Boston Bruins

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Boston Bruins
File:Boston Bruins.gif
ConferenceEastern
DivisionNortheast
Founded1924
HistoryBoston Bruins
1924 - present
Home arenaTD Banknorth Garden
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Team colorsBlack and Gold
MediaNESN
WBZ (1030 AM)
Owner(s)Jeremy Jacobs
General managerPeter Chiarelli
Head coachDave Lewis
CaptainVacant
Minor league affiliatesProvidence Bruins (AHL)
Stanley Cups1928-29, 1938-39, 1940-41, 1969-70, 1971-72
Conference championships1987-88, 1989-90
Division championships1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1934-35, 1937-38, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1973-74, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93, 2001-02, 2003-04

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Franchise history

The Pre-War years

In 1924, at the convincing of Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams, the NHL decided to expand into the United States. As a long-time hockey hotbed, Boston was a natural choice for the NHL's first American team.

Adams hired Art Ross as general manager. Ross would stay with the team for thirty years, including four separate stints as coach. Adams directed Ross to come up with a nickname that would portray an untamed animal displaying speed, agility, and cunning. Ross came up with "Bruins," after the brown bear. The nickname also went along with the team's colors of brown and gold, which came from Adams' grocery chain, Brookside Stores. The team finished dead last in its inaugural season, but rebounded to finish just a point out of the playoffs a year later.

File:Ditclapper.jpg
Dit Clapper, longtime Bruins' captain and coach.

In only their third season, 1926-27, the team's fortune changed. Ross took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, defenseman Eddie Shore. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final despite finishing only one game above .500, but lost to the Ottawa Senators. Boston won their first Cup two years later by defeating the New York Rangers behind Shore, Harry Oliver, Dit Clapper, Dutch Gainor and superstar goaltender Tiny Thompson. That season was also the first in the legendary Boston Garden, which Adams had built after guaranteeing his backers $500,000 in gate receipts over the next five years. The season after that, 1929-30, the Bruins posted the best-ever regular season winning percentage in the NHL (an astonishing .875, losing only six out of 44 games), but would lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the Final.

Except for a couple seasons, the Bruins would remain excellent through the 1930s with superb players such as Shore, Thompson, Clapper, Babe Siebert, and Cooney Weiland, but failed to capture their second Cup until 1939, the season the team's colors changed from brown and gold to black and gold. That year, in a move then considered insane by hockey pundits, Ross dealt Thompson in favour of untried rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek. "Mr. Zero" Brimsek would electrify the league in his rookie season, and headlined by the "Kraut Line" (center Milt Schmidt, left winger Bobby Bauer, and right winger Woody Dumart), playmaking wizard Bill Cowley, Shore, Clapper, and unexpected hero "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (who scored three overtime goals in one playoff series), the Bruins won the Cup. Shore was dealt to the New York Americans for his final NHL season the next year, but the following season, the Bruins – having led the league with a magnificent regular season that saw them lose only eight games – won their third Stanley Cup with Weiland as their new coach, behind the brilliance of Cowley, the Krauts, and Brimsek. It was their last Stanley Cup for 29 years.

World War II and the "Original Six" Era

File:KrautLine.jpg
The "Kraut Line": Woody Dumart, Milt Schmidt, and Bobby Bauer.

Unfortunately, World War II decimated the Bruins worse than most teams; Brimsek and the "Krauts" all enlisted after the 1940-41 season, and lost the most productive years of their careers at war. Cowley, assisted by elder statesmen Clapper and Busher Jackson, was the team's remaining star. Even though the NHL had by 1943 pared down to the six teams that would in a later era be – erroneously – called the "Original Six", talent was depleted enough that freak seasons could predominate, as in 1943-44, when Bruin Herb Cain would set the then-NHL record for points in a season with 82. But the Bruins didn't make the playoffs that season, and Cain would be out of the NHL two years later.

Milt Schmidt, Hall of Famer and captain of the Bruins in the early 1950s.

The stars would return for the 1945-46 NHL season, and Clapper led the team all the way to the Cup Final as player-coach. He retired as a player after the next season, but stayed behind the bench for two more years. Unfortunately, Brimsek was not as good as he was pre-war, and after 1946 the Bruins lost in the first playoff round three straight years, resulting in Clapper's firing. An ominous bit of misfortune came with the banning of young star Don Gallinger for life on suspicion of gambling, and the only remaining quality young player who stayed with the team for any length was forward Johnny Peirson, who would later be the team's TV color commentator in the 1970s.

