career-best 2.24 goals-against average and finished 14 points behind Bobby Clarke in voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the league\u2019s MVP award.<\/p>\n

In many ways it remains the best regular season in franchise history, with the team earning a record 105 points and a .656 winning percentage in an 80-game season. It lost just 17 times, also a team record for a full season.<\/p>\n

By the time Vachon left after seven seasons, the Kings were a perennial playoff contender. The Seals, who never found their star, went through four name changes and three ownership groups before moving to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Did Vachon save hockey in Southern California, and by extension open the NHL to a wave of expansion that has seen the league grow to 32 teams, some in warm-weather markets such as Miami, Tampa, Dallas, Anaheim and Las Vegas?<\/p>\n

Well, he certainly didn\u2019t hurt it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for him, maybe the Kings wouldn\u2019t exist,\u201d said Robitaille, the team\u2019s all-time leading goal-scorer and its president since 2017. \u201cHe was a superstar. He brought people in, kept the Kings alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty amazing record when you think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his playing days, Vachon\u2019s home was the 46 square feet directly in front of his team\u2019s goal. Today his home is an eight-acre ranch in Montana\u2019s Bitterroot Valley, about 45 miles south of Missoula.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice and calm and we have mountains all over the place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The nearest town, Hamilton, isn\u2019t much bigger than the one where Vachon grew up in rural Quebec. Back then the farm he lived on had more than a dozen dairy cows, plus sheep, pigs and plow horses, since his family didn\u2019t have a tractor. In retirement, he\u2019s gone back to that childhood, mucking the stalls and helping care for a menagerie that includes two horses, 10 mini goats, two mini pigs, a pair of horses and a bunch of chickens and dogs and cats.<\/p>\n

\"Legendary <\/p>\n

Legendary Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon at home in Montana.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Renee Vachon)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of coming out and getting a little bit of land and getting some animals, he liked that idea,\u201d Vachon\u2019s son, Nick, remembered. \u201cBut he said no cows. He might have been traumatized by the early mornings and milking twice a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of eight children \u2014 four boys and four girls \u2014 Vachon played his first hockey games at age 5 on a makeshift rink on the farm, and it wasn\u2019t long before the neighborhood kids were taping department store catalogs to his legs for goalie pads and pushing him in front of the net \u2014 ostensibly for his safety since he was always the smallest kid on the ice.<\/p>\n

He would never leave the crease, proving so comfortable there he was playing against grown men when he was just 12.<\/p>\n

Montreal sent a regional scout named Scotty Bowman \u2014 who went on to become the winningest coach in NHL history \u2014 to scout him and he liked what he saw, so much so he convinced Vachon\u2019s parents to let their teenage son sign with the Canadiens. Shortly after his 21st birthday, Vachon was in the NHL, making his debut without a mask and recording his first save on a breakaway by Hall of Famer Gordie Howe.<\/p>\n

Montreal made the Stanley Cup Final in each of Vachon\u2019s first three seasons, winning twice. But when he lost the starting job in goal to rookie Ken Dryden early in his sixth season, Vachon requested a trade and the Canadiens obliged, banishing him to L.A., then the NHL\u2019s version of a warm-weather Siberia.<\/p>\n

The Montana ranch where he lives now, surrounded by fir and pine trees, the shadows of the Bitterroots and silence, is the perfect retirement home, although it\u2019s one Vachon found more by accident than design.<\/p>\n

Vachon was still living by the beach in Southern California in 2016 when his wife, Nicole, whom he married less than a month after his trade to the Kings, died of brain cancer. Four years later, Vachon approached Nick, who was working as general manager of the L.A. Junior Kings\/L.A. Lions, with the idea of uniting the family under one roof again.<\/p>\n

\"Montreal <\/p>\n

Montreal goalie Rogie Vachon looks for the puck next to defenseman Serge Savard during a game against the St. Louis Blues in November 1969.<\/p>\n

(Fred Waters \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was living in a big house in Venice all by myself,\u201d he said. \u201cThis sort of put into my mind that we should sell our houses in L.A. and move in together.\u201d<\/p>\n

So father and son rented a motor home, and along with Nick\u2019s wife, Renee, and daughter Chloe, now 16, headed to Montana, where they found a home big enough for two horses, allowing Chloe, who grew up near the ocean in Redondo Beach, to train to become a barrel racer in the rodeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were definitely not horse people. Like what is a barrel racer? We had no idea,\u201d said Nick Vachon, who followed his father into the NHL, playing one game with the New York Islanders \u2014 against the Kings \u2014 in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just loves animals. She\u2019s kind of our resident vet. She helped deliver our baby goats and she does all the horse stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elder Vachon hasn\u2019t faced a puck in anger since his second and final season with the Boston Bruins in 1982. He says he\u2019s just 15 pounds over his playing weight of 165 pounds, pretty fit for a guy limited by two knee replacements.<\/p>\n

