The shocking legacy of Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy, born January 22, 1957, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. He spent his entire NHL career, which lasted from 1977 to 1987, with the New York Islanders and was crucial to their four consecutive Stanley Cup championships in the early 1980s.
Bossy won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1978 as NHL Rookie of the Year. At the time, he set the record for most goals by a rookie with 53. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs as the most valuable player and the Lady Byng Trophy three times for combining high-quality play with sportsmanship. He led the NHL in goals twice and was second three further times. Bossy was voted to the league’s first all-star team as a right-wing five times, with three further selections to the second all-star team.
He is one of two players (Jack Darragh being the other) to score consecutive Stanley Cup-winning goals (1982 and 1983) and the only player to record four game-winning goals in one playoff series (1983 Conference Final). Bossy is the NHL’s all-time leader in average goals scored per regular season game with .762. He holds the NHL’s fourth-highest all-time average points scored per regular season game behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Connor McDavid. He is the second of five players to score 50 goals in 50 games, being the first to accomplish this feat 36 years after Maurice Richard did so.
He tied for the record for most 50-goal seasons with Wayne Gretzky and Alexander Ovechkin with nine, though his were consecutive as opposed to Gretzky’s and Ovechkin’s being non-consecutive; he thus is the sole record-holder for most consecutive 50-goal seasons. Bossy was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017.
At 15, Bossy joined Laval National of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Despite scoring 309 goals in five seasons, NHL scouts considered him “not rugged enough” and defensively weak. His total of 532 points remains a QMJHL record, and his 309 goals are the record for all major juniors. Bossy’s #17 is retired by the Acadie–Bathurst Titan, the current incarnation of the former Laval franchise.
Bossy, who had averaged 77 goals per season in junior with Laval, was passed over by twelve teams in the 1977 NHL amateur draft, including the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, who passed over him twice. According to Bossy, Toronto expected him to hold out for more than they wanted to pay, while the Rangers opted for highly ranked Lucien DeBlois and Ron Duguay. Other teams passed for various reasons: the Buffalo Sabres took Ric Seiling, preferring his checking ability, while the Cleveland Barons, who had the fifth overall pick, passed when Bossy’s agent Pierre Lacroix gave the Barons inflated salary requirements, prompting them to select Mike Crombeen instead.
Scotty Bowman, coach of the Montreal Canadiens, later regretted that Montreal had passed on Bossy; Bowman and his assistant Claude Ruel had each been impressed with Bossy’s play – and scoring – in person, but team scouts questioned his toughness, and the Canadiens took Mark Napier with their first pick instead. The New York Islanders selected Bossy with the 15th overall selection. General manager Bill Torrey was initially torn between taking Bossy and Dwight Foster.
Bossy replaced Billy Harris on the Islanders’ top line with Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies, creating a new combination that came to be known as The Trio Grande.
He scored against Don Edwards of the Buffalo Sabres in his first career game, a 3–2 loss to Buffalo on October 13, 1977, and by mid-November, he already had 11 goals. On February 4, 1978, Bossy collected his first career hat trick in a 6–1 win against the Washington Capitals. On February 25, Bossy scored his 45th goal of the season, passing the previous rookie record of 44 held by Rick Martin of the Buffalo Sabres. Bossy boldly told Bill Torrey before the season he would score 50 goals, and he wound up with a total of 53, setting a rookie record that stood until Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets broke it in 1993.
Bossy also led the league with 25 powerplay goals. He won the 1977–78 Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, was named a Second-Team All-Star, and was named the starting right wing for the Campbell Conference in the 1978 NHL All-Star Game.
Playoffs
Bossy was held to two assists in his first playoffs against a tough Toronto Maple Leafs squad. In Game 6, with the Leafs trailing the series 3-2, Toronto’s Jerry Butler hit Bossy from behind and sent him to the hospital with a neck sprain. He returned for Game 7 but was held off the score sheet as the Leafs won the series in overtime of Game 7 on a Lanny McDonald breakaway goal.
In the 1978–79 NHL season, Bossy was again named a Second-Team All-Star after leading the league with 69 goals, the second-highest single-season total at the time. On February 19, 1979, Bossy recorded his 100th goal in his 129th game, becoming the fastest to reach that milestone. His two-year total of 122 goals was the most by any NHL player over his first two seasons. By the end of the 1979/80 season, Bossy’s goal output declined to 51 goals, down from 69 goals the earlier season. Prompting Bossy to joke that “it was a bad season.”
Bossy led all scorers in the Finals with 11 points and finished second to teammate Bryan Trottier in scoring with 23 points. The Islanders won their first Stanley Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. In the 1980–81 season, Bossy and Charlie Simmer of the Kings contended to be the first to score 50 goals in 50 games since Maurice Richard 36 years earlier. On January 24, both Bossy and Simmer played their 50th games; Simmer recorded a hat trick in the afternoon to fall shy at 49. That evening, Bossy scored twice against (John Grahame) the Quebec Nordiques, in the final five minutes, including the second goal with 89 seconds left, becoming the second to achieve 50 in 50.
Bossy’s season included an NHL record of 9 hat tricks and 68 goals. He had the highest goal-per-game average in NHL history through his first four seasons, with .785. The Islanders defeated the Minnesota North Stars in the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals. Bossy set records for most points, power-play goals (9), and goals combining regular season and playoffs (85; 68 regular season plus 17 playoff). The Islanders won their second Stanley Cup. In the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals against the Vancouver Canucks, New York swept the series for their third Stanley Cup win.
