#26 - Mike Bossy

Mike Bossy (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #26)

Adjusted Stats

1977-1978   NYI          75 GP   51 goals   36 assists   87 points    1.16 PPG
1978-1979   NYI          82 GP   62 goals   51 assists   113 points  1.38 PPG
1979-1980   NYI*        77 GP   46 goals   37 assists   82 points    1.06 PPG
1980-1981   NYI*        81 GP   56 goals   42 assists   98 points    1.21 PPG
1981-1982   NYI*        82 GP   50 goals   65 assists   115 points  1.40 PPG
1982-1983   NYI*        81 GP   49 goals   47 assists   96 points    1.19 PPG
1983-1984   NYI          69 GP   41 goals   54 assists   94 points    1.36 PPG
1984-1985   NYI          78 GP   47 goals   48 assists   95 points    1.22 PPG
1985-1986   NYI          82 GP   48 goals   49 assists   98 points    1.20 PPG
1986-1987   NYI          65 GP   33 goals   32 assists   64 points    0.98 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1977-1978   NYI           7 GP    2 goals      2 assists     4 points      0.56 PPG
1978-1979   NYI           10 GP  5 goals      2 assists     7 points      0.73 PPG
1979-1980   NYI*         16 GP  9 goals      11 assists   20 points    1.22 PPG
1980-1981   NYI*         18 GP  12 goals    13 assists   25 points    1.38 PPG
1981-1982   NYI*         19 GP  13 goals    8 assists     21 points    1.11 PPG
1982-1983   NYI*         19 GP  13 goals    7 assists     20 points    1.07 PPG
1983-1984   NYI           21 GP  7 goals      9 assists     16 points    0.76 PPG
1984-1985   NYI           10 GP  4 goals      5 assists     8 points      0.83 PPG
1985-1986   NYI           3 GP    1 goal       2 assists     3 points      0.86 PPG
1986-1987   NYI           6 GP    2 goals      3 assists     4 points      0.75 PPG

Career - 772 GP, 483 goals, 461 assists, 942 points, 1.22 PPG
Career-Highs - 62 goals (78-79); 65 assists (81-82); 115 points (81-82); 1.40 PPG
Avg. (10 seasons) - 77 GP, 48 goals, 46 assists, 94 points, 1.22 PPG
Peak Avg. (78-86) - 79 GP, 50 goals, 49 assists, 99 points, 1.25 PPG, 4 Cups

Playoff Career - 129 GP, 68 goals, 62 assists, 128 points, 0.99 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 13 goals (81-82); 13 assists (80-81); 25 points (80-81); 1.38 PPG (80-81)

Accolades - 3 Lady Byngs, Calder, 1 Conn Smythe
All-Star Teams - 5-time 1st-team, 3-time 2nd-team
4-time Stanley Cup Champion

A short career, and so a short entry on that career:

Only ten seasons, and only 772 games played, so there's a case to be made for Mike Bossy being included in the "What Might Have Been" category along with Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure. But the thing with Bossy is that his career achievements, even in just those ten seasons, are enough to put him in the discussion of the best right-wingers of all-time. Bossy is basically Guy Lafleur without the awful final seven seasons. He came into the league, dominated in scoring, won championships, continued playing at a high level, and then got hit by a back injury that he felt was too much of a hindrance to continuing to play hockey.

Like Gretzky, Bossy's numbers take a bit of a hit when adjusted, since they were put up during the high-scoring 80s, leaving Bossy shy of 500 career goals and 1,000 career points. But even when adjusted, they still look pretty amazing: his career average of 48 goals per season is the highest in history (Ovechkin will need to average 39 for another five years to match Bossy's). Now granted, that's probably due to the fact that Bossy stopped after ten seasons. But it's still a remarkable peak performance rate.

Bossy was my type of hockey player. You could tell he thought deeply about the game and seemed to be operating on a different plane. For someone who wasn't physical at all, it's remarkable that Bossy was so consistently able to find his way to the open spots on the ice. Like Phil Esposito, Bossy was the master of the snapshot from the slot. But unlike Esposito, Bossy also had blinding speed. There was no one you'd want to face on a breakaway less than Mike Bossy if you were an opposing goaltender.

He decried fighting and the goon tactics that had been popularized by the Flyers and Bruins in the mid-1970s. This may have made him the enemy of the Don Cherrys of the world, but it also ushered in a more exciting and dynamic era. Bossy's scoring flair set the stage for the Gretzky-led Oilers, and later the Lemieux-led Penguins. It's unfortunate that Bossy's back injury was too great to overcome, because it would have been fun seeing him go toe to toe with Lemieux in his prime.

If Bossy had continued to play, he may not have won any more championships, but he would be way up there on the career goal-scoring list. Instead, he left with class, and never left fans with any memory of a deteriorating player. He was a pure sniper from the moment he joined the league to the moment he left.