Bruins to announce 20-player All-Centennial Team

[mwonow]

Lot of good memories looking at that list!

There's a lot of fluff in the 70-100 or so, but there are a lot of top-rate players higher on the list. Bergeron, Esposito, and Ratelle, plus Sanderson and Krejci at center? Orr/Bourque/Chara/Park for two D pairings?

And as @Lose Remerswaal pointed out, plenty of enforcer candidates. When I saw the note about punches being trown, my mind immediately went to, "if LB is there, watch out for the uppercut!" But really Lose, which of your dinner companions wants to explain to Terry O'Reilly why he's not at the table?

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Terry wasn't ever in doubt for us

 

[lexrageorge]

Time to speculate on the final 20. My understanding is that there will be 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies. If that is case (note that everyone above the line is whom I consider a lock):

Forwards:
Bucyk
Esposito
Bergeron
Neely
O'Reilly
Middleton
Milt Schmidt
Dit Clapper
---------------------
Wayne Cashman
Jean Ratelle
Ken Hodge (Sr)
David Krejci

Toughest omission that could get in over Krejci: Woody Dumart

Close calls but probably not: Brad Marchand, Bobby Bauer, Cooney Weiland, Pastrnak

Comment: It gets difficult naming 10-12, IMO. I'm guessing they will try to balance the different eras, so have 2 from the 1940's, 5 from the 1970's Cup teams, 3 from the late 70s/80s, and 2 from the 2011 Cup team. Krejci is 5th all time among team leaders in games and 9th in points, so I gave him the edge over the others.

Defense:
#4
#77
Eddie Shore
Zdeno Chara
Lionel Hitchman
-------------------------
Brad Park

Unlikely but possible: Don Sweeney, Dallas Smith, Millbury (ugh)

Comment: This one is by far the easiest part of the roster to fill out. Given that is a tribute to the team's history, the owner of the first number retired by the Bruins, and member of the inaugural 1924-25 team, will probably make it. Eddie Shore always comes up as one of Boston's top 10-20 sports figures. To me, the only possible debate is between Park and Sweeney, if only because of where Sweeney ranks in games played (4th) for the team. IMO, Park should be a lock; after all, he played more games and score more goals and points as a Bruin than as a Ranger and is in the Hall of Fame. Dallas Smith was the often overlooked steady #2 defenseman while playing 860 games for the team. I will be massively irritated if Millbury was to get named for some unknown reason. And the tallest among them was probably the actual MVP of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Goalies:
-------------
Tiny Thompson: 1 Cup, 4x Vezina, 4x All Star, Hall of Fame, 74 career shutouts with the Bruins, 2nd in team in total wins
Frank Brimsek: 2 Cups, 2x Vezina, 8x All Star, Hall of Fame, 35 career shutouts
Gerry Cheevers: 2 Cups, Hall of Fame
Tim Thomas: 1 Cup, 2x Vezina, 2x All Star, Conn Smythe
Tuuka Rask: 1 Cup(*), 2x Vezina, 2x All Star, 52 shutouts (#2)

Comments: The only lock is that the team will consist of one of the first 2 and one of the last 2. Thompson was considered one of the best goalies of his era, while Brimsek was a key cog in those 2 Cup teams, so really hard to pick one. If I was forced, I'll pick Thompson. Cheevers was a fan favorite, and was huge in the 1972 playoffs. But his overall career work pales when compared to the other 4, IMO.

Rask is #1 among the team in minutes played and wins, and 4th in goals against average. If there was justice, he would have won a Cup or 2 as a starter, in which case his selection would be a slam dunk. But it's going to be very hard for the selection committee to ignore the only Bruin beside Bobby Orr to win the Smythe.

 

[The Napkin]

View: https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1712649528543715658

 

[mwonow]

I was just reading that. I think the committee's choices were good. I would have liked to see Sanderson and/or Ratelle, but (aside from Cowley, who I know nothing about) the guys they picked were great Bruins.

 

[Ale Xander]

No modern goalie?

 

[pedro1918]

No modern goalie?

Define modern. In my book it's post Original Six. Cheevers.

 

[Ale Xander]

Define modern. In my book it's post Original Six. Cheevers.

Post Ale watching

 

[The Napkin]

No modern goalie?

View: https://twitter.com/_TyAnderson/status/1712648968650244490


his article on the team here

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

No modern goalie?

Brimsek and Cheevers making it over Thompson, an actual innovator of the position, made it kinda impossible to take a goalie like Thomas (short but brilliant Bruins career) or Rask (slower burn, highs not as high, no Cups as starter). FTR, I probably land with Ty Anderson in that Thompson deserves the spot over Brimsek, but once they committed to only two goalies, this was always how it was going to go.

 

[FelixMantilla]

Hard to believe Cashman made the top 20. But he did play his entire career here and was a Captain at the end. Still not a top 20 in my book.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Hard to believe Cashman made the top 20. But he did play his entire career here and was a Captain at the end. Still not a top 20 in my book.

