Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023-24 revision of our top 50 Boston Bruins.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey, we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Bruins had another outstanding regular season but only made it to the second round. With their talent, this was considered a disappointment.  There were no new entrants and multiple elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:

1. Bobby Orr
2. Eddie Shore
3. Ray Bourque
4. Phil Esposito
5. Patrice Bergeron

You can find the entire list here.

Forward Brad Marchand, who had a good year, was unable to get past last season’s rank of #11.

David Pastrnak, who was a Second Team All-Star last season, advanced to #14 from #18.

Defenseman Charlie McAvoy edged up one spot to #35.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Patrice Bergeron is widely considered the greatest defensive forward of the modern era. In fact, many people consider him one of the top five Boston Bruins players of all time.

Bergeron spent his entire career playing for the Boston Bruins, where he immediately established himself as a leader. He has won a record six Frank J. Selke Awards for being the best defensive forward in the game and was a finalist for the award 12 times. Additionally, he has won the King Clancy Award and the 2020/21 Mark Messier Leadership Award.

Bergeron was not just a defensive player, as he also had impressive scoring skills. He scored 1,040 points and famously scored the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the 2011 finals, helping the Bruins win the Stanley Cup.

Bergeron was so gifted that he only had one season with a negative Plus/Minus and was the league leader in 2011/12. Although he only finished in the top five in Hart voting once (fifth in 2013/14), his value to the Boston Bruins on every shift was immeasurable, and he proved to be a gem for the team throughout his career.

Longevity.  Statistics.  Greatness.

Joe Thornton was drafted as the number one overall pick by the Boston Bruins in 1997. His early years in the NHL were slow due to the Bruins Head Coach, Pat Burns, monitoring his ice time. However, by his third season, Thornton became a regular fixture and scored 60 points, which was the first of his 16 seasons in which he scored at least 60 points.

Thornton became an All-Star for the first time in 2002 and broke out as a superstar the following season with a 101-point year. He blossomed as a center, using his size and power to dominate corners and his grace to pass the puck. He was one of the most gifted playmakers of his day, and he would be for years to come. However, it was not going to be in Boston.

In 2003-04, Thornton's points dropped to 73, and fans turned on him, especially after his poor performance in the 2004 playoffs. When play resumed in 2005 after a lockout that cost everyone the 2004-05 season, Thornton was a restricted free agent, and though he resigned with the Bruins, it was a terse negotiation leaving both sides unhappy. Thornton got off to a good start with 33 points in 24 games, but the damage was done, and he was not considered by management to be a leader. He was traded to the San Jose Sharks during the season and, with a chip on his shoulder, won the Art Ross Trophy (125 points), Assists Title (96), and Hart Trophy, making him the first and only player to win the Hart and Art Ross while playing for two different teams.

In San Jose, Thornton became the leader Boston thought he couldn’t be. He topped the NHL in assists the next two seasons and was still a playmaking force over the next ten seasons, performing at a high level over the next decade. The Sharks were Stanley Cup contenders and made the Finals in 2011, but they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. Age and injury began to catch up to him, and he tried to chase that elusive cup late in his career with stops in Toronto and Florida. However, it was not meant to be. He retired with 1,539 points and is in the top ten all-time in games played and assists.

Internationally, Thornton has won a bevy of gold medals: one Olympic, two World Cups, and one World Junior.

With six All-Stars, four post-season All-Stars, individual hardware, and international gold, the only thing Joe Thornton is missing is a Stanley Cup. Nevertheless, his achievements make him a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Boston Bruins.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Boston Bruins set a record with the most Points accumulated by a team, but they were stunned with a first round exit.  Based on last season, we see a new entrant to the top five, with a few other fluctuations.  There was also one new entrant.

As always, we present our top five, which saw a new number five:

1. Bobby Orr

2. Eddie Shore

3. Ray Bourque

4. Phil Esposito

5. Patrice Bergeron

You can find the entire list here.

The now retired Bergeron, who won his record Sixth Frank J. Selke Award last year, moved ahead of Milt Schmidt for the top five.

Three-time postseason All-Star, Brad Marchand, climbed to #11 from #14.

David Pastrnak, who was named a First Team All-Star last year, shot up thirteen places to #18.

David Krejci, who returned for one final season, advanced from #35 to #33.

Defenseman, Charlie McAvoy, is the lone debut.  He enters at #36.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

From Long Island by way of Boston University, Defenseman Charlie McAvoy did not have to travel far to join the team that drafted him, the Boston Bruins, who used their 14^th Overall Pick in 2017.

McAvoy had a very good start to his professional career, finishing fifth in Calder voting off of a 32 Point year.  The physical blueliner wasted no time proving that he was the team’s top Defenseman and in 2019/20, he began a three-year streak of top ten Norris finishes, with a fourth-place tally and a Second Team All-Star in 2021/22.  Going into this season, McAvoy has a three-year run of at least 45 Point years, and is very much in his prime.

We could have a top 20 Bruin in Charlie McAvoy.

The career of one of the best defensive forwards has come to an end.