The 1950s began with Adams' son, Weston (who had been team president since 1936), facing financial trouble, and was forced to accept a buyout offer from Walter A. Brown, the owner of the Boston Celtics and the Garden, in 1951. Although there were some flashes of success (such as making the Stanley Cup Final in 1953, 1957, and 1958, only to lose to the Montreal Canadiens each time), the Bruins mustered only four winning seasons between 1947 and 1967. They missed the playoffs eight straight years between 1960 and 1967, but fan support remained high – the Bruins consistently outdrew the Celtics even though they won eight straight basketball world championships.

During this period, the farm system of the Bruins was not as expansive or well developed as most of the other five teams. The Bruins sought players not protected by the other teams and in 1958 signed Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL. In like fashion, the team signed Tommy Williams from the 1960 Olympic-gold medal winning American national men's hockey team – at the time the only American player in the NHL – in 1962. Boston fans were desperate to have something to take their minds off a very long Stanley Cup drought.

Expansion and the Big, Bad Bruins

File:BobbyOrr.jpg
Bobby Orr, winner of eight consecutive Norris Trophies and a brilliant blue-liner.

Weston Adams repurchased the Bruins in 1964 after Brown's death and set about rebuilding the team. Adams drafted young Bobby Orr, who entered the league in 1966 and would become, in the eyes of many, the greatest defenseman of all time. He was announced that season's winner of the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year and named to the Second NHL All-Star Team. When asked about Orr's NHL debut game, October 18, 1966, against the Detroit Red Wings, then-Bruins coach Harry Sinden recalled, "Our fans had heard about this kid for a really long time. He was incredibly pressured, but he was a star from the instant the American national anthem played at the beginning of the Detroit game."

The Bruins then obtained forwards Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, and Fred Stanfield from the Black Hawks in one of the most one-sided deals in history. Hodge and Stanfield became useful players in Boston, but Esposito, who centered a line with Hodge and Wayne Cashman, would blossom into the league's top goal scorer, being the first NHL player to break the 100-point mark and setting many goal and point scoring records. Esposito remains one of four players to win the Art Ross Trophy four consecutive seasons (the other three are Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe). With other stars like wingers Johnny Bucyk, John McKenzie, Derek Sanderson, and Hodge, steady defenders like Dallas Smith and goaltender Gerry Cheevers, the "Big, Bad Bruins" became one of the league's top teams from the late 1960s through the 1970s, combining a rugged, barroom style of play with one of the greatest offensive juggernauts the NHL had ever seen.

In 1970, a 29-year Stanley Cup drought came to an end in Boston, as the Bruins smashed the St. Louis Blues in four games in the Final. Bobby Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the Cup. The same season was Orr's epiphany – the third of eight consecutive years he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy – and he won the Art Ross Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy, and the Hart Memorial Trophy, the only player to win those four awards all in the same season. The famous image of Orr being tripped up and flying through the air after scoring "The Goal", his arms raised in victory, remains perhaps the best-known photograph in professional hockey to this day.

File:Bobbyorrgoal.jpg
"The Goal"

1971 was in respects the high watermark of the Seventies for Boston. While Sinden temporarily retired from hockey to enter business (he was replaced by ex-Bruin and Canadien defenseman Tom Johnson) the Bruins' dominance was cataclysmic, shattering dozens of offensive scoring records. They had seven of the league's top ten scorers – a feat not achieved before or since – set the record for wins in a season, and in a league that had never seen a 100-point scorer before 1969, the Bruins had four that season. All four (Orr, Esposito, Bucyk, and Hodge) were named First Team All-Stars, a feat matched in the expansion era only by the 1977 Canadiens. Boston looked poised to repeat as Cup champions, but ran into a roadblock in the playoffs. Up 5-1 at one point in game two of the quarterfinals against the Canadiens (and rookie goaltender Ken Dryden), the Bruins squandered the lead to lose 7-5. They never recovered and lost the series in seven games.