Bossy recorded 27 points and a league-leading 17 playoff goals. Bossy scored seven times in the Finals, tying him with Jean Beliveau for most goals in the final round, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP. Bossy became the first to score at least 60 goals in three consecutive seasons in 1982–83 and collected 118 points. At the end of the season, Bossy won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for “gentlemanly” play, for which he received only 17 penalty minutes; he was also named a First Team All-Star for the third time.
On May 17, 1983, the Islanders won their fourth straight Stanley Cup by sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup Finals. Bossy scored the winning goal in game 4, becoming the second player to score Stanley Cup-winning goals in consecutive years, joining Jack Darragh in 1920 and 1921.
On January 15, 1984, Bossy scored his 400th career regular-season goal, the fastest to hit that milestone, in his 506th game, a 4–2 win against the New York Rangers.
Bossy was named in the 1984 NHL All-Star Game, which would have been his sixth consecutive All-Star game. Still, a collision with Detroit’s Dwight Foster resulted in a knee injury, and Rick Middleton took his place in the starting lineup. Bossy ended up missing six games with this injury. At the end of the season, he had 51 goals, his seventh consecutive season with at least 50.
In the 1984 Stanley Cup playoffs, Bossy scored four times in the opening rounds against the Capitals and Rangers. Still, he equaled that total against the Canadiens, including three game-winners, as the Islanders won their record 19th straight playoff series and advanced to their fifth straight Stanley Cup Finals. The Islanders would lose their drive for five in five games to the upstart Edmonton Oilers, who would go on to build a dynasty of their own.
Bossy started the 1984–85 NHL season strong, tying his team record by scoring in ten consecutive games. After 41 games, Bossy had his best season, with 37 goals and 39 assists in that span.
He was selected for the 1985 NHL All-Star Game, his seventh selection overall and the only unanimous choice that year. Bossy finished the season with 58 goals, his eighth consecutive season of 50 goals plus, and earned Second Team All-Star honors.
Bossy would remain a highly productive player, scoring 61 goals and 123 points for the 1985/86 season and registering 38 goals and 75 points in 63 games in the 1986/87 season before he was forced to retire due to chronic back problems. He scored his last goal against the New Jersey Devils on March 14, 1988.
Retirement
Bossy officially retired in October 1988, having played his last game at the young age of 30. He scored 573 goals and 553 assists in 752 NHL games, all with the Islanders. The Islanders retired Bossy’s uniform number, No. 22, on March 3, 1992, the second Islander to be afforded that honor after longtime teammate Denis Potvin. On October 19, 2021, Bossy announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on April 15, 2022, at the age of 65. A week after Bossy’s death, Guy Lafleur also succumbed to lung cancer (he and Bossy smoked heavily during their playing days); both Bossy and Lafleur were Quebec natives whose contemporary careers as star right-wingers were often compared.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1972–73 | Laval National | QMJHL | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1973–74 | Laval National | QMJHL | 68 | 70 | 48 | 118 | 45 | 11 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 2 | ||
| 1974–75 | Laval National | QMJHL | 67 | 84 | 65 | 149 | 42 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 38 | 2 | ||
| 1975–76 | Laval National | QMJHL | 64 | 79 | 57 | 136 | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1976–77 | Laval National | QMJHL | 61 | 75 | 51 | 126 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 12 | ||
| 1977–78 | New York Islanders | NHL | 73 | 53 | 38 | 91 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1978–79 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 69 | 57 | 126 | 25 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 2 | ||
| 1979–80 | New York Islanders | NHL | 75 | 51 | 41 | 92 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 8 | ||
| 1980–81 | New York Islanders | NHL | 79 | 68 | 51 | 119 | 32 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 35 | 4 | ||
| 1981–82 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 64 | 83 | 147 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 0 | ||
| 1982–83 | New York Islanders | NHL | 79 | 60 | 58 | 118 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 9 | 26 | 10 | ||
| 1983–84 | New York Islanders | NHL | 67 | 51 | 67 | 118 | 8 | 21 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 4 | ||
| 1984–85 | New York Islanders | NHL | 76 | 58 | 59 | 117 | 38 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 4 | ||
| 1985–86 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 61 | 62 | 123 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 1986–87 | New York Islanders | NHL | 63 | 38 | 37 | 75 | 33 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||
| NHL totals | 752 | 573 | 553 | 1,126 | 210 | 129 | 85 | 75 | 160 | 38 | ||||
Bold indicates led league
International
| Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Canada | CC | 7 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 2 | |
| 1984 | Canada | CC | 8 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 2 | |
| Senior totals | 15 | 13 | 7 | 20 | 4 | |||
Awards
| Award | Year(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Calder Memorial Trophy | 1978 | |
| All-Star Game | 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 | |
| First All-Star Team | 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986 | |
| Second All-Star Team | 1978, 1979, 1985 | |
| Lady Byng Memorial Trophy | 1983, 1984, 1986 | |
| Conn Smythe Trophy | 1982 | |
| Stanley Cup | 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 | |
| Canada Cup | 1984 |
KEEP YOUR STICK on the ICE.
See also
