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The [[2007–08 NHL season|2008 campaign]] saw the Bruins regain some respectability, finishing 41–29–12 and making the playoffs. Despite many injuries, the Bruins pushed the top-seeded Canadiens to seven games in the first round of the playoffs before falling. Their performance, despite a 5–0 loss in the seventh game, rekindled interest in the team in New England, where the Bruins had for years been heavily overshadowed by the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics.
The [[2007–08 NHL season|2008 campaign]] saw the Bruins regain some respectability, finishing 41–29–12 and making the playoffs. Despite many injuries, the Bruins pushed the top-seeded Canadiens to seven games in the first round of the playoffs before falling. Their performance, despite a 5–0 loss in the seventh game, rekindled interest in the team in New England, where the Bruins had for years been heavily overshadowed by the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics.


After a slow start to the [[2008–09 NHL season|2008–09 season]], the Bruins won seventeen of their next twenty games leading many to see them as a revival of the "Big Bad Bruins" from the 1970s and '80s. During the 2009 All-Star Weekend's Skills Competition, captain [[Zdeno Chara]] fired the NHL's fastest measured "hardest shot" ever, with a clocked in speed of 105.4 mph (169.7 km/h) velocity. The number of injured players in the season saw many call-ups from the Bruins' AHL [[Providence Bruins]] farm team, with rookie defenseman [[Matt Hunwick]] and forward [[Byron Bitz]] seeing success. The Bruins went on to have the best record in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in nine years, facing the Canadiens in the playoffs for the fourth time during that span, defeating them in four games before losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals.
After a slow start to the [[2008–09 NHL season|2008–09 season]], the Bruins won seventeen of their next twenty games leading many to see them as a revival of the "Big Bad Bruins" from the 1970s and '80s. The number of injured players in the season saw many call-ups from the Bruins' AHL [[Providence Bruins]] farm team, with rookie defenseman [[Matt Hunwick]] and forward [[Byron Bitz]] seeing success. The Bruins went on to have the best record in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in nine years, facing the Canadiens in the playoffs for the fourth time during that span, defeating them in four games before losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals.


The 2009 summer off-season saw the departure of long-time defensive forward [[Per-Johan Axelsson|P.J. Axelsson]] from Sweden, who signed a multi-year contract <ref>[http://bruins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=457768 Bish's Blog: Thank You P.J. - Boston Bruins - Bish's Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> with his hometown [[Frolunda HC]] team. With Maple Leafs G.M. Brian Burke threatening an offer sheet and Bruins management unable to meet his salary demands, forward [[Phil Kessel]] was traded to the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] for a trio of future draft picks.
The 2009 summer off-season saw the departure of long-time defensive forward [[Per-Johan Axelsson|P.J. Axelsson]] from Sweden, who signed a multi-year contract <ref>[http://bruins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=457768 Bish's Blog: Thank You P.J. - Boston Bruins - Bish's Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> with his hometown [[Frolunda HC]] team. With Maple Leafs G.M. Brian Burke threatening an offer sheet and Bruins management unable to meet his salary demands, forward [[Phil Kessel]] was traded to the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] for a trio of future draft picks.

Revision as of 22:14, 25 May 2011

Boston Bruins
2010–11 Boston Bruins season
ConferenceEastern
DivisionNortheast
Founded1924
HistoryBoston Bruins
1924–present
Home arenaTD Garden
CityBoston, Massachusetts, U.S.
File:ECN-Uniform-BOS.PNG
Team colorsBlack, gold and white     
MediaNESN
The Sports Hub)
Owner(s)United StatesDelaware North Companies
(Jeremy Jacobs, chairman)
General managerCanada Peter Chiarelli
Head coachCanada Claude Julien
CaptainSlovakia Zdeno Chara
Minor league affiliatesProvidence Bruins (AHL)
Reading Royals (ECHL)
Stanley Cups5 (1928–29, 1938–39, 1940–41, 1969–70, 1971–72)
Conference championships2 (1987–88, 1989–90)
Presidents' Trophy1 (1989–90)
Division championships23 (1927–28, 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, 2008–09, 2010–11)

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team has been in existence since 1924, entering the league as the first United States-based expansion franchise. They are also an Original Six team, along with the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Boston currently has the second highest total of Stanley Cup championships won by an American team at five, with the Detroit Red Wings winning 11. Their home arena is the TD Garden, where they have played since 1995 after leaving the Boston Garden (which had been their home since 1928).

