Rick Chartraw was a longstanding fixture on the Montreal Canadiens during a time when the team was perhaps the best team in NHL history but - unlike most of his teammates - he became an obscure and forgotten figure since.
Other members of that hockey team that won four straight Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 have remained promiment in the public eye, including Yvan Cournoyer, Jacques Lemaire, Guy Lafleur, Pierre Bouchard, Mario Tremblay, Doug Risebrough, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Yvon Lambert, Ken Dryden and many others.
Chartraw, who played defence on the cup-winning teams of 77, 78 and 79, has rarely been heard of, save for a fairly discreet visit to town four years ago.
So why did Chartraw retreat into obscurity?
One possible, partial explanation: Chartraw once took part in an ill-considered dispute with his landlord while playing for the Habs that only got worse when he sued various newspapers for their coverage of the incident.
In the fall of 1977 Chartraw rented a posh Upper Westmount house for $600 per month from a retired judge named Marcel Gaboury. The home at 4100 Trafalgar was deemed to be worth $110,000, which was a big figure at the time.
Chartraw had a variety of complaints, for example that the fridge broke. The landlord apparently said that they sent a repairman to fix it but that Chartraw had gone out and replaced the fridge, without their permission.
By September 1978, the landlord claimed that Chartraw owed him $3,600 in unpaid rent and asked for permission to seize Chartraw's assets in order to recoup the money and other damages which he said totaled $10,000. Another judge, Harry Aronovitch, refused the request.
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| Chartraw visiting a Montreal barber in 2017 |
Chartraw disliked the way sports news media reported on his situation so much that in a in a truly bizarre WTF-Dude! moment Chartraw announced his intention to sue the Montreal Gazette for $200,000, the Journal de Montreal $150,000, La Presse $100,000, Le Devoir $50,000 and reporter Ted Blackman $50,000.
No idea what became of that suit but it's highly-unlikely that Chartraw got any money out of it. .
In spite of the awkward situation that saw media required to report on a player attempting to sue them, Chartraw stayed on the Habs for another 2 1/2 seasons, as the team finally finally traded him to Los Angeles in February 1981 for a second rounder.
Chartraw had reported to camp 12 pounds overweight and quarreled a lot with his coach Claude Ruel. "I've left the snow and aggravation behind," he told reporters.
Chartraw, who was best known as a trivia answer as the only NHL player born in Venezuela, grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Ontario to play junior hockey.
In 2002 Chartraw purchased the Kinbasket Lake Resort in British Columbia, where he spends his summers while wintering in Australia. He is trying to sell the property, apparently for $1.1 million. He came to Montreal in 2017 in a fairly restrained, low-key visit.