Mike Bossy, NHL Hall of Famer, 4-time Stanley Cup Champion, and the Islanders’ all-time leading scorer with 573 goals has passed away at the age of 65 after a courageous battle with lung cancer. Bossy announced the diagnosis back in October, writing in an open letter to fans as he stepped away from public life.
"The New York Islanders organization mourns the loss of Mike Bossy, an icon not only on Long Island but across the entire hockey world," Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello said. "His drive to be the best every time he stepped on the ice was second to none. Along with his teammates, he helped win four straight Stanley Cup championships, shaping the history of this franchise forever. On behalf of the entire organization, we send our deepest condolences to the entire Bossy family and all those who grieve this tragic loss.
These are the stories behind the defining moments of Bossy’s legendary career with the New York Islanders. There have been and will be other great scorers, but none will do it with the grace and style of Mike Bossy. He was one of a kind.
THE NATURAL
"Before I turned 10 years old, I envisioned playing in the NHL. To me, it was just a natural progression." -- Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy was born to be a hockey player.
As the story goes, his father Borden found a spot in his baby crib for a hockey stick to reside. His mother Dorothy was equally a hockey fanatic, sending birthday cards to Gordie Howe every year.
His drive and perpetual strive for perfection would turn him into the purest goal scorer of his generation.
THE ASCENT
"From the day I played my first Junior A Game, "I knew I was good enough to play pro." -- Mike Bossy
Honing his skills against his brothers in the family’s backyard rink, Bossy scored TWENTY THREE goals in his first organized hockey game. By age 12, he was inducted into the Minor Hockey Hall of Fame. Bossy started his junior league career with Laval National of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at the age of 15. He would go on to break QMJHLscoring records that still stand. In total, Bossy scored a league-record 309 goals in 264 career games and earned the nickname “next Guy Lafleur” by the local media.
DRAFT DAY
"We needed a sniper; somebody along the lines of Guy Lafleur" -- Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey knew his team needed a sniper, he just didn’t expect to end up with Bossy, not with the improved Islanders selecting 15th. After scouting the right-wing throughout the year, Torrey attempted to move up on draft day, but couldn’t find a willing trade partner - 12 teams (including the Rangers twice) would pick before the Isles over 14 selections.
Deserved or not, Bossy had earned the reputation of a scorer with no defense.
“Some scouts said I wasn't tough enough to play in the NHL,” Bossy would later say. That sounded crazy to me, but I guess a lot of teams bought into that line of thinking. They were labeling me a one-way player but I knew I could adjust.”
While fixated on Bossy, the Islanders’ war room was not without debate. There were other talented players on the board, ones without the same question marks around grit, strength, and ability to play a two-way game.
As the pros and cons were laid out, Harry Saraceno, a top Torrey scout, won the argument and the day. When it came down to Bossy and Dwight Foster, the Ontario Hockey League’s leading scorer, Saraceno firmly stated 'Bossy!' and the Isles GM listened.
"You get him," head coach Al Arbour told Torrey, "and I'll teach him defense."
A BOLD PREDICTION
"It hurt my pride to go only 15th in the Draft, but it did teach me a lesson; now I knew that I had to work on all aspects of my game; not just scoring." -- Mike Bossy
It wasn’t a guarantee that Bossy would join the Islanders for the 1977-78 season, not after the WHA's Quebec Nordiques made a lucrative offer for the sniper. Torrey needed to up his offer. Quebec was guaranteeing more and a larger signing bonus. With that as the backdrop, the exchange between the 20-year-old and his bow-tie wearing GM went something like this:
Bossy: “What is a 50-goal scorer worth to you?”
Torrey: "How many goals do you think you can score for us?
Bossy: “Well, I think I can score 50 goals this year!”
Torrey: “Maybe you should make the team first before you say you are gonna score 50 goals.”
The offer went up, but still not as high as Quebec. Torrey told the confident Bossy to make his decision. "I thought about how I had dreamed of playing in the NHL," Mike wrote in his autobiography. "I thought about the Stanley Cup. I wanted to prove the scouts wrong by becoming an all-around great pro; a complete player.”
"If I did that in the vastly inferior WHA the skeptics would still raise debates," Bossy added. "I had to play against the best in the NHL. I decided to become a New York Islander.”
The prediction would come true, due in part to a move made by head coach Al Arbour in training camp. Arbour paired the rookie with Clark Gilles and Bryan Trottier, forming one of the most prolific lines in hockey history - The Trio Grande Line.
“Thank God I was an Islander, and I love you Bryan Trottier,” Bossy later wrote to conclude a “Letter to my Younger Self” in the Players’ Tribune in 2017.
WATCH: 1978 Hockey Night in Canada profile on Bossy during his rookie season
"Scoring 50 goals was in my mind from Opening Night," Bossy remembered. "I scored once in our first game and once in our second."
