BOSTON BRUINS Best first-round pick: Ray Bourque (1979) -- The Bruins made Bourque the eighth player taken at the 1979 NHL Draft; by the following spring he was a First-Team All-Star and the Calder Trophy winner. Bourque continued to pile up goals, assists and honors for 20 seasons until being traded by the Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche in March 2000; 15 months later he retired after helping his new team win a Stanley Cup. His 410 goals, 1,169 assists and 1,579 points all are career-bests for NHL defensemen. Few players in any sport played at such a high level for so long. Honorable mention -- Glen Wesley (1987), Glen Murray (1991), Joe Thornton (1997), Phil Kessel (2006). Best pick, rounds 2-4: Mark Howe (1974) -- Gordies son was drafted by the Bruins but signed with Houston of the World Hockey Association, where he played with his father. The Howes moved to the Hartford Whalers and were with that franchise when it joined the NHL in 1979. Mark Howe was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers three years later. He spent most of his career in Philadelphia before finishing with three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, his fathers old team. Howe never played for the Bruins, but the idea of Howe and Bourque on the same blue line in Boston would have been mind-boggling. Honorable mention -- Bill Ranford (1985), Patrice Bergeron (2003), David Krejci (2004), Milan Lucic (2006), Brad Marchand (2006). Best later-round pick: Hal Gill (1993) -- The Bruins made the Concord, Mass., native an eighth-round pick (No. 207) 20 years ago, waited while he spent four seasons on the blue line at Providence College and had to be surprised when he became a regular in his first pro season. Gill has 36 goals and 184 points in 1,108 NHL games, but his size, strength and abilities as a shut-down defender have kept him in the NHL despite his offensive limitations. Honorable mention -- Mariusz Czerkawski (1991), P.J. Axelsson (1995), Milan Jurcina (2001). Biggest disappointment: Johnathan Aitken (1996) -- The Bruins made Aitken, a big defenseman from Western Canada, the eighth pick of the 1996 draft but wound up getting all of three games from him. Aitken never had more than nine goals or 34 points in junior hockey, and he never managed more than two goals or 14 points during a pro career that saw him play more than 400 games in the minors and two seasons in Europe. He managed one assist during a 41-game stint with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2003-04, giving him one point in 44 NHL games. Others -- Yevgeni Ryabchikov (1994) Lars Jonsson (2000).
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 01:57:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015