Patrice Bergeron announced today that he is retiring after 19 seasons in the National Hockey League, all of which was as a Boston Bruin.

Bergeron debuted for the Bruins in 2003, and it was apparent very quickly that he was a steal in the 2^nd Round. A gifted center at both ends of the ice, Bergeron went to three All-Star Games, and would become a team leader, ascending to the captaincy in 2021 and winning the Mark Messier Leadership the same year.

Also, a 2013 King Clancy Award winner, the accolade that would define him was the Frank J. Selke Trophy. He won it a record six times, including adding his sixth last season.

The Bruins were contending through most of Bergeron’s career, and would win the Stanley Cup in 2011. Last year, despite being bounced in the first round, Boston had the greatest regular season in NHL history.

Despite his attention to defense, he scored 1,040 Points, 427 of them as Goals.

Internationally, Bergeron won Gold in two Olympics (2010 & 2014), the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, 2004 World Hockey Championships and 2005 World Junior Championships.

With this retirement, Bergeron will be eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2026, and he should be an early inductee.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Patrice Bergeron the best in his post-playing career.

From Savonlinna, Finland, Tuukka Rask was drafted in the First Round (21^st Overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he never played there as he was traded to Boston for fellow Goalie Andrew Raycroft.  It was a deal that historically would favor the Bruins, the team in which Rask played his entire career.

Rask was first called up in 2007 but was not the regular backup until the 2009-10 Season when he led the NHL in Save Percentage and Goals Against Average.  Rask would finally take over from Tim Thomas as the Bruins lead Goalie, bringing the Bruins back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013.  They lost to Chicago, but Task established himself as one of the best in the game.  The season after, he won the coveted Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top Goalie.

Rask had his ups and down afterward, dealing with injuries, but again led the Bruins to another Cup Final in 2019, the same season he was named a Second Team All-Star.  Boston again lost, this time to St. Louis, who captured their first Title.

Rask had an upper-body injury that kept him on the sideline going into this season, but he came back to rejoin the Bruins, appearing in four games as Linus Ullmark’s backup, but he cited that he physically was not at the level he needed to be.

Internationally, Rask represented Finland multiple times, with his greatest success coming in the 2014 Olympics, where he backstopped his nation to a Bronze Medal.

Rask leaves the games with a record of 306-163-66 with a 2.28 GAA.

Standing at 6' 9" and born in the former Czechoslovakia, Zdeno Chara was a Third Round Pick in 1996 by the New York Islanders, but while he made the team a year later, he never figured into their long-term plans.  A trade to obtain the disgruntled Alexei Yashin sent Chara to Ottawa, and it would be evident in a few years that it was the Slovak Defenseman who was the best player in the deal.

Chara developed on the offensive side with the Senators, utilizing his size and booming shot to become a feared attacker while controlling his own blue line.  Chara moved to elite status in Ottawa, earning his first post-season All-Star honors (First Team in 2004 and Second Team in 2006) and was the anchor of a potent Sens team, but as this was a small market, Chara's skills soon exceeded what Ottawa could pay.

Chara signed with the Boston Bruins in 2006, and as good as he was in the Canadian Capital, he was even better in New England.  Named the Captain as soon as he arrived, Chara played for Boston for 14 seasons, collecting five more post-season All-Stars and the coveted Norris Trophy as the NHL's top Defenseman in 2009.  He led Boston to win the 2011 Stanley Cup, holding it higher than anyone else and did so in the same year he won the Mark Messier Leadership Award.

Chara finished his career in his 40s, with a season each in Washington and the New York Islanders.

Chara retires with the most Games Played by a Defenseman (1,652) and set records as the oldest Defenseman to score in the playoffs.

Internationally, “Big Z” won Silver as a representative of Team Europe in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey with two Silvers for Slovakia (2000 & 2012) in the World Hockey Championships.

Chara is an excellent bet for first-ballot entry.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2021/22 revision of our top Boston Bruins.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Bruins made the playoffs but were bounced in the first round.  Despite the length of Boston’s existence, there were three changes on the list.

As always, we present our top five, which had no changes:

1. Bobby Orr

2. Eddie Shore

3. Ray Bourque

4. Phil Esposito

5. Milt Schmidt

You can find the entire list here.

Patrice Bergeron climbs into the top ten, with the five-time Frank J. Selke Trophy winner moving up from #13.

Three-time All-Star, Brad Marchand, rocketed to #14 from #24.

Former First Team All-Star, David Pastrnak moved up five spots to #32.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

The world of hockey lost one of the great ones, as Hall of Fame Defenseman, Leo Boivin, passed away at age 90.

Boivin debuted in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs for two Games in the 1951/52 Season, and would finish third in Calder voting the following year.  The Leafs traded him to Boston early in the 1954/55 Season, and it was with the Bruins where he would achieve his greatest success.

The Bruins fans loved Boivin for his hard-hitting and punishing style, and he would represent them in three All-Star Games.  Undersized even for that era, Boivin made the most of his compact 5’ 8” frame, becoming the master of the hip check and shutting down attackers.  He would later play for Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minnesota, retiring after the 1969/70 Season, and he left the game with 322 Points in 1,150 Games.