The once-famous dark mane has gone white and is neatly cropped and the bushy mustache is now just a brush of hair below his nose. But the cigars remain as do the memories, which are rekindled by the letters and autograph requests that still arrive regularly in the mailbox.<\/p>\n

His Hall of Fame jacket, which Vachon says he hasn\u2019t won since his induction a decade ago, sits on a hanger in a closet and just a few framed jerseys and photos hang on the walls of his five-bedroom farmhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got some stuff,\u201d Nick Vachon said. \u201cBut he\u2019s pretty humble. He doesn\u2019t like to put up too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vachon became one of the NHL\u2019s top goaltenders in Los Angeles, so when he left as an unrestricted free agent after the 1977-78 season, he commanded what was then the top salary in history at his position, a five-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings worth $1.9 million. But he had two miserable seasons there, giving up more than 3\u00bd goals a game, before being traded to Boston, where he did little better.<\/p>\n

Still, when he retired in 1982, Vachon ranked among the top six all time in games and wins by a goalie. More than four decades later only Jonathan Quick has played or won more games for the Kings, who made Vachon\u2019s No. 30 the first to be retired by the franchise.<\/p>\n

However, there would be a second act for Vachon\u2019s hockey career and naturally it would unfold in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"Legendary <\/p>\n

Legendary Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon at home in Montana.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Renee Vachon)<\/p>\n

A year after his retirement, Vachon returned to the Kings as a goaltender coach, but before that first season was over he had been promoted to coach, then general manager, a position for which he had no experience, yet one he would hold for eight years, guiding the team to seven straight playoff berths and three trips to the division finals.<\/p>\n

Those years proved consequential for other reasons as well since Vachon was the general manager who finalized the 1988 trade that brought Gretzky to L.A. Soon the Kings were the talk of the town, with President Reagan and wife Nancy even sitting rinkside.<\/p>\n

The franchise had come a long way since Vachon\u2019s early playing days, when those rinkside seats would sit empty.<\/p>\n

Vachon was also the one who took Robitaille with the 171st pick, in the ninth round of the 12-round 1984 draft \u2014 and even then it was considered a gamble. But it was one that quickly paid off with Robitaille recording 191 points in his final junior season, then scoring 45 goals and winning the Calder Trophy in his first NHL campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scouts were not quite as high on him as my dad was,\u201d Nick Vachon said. \u201cFinally he forces the scout at the table; he\u2019s like \u2018we\u2019re picking Luc this round. I don\u2019t care what you guys say.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe him a lot,\u201d Robitaille said of Vachon.<\/p>\n

Robitaille, who also spent more time as an executive with the Kings then he did as a player with the team, said the transition from the ice to the front office can be a difficult one. Yet it\u2019s one Vachon mastered quickly.<\/p>\n

\"Luc <\/p>\n

Luc Robitaille shakes hands with Rogie Vachon as Kings greats Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor look on before a pregame ceremony at the Forum in October 1998.<\/p>\n

(Al Seib \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a player, you live the moment. All that matters is that day,\u201d Robitaille said. \u201cWhen you get into management, you\u2019re trying to win tomorrow but at the same time you\u2019ve got a plan for next season and sometimes two, three years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

In retirement, however, Vachon doesn\u2019t have to think any further ahead than the next sunset.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a nice man but at the same time he\u2019s got a ton of character,\u201d Robitaille said. \u201cEvery time I talk to him, he just sounds so happy. That\u2019s what life is about, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Vachon\u2019s son agrees. Because while the long hair, the mustache and the Mercedes are all gone, a broad smile still creases the old goalie\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first moved out here, he\u2019d go out every day and just take in the air,\u201d Nick Vachon said. \u201cHe just sits outside and enjoys the fresh air and so yeah, he\u2019s super happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The eighth in an occasional series of profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[254381,5460,17452,2976,81505,16695,26085,3326,385,18324,5190,254380,99,1599,2384,254379],"class_list":{"0":"post-579879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-first-hockey-star","9":"tag-game","10":"tag-hall","11":"tag-home","12":"tag-horse","13":"tag-king","14":"tag-l-a","15":"tag-montana","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-nick","18":"tag-season","19":"tag-southern-california-athlete","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-team","22":"tag-time","23":"tag-vachon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}