History

The Pre-World War II years

In 1924[1] , at the convincing of Boston grocery tycoon Charles Adams, the National Hockey League decided to expand to the United States. Adams had fallen in love with hockey while watching the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals between the NHL champion Montreal Canadiens and the WCHL champion Calgary Tigers. He persuaded the NHL to grant him a franchise for Boston, which occurred on November 1, 1924. With the Montreal Maroons, the team was one of the NHL's first expansion teams.

Adams' first act was to hire Art Ross, a former star player and innovator, as general manager. Ross was the face of the franchise for the next 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", an Old English word used for brown bears in classic folk-tales. The team's bearlike nickname also went along with the team's original uniform colors of brown and yellow, which came from Adams' grocery chain, First National Stores.[2]

On December 1, 1924, the new Bruins team played their first NHL game against the Maroons, at Boston Arena, with the Bruins winning the game by a 2–1 score. But the team only managed a 6–24–0 record (for last place) in its first season. They played three more seasons at the Arena, after which the Bruins became the main tenant of the famous Boston Garden,[3] while the old Boston Arena facility—the world's oldest existing indoor ice hockey venue—was eventually taken over by Northeastern University, and renamed Matthews Arena when the university renovated it in 1979.

In their third season, 1926–27, the team markedly improved. Ross took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, a defenseman from Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan named Eddie Shore. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final despite finishing only one game above .500, but lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first Cup Final to be between exclusively NHL teams. In 1929 the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers to win their first Stanley Cup. Standout players on the first championship team included Shore, Harry Oliver, Dit Clapper, Dutch Gainor and goaltender Tiny Thompson. The 1928–29 season was the first played at 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, winning 38 out of 44 games, a record which still stands) and shattered numerous team scoring records, but lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Cup Final.

The 1930s Bruins teams included Shore, Thompson, Clapper, Babe Siebert and Cooney Weiland. The team led the league's standings five times in that decade. In 1939, the team changed its uniform colors from brown and yellow to the current black and gold, and captured the second Stanley Cup in franchise history. That year, Thompson was traded for rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek. Brimsek had an award-winning season, capturing the Vezina and Calder Trophies, becoming the first rookie named to the NHL First All-Star Team, and earning the nickname "Mr. Zero". The team skating in front of Brimsek included Bill Cowley, Shore, Clapper and "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (who scored three overtime goals in one playoff series), together with the "Kraut Line" of center Milt Schmidt, right winger Bobby Bauer and left winger Woody Dumart.

In 1940 Shore was traded to the struggling New York Americans for his final NHL season. In 1941 the Bruins won their third Stanley Cup after losing only eight games and finishing first in the regular season. It was their last Stanley Cup for 29 years.

World War II and the "Original Six" era

World War II affected the Bruins more than most teams; Brimsek and the "Krauts" all enlisted after the 1940–41 Cup win, and lost the most productive years of their careers at war. Cowley, assisted by veteran player Clapper and Busher Jackson, was the team's remaining star. Even though the NHL had by 1943 been reduced to the six teams that would in the modern era be called the "Original Six", talent was depleted enough that freak seasons could take place, as in 1944, when Bruin Herb Cain would set the then-NHL record for points in a season with 82. But the Bruins did not make the playoffs that season, and Cain was out of the NHL two seasons later.

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

The stars returned for the 1945–46 season, and Clapper led the team back to the Stanley Cup Final as player-coach. He retired as a player after the next season, becoming the first player to play twenty NHL seasons, but stayed on as coach for two more years. Brimsek proved to be not as good as he was before the war, and after 1946 the Bruins lost in the first playoff round three straight years, resulting in Clapper's resignation. Brimsek was traded to the last-place Chicago Black Hawks in 1949, followed by the unexpected lifetime ban of promising young star Don Gallinger on suspicion of gambling. The only remaining quality young player who stayed with the team for any length was forward Johnny Peirson, recognizable to fans of a later era as the Bruins' television color commentator in the 1970s.

During the 1948–49 season, the original form of the "spoked-B" logo, with a small number "24" to the left of the capital B signifying the calendar year in the 20th century in which the Bruins team first played, and a similarly small "49" to the right of the "B", for the then-current season's calendar year in the 20th century,[4] appeared on their home uniforms—a nod to the Boston area's nickname of "The Hub". The following season, the logo was modified into the basic "spoked-B" form that was to be used, virtually unchanged (except for certain proportions within the logo), through the 1993–94 season.