Here was Bossy’s first NHL goal:
On February 22, 1978, he scored goals 43 and 44, which tied Rick Martin's NHL rookie goal-scoring mark. Then, on April 1st, Bossy scored No. 50 at 11:52 of the third period, then gets No. 51 with five seconds to play, giving the Islanders a 3-2 victory against the Washington Capitals at Nassau Coliseum.
Bossy would win finish the season with 53 goals and win the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s top rookie. He followed up his historic first year by scoring a career-high 69 goals in 1978-79.
50 IN 50
“50 goals was a thrill, but it wasn't going to be enough. I needed a greater challenge. I'm going for 50 in 50. It hasn't been done in 36 years. I wanted it." -- Mike Bossy
After 47 games, Bossy had tallied 48 goals, but went scoreless in the next two, leaving him two short of the 50 in 50 mark when the Islanders hosted the Quebec Nordiques at the Nassau Coliseum on January 24th, 1981.
Bossy was kept off the score sheet the first two periods and would need two goals in the third to match the original feat accomplished by Maurice “the Rocket” Richard, 36 years earlier, in the 1944-45 season. As the game went on, it looked as though Bossy would fall short of his season’s long goal.
While on the bench, Bossy was thinking about what he would tell the press, having not just missed 50 goals, but not even being able to reach 49. Then, as the clock neared the final five-minute mark, he picked up his 49th on a rebound.
Then, with 1:29 left to play - history.
From the New York Times:
The 50th goal was set up when a Nordique pass struck John Tonelli's skate, and the puck bounced back to Bryan Trottier inside the Quebec blue line. Left unguarded for one of the few times, Bossy waved his arms and yelled for the puck. Trottier sent him a perfect pass, and Bossy let fly a bullet from the left face-off circle that whizzed through Grahame's legs and into the cage.
The time was 18:31, and the Coliseum became bedlam. Foresaking the automatic penalty for jumping over the boards, the rest of the Islander team skated out and mobbed Bossy. He was leaping up and down with his stick raised, being hugged by Trottier, Clark Gillies and the others. Even Glenn (Chico) Resch left the Islander goal, skated illegally across the red line and joined the celebration.
"The puck bounced up as it hit my stick," said Bossy. "I just let it go as it came down and I shot it as quickly as I could. Grahame wasn't screened, but he didn't have his stick on the ice. My shot whipped under his stick, between his skates, and - IN!"
WATCH: Hockey Night in Canada: 50 in 50
After the game, Bossy received a telegram from Richard, congratulating him on matching the 36-year-old record. ''I know what he's going to say when I see him,'' Bossy said. ''He'll claim he still holds the record because I scored my 50th in the last minute and he scored his with two minutes to go.''
CONN SMYTHE
After setting a playoff record with 35 points in 1981, Bossy won the Conn Smythe in 1982 with a total of 27 points in 19 games as the Islanders completed a four-game sweep of the Vancouver Canucks.
WATCH: Mike Bossy awarded the 1983 Conn Smythe Trophy
Three of his 17 goals during the 1982 playoffs were game-winners, including Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Bossy had already struck at 15:14 of the third when his second tied the game at 5-5, sending it to OT. Then with time winding down in the extra session, Bossy intercepted an errant pass from Harold Snepsts and used his quick release to beat Richard Brodeur for the win at 19:58.
RETIREMENT
On October 24, 1988, a 31-year-old Bossy announced his retirement from the NHL. He had not played for the Islanders since the 1987 playoffs and had not played without pain since the start of training camp in 1986 when he felt a twinge in his lower back.
WATCH: Bossy talked about how the injury impacted his timing and conditioning in a 1987 profile on Hockey Night in Canada
His 10th and final year was the 1986-87 season, the first and only season he failed to score 50 goals - he scored 38 and settled for sharing the team lead with a 21-year-old Pat LaFontaine.
WATCH: No. 22 is retired on Mike Bossy Night - March 3, 1992
LEGACY
Bossy scored 1,126 points (573 goals, 553 assists) in 752 games during his 10 NHL seasons on Long Island. His average of 0.76 goals per game is the highest among all players with at least 200 games.
He was voted the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 1982. Bossy also won the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player voted best to combine sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct, and ability, three times (1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86).
Mike Bossy scored 60 or more goals five times during his career, and his nine consecutive 50-goal seasons are still an NHL record (shared with Wayne Gretzky).
In 1991, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bossy was named one of the NHL's 100 – the top-100 players in the history of the National Hockey League's 100 years of existence in 2017.
Maven’s Memories, by Stan Fischler
◾️ Mike Bossy's Road to the Islanders
◾️Bossy Scores 50 Goals in 50 Games
◾️How Mike Bossy Fell To The Islanders
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