[News] Mike Bossy diagnosed with lung cancer

[Puppet Guy]

One of the greatest snipers in the game. 573 career goals in 752 games. Scary what his totals might've been if it wasn't for injuries.

He announced the news in a letter to TVA Sports Tuesday.


"It is with a lot of sadness that I need to step away from your screens, for a necessary pause. During this break I'll be receiving treatment for lung cancer. (The score is) 1-0 so far, but I haven't said my last word," Bossy wrote.

"I intend to fight with all the determination and fire you've seen me show on the ice."

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article...s-lung-cancer/

[GioforPM]

Amazing player, really. Holds some wild records. From Wikipedia:

He is one of two players 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). He is the NHL's all-time leader in average goals scored per regular season game, holds the NHL's third-highest all-time average points scored per regular season game, and is one of only five players to score 50 goals in 50 games. He is tied for the record for most 50 goal seasons with Wayne Gretzky with nine, although his were consecutive whereas Gretzky's were not, so Bossy holds the record for most consecutive 50 goal seasons by himself.

NINE CONSECUTIVE YEARS.

[Canada 02]

my favorite player ever, and the best pure goal scorer of that generation.
There were several star players from that generation who were smokers, including Bossy. Sad, but inevitable that it would catch up to him

[DeluxeMoustache]

What a goal scorer. Right around the top all time. I remember the old Titan sticks having Gretzky stamped on them for the left and Bossy for the right

I know people are talking about Ovechkin’s chase of Gretzky’s goal record. I recall looking at it a while back and the goals per game for Bossy, Mario, Ovi and Wayne were .76, .75, .61 and .6

Definitely a shame that injuries derailed his career.

[dissentowner]

F cancer!

[Erick Estrada]

Bossy was as pure a goal scorer as there ever was. 573 goals in 752 games is just ridiculous. Hopefully he can get through this.

[JackIsBack]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

What a goal scorer. Right around the top all time. I remember the old Titan sticks having Gretzky stamped on them for the left and Bossy for the right

I know people are talking about Ovechkin’s chase of Gretzky’s goal record. I recall looking at it a while back and the goals per game for Bossy, Mario, Ovi and Wayne were .76, .75, .61 and .6

Definitely a shame that injuries derailed his career.

Not to pump Gretzky, I was no fan of his, but we must compare apples to apples.... in the later seasons of his career, his scoring pace did slow down.... and if we compare his Edmonton numbers only... he had 583 regular season goals in 696 regular season games - someone can do a better job to include playoffs and get his total goals at the exact games bossy played, but I just wanted a fast way to compare them better.... that's 0.837 goals per game.

[Badgers Nose]

My first favourite player. I really hope he pulls through.

Classiest player ever imo. Zero drama.

[Buff]

Amazing goal scorer. Just amazing. His career was cut short due to injuries but he still led his team in goals every single season he played. In his final year he tied Pat Lafontaine with 38 goals, but he did that in 17 less games.

Not only did he score 9 straight 50 goal seasons, but 5 of those years he scored 60 or more, once coming one goal shy of 70. He had 3 consecutive seasons of 60 or more goals. He lead the NHL in goals twice, two other times he finished 2nd to Gretzky, one he finished 2nd to Kurri, once he finished 3rd to Gretzky & Kurri and once he finished 3rd to Gretzky and Lanny McDonald! So top 3 in goals in 7 out of his 10 seaons!

He also lead the team in points 6 out of his 10 years, and those were 6 consecutive years!

In the QMJHL he scored over a goal per game pace each year.

He was a very prolific scorer and doesn't get enough credit for how good he was. He is probably easily forgotten because injuries ended his career so early and thus he didn't finish as high on the goal totals as he should/could have. Had he stayed healthy I think he could have been a serious contender to be the all-time leader in goals scored.

[Always Earned Never Given]

Went to the same High School as him in Laval, Québec but a few years after he had left and was already playing for the Islanders.

I did however have a few of the same teachers he did and when I asked them how he was as a student, they told me " No idea, during class he would be shooting pucks against the school wall!"

That being said, I'm with you Dissentower , F cancer

[Scary Eloranta]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76FCdvk4tPM

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Buff

Amazing goal scorer. Just amazing. His career was cut short due to injuries but he still led his team in goals every single season he played. In his final year he tied Pat Lafontaine with 38 goals, but he did that in 17 less games.

Not only did he score 9 straight 50 goal seasons, but 5 of those years he scored 60 or more, once coming one goal shy of 70. He had 3 consecutive seasons of 60 or more goals. He lead the NHL in goals twice, two other times he finished 2nd to Gretzky, one he finished 2nd to Kurri, once he finished 3rd to Gretzky & Kurri and once he finished 3rd to Gretzky and Lanny McDonald! So top 3 in goals in 7 out of his 10 seaons!

He also lead the team in points 6 out of his 10 years, and those were 6 consecutive years!