The 1950s began with Charles Adams' son Weston (who had been team president since 1936) facing financial trouble. He was forced to accept a buyout offer from Walter A. Brown, the owner of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics and the Garden, in 1951. Although there were some instances 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.

In 1954, on New Year's Day, Robert Skrak, an assistant to Frank Zamboni, the inventor of the best known ice resurfacing machine of the time, demonstrated a very early model of the machine at Boston Garden to the team management, and as a result, the Bruins ordered one of the then-produced "Model E" resurfacers to be used at the Garden, the first known NHL team to acquire one of the soon-to-be-ubiquitous "Zambonis" for their own use. The Bruins' Zamboni Model E, factory serial number 21—used as late as the 1980s on an emergency basis—eventually ended up in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1988 for preservation.[5]

On January 18, 1958, a milestone in NHL history occurred as the first black person ever to play in the NHL stepped onto the ice for the Bruins, New Brunswick-born left wing Willie O'Ree. He played in 45 games for the Bruins over the 1957–58 and 1960–61 seasons, scoring six goals and ten assists in his NHL career.

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 like fashion to the aforementioned signing of Willie O'Ree, 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. The "Uke Line"—named for the Ukrainian heritage of Johnny Bucyk and Vic Stasiuk (their linemate, Bronco Horvath, was Hungarian)—came to Boston in 1957 and enjoyed four productive offensive seasons, heralding, along with scoring stalwarts Don McKenney & Fleming MacKell, the successful era of the late 1950s. There followed a long and difficult reconstruction period in the early, mid 1960s.

Expansion and the Big Bad Bruins

Weston Adams repurchased the Bruins in 1964 after Brown's death and set about rebuilding the team. Adams signed a defenseman from Parry Sound, Ontario, named Bobby Orr, who entered the league in 1966 and became, in the eyes of many, the greatest player of all time. He was announced that season's winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year and named to the Second NHL All-Star Team. When asked about Orr's NHL debut game, October 19, 1966, against the Detroit Red Wings, then-Bruins coach Harry Sinden recalled:

"Our fans had heard about this kid for a few years now. There was a lot of pressure on him, but he met all the expectations. He was a star from the moment they played the national anthem in the opening game of the season".

The Bruins then obtained young forwards Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from Chicago in a deal that was celebrated as one of the most one-sided in hockey history. Hodge and Stanfield became key elements of the Bruins' success, and Esposito, who centered a line with Hodge and Wayne Cashman, became the league's top goal-scorer and the first NHL player to break the 100–point mark, 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 forwards 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 into the 1980s.

Orr jumps in the air after scoring the game winning overtime goal to win the 1970 Stanley Cup Final. The image is widely considered to be one of the most famous in hockey history.

In 1970, a 29–year Stanley Cup drought came to an end in Boston, as the Bruins defeated the St. Louis Blues in four games in the Final. Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the Stanley Cup. The same season was Orr's most awarded—the third of eight consecutive years he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL—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.

"No one, absolutely no one, could have finished a goal in like manner. For years Orr had been described as someone who was graceful, elegant, powerful, without fear—poetry in motion. All these epithets were captured and immortalized in the photos of the goal that won the 1970 Stanley Cup".

[6]

The 1970–71 season was, in retrospect, 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 set 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 year. All four (Orr, Esposito, Bucyk and Hodge) were named First Team All-Stars, a feat matched in the expansion era only by the 1976–77 Canadiens. Boston were favored 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. The Bruins 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 regained the Stanley Cup by defeating the New York Rangers in six games in the Finals. The 1972 Cup win is Boston's most recent. Rangers blueliner Brad Park, who came runner-up to Orr's (then) five-year monopoly on the Norris Trophy, said, "Bobby Orr was—didn't make—the difference".

Boston remained a strong contender through the 1970s (despite losing Cheevers, McKenzie, Sanderson, and other stars to the World Hockey Association), 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 Philadelphia Flyers.

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

Orr left the Bruins for the Hawks in 1976, and retired after many knee operations in 1979. The Bruins traded Esposito and Carol Vadnais for Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi to the Rangers. The trade was particularly controversial for both Bruins and Rangers fans, as Esposito was one of the most popular Bruins players, while Park and Ratelle were Rangers stalwarts. However, Park and Ratelle maintained their skill level with Boston, with Park filling the void left by Orr.[7] They made the semifinals again, losing to the Flyers.