I was thinking the same thing. I saw most of his career and he was very good, but I never considered him to be Great.

 

[cshea]

I would've had Rask on the team. It's hard to compare goalies across different eras but end of the day Rask is the leader in games played, leader in wins, leader in saves, leader in save percentage (among goalies with 100+ appearances...Ullmark's gonna catch him in 3 games) and on and on. His playoff of numbers are about the same across the board, first in everything. Won a Vezina.

To me, he's the best goalie in franchise history. Thomas' peak was better but Rask had the longevity. The only thing missing on his resume is being the starter for a Cup winner and to me that's not disqualifying.

 

[lexrageorge]

Hard to believe Cashman made the top 20. But he did play his entire career here and was a Captain at the end. Still not a top 20 in my book.

I don't think the award was necessarily the best 20 players to ever put on a Bruins uniform. Otherwise, Rask should have made it in over Cheevers, and it would not be particularly close either.

Cashman is 6th all time in Bruins history in games played, 10th in goals, 8th in points, and was an excellent defensive winger during his prime. He excelled in his role of digging into the corners to retrieve pucks for Esposito and Hodge. He was not the most skilled player by any means, but he was reliable and he scored some big goals during the team's Cup runs and had 2 big ones in the Too Many Men game. The only knock I would have against him is that he held on too long and really had no place on the team in the early 1980's when skating was at a premium as a result of the game becoming more wide open.

IMHO, the other tough omission besides Rask is Ratelle; I always felt his contributions to the late 1970's teams get overlooked sometimes. For instance, he had a huge OT goal in the 1979 playoff series against Montreal, one that would have loomed a lot larger in team history had Don Cherry not screwed up the line change at the Forum.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Definitely some counting stats for Cashman. And Ratelle only played six seasons for the Bruins. I’ve always considered him a Ranger, I am afraid

 

[The B’s Knees]

I agree with Lose. Ratelle played more than twice as many games as a Ranger than as a Bruin.

I would choose Rask over Cheevers like most here would. Likely the 2 cups for Cheevers was the tipping point.

Also, Thompson‘s stats seem better than Brimsek’s. Slightly different timeline, but still original 6 era. I wonder if Brimsek got the nod so that there would be an American born player on the list? Both played long before any of us remember, so I’m fine with selecting either.

 

[pedro1918]

I can’t speak with any kind of knowledge on Dit Clapper and I am certainly more aware of the legend of Eddie Shore than actual knowledge, but is there another franchise that can match the all-time defenseman group of the Boston Bruins? I think not.

Harvey, Robinson, Savard and….?

 

[FelixMantilla]

Jean Ratelle and Adam Oates were two guys that unfortunately weren't with the Bruins long enough. But at least we got to see them in the uniform for a while.

 

[cshea]

I can’t speak with any kind of knowledge on Dit Clapper and I am certainly more aware of the legend of Eddie Shore than actual knowledge, but is there another franchise that can match the all-time defenseman group of the Boston Bruins? I think not.

Harvey, Robinson, Savard and….?

If he was a few more years into his career, McAvoy is probably on there too.

It's just sort of crazy how there's been a natural handing of the torch from one hall of fame defenseman to another. Orr to Bourque to Chara to McAvoy. Largest gap was the 6 seasons between Bourque and Chara.

 

[mwonow]

If he was a few more years into his career, McAvoy is probably on there too.

It's just sort of crazy how there's been a natural handing of the torch from one hall of fame defenseman to another. Orr to Bourque to Chara to McAvoy. Largest gap was the 6 seasons between Bourque and Chara.

...and with Brad Park as a bridge from Orr to Bourque. It's kind of like left field in Fenway.

 

[cshea]

Hour long video on the selection process.

View: https://youtu.be/cmKRb6knoPA?si=GXvs5vnSbQHvXZE_

 

[Eddie Jurak]

The guys I question (not necessarily saying they should not be there):

• Cashman (basically a grinder who had the good fortue to play with Espo and Orr)
• Krejci (does a 2nd line center really qualify?)
• Park (was he here and at top form long enough, he had his own problems with knee issues

 

[cshea]

To me, Krejci is a no-brainer. He was only a 2nd line center because he existed at the same time as Patrice Bergeron. He played his entire career with Boston and ranks 5th in games played, 5th in assists, 9th in points for the franchise. He led the NHL in playoff scoring multiple times, including a Cup winning year. I'd take it as far as to say 46 should be in the rafters.

 

[RIFan]

The guys I question (not necessarily saying they should not be there):

• Cashman (basically a grinder who had the good fortue to play with Espo and Orr)
• Krejci (does a 2nd line center really qualify?)
• Park (was he here and at top form long enough, he had his own problems with knee issues

Krejci was not a 2nd line center. He centered the top line in the Cup run and most of the years surrounding it. Most of the years Krejci and Bergeron were active it was 1 and 1A. Take your pick on which was 1A, but you can't really distinguish which was the top line. Krejci's line generally drove the offense and Bergy took the tougher defensive draws, with both obviously being complete 200' players.