While the Bruins were not quite as dominant the next season (although only three points behind the 1971 pace), Esposito and Orr were once again one-two in the scoring standings (followed by Bucyk in ninth place) and they returned to glory in the playoffs, defeating a strong challenge from the New York Rangers in six games in the Cup Final behind Orr's wizardry. The 1972 Cup win is Boston's most recent to date.

Boston continued to dominate through the 1970s (despite losing Cheevers, McKenzie, Sanderson, and other stars to the renegade World Hockey Assocation (WHA)), only to come up short in the playoffs. Although they had three 100-point scorers on the team (Esposito, Orr, and Hodge), they lost the 1974 Final to the rough Philadelphia Flyers.

The flamboyant Don Cherry stepped behind the bench as the new coach in 1974-75. The Bruins stocked themselves with enforcers and grinders, and remained a threat under Cherry's reign, the so-called "Lunch Pail A.C.," behind players such as slick Gregg Sheppard, rugged Terry O'Reilly and Stan Jonathan, and high-scoring Peter McNab.

Orr, however, did not. He left the Bruins for the Black Hawks after the 1975-76 NHL season and retired after many knee operations in 1979. The Bruins excelled without him, picking up another great blueliner, Brad Park, from the Rangers (along with Jean Ratelle) in a blockbuster trade for Esposito as they made the semifinals again, losing to the Flyers.

Cheevers returned from the WHA in 1977, and the Bruins got past the Flyers in the semifinals, but lost to the Canadiens in the Final for the Cup. The story would repeat itself in 1978 as the Bruins made the Final once more, but lost to a Canadiens team that had recorded the best regular season in modern history.

The 1979 semifinal series against the Canadiens proved to be Cherry's undoing. In the deciding seventh game, the Bruins, up by a goal, were called for having too many men on the ice in the late stages of the third period. Montreal tied the game on the ensuing power play and won in overtime. Never popular with Harry Sinden, by then the Bruins' general manager, Cherry left the team in the off-season for the Colorado Rockies.

The Eighties and Nineties

File:Boston Home uniforms.gif
Away jersey (1995-2003); current home (2003-present)

Coupled with front office dislike of Cherry's outspoken ways, 1979 saw new head coach Fred Creighton, a newly-retired Cheevers the following year, and the coming of Ray Bourque. The defenseman – one of the true greats in NHL history – was an icon for the team for over two decades, although in the end it took a trade to the Colorado Avalanche for him to win the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins made the playoffs every year through the 1980s behind stars such as Park, Bourque, and Rick Middleton – and had the league's best record in 1983 behind a Vezina-winning season from ex-Flyer goaltender Pete Peeters – but usually did not get very far in the playoffs. By the late 1980s, they were once again a force. In addition to Bourque, players like the indomitable Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, and Bob Sweeney would lead the Bruins to another Final's appearance in 1988 against the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins lost in a four-game sweep, but created a memorable moment in the fourth game when the lights at the Boston Garden went out due to a blown fuse during the second period with the game tied. The rest of the game was cancelled and the series shifted to Edmonton.

Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 1990 (with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney, and Bobby Carpenter and rookie Don Sweeney leading the team in scoring, and Andy Moog and Rejean Lemelin splitting goaltending duties), but would again lose to the Oilers, this time in five games.

In 1988, 1990-1992, and 1994, they defeated their Original Six arch-nemesis in the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, getting some revenge for a rivalry which had up to then been lopsided in the Canadiens' favor in playoff action. In 1991 and 1992, they suffered two consecutive Conference Final losses to the eventual Cup champion, Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 1993 season and beyond would not be kind to the Bruins. Despite picking up more talent like Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet, and Jozef Stumpel, they did not get past the second round of the playoffs. The 1993 season ended on a sour note for several reasons. Despite finishing with the second best regular season record after Pittsburgh, Boston was swept in the first-round in a shocking upset by the Buffalo Sabres. During the postseason awards ceremony, Bruin players finished as runner-up on many of the honors (Ray Bourque for the Norris, Adam Oates for the Art Ross and Lady Byng Trophy, Joe Juneau (who had broken the NHL record for assists in a season by a left winger, a mark he still holds) for the Calder Trophy, Dave Poulin for the Selke Trophy, Andy Moog for the Jennings Trophy, and Brian Sutter for the Jack Adams Award), although Bourque made the NHL All-Star First Team and Juneau made the NHL All-Rookie Team.