Cheevers returned from the WHA in 1976, and the Bruins got past the Flyers in the semifinals, but lost to the Canadiens in the Final for the Cup. The story repeated itself in 1978—with a balanced attack that saw Boston have eleven players with 20+ goal seasons, still the NHL record—as the Bruins made the Final once more, but lost to a Canadiens team that had recorded the best regular season in modern history. After that series, Johnny Bucyk retired, holding virtually every Bruins' career longevity and scoring mark to that time.

The 1979 semifinal series against the Habs 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.

At Madison Square Garden, on December 23, 1979, a New York Rangers fan stole Stan Jonathan's stick, hitting him with it during a post-game scrum. When other fans got involved, Terry O'Reilly charged into the stands followed by his teammates. The game's TV commentator remarked that "they're going to pull that guy apart". O'Reilly, a future team captain, received an eight-game suspension for the brawl. TV Clip

The Eighties and Nineties

File:Boston Bruins Logo (Home 1949-1995).svg
Boston Bruins logo (1949-1995). Primary logo, used on white jersey.
File:Boston Bruins Logo (Away 1955-1995).svg
Boston Bruins logo (1955-1995). Secondary logo, used on black jersey.
File:Boston Bruins Logo (Alternate 1955-1995).svg
Boston Bruins logo (1955-1967). Secondary logo, used on gold jersey.

Coupled with front-office dislike of Cherry's outspoken ways, 1979 saw new head coach Fred Creighton—himself replaced by a newly-retired Cheevers the following year—and the coming of Ray Bourque. The defenseman remained with the team for over two decades, one of the great stars of all-time and the face of the Bruins for many years.

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 Trophy–winning season from ex-Flyer goaltender Pete Peeters—but usually did not get very far in the playoffs.

Bourque, Cam Neely and Keith Crowder led the Bruins to another Cup Final appearance in 1988 against the Edmonton Oilers.[8] The Bruins lost in a four-game sweep, but a memorable moment in the would-be fourth game ensued, when in the second period with the game tied 3–3, a blown fuse put the lights out at the Boston Garden. The rest of the game was cancelled and the series shifted to Edmonton. The Oilers completed the sweep, 6–3, back at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton in what was originally scheduled as Game Five. The event is considered to be the reason the Bruins began work on a new stadium.

Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 1990 (with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney, Bobby Carpenter and rookie Don Sweeney, and former Oiler goalie Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin splitting goaltending duties), but again lost to the Oilers, this time in five games.

In 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1994, they defeated their Original Six arch-nemesis Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs, getting some revenge for a rivalry which had in recent decades 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, the Mario Lemieux–led Pittsburgh Penguins.

Since the 1993 season, Boston had not gotten past the second round of the playoffs despite the talent of Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet and Jozef Stumpel. The 1993 season ended disappointingly for several reasons. Despite finishing with the second-best regular season record after Pittsburgh, Boston was swept in the first-round by the Buffalo Sabres. During the postseason awards ceremony, Bruin players finished as runner-up on many of the honors—Bourque for the Norris, 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 Frank J. Selke Trophy, Moog for the William M. Jennings Trophy, and coach Brian Sutter for the Jack Adams Award, although Bourque made the NHL All-Star First Team and Juneau the NHL All-Rookie Team.

The 1995 season would be the Bruins' last at the Boston Garden. The final official match played in the Garden was a 3–0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 playoffs; the Bruins went on to play the final game at the fabled arena on September 28, 1995, in an exhibition matchup against the Canadiens. They subsequently moved into the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Garden.

In 1997, Boston missed the playoffs for the first time in thirty years (and for the first time in the expansion era), having set the North American major professional record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs.

Historically, their most bitter rivals have been the Montreal Canadiens, whom the Bruins have played a record thirty-three times in the playoffs. The Bruins also have a rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers and were rivals to the now relocated Hartford Whalers.

The 21st century

File:Boston Bruins Old Logo.svg
Boston Bruins Logo: 1995–2007. The current logo is very similar, with the only exception being that the current "B" is serifed and the outline now separates the letter from the spokes.

After a 3–4–1 start, the Bruins fired head coach Pat Burns and went with Mike Keenan for the rest of the way. Despite a fifteen-point improvement from the previous season, the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2000–01 by just one point. Leading scorer Jason Allison led the Bruins.

The following season, 2001–02, the Bruins improved again with another thirteen points, winning their first Northeast Division title since 1993 with a core built around Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin, Mike Knuble and the newly acquired Glen Murray. Their regular season success did not translate to the postseason, as they lost in six games to the underdog eighth-place Canadiens in the first round.