The Hall of Fame called his name in 1986.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends, and family of Leo Boivin.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021-22 revision of our top 50 Boston Bruins.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NHL. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note, that this is our first revision in one year, but several players climbed in the rank.

As always, we present our top five immediately, though nothing has changed in this upper-tier.

1. Bobby Orr

2. Eddie Shore

3. Ray Bourque

4. Phil Esposito

5. Milt Schmidt

You can find the entire list here.

Patrice Bergeron, who has won four Frank J. Selke Trophies as the NHL’s top Defensive Forward, moved up one spot to #13.

Brad Marchand, who is now a four-time post-season All-Star, climbed five spots to #23.  

David Krejci, who was a two-time leader in Plus/Minus inched up one spot to #34.

2020 Rocket Richard winner, David Pastrnak, also moved up by one.  He is now #36.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

The Boston Bruins announced today that they will be inducting the number 22 of Willie O’Ree, who made history over six decades ago as the first black player in the NHL.  O’Ree, 85, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder’s Category in 2018.

The event will take place on February 18, during their home game against the New Jersey Devils.

O’Ree made history when he was called up for two Games in 1958 for the Bruins, and he came back for 43 Games in the 1960-61 campaign.  He scored 15 Points over his NHL career, but played pro hockey for 21 years.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Willie O’Ree for earning this honor.  

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present the third revision of our top 50 Boston Bruins of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League. 

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

This is the second revision, and our first in two years.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Bobby Orr

2. Eddie Shore

3. Ray Bourque

4. Phil Esposito

5. Milt Schmidt

The top five remains unaltered from our initial rank but there are some significant jumps and three new entries.

Zdeno Chara cracks the top ten, moving from #11 to #9.  Goalie, Tuukka Rask moves from #36 to #30.

The three new ranked players are Brad Marchand (#32), David Pastrnak (#38) and Torey Krug (#42).

We admit to erring that Marchand should have been ranked three years ago.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.

An underrated Defenseman, Torey Krug, played College Hockey at Michigan State, exceeding all expectations to become a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.  His work landed him a Free Agent signing with the Boston Bruins, and he was ready to shatter the ceiling again.

Currently, David Pastrnak is an ten-season NHL veteran, all of which were spent as a Boston Bruin.

As of this writing, Brad Marchand playing the best hockey of his life where he has been a post-season All-Star in four of the last seven years.  In the 2016-17 campaign, he was named a First Team All-Star while scoring 85 Points, good enough for fifth overall in the NHL.  Worth noting is that Marchand had four consecutive 35 Goal seasons (2015-16 to 2018-19) and in 2021-22, retrned to the 30 Goal mark

A two time All Star in consecutive seasons (2008 & 2009), Marc Savard quietly put forth a career where he accumulated 706 Points with 499 of them coming by way of Assists.  Savard began his career with the New York Rangers, Calgary and the Atlanta Thrashers and in that nine-year span he never played in the post season, though in his last season in Atlanta he had a career high 97 Points with a ninth-place finish in Points and third place finish in Assists.

A member of the Boston Bruins for his entire 13-year career in the NHL, Jack Crawford was known for his hardnosed play and hence why the Bruins never seriously considered dealing him.  Early in his playing days he would help the Bruins win Stanley Cups in both 1939 and 1941 and in the first Cup winning year he was the National Hockey League leader in Defensive Point Shares.  Later, Crawford would be named a Second Team All-Star (1943) and First Team All-Star (1946).  He retired with 178 Points over 548 Games, a good number for a Defenseman in those days. 

Murray Oliver was a sweet playmaker who many regarded as the master of the “fake pass”.  Oliver was used equally on the power play and penalty kill and an above average hockey IQ.  The Centre would be named to five All Star Teams (four with Boston and one with Toronto) and he would amass over 700 Points in the NHL.  Arguably, Oliver is not nearly as remembered as someone who was a five-time All-Star should be as he was only on four teams who made the Playoffs.

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives.

As such, it is important to note that last night the Boston Bruins retired the #16 of former forward, Rick Middleton.

After playing his first two seasons in the NHL for the New York Rangers, “Nifty” was traded to Boston prior to the 1976-77 season and it proved fruitful for the Bruins. In the 1979-80 season, Middleton would begin a five season streak of 40 Goals, which included a career high of 51 n the 1981-82 campaign. That season he would be named a Second Team All Star as well as winning the Lady Byng Trophy. Middleton would represent the Bruins in three All Star Games and also had a pair of 100 Point seasons. His overall statistical contribution to Boston would see the Right Wing score 402 Goals, 496 Assists and 898 Points.

Middleton becomes the 11th player to have his number retired. He joins Eddie Shore #2, Lionel Hitchman #3, Bobby Orr #4, Dit Clapper #5, Phil Esposito #7, Can Neely #8, John Bucyk #9, Milt Schmidt #15, Terry O’Reilly #24 and Ray Bourque #77.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Rick Middleton for earning this very prestigious honor.