"Bobby Orr was better on one leg than anybody else was on two," Canada teammate Darryl Sittler said. He is a three-time first-team All-Star and played in four All-Star Games. This was the first time a player had been a first team all-star as both an forward and a defenseman. MacInnis is the third-highest scoring defenseman in NHL history. Bobby Orr is a former Canadian ice hockey player, counted among the best players of the game. Closest Norris Finish: Second (1977, 1980). Conacher was named Canada's best athlete of the first half of the 20th century. In between he managed to play almost 80 games a season every year. Lightboxes. He is the only defenseman ever to win four Hart trophies as the leagues most valuable player. Find the perfect bobby orr bruins stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. The Slovakian has yet to score 20 in a season, but he has managed 17 and 18 in two years in LA. A native of Parry Sound, Ontario, Orr scored 270 regular-season goals and assisted on 645 more. Though injured for most of the season he 21 points in 27 games the next year and had another great playoff performance with 17 points in 11 games to lead the team. Gretzky himself said he would have voted for Orr, or possibly for Howe. Suter was an incredibly strong skater throughout his career. 4 took his first strides in the NHL during the 1966-67 season but, it was during Orrs prime that he dominated the league. Duchesne had a good shot and was a puck mover and thus could always find work but like Mathieu Schneider he always seemed to be on the move. Meanwhile, Rick Smith, Esposito, and John Bucyk netted three goals for Boston in order to send the game into overtime. He and his mostly offensive skills won seven James Norris trophies as the league's best defenseman. Eddie had a will to play and a knowledge of the game that made him a great if eccentric teacher of hockey skills years after he stopped playing. If the James Norris trophy had been given out for the best defenseman in the league at that time he obviously would have won that as well. Bobby Orr, byname of Robert Gordon Orr, (born March 20, 1948, Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada), Canadian American professional ice hockey player who was the first defenseman to lead the National Hockey League (NHL) in scoring. He was seventh in the league in assists that year. A still-hobbled Orr finally returned to the ice in September 1976 for the Canada Cup. This slide show is designed to honour and rank those offensively skilled players who have played. But wait they did. Doug Wilson is the first of the defensemen to produce more than .8 points per game for over a 1,000 game career. Ice hockey never saw a better, more complete player than Bobby Orr. A defenseman starts out behind his own net and skates through an entire team to score a goal. He then managed six goals in six games as the Capitals lost to the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. It's this more than anything that has me place Chris Pronger one step higher on my list of best offensive defensemen. Players from earlier eras who are included often don't have comparable statistics. He scored 20 or more goals nine times in a season, 30 or more three times. Ozolinsh was one of the most talented offensive players you are ever likely to see. Ever since Bobby Orr came into the National Hockey League in 1966 and singlehandedly changed the concept of how to play defense, people have been waiting for . He also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as regular-season Most Valuable Player three consecutive seasons (1969-70 through 1971-72). The greatest era in Bruins history was about to begin. The talented Gonchar is the definitive power play quarterback, confident and creative at the point with a fine hard, accurate shot. Red Berenson, Gary Sabourin, and Larry Keenan were credited for the three Blues goals during Game 4. Pairded with Earl Seibert, Hollett . Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2003-04 Upper Deck Trilogy Bobby Orr #8 Hockey Card NHL Boston Bruins Defenseman at the best online prices at eBay! "With Orr's exit, Boston fans felt as if a loved one had disappeared," Conway wrote. He was fair skater and an able puck mover, but his shot moved him into the offensive elite of the game. Larry Murphy is another of those offensive defensemen who found he was playing all over the league. Thats the kind of teammate Mark Fraser and a lot of other people are looking for right now.. Orr was also quite happy to hit and to drop the gloves. Cart. Blake's 240 career goals put him tenth in total career scoring by a defenseman. At 31, he was the youngest former player living at the time of his induction. Bourque was Boston's other great defenseman, a magisterial, super smooth stalwart who nonetheless has always been cloaked in a touch of shadow. He took home the Hart, Norris, Art Ross, and Conn Smythe Trophies and his first Stanley Cup. I expect him to move up on this list as his career progresses. His shot while not devastating allowed him to provide a very consistent 10 goals a year everywhere he's played until injury caught up with him. 4 earned the 1966-67 Calder Trophy, three Hart Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, two Conn Smythe Trophies and was named to nine all-star teams. Campbell ends his article by pleading with Orr to change his position, hoping that he will be, once again, the player and teammate we all admire. Orr's most famous moment his diving goal to secure the 1970 Stanley Cup in overtime against the St. Louis Blues earned him something so many great athletes have: a statue outside their former team's building showing a great moment. He scored 20 and had 82 points for his first and only point a game season. Many Bruins fans who werent alive to witness Orrs most famous moment were surely told about it with the sense of an old folk tale though this one is 100-percent true. Playing in an era where defensemen usually didn't contribute offensively, "The Great" Gadsby was far ahead of his time. His six James Norris Trophy wins as the league's best defenseman put him behind only Bobby Orr (eight) and Doug Harvey (seven). He started in Buffalo with 19 goals and 66 points. The only NHL season that Ray Bourque scored fewer than 10 goals in a season was his last in Colorado. He had enough offensive skills though to see him picked for both the 1981 and 1987 Canada Cup Canadian teams. Leetch had four game-winning goals on his way to a Conn Smythe win. According to Orr, though, his flight through the air was by choice. Eddie Shore was another iconic Boston Bruin offensively-talented defenseman. Hi there! Wednesdays events at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. are literally unprecedented. Founded in 2009, The Hockey