The 2002–03 season found the Bruins platooning their goaltending staff between Steve Shields and John Grahame for most of the season. A mid-season trade brought in veteran Jeff Hackett. In the midst of a late-season slump, general manager Mike O'Connell fired head coach Robbie Ftorek with nine games to go and named himself interim coach. The Bruins managed to finish seventh in the East, but lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils in five games.

In 2003–04, the Bruins began the season with ex-Toronto Maple Leaf goalie Felix Potvin. Later in the season, the Bruins put rookie Andrew Raycroft into the starting role. Raycroft eventually won the Calder Award that season. The Bruins went on to win another division title and appeared to get past the first round for the first time in five years with a 3–1 series lead on the rival Canadiens. The Canadiens rallied back, however, to win three straight games, upsetting the Bruins.

The 2004–05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout, and the Bruins had a lot of space within the new salary cap implemented for 2005–06. Bruins management eschewed younger free agents in favor of older veterans such as Alexei Zhamnov and Brian Leetch. The newcomers were oft-injured, and by the end of November, the Bruins team traded their captain and franchise player, Joe Thornton (who went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies). In exchange, the Bruins received Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau from the San Jose Sharks. After losing ten of eleven games before the trade, the Bruins came back with a 3–0 victory over the league-leading Ottawa Senators, as rookie goaltender Hannu Toivonen earned his first career NHL shutout. When Toivonen went down with an injury in January, journeyman goalie Tim Thomas started sixteen straight games and brought the Bruins back into the playoff run. Two points out of eighth place at the Winter Olympic break, the Bruins fired general manager Mike O'Connell in March and the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in five years.

Peter Chiarelli was hired as the new GM of the team. Head coach Mike Sullivan was fired and Dave Lewis, former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, was hired to replace him. The Bruins signed Zdeno Chara, one of the most coveted defensemen in the NHL and a former NHL All-Star, from the Senators, and Marc Savard, who finished just three points short of a 100–point season in 2005–06 with the Atlanta Thrashers, to long-term deals.

The 2006–07 season ended in the team finishing in last place in the division. The Bruins traded Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau to the Calgary Flames for Andrew Ference and forward Chuck Kobasew.

The 2007–08 season ended on a bright note for the Bruins when they forced the Canadiens to play a seven-game playoff series, including a memorable Game 6 in which Boston came back to win 5–4. Although Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was injured with a concussion most of the season, youngsters Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Vladimir Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen showed promise in the playoffs.

Rejuvenation in Boston

After the disappointing 2007 season, Lewis was fired as coach, and the Bruins announced on June 21, 2007, that former Canadiens/Devils head coach Claude Julien had been named as the new head coach.[9] The Bruins also unveiled a new logo, and a brand new shoulder patch closely based on the main jersey logo used until 1932.[10]

The 2008 campaign saw the Bruins regain some respectability, finishing 41–29–12 and making the playoffs. Despite many injuries, the Bruins pushed the top-seeded Canadiens to seven games in the first round of the playoffs before falling. Their performance, despite a 5–0 loss in the seventh game, rekindled interest in the team in New England, where the Bruins had for years been heavily overshadowed by the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics.

After a slow start to the 2008–09 season, the Bruins won seventeen of their next twenty games leading many to see them as a revival of the "Big Bad Bruins" from the 1970s and '80s. The number of injured players in the season saw many call-ups from the Bruins' AHL Providence Bruins farm team, with rookie defenseman Matt Hunwick and forward Byron Bitz seeing success. The Bruins went on to have the best record in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in nine years, facing the Canadiens in the playoffs for the fourth time during that span, defeating them in four games before losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals.

The 2009 summer off-season saw the departure of long-time defensive forward P.J. Axelsson from Sweden, who signed a multi-year contract [11] with his hometown Frolunda HC team. With Maple Leafs G.M. Brian Burke threatening an offer sheet and Bruins management unable to meet his salary demands, forward Phil Kessel was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a trio of future draft picks.