File:Boston Away uniforms.gif
Home jersey (1995-2003); current away (2003-present)

In 1997, Boston missed the playoffs for the first time in thiry years, having set the North American major professional record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs.

The late-1990s also saw the Bruins move from the storied Boston Garden, to their new home, the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden.

Their bitterest archrivals have historically been the Montreal Canadiens, but Montreal's lack of success in recent years has helped to mute the century-old rivalry.

The 21st Century

File:Boston alternate.gif
Third jersey, 1996-2006

The Bruins got off to a poor start in the new century. Despite a fifteen point improvement from the previous season, the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2000-01.

The following season, 2001-02, saw the Bruins with a thirteen point improvement, winning their first Northeast Division title since 1993 under a solid core built around Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin, and the newly acquired Glen Murray. Their regular season success didn't translate to the postseason, though, as they bowed out in six games to the underdog eighth-place Montreal Canadiens in the first-round. Goaltending was the biggest flaw, as Byron Dafoe struggled in the playoffs.

The 2002-03 season saw very little improvement between the pipes, as the Bruins entered the season with weak goaltending once again. They platooned between the inconsistent Steve Shields and the inexperienced John Grahame for most of the season, but a mid-season trade brought in veteran Jeff Hackett, who showed signs of improvement, but wasn't the answer to the Bruins' problems. The Bruins managed to finish seventh in the Conference, but lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in five games.

In 2003-04, the Bruins again failed to bring in a solid goaltender and began the season with yet another inconsistent goalie between the pipes, ex-Maple Leaf Felix Potvin. Potvin started out solid, but struggled soon enough, forcing the Bruins to put rookie Andrew Raycroft into the starting role. Raycroft proved superb, en route to winning the Calder. Raycroft, as well as Thornton, Samsonov, Rolston, Murray, Mike Knuble, Nick Boynton, and fellow rookie Patrice Bergeron, carried the Bruins to another division title. The Bruins appeared destined to get out of the first-round for the first time in five years, with a solid 3-1 series lead on the rival Canadiens. The Canadiens miraculously rallied back to win three straight games, upsetting the Bruins once again.

The 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout, and the Bruins appeared to be in good position for the following year, with a lot of space within the new salary cap implemented for the 2005-06 NHL season. However, Bruins management eschewed younger free agents in their prime in favor of older veterans such as Alexei Zhamnov and Brian Leetch. The newcomers were oft-injured and underachieved, and by the end of November, a struggling Bruins team traded their captain and franchise player, Joe Thornton (who would go on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies that season). In exchange, the Bruins received Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, and Wayne Primeau from the San Jose Sharks.

File:Boston-alternate.gif
Alternate logo, 1996-2006

After losing ten of eleven games before the trade (while the Sharks won Thornton's first seven games), the Bruins stormed back with a 3-0 victory over the league-leading Ottawa Senators, as rookie goaltender Hannu Toivonen earned his first career NHL shutout victory. When Toivonen went down (for the rest of the season) with an injury in January, lightning struck twice, as journeyman goalie Tim Thomas started sixteen-straight games and brought the Bruins back into the playoff hunt. Two points out of eighth place at the Winter Olympic break, the Bruins struggled throughout March, resulting in the firing of general manager Mike O'Connell, and the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. They finished thirteenth in the Eastern Conference and earned the fifth pick in the NHL Draft Lottery, which they used to draft promising U.S. college star Phil Kessel, who dropped out of college early to sign with the team on August 17, 2006.

In May, former Ottawa Senators assistant general manager Peter Chiarelli was hired as the new GM of the team. Head coach Mike Sullivan was fired because of his humiliating record during his second season as the Bruins coach and Dave Lewis, former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, was hired to replace him while Marc Habscheid was named associate coach. The Bruins then made a big splash on the first day of free-agent signing when they inked Zdeno Chara, one of the most coveted defensemen in the NHL and a former NHL All-Star, and Marc Savard, who finished just three points short of a 100-point season in the 2005-06 NHL Season with the Atlanta Thrashers, to long-term deals. Patrice Bergeron was re-signed by the Bruins on August 22, 2006 to a multi-year contract, keeping the developing star forward in black and gold for some years to come.

