A moment later, Gostisbehere shared that he prefers playing like a defenseman who was even better than Coffey and Iafrate. He showed a knack for both getting in the way of slap shots at one end and blasting them at the other. He was eighth in league scoring that year and finished only behind the legendary Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull on his own team. Orrs top season for points actually came in 1970-71, when his 139 was second to teammate Phil Espositos 152. In 1920 Conacher also became Canada's light heavyweight boxing champion. Then, in Orrs own words, Derek gave me a great pass and when I got the pass I was moving across. He was drafted eighth overall by the Bruins in 1979, playing in Boston for 21 seasons. He played primarily on the wing until age 10, when he moved to defense. Closest Norris Finish: Second (1977, 1980). Meanwhile, Rick Smith, Esposito, and John Bucyk netted three goals for Boston in order to send the game into overtime. Lionel Conacher earned his nick-name the Big Train playing football in Toronto. Howe's peak looks like it was about 21 years long. Closest Norris Finish: Second (1956, 1958, 1959). Honorable Mentions: Steve Duchesne, Sergei Gonchar, J.C. Tremblay, Eric Desjardins, Kevin Lowe, Vladimir Konstantinov, Mike Green, Allan Stanley, Dan Boyle, Fern Flaman, Brad McCrimmon, Carl Brewer, Craig Hartsburg, Kevin Hatcher, Al Iafrate, Shea Weber, Jim Neilson, Rob Ramage, Pat Stapleton, Teppo Numminen. After setting a record for points by a defenseman with 64 during the 1968-69 season, Orr nearly doubled that total with 120 in 1969-70. The multi-sport athlete was also a rugby, baseball, lacrosse and hockey star. His contributions are still undeniable. Detroit tried to trade Kelly to the Rangers in 1960 but Kelly retired rather than report. There, he used his all-around talents to make offensive rushes up to ice. He had 50 points in 66 regular season games and then 199 in 22 playoff games. His .605 points per game added up over 19 seasons. He is also the second-highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history, behind Mike Modano. 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. Orrs long desperation shot could not prevent a 1-0 Game 6 loss. Punch Imlach started Kelly at center, ostensibly to check the rival Canadiens star center Jean Beliveau. He scored 41 goals in 44 games for them in that capacity during the 1929-30 seasons and was a first team All-Star. 5 Orr's vs. 5 Howe's, like that could happen. He was an offensive talent on the blue line that may never be matched. Potvin broke into the league with 17 goals and 54 points in 77 games to win the Calder trophy. "When he began to move the sensation was unique: All the Canadiens began backpedaling in a small panic, like beachgoers sighting a coming monster wave," Dryden once said. He favoured long passes out of his own zone after drawing the forecheckers into him. Duchesne had his best season in the NHL after he went to Quebec as part of the Eric Lindros deal. His .221 goals per game in the regular season, admittedly over only 321 games, place him 10th overall in goals per game by a defenseman. He was an good playmaker who also managed to score 20 goals or more in a season four times. He set the record for assists by a defenseman in a season with 46 in 1959, and became the first defenseman in history to amass 500 points. Only one man on the hockey front Bobby Orr, 22-year-old super defenseman of the Boston Bruins. To gain inspiration for his basketball games, Boston Celtics great Larry Bird had a pregame ritual of looking up to the banner honoring Orr that hung from the rafters of the old Boston Garden. Everyone agrees that Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux, and. Blake's 240 career goals put him tenth in total career scoring by a defenseman. His third and final year in Winnipeg he had his best season with 79 assists and 97 points, both Jet records for a defenseman. A second team all-star as a rookie in 1967, Orr was selected to the first team in each of the next eight seasons. He was a three-time 20-goal scorer and two-time 80-point scorer. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. While not the goalscorer some of these offensive defensemen are, his skating ability made him capable of end to end rushes that were a trademark with the lanky Robinson. He was no slouch as a defender either. He broke in with the Rangers scoring 31 points in 49 games as rookie. Chambers: Wayne Gretzky is right about Cale Makar. Salming was named to the NHL first All-Star team once, the second All-Star team five times and played in three All-Star Games. He scored 15 goals or more for seven straight years. Brad Park suffered from but also benefited from being the second-best defenseman in the league during the Bobby Orr era. Tim Horton - Runner up to Bobby Orr in 1969, Horton was arguably the greatest defensive defenseman of all time. Injuries ended his career with the North Stars much too early. 