On January 1, 2010, the Bruins won the 2010 NHL Winter Classic over the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2–1 overtime decision at Fenway Park, thus becoming the first home team to win an outdoor classic game. However, following the New Year's Day game, the Bruins, hobbled by injuries, would go through a five-week long period of lackluster play, with only two wins and compiling ten regulation losses earning them only eight points in the Eastern Conference standings in that 15-game long period, before breaking the losing streak in an away game against the Canadiens on February 7, with Tuukka Rask shutting out the Habs 3–0. The win over the Canadiens was the first of four successive victories leading into the break in play for the NHL's participation in the 2010 Winter Olympics, and established Tuukka Rask as the number one goaltender for the Bruins, as Tim Thomas would only start eight of the 22 games remaining in the post-Olympic period of the season, with Rask winning eight of his post-Olympic starts, including two shutouts. Thomas was on the silver-medal winning US team, with Patrice Bergeron on the gold-medal-winning Canadian team.

The importance of former Sabre forward Daniel Paille's acquisition by the Bruins, and his emergence as a penalty killing forward, was emphasized on April 10, 2010, as Paille, Steve Begin, and Blake Wheeler combined for the first-ever known trio of short handed goals within one penalty kill, in only 1:04 of game time, in a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes, helping the Bruins to sixth place in the NHL Eastern Conference, and a 2010 NHL playoff opening round appearance against the Buffalo Sabres, which they won 4 games to 2 games. Boston became only the third team in NHL history to lose a playoff series after leading 3–0 when they lost in Game 7 to the Philadelphia Flyers after losing a 3–0 lead in the second round on May 14, 2010, also losing the services of Marco Sturm in the first game and playmaking center David Krejci to injury in the third game of the series. Many credit the loss of these two players as the turning point of the series.

On April 13, 2010 the Boston Bruins received the second overall draft pick for the 2010 draft that was held in Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center, selecting Tyler Seguin in the first round on June 25, 2010, with Greg Campbell and Nathan Horton joining the team, with Vladimir Sobotka and Dennis Wideman leaving the Bruins in the 2010 summer off-season. After the season ended on June 16, 2010, Cam Neely was named the new team president of the Bruins.[12]

On February 15, 2011 Bruins general manager Peter Charelli announced that the Bruins acquired center Chris Kelly from the Ottawa Senators in hopes of keeping the center of the ice alive after Savard's injury ridden season ended. Ottawa received the Bruins second-round pick in 2011. Just two days later and on the brink of the trade deadline, the Bruins signed defenseman Tomas Kaberle from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for prospect Joe Colborne, a first-round selection in 2011, and a potential second-round pick in 2012. Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler were also traded to the Atlanta Thrashers for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik.

In the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins became the first team in National Hockey League history to win a playoff series without scoring a powerplay goal, as they eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in 7 games on home ice at the TD Garden. On May 6, 2011, the Boston Bruins swept the Philadelphia Flyers on home ice to advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 1992 where they will face the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ownership

Since 1975 the team has been owned by Jeremy Jacobs. Jacobs represents the club on the NHL's Board of Governors, and serves on its Executive Committee. At the NHL Board of Governors meeting in June 2007, Jacobs was elected Chairman of the Board, replacing the Calgary Flames' Harley Hotchkiss, who stepped down after 12 years in the position. He has frequently been listed by Sports Business Journal as one of the most influential people in sports in its annual poll[13] and by Hockey News.[14]

Jacobs company owns the TD Garden and he is partners with John Henry, owner of the Red Sox, in the New England Sports Network(NESN). Prior to the new collective bargaining agreement, fans felt team management was not willing to spend to win the Stanley Cup.[15] In his 35 years as owner, the Bruins have not won the Stanley Cup. While his public image has improved with a complete change in management including new General Manager Peter Chiarelli, Coach Claude Julien and Cam Neely's arrival, the management of the team in the past earned him spots on ESPN.com's "Page 2" polls of "The Worst Owners in Sports",[16] and #7 on their 2005 "Greediest Owners In sports" list.[17]

Fortunately, Jacobs has invested in the team and rebuilding the front office to make the team more competitive. The Bruins were the second highest ranked team in the NHL in the 2008–2009 season and were the top seeded team in the East.