On August 20, The Boston Globe reported that the Bruins will mothball their gold third jerseys for the 2006-07 season in favor of a black throwback jersey similar to the one worn during the Bobby Orr era. The throwback will reportedly be worn at home against Original Six opponents.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of September 7, 2006. [1]

Season GP W L T OTL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
1924-25 30 6 24 0 — 12 49 119 264 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1925-26 36 17 15 4 — 38 92 85 279 4th, NHL Did not qualify
1926-27 44 21 20 3 — 45 97 89 521 2nd, American Lost Stanley Cup Final
1927-28 44 20 13 11 — 51 77 70 558 1st, American Lost Semifinal
1928-29 44 26 13 5 — 57 89 52 472 1st, American Won Stanley Cup
1929-30 44 38 5 1 — 77 179 98 449 1st, American Lost Stanley Cup Final
1930-31 44 28 10 6 — 62 143 90 403 1st, American Lost Semifinal
1931-32 48 15 21 12 — 42 122 117 373 4th, American Did not qualify
1932-33 48 25 15 8 — 58 124 88 517 1st, American Lost Semifinal
1933-34 48 18 25 5 — 41 111 130 385 4th, American Did not qualify
1934-35 48 26 16 6 — 58 129 112 368 1st, American Lost Semifinal
1935-36 48 22 20 6 — 50 92 83 397 2nd, American Lost Quarterfinal
1936-37 48 23 18 7 — 53 120 110 303 2nd, American Lost Quarterfinal
1937-38 48 30 11 7 — 67 142 89 284 1st, American Lost Semifinal
1938-39 48 36 10 2 — 74 156 76 251 1st, NHL Won Stanley Cup
1939-40 48 31 12 5 — 67 170 98 330 1st, NHL Lost Semifinal
1940-41 48 27 8 13 — 67 168 102 246 1st, NHL Won Stanley Cup
1941-42 48 25 17 6 — 56 160 118 349 3rd, NHL Lost Semifinal
1942-43 50 24 17 9 — 57 195 176 364 2nd, NHL Lost Stanley Cup Final
1943-44 50 19 26 5 — 43 223 268 207 5th, NHL Did not qualify
1944-45 50 16 30 4 — 36 179 219 275 4th, NHL Lost Semifinal
1945-46 50 24 18 8 — 56 167 156 273 2nd, NHL Lost Stanley Cup Final
1946-47 60 26 23 11 — 63 190 175 463 3rd, NHL Lost Semifinal
1947-48 60 23 24 13 — 59 167 168 515 3rd, NHL Lost Semifinal
1948-49 60 29 23 8 — 66 178 163 434 2nd, NHL Lost Semifinal
1949-50 70 22 32 16 — 60 198 228 449 5th, NHL Did not qualify
1950-51 70 22 30 18 — 62 178 197 656 4th, NHL Lost Semifinal
1951-52 70 25 29 16 — 66 162 176 601 4th, NHL Lost Semifinal
1952-53 70 28 29 13 — 69 152 172 528 3rd, NHL Lost Stanley Cup Final
1953-54 70 32 28 10 — 74 177 181 685 4th, NHL Lost Semifinal
1954-55 70 23 26 21 — 67 169 188 863 4th, NHL Lost Semifinal
1955-56 70 23 34 13 — 59 147 185 929 5th, NHL Did not qualify
1956-57 70 34 24 12 — 80 195 174 978 3rd, NHL Lost Stanley Cup Final
1957-58 70 27 28 15 — 69 199 194 849 4th, NHL Lost Stanley Cup Final
1958-59 70 32 29 9 — 73 205 215 838 2nd, NHL Lost Semifinal
1959-60 70 28 34 8 — 64 220 241 932 5th, NHL Did not qualify
1960-61 70 15 42 13 — 43 176 254 810 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1961-62 70 15 47 8 — 38 177 306 712 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1962-63 70 14 39 17 — 45 198 281 636 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1963-64 70 18 40 12 — 48 170 212 858 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1964-65 70 21 43 6 — 48 166 253 946 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1965-66 70 21 43 6 — 48 174 275 787 5th, NHL Did not qualify