10. His offensive credentials were notarized the next year when he scored five goals versus the Red Wings in a 9-1 rout. His plus-minus total of 124 for the 1970-71 season when the Bruins scored 124 more even-strength and shorthanded goals than they gave up with Orr on the ice remains a record today. Impressively, he amassed more than 100 points for a sixth consecutive (and last) season. "Gordie in my mind is the best that ever played the game. When he played a game of hockey he made it look easy to be an offensive defenseman but it really wasn't easy at all. The 26-year-old stay-at-home defenseman was afraid of getting caught up ice, so he focused on his defensive responsibilities and let Orr work his magic all over the ice. he became the Jets best player leading the team in scoring from the back end three years in a row. That same year, Orr had his No. The .277 goals per game in the playoffs puts him behind only Bobby Orr, Dennis Potvin, Paul Coffey and Brian Leetch, four of the greatest offensive defensemen of all time. Brad Park was one of the most talented two-way defensemen in history. Not only did Orr become the first and to this date, the only defenseman to win a scoring title, the Bruins thrived as a team en route to their first Stanley Cup title since 1941. The 31 goals he produced in 2008-09 in only 68 games also had a Coffey-esque air to them. Defensive short-comings kept him from being chosen for Canada's Olympic team and may start to effect his game and ice time in Washington. This was over a 21-season career. He also flashed that skill at the public that would have dazzled crowds in Detroit for generations. Bobby Orr had a run of almost unparalleled success during his 12-year career. He had a great point shot and was a key to the power play in Winnipeg where he started. A strong skater with a good shot Salming had a slalom style of skating that would take him up ice like a Franco Harris. In NHL history, franchises have built dynasties around elite defensemen over and over again. He was an extremely physical and at times reckless D-man, who received more than 600 stitches to his face during his career. Photo by Ray Lussier/The Boston Herald via AP, File. One photo caught his. His three quarters of a point a game and almost quarter of a goal a game distinguish him as one of the great offensive defensemen of all time. Robinson never scored 20 goals in a season though he had 19 goals and 85 points during the 1975-76 season and 19 goals and 82 points in 1985-86. His defensive game was always suspect and his offensive numbers were never enough for Leaf fans. He's tied for Kevin Hatcher for 13th in goal scoring. His three best seasons came in the war years with Toronto when he set the record for most points by a defenseman in a season with 57 points in 50 games in 1943-44. Not coincidentally that was the same season the Ducks won their Stanley Cup and Niedermayer won his Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP. Hockey. Though the season ended in a first-round playoff loss to the Black Hawks, it still proved most productive for Orr. Bobby Orr Highlights. It's impossible to try to translate Eddie's statistics in any meaningful way to the modern day. As I went across, Glenns legs opened. At 31, he was the youngest former player living at the time of his induction. Celebrating Alan Eagleson's plea deal in Boston, from left to right, are Bruins legend Bobby Orr, ex-Bruins defenseman Rick Smith, Russ Conway and Tom Lockwood at The Fours on Canal St. in. Orr made the OHAs first all-star team his remaining three junior seasons. He'd been moved to St Louis by Winnipeg. he also had 20 points in 17 games in the Canadien's 1985-86 playoff run. He won the James Norris trophy with 16 goals and 49 points in 62 games in 1953-54 the first time it was given out. Equally amazing to me if . Until the 18-year-old Orr entered the league in 1966, no defenseman had scored 20 goals in more than two decades. Orrs goal didnt just put an end to a 29-year Stanley Cup drought in Boston. If you ask the average hockey fan, who was the greatest defenseman to ever play the game of hockey, most would say it was Bobby Orr. Nobody played the game like him. That was second on the team in playoff scoring only to Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora. Bobby Orr was the greatest offensive defenseman of all time and arguably the greatest player of all time. 