The current administrators in the Bruins front office are:

"Unofficial" theme songs

When Boston television station WSBK-TV began showing Bruins games on television in 1967, the television station's managers wanted to come up with a suitable piece of music to air for the introduction of each Bruins game. Because the Boston Ballet's annual Christmas performance of The Nutcracker had become closely identified with Boston, The Ventures' instrumental rock version of the Nutcracker's overture, known as "Nutty", itself likely being inspired by the somewhat earlier Nut Rocker, was selected as the opening piece of music for Bruins telecasts. The song "Nutty" has been identified with the Bruins ever since, even though NESN, who now airs almost all of the Bruins' regular season and playoff games, has used a piece of original instrumental rock music for Bruins telecasts, that it had also used with all its Boston Red Sox televised games through the 2008 MLB season. The song "Nutty" is still sometimes played at the TD Garden during Bruins games. "Nutty" has also been covered by popular Boston Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys. Dropkick Murphys have also written a song about the Bruins, called "Time to Go" (released on their 2003 album Blackout), and have performed at Bruins games several times. The Bruins have also been know to come out at the start of each period during the 2010-2011 season to "Blow me Away", a song written and performed by Breaking Benjamin.

In the early 1970s, WSBK ran a weekly highlights show hosted by Tom Larson. The instrumental song "Toad" by the late-60s British supergroup Cream was the opening and closing theme for the show.

On ice, the song "Paree", a 1920s hit tune written by Leo Robin and Jose Padilla, has been played as an organ instrumental for decades, typically as the players enter the arena just before the start of each period and, for many years, after each Bruins' goal. It was introduced by John Kiley, the organist for the Bruins, the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics from the 1950s through the 1980s, and is still played during Bruins' games.

The song "Kernkraft 400 (Sport Chant Stadium Remix)" by Zombie Nation is also a popular song at Bruins games, as it is played after every Bruins goal scored on home ice, and exactly the same tune has started to be used at Fenway Park after every Boston Red Sox home run.

After every Bruins' win at the TD Garden, the song "Dirty Water", by the Standells, is played. The song is also played after every home game win for the Boston Red Sox, and has become an unofficial anthem for the city of Boston.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Bruins. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Boston Bruins seasons

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

Season GP W L OTL Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs
2006–07 82 35 41 6 76 219 289 5th, Northeast Did not qualify
2007–08 82 41 29 12 94 212 222 3rd, Northeast Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Canadiens)
2008–09 82 53 19 10 116 274 196 1st, Northeast Lost in Conference Semifinals, 3–4 (Hurricanes)
2009–10 82 39 30 13 91 206 200 3rd, Northeast Lost in Conference Semifinals, 3–4 (Flyers)
2010–11 82 46 25 11 103 246 195 1st, Northeast In Progress (See 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs)

Players

Current roster

Updated November 11, 2024[19][20]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
19 United States John Beecher C L 23 2019 Elmira, New York
55 Canada Justin Brazeau RW R 26 2024 New Liskeard, Ontario
25 United States Brandon Carlo D R 27 2015 Colorado Springs, Colorado
13 United States Charlie Coyle C R 32 2019 Weymouth, Massachusetts
11 United States Trent Frederic LW L 26 2016 St. Louis, Missouri
39 Canada Morgan Geekie RW R 26 2023 Strathclair, Manitoba
90 United States Tyler Johnson C R 34 2024 Spokane, Washington
47 United States Mark Kastelic C R 25 2024 Phoenix, Arizona
45 United States Cole Koepke LW L 26 2024 Two Harbors, Minnesota
70 Finland Joonas Korpisalo G L 30 2024 Pori, Finland
28 Sweden Elias Lindholm C R 29 2024 Boden, Sweden
27 Sweden Hampus Lindholm D L 30 2022 Helsingborg, Sweden
6 United States Mason Lohrei D L 23 2020 Baton Rouge, Louisiana
63 Canada Brad Marchand (C) LW L 36 2006 Halifax, Nova Scotia
73 United States Charlie McAvoy (A) D R 26 2016 Long Beach, New York
88 Czech Republic David Pastrnak (A) RW R 28 2014 Havířov, Czech Republic
52 United States Andrew Peeke D R 26 2024 Parkland, Florida
75 United States Alec Regula Injured Reserve D R 24 2023 West Bloomfield, Michigan
1 United States Jeremy Swayman G L 25 2017 Anchorage, Alaska
29 Canada Parker Wotherspoon D L 27 2023 Surrey, British Columbia
18 Czech Republic Pavel Zacha C L 27 2022 Brno, Czech Republic
91 Russia Nikita Zadorov D L 29 2024 Moscow, Russia