1966-67 70 17 43 10 — 44 182 253 764 6th, NHL Did not qualify
1967-68 74 37 27 10 — 84 259 216 1043 3rd, East Lost Quarterfinal
1968-69 76 42 18 16 — 100 303 221 1297 2nd, East Lost Semifinal
1969-70 76 40 17 19 — 99 277 216 1196 2nd, East Won Stanley Cup
1970-71 78 57 14 7 — 121 399 207 1154 1st, East Lost Quarterfinal
1971-72 78 54 13 11 — 119 330 204 1112 1st, East Won Stanley Cup
1972-73 78 51 22 5 — 107 330 235 1097 2nd, East Lost Quarterfinal
1973-74 78 52 17 9 — 113 349 221 968 1st, East Lost Stanley Cup Final
1974-75 80 40 26 14 — 94 345 245 1153 2nd, Adams Lost Preliminary Round
1975-76 80 48 15 17 — 113 313 237 1195 1st, Adams Lost Semifinal
1976-77 80 49 23 8 — 106 312 240 1065 1st, Adams Lost Stanley Cup Final
1977-78 80 51 18 11 — 113 333 218 1237 1st, Adams Lost Stanley Cup Final
1978-79 80 43 23 14 — 100 316 270 1222 1st, Adams Lost Semifinal
1979-80 80 46 21 13 — 105 310 234 1460 2nd, Adams Lost Quarterfinal
1980-81 80 37 30 13 — 87 316 272 1836 2nd, Adams Lost Preliminary Round
1981-82 80 43 27 10 — 96 323 285 1266 2nd, Adams Lost Division Final
1982-83 80 50 20 10 — 110 327 228 1202 1st, Adams Lost Conference Final
1983-84 80 49 25 6 — 104 336 261 1606 1st, Adams Lost Division Semifinal
1984-85 80 36 34 10 — 82 303 287 1825 4th, Adams Lost Division Semifinal
1985-86 80 37 31 12 — 86 311 288 1919 3rd, Adams Lost Division Semifinal
1986-87 80 39 34 7 — 85 301 276 1870 3rd, Adams Lost Division Semifinal
1987-88 80 44 30 6 — 94 300 251 2443 2nd, Adams Lost Stanley Cup Final
1988-89 80 37 29 14 — 88 289 256 1929 2nd, Adams Lost Division Final
1989-90 80 46 25 9 — 101 289 232 1458 1st, Adams Lost Stanley Cup Final
1990-91 80 44 24 12 — 100 299 264 1694 1st, Adams Lost Conference Final
1991-92 80 36 32 12 — 84 270 275 1752 2nd, Adams Lost Conference Final
1992-93 84 51 26 7 — 109 332 268 1552 1st, Adams Lost Division Semifinal
1993-94 84 42 29 13 — 97 289 252 1442 2nd, Northeast Lost Conference Semifinal
1994-951 48 27 18 3 — 57 150 127 793 3rd, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
1995-96 82 40 31 11 — 91 282 269 1039 2nd, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
1996-97 82 26 47 9 — 61 234 300 1369 6th, Northeast Did not qualify
1997-98 82 39 30 13 — 91 221 194 1117 2nd, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
1998-99 82 39 30 13 — 91 214 181 1182 3rd, Northeast Lost Conference Semifinal
1999-00 82 24 33 19 6 73 210 248 865 5th, Northeast Did not qualify
2000-01 82 36 30 8 8 88 227 249 1325 4th, Northeast Did not qualify
2001-02 82 43 24 6 9 101 236 201 1454 1st, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
2002-03 82 36 31 11 4 87 245 237 1370 3rd, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
2003-04 82 41 19 15 7 104 209 188 1208 1st, Northeast Lost Conference Quarterfinal
2004-052 — — — — — — — — — — —
2005-063 82 29 37 — 16 74 230 266 1162 5th, Northeast Did not qualify
Totals 5564 2593 2130 791 50 6027 17683 16809 74984 — —
1 Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.
2 Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
3 As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games tied after regulation will be decided in a shootout; SOL (Shootout losses) will be recorded as OTL in the standings.