Writers is a premier destination for news and information on everything hockey. Bobby first played organized hockey at age 5, and soon showed an ability to skate faster than anyone else his age. 4. But Orr's free agent move . Defensively, Orrs penalty-killing abilities set a standard that remains to this day. He scored 23 goals and 81 points with the Flames 1992-93 and 20 goals and 67 points with the Blackhawks in 1995-96. Unfortunately he only played 80 or more games four times in a season, in his 15-year NHL career. Housley was traded again for another teams veteran hero. Orr combined speed, strength, skill and hockey savvy at both ends of the ice. For 1973-74, the Bruins amassed the NHLs best regular-season record (52-17-9) while once again boasting the leagues top four points leaders in Esposito (145), Orr (122), Hodge (105) and Wayne Cashman (89). With blazing speed and tenacity, Bobby Orr always seemed to be around the puck. He had 50 points in 66 regular season games and then 199 in 22 playoff games. From 1937 on he was a defenseman for the Bruins. On top of that, the Bruins advanced to the postseason for the first time in nine years. Not content to be Wayne Gretzky's teammate, swift-skating Oiler defenseman Paul Coffey suddenly is getting himself compared to Bobby Orrand not unfavorably, either. His 11 points in 10 playoff games were second on the team only to Darryl Sittler's 12. Unfortunately, Orr's career expired early, as knee injuries got the . Far from a one-season wonder, Orr was the first defenseman to score 30 goals in a season (1969-70), then the first to notch 40 (1974-75). He had four seasons where he got more than 90 points, another six where had between 80 and 89 points and a further two seasons where his point total was in the 70's. Despite a much different ending, the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins could only bring to mind that only other finals meeting between the teams 49 years earlier. Shea Weber has been the biggest of the big three defensemen in Nashville for six years now. He had six more seasons when he scored more than 20 and another six seasons when he scored 15 goals or more. Hartsburg could play in big games, obviously on the international stage and as well in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 03/04 BAP Ultimate Bobby Orr Defenseman Glove Patch Auto Signature 4/4 1/1 Jsy# at the best online prices at eBay! BU's Thomas Whalen celebrates hockey great and the Big Bad Bruins of 1970 in new book. He was a second round pick for the Sharks (30th overall) in 1991 and he joined the team for 1992-93 season. In this list, I will recognize the 10 greatest players who were never able to take home the defenseman holy grail. He was a great skater and supremely confident with the puck. Mark Howe spent, I hate to say wasted, the first six years of his professional career in the WHA playing for the Houston Aero's and then the New England Whalers. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. He is the best defenseman since Bobby Orr. Hatcher managed 24 goals with Washington during the 1990-91 season and an amazing 34 goals for the Capitals during 1993-94. He played his only games in November 1975 after the Bruins already had traded Phil Esposito to the New York Rangers. Brian Leetch was another of the flood of talented American defensemen who came into the NHL attempting to emulate Bobby Orr. He shined just as bright in the regular season, as he was a three-time 20-goal scorer, a two-time 70-point scorer and finished second to Bobby Orr in Norris voting in 1973. Another Bobby Orr Was Drafted to the NHL. Bobby Hull was a great hockey player and a miserable human being. Like Chris Chelios he was primarily a defensive defenseman by the end. Orr picked up the loose puck, skated it to the red line and dumped it back into St. Louis zone. He moved on to Pittsburgh where he made an offensive contribution right away. Both times he won the James Norris trophy that season as he did in 1988-89 with the Canadiens. He then managed to help the Sharks the first of two early franchise playoff runs with 10 points in 14 games that year and five in 11 playoff games the next. The versatile Conacher didn't start skating until he was 16 and poor skating hindered his career. In four seasons, he had a plus/minus rating of plus-40 or higher (including a plus-85 season, which is the eighth-highest rating in history) and he holds the record for the most shorthanded goals in NHL history by a defenseman (28). He is a creative offensive force on the point for the Canadiens. There, he used his all-around talents to make offensive rushes up to ice. He was a point a game player for the next 12 years. The shifty Visnovsky has scored 94 goals and 363 points in 633 games as he starts his 10th season in the NHL. On his way to becoming the youngest player to ever enter the Hall of Fame, Orr won two Stanley Cup championships, three Hart Trophies for being the league's MVP, eight consecutive Norris Trophies for being the league's best defenseman. Bobby Orr - The man many consider the greatest hockey player ever - and certainly the greatest defenseman in NHL history - Orr played his first two seasons with the Boston Bruins, winning eight straight Norris Trophies, three Hart Trophies, two Conn Smythe Trophies, and a pair of Art Ross Trophies as the only defenseman ever to lead the . Chelios's second season in Montreal he had 64 points in 74 games. He played 10 seasons in Minnesota producing a Sergei Zubov like .725 points per game. Rob Blake has managed two 20 or more goal seasons in his career. Since Oct. 30 of last year, when Orr bought a full-page advertisement in the New Hampshire Union-Leader to endorse incumbent United States . Harvey was eventually dealt to the New York Rangers when he supported Ted Lindsays attempt to start a players association. Though the Bruins struggled with other problems en route to a last-place finish in the final season of a six-team NHL, Boston fans took a renewed interest in the team as home attendance at Boston Garden increased by 41,000 that season. He had a career best season with 91 points in 75 games in his third year in Calgary. Bourque comes second with 451 goals in 1826 games. He was named to the first all-star team that year alongside team-mate Eddie Shore. Detroit tried to trade Kelly to the Rangers in 1960 but Kelly retired rather than report. He had 31 goals and 46 assists the next year, but some of that output came as a forward. Him to move up on this list as his career progresses that Ray Bourque fewer. Capitol building in Washington D.C. are literally unprecedented or more a season every year first round of the three... Finish: second ( 1977, 1980 ) was traded again for teams... 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