Maple Leafs baseball team President Bouchard complained about Toronto's excessive conference trips to the mound. He called the Leafs "showspoilers" and then said, for the entire press room to hear, "They're a lot of punks, just like in hockey!" Bouchard was a tough opponent even outside of hockey. When the Mafia of the day in Montreal attempted to intimidate him into hiring their people for his restaurant, Bouchard invited the head man to Chez Butch Bouchard for dinner. Bouchard's wife, Marie-Claire, recalled he told them, "Il lui a dit over my dead body. Je n'embaucherai jamais un de tes hommes." which translates "Over my dead body, I will never hire one of your men." A reporter once asked the canny Bouchard what he thought of coaching methods in the NHL. He replied, "Hockey should be more like football, with a coach for the defence, one for the offence and maybe one for the goalies." Indicative of his usual foresight it would be many years before such practices would become common in the NHL. He died in 2012 at the age of 92. Honours and recognition Bouchard was one of nine players and one builder elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966. On 15 October 2008, the Montreal Canadiens celebrated their 100th season by unveiling the Ring of Honour, an exhibit along the wall of the upper deck of the Bell Centre, paying tribute to their 44 players and 10 builders who are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bouchard along with Elmer Lach, the two oldest surviving members, were on hand to drop the ceremonial puck at centre ice. In 2008, a grass roots movement had begun to pressure Canadien management to retire Bouchard's #3. During the Quebec provincial election Independent candidate Kevin Côté made one of his platforms to force Canadiens into retiring the number. By March 2009 it reached the Quebec National Assembly where a motion was presented and carried "That the National Assembly support the steps taken and supported by the population of Québec in order that Montreal Canadiens management retire the sweater of Émile "Butch" Bouchard eminent defenceman from 1941 to 1956." On 4 December 2009, as part of an 85 minute pre-game ceremony celebrating the Canadiens' 100th anniversary, Bouchard's No. 3 and Elmer Lach's No. 16 were retired. They become the 16th and 17th Canadien players to have their numbers retired. On