Notable players

Current roster

As of September 7, 2006. [1]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
30 United States Tim Thomas L 2002 Flint, Michigan
54 Finland Hannu Toivonen L 2002 Kalvola, Finland
60 Canada Brian Finley R 2006 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Defensemen
# Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
6 Canada Brad Stuart L 2005 Rocky Mountain House, Alberta
23 United States Paul Mara L 2006 Ridgewood, New Jersey
25 Canada Jason York R 2006 Nepean, Ontario
28 Canada Wade Brookbank L 2006 Lanigan, Saskatchewan
29 Canada Nathan Dempsey R 2006 Spruce Grove, Alberta
33 Slovakia Zdeno Chara L 2006 Trencin, Czechoslovakia
38 United States Bobby Allen L 2006 Braintree, Massachusetts
41 United States Andrew Alberts L 2001 Minneapolis, Minnesota
45 United States Mark Stuart L 2003 Rochester, Minnesota
49 United States Matt Lashoff L 2005 East Greenbush, New York
68 Slovakia Milan Jurcina R 2001 Liptovsky Mikulas, Czechoslovakia
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
10 Russia Alexei Zhamnov C L 2005 Moscow, U.S.S.R.
11 Sweden P.J. Axelsson LW L 1995 Kungalv, Sweden
16 Germany Marco Sturm LW L 2005 Dingolfing, West Germany
17 Czech Republic Petr Tenkrat RW R 2006 Kladno, Czechoslovakia
18 United States Mark Mowers C R 2006 Whitesboro, New York
20 Canada Wayne Primeau C L 2005 Scarborough, Ontario
22 Canada Shean Donovan RW R 2006 Timmins, Ontario
26 Canada Brad Boyes RW R 2004 Mississauga, Ontario
27 Canada Glen Murray - A RW R 2001 Halifax, Nova Scotia
32 Canada Jeff Hoggan LW L 2006 Hope, British Columbia
36 United States Chris Collins LW R 2006 Fairport, New York
37 Canada Patrice Bergeron C R 2003 L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec
43 United States Yan Stastny C L 2006 Quebec City, Quebec
47 Czech Republic Petr Kalus RW R 2005 Ostrava, Czechoslovakia
53 Canada Jeremy Reich LW L 2005 Craik, Saskatchewan
71 Canada Marc Savard C L 2006 Ottawa, Ontario
81 United States Phil Kessel C R 2006 Madison, Wisconsin

Team captains


Hall of Famers

Players


Builders
  • Charles Adams, President, 1924-47, inducted 1960
  • Weston Adams, Director; President, 1936-51 & 1964-69, inducted 1972
  • Walter Brown, President, 1951-64, inducted 1962
  • Frank Patrick, Head coach, 1934-36, inducted 1958
  • Art Ross, Head coach; General Manager, 1924-54, inducted 1945
  • Harry Sinden, Head coach; General Manager; President; Senior Advisor, 1966-present, inducted 1983

Retired numbers

First-round draft picks


Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Bruins player

Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Ray Bourque D 1518 395 1111 1506 .99
Johnny Bucyk LW 1436 545 794 1339 .93
Phil Esposito C 625 459 553 1012 1.63
Rick Middleton RW 881 402 496 898 1.02
Bobby Orr D 631 264 624 888 1.41
Wayne Cashman LW 1027 277 516 793 .77
Ken Hodge RW 652 289 385 674 1.03
Terry O'Reilly RW 891 204 402 606 .68
Cam Neely RW 525 344 246 590 1.12
Peter McNab C 595 263 324 587 .99

NHL awards and trophies

Stanley Cup

Presidents' Trophy

Prince of Wales Trophy

Art Ross Trophy

(* - traded to the San Jose Sharks during the 2005-06 season)

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

Calder Memorial Trophy

Conn Smythe Trophy

Frank J. Selke Trophy

Hart Memorial Trophy

(* - traded to the San Jose Sharks during the 2005-06 season)

Jack Adams Award

James Norris Memorial Trophy

King Clancy Memorial Trophy

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

Lester B. Pearson Award

Lester Patrick Trophy

NHL Leading Scorer (prior to awarding of Art Ross Trophy)

Vezina Trophy

William M. Jennings Trophy


Franchise individual records

References

  1. ^ Hockeydb.com, Boston Bruins season statistics and records.

See also
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boston_Bruins&oldid=74600567"