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. The hockey was indelible, but Hull, who died Monday at age 84, had demons behind . He then managed six goals in six games as the Capitals lost to the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. His big offensive weapon was the point shot as was reflected in his almost a fifth of a goal a game he scored during his career. Teams: Edm, Pit, LA, Det, Har, Phi, Chi, Car, Bos. His daughter Patricia confirmed his death to the Canadian Press on Saturday, but would not offer any further details. When he scored 23 in 1997-98 with LA, he also won the James Norris trophy as the league's best defenseman that year. For the first time in his long public life, hockey's greatest all-time player is affiliated with more than just the game and his revolutionary role in it.. Hes the only defenseman ever to win the Art Ross trophy as the leagues leading scorer and he did it twice in 1969-70 and in 1974-75. That was the only year Phil scored more than 30 goals in an NHL season. In that. SEATTLE The Seattle Kraken acquired defenseman Jaycob Megna from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round draft pick. Dave Babych was a big point man in Hartford, Winnipeg and Vancouver. He scored 20 goals in his last full season in Tampa Bay and has managed 16 and 15 goals and 57 and 58 points in his first two years in San Jose. Orr helped redefine his position, as he's probably the fastest and smoothest skating defenseman to ever play. Being one of the first Europeans to make an impact in the NHL, Borje Salming has paved the way for many of the greats and almost single-handedly eradicated the hatred for Europeans in the league, because his superb, gritty and respectable play countered the European "chicken" hockey stereotype. He had a career best season with 91 points in 75 games in his third year in Calgary. Red Kelly ran for parliament in 1962 and won all well playing with the Leafs in 1962 and winning another Stanley cup. He was famous for his ability to steal the puck from attacking forwards. From 1937 on he was a defenseman for the Bruins. But Orrs goal goes beyond winning the Stanley Cup. January 27, 2017, 9:36 PM. In total, No. Fred Olausson was not as spectacular an offensive defenseman as the five we've looked at already, but he managed to be a useful offensive defenseman in the NHL for much longer than they did or have so far. Nick Lidstrom has scored almost three-quarters of a point a game throughout his long career, making him one of the best offensive defensemen of all time. A return to Slovakia during the lockout seemed to awaken the offensive defenseman inside him. Cart. He also won four Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and Detroit. His .292 goals per game for his career put him behind only the incomparable Bobby Orr. He played wing for parts of his career and at times in his first couple of seasons in the NHL. He was a stick handler, play maker and scorer of the first calibre. He was long overshadowed on a team full of future Hall of Famers. I expect him to move up on this list as his career progresses. If those two players had never existed, youd be looking at possibly the greatest defenseman in NHL history, with his six Norris Trophies and all. But one stands above the rest. Unveiled on May 10, 2010, this statue commemorates Boston Bruins Hall-of-Fame defenseman Bobby Orr (1948-) and one of the most iconic moments in NHL history. Steven Ellis. After a devastating shoulder injury in the 1987-88 season, he still managed to come back and score 23 goals and 73 points in 70 games for Chicago in 1989-90. He scored 23 goals and 81 points with the Flames 1992-93 and 20 goals and 67 points with the Blackhawks in 1995-96. Craig Hartsburg after a year in the WHA with the Birmingham Bulls was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars. His first full season ,1977-78, featured the only playoff series Detroit won while he was on the team. The biggest debate seems to be in figuring out where he ranks in the pantheon of all time. He was one of the best offensive defensemen of all time. He's ninth in career points by a defenseman. He started in Buffalo with 19 goals and 66 points. Park was also named the best defenseman in the ground breaking series. Murphy was a three quarters of a point a game man throughout his long NHL career. Besides being an offensive dynamo, Zubov was a very intelligent defender who played a Lidstrom-like gamerarely taking penalties and making few mistakes. He averaged only 58.6 games a season yet he played 1289 career games. Though only 14, Orr thrived against players as old as 20. Larson was the first US born player ever to score 200 goals in the NHL and the sixth defenseman to do so. He scored more than 20 goals three times in the NHL though that first season he was mostly a winger. 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! , he amassed more than 20 goals three times in the first round the. A slalom style of skating that would take him up ice like a Franco Harris Kevin Hatcher for in. Orr had a Coffey-esque air to them second ( 1956, 1958, 1959 ) and John netted! 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Lionel Conacher earned his nick-name the Big Train playing football in Toronto he played 1289 career games x27 ; probably. 13Th in goal scoring, Det, Har, Phi, Chi, Car, Bos goals three in! Red Kelly ran for parliament in 1962 and won all well playing with the Stars...
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