Honored members

Hall of Famers—players

File:Bobby Orr 1966.jpg
Future Hall of Famer Bobby Orr at his first Bruins camp

Hall of Famers—builders

Retired numbers

  • 2 Eddie Shore, D, 1926–40, number retired January 1, 1947
  • 3 Lionel Hitchman, D, 1925–34, number retired February 22, 1934, first professional hockey player to have number retired
  • 4 Bobby Orr, D, 1966–76, number retired January 9, 1979
  • 5 Aubrey "Dit" Clapper, LW/D, 1927–47, number retired February 12, 1947
  • 7 Phil Esposito, C, 1967–75, number retired December 3, 1987
  • 8 Cam Neely, RW, 1986–96, number retired January 12, 2004
  • 9 Johnny Bucyk, LW, 1957–78, number retired March 13, 1980
  • 15 Milt Schmidt, LW, 1936–55, number retired March 13, 1980
  • 24 Terry O'Reilly, RW, 1972–85, number retired October 24, 2002
  • 77 Ray Bourque, D, 1979–2000, number retired October 4, 2001

The Bruins also honor the NHL's league-wide retirement of Wayne Gretzky's #99.

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 0.99
Johnny Bucyk LW 1436 545 794 1339 0.93
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 0.77
Ken Hodge RW 652 289 385 674 1.03
Terry O'Reilly RW 891 204 402 606 0.68
Cam Neely RW 525 344 246 590 1.12
Peter McNab C 595 263 324 587 0.99

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)

NHL Plus-Minus Award

Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award

Vezina Trophy

William M. Jennings Trophy

Team awards

The Bruins have several team awards that are traditionally awarded at the last home game of the regular season.

Franchise individual records

Leaders

Team captains

General managers

Further information: List of Boston Bruins general managers

The current general manager is Peter Chiarelli. Chiarelli was hired on May 26, 2006 as the General Manager of the Boston Bruins. He was signed to a four-year contract. Chiarelli was previously the assistant general manager for the Ottawa Senators. The Senators were given a conditional draft pick for relinquishing Chiarelli. On June 19, 2009 Chiarelli received a four-year contract extension through 2013–2014.

Head coaches

Further information: List of Boston Bruins head coaches

The current head coach is Claude Julien who was hired on June 22, 2007. On February 17, 2009, Julien coached his 200th winning NHL game, a 5–1 Bruins road game defeat of the Carolina Hurricanes. On June 18, 2009, Julien was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL.

Media and broadcasters

Main article: List of Boston Bruins broadcasters
  • NESN

Jack Edwards: TV play-by-play
Andy Brickley: TV color analyst
Naoko Funayama: TV rink-side reporter[21]

  • 98.5 The Sports Hub

Dave Goucher: Radio play-by-play
Bob Beers: Radio color analyst

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Legends of Hockey".
  2. ^ Donovan (1997).
  3. ^ NHL hockey came to the U.S. on Dec. 1, 1924 - NHL.com - History
  4. ^ Boston Bruins Logo - Chris Creamer's Sports Logos Page - SportsLogos.Net
  5. ^ "The Zamboni Story"[dead link], Zamboni.com.
  6. ^ Hockey's Greatest Teams="Bruins"
  7. ^ CNN http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/news/2001/02/15/sayitaintso_bruins/. Retrieved April 26, 2010. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ "Devilish Feat By The Bruins". CNN. May 23, 1988. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  9. ^ "Boston Bruins Name Claude Julien Head Coach", Bruins website, June 21, 2007.
  10. ^ Edelson, Kevin. "Dressed for Success?"[dead link], New England Hockey Journal, June 21, 2007.
  11. ^ Bish's Blog: Thank You P.J. - Boston Bruins - Bish's Blog
  12. ^ Boston Bruins website "Cam Neely Named President of the Boston Bruins", June 16, 2010. On October 2, 2010, the Boston Bruins faced the Belfast Giants Selects in an NHL Challenge match in the Odyssey Arena Belfast.
  13. ^ www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
  14. ^ www.hockeynews.com
  15. ^ "NHL Team Valuations". Forbes.
  16. ^ "The Worst Owners In Sports".
  17. ^ "The Greediest Owners in Sports".
  18. ^ "Neely to be named Bruins president".
  19. ^ "Boston Bruins Roster". National Hockey League. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  20. ^ "Boston Bruins Hockey Transactions". The Sports Network. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  21. ^ "NESN Hires Naoko Funayama". NESN.com. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-09-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)[dead link]

Bibliography

  • Donovan, Michael Leo (1997). The Name Game: Football, Baseball, Hockey & Basketball How Your Favorite Sports Teams Were Named. Toronto: Warwick Publishing. ISBN 1895629748. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Further reading

Template:Link FA

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