In the QMJHL he scored over a goal per game pace each year.

He was a very prolific scorer and doesn't get enough credit for how good he was. He is probably easily forgotten because injuries ended his career so early and thus he didn't finish as high on the goal totals as he should/could have. Had he stayed healthy I think he could have been a serious contender to be the all-time leader in goals scored.

agreed. to me he's a very underrated player who often seems overlooked.
seemed to be a late bloomer as he didn't make the NHL until he was 20.

2minute read
https://sports.jrank.org/pages/564/B...ed-Retire.html

Bossy hoped to go to training camp in the fall of 1987, but no medical therapy had changed his condition. He then took the 1987-88 season off to try different treatments for his back. Nothing worked, and no one could figure out what exactly was wrong. Though only thirty-one years old, Bossy was forced to officially retire in October 1988. After his playing days were over, he was unable to play hockey or even work out because of his back and knees.

Maven's Memories: How Mike Bossy Fell To The Islanders
Stan Fischler recounts how Mike Bossy fell to the Islanders in the 1977 draft

https://www.nhl.com/islanders/news/m...rs/c-302932924

[Number 39]

Sad news. About a decade ago I was in a box at Nassau Coliseum for a corporate event. I think Bossy was working for the club as an ambassador of sorts and he popped in to visit us. He was very kind and I still have the signed Islanders hat he gave me.

As a kid in the late 70's/early 80's I remembered playing street hockey in Calgary and pretending I was him. I told him this and his reply (with a smile) was, "How'd that work out for you kid?" LOL

I should add that a luxury box at Nassau Coliseum at that time was badly wood panelled like a 70's basement and part of the suspended ceiling was in disarray. Unlike any other luxury box I've ever been in it was basically a bar fridge and self serve. They badly needed a new arena even then.

[psyang]

I posted this several years back in a different thread, but seems more appropriate here:

Originally Posted by psyang

This is totally off topic, but the picture of Mike Bossy reminded me of a very old article (ie. pre-internet) in The Hockey News where the author tried to construct the perfect hockey player Frankenstein-style, using different body parts from active players. They ended up using Mike Bossy's nose with the description "Olfactory? Try Goal-Factory!". That phrase has stuck in my head all these years, and now I share it with you. Your welcome.

[Manhattanboy]

Was he a smoker?

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Was he a smoker?

an adult in the 1970's? quite likely.

in all seriousness, I think he was 2 pack a day smoker for a while.

short article from 2012
https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2012/02/29...ng-in-the-nhl/

they mention a piece called “When the NHL lit lamps and smokes“

Adrian Dater’s piece looks back at the laundry list of legends that routinely hacked darts — Stan Mikita, Guy Lafleur, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Denis Savard, to name a few.

Here’s a great bit from the article:

One of the most openly notorious NHL smokers of all was Al “Planet” Iafrate, a defenseman known for his big slap shot and bigger appetite for nicotine.

“I remember my first NHL exhibition game as an assistant with Philly (in 1990),” says Ken Hitchcock, who now coaches the St. Louis Blues. “We were in Washington, and I went to give the lineup to the referees and you had to walk by the Washington dressing room. And Al Iafrate was lighting up with a blowtorch for bending sticks. Coming from junior hockey, I found that rather unique.”

Anyone who covered the NHL when Iafrate played from 1984 until his retirement in 1998 as a San Jose Shark probably saw him sitting on a chair outside the dressing room with his shirt (and sometimes pants) off, puffing away. Legend has it that Iafrate once bummed a cigarette off an Ottawa reporter between periods, lighting it up in his customary blowtorch blaze of glory.

[GordonBlue]

found the article.

https://www.si.com/nhl/2012/02/29/pl...ettesnhlhockey

[Hanna Sniper]

The greatest goal scorer of all time

[timun]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

seemed to be a late bloomer as he didn't make the NHL until he was 20.

The draft age back then was 20. The cut-off for the 1977 draft was players born before January 1, 1958; similarly the cut-off for the '76 draft was January 1, 1957. Bossy was born January 22, 1957, so he wasn't eligible to be drafted until he was ~20.5 years old.

He joined the NHL as soon as he possibly could under the rules, and won the Calder Trophy w/ 53 goals and 91 points in 73 games. 53 goals by a rookie was an NHL record that stood until Teemu Selanne (at age 22) scored 76 in 1992-93; Bossy's 53 goal mark is still second all-time. (The only other rookies with 50+ goals in their first seasons are Ovechkin (52), Gretzky* (51) and Nieuwendyk (51).)

Mike Bossy was categorically not a "late bloomer".


(*The NHL don't count Gretzky as ever having had a 'rookie' season because he played in the WHA, but that's the mark he hit as an 18/19-year-old in '79-'80.)

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by timun

The draft age back then was 20. The cut-off for the 1977 draft was players born before January 1, 1958; similarly the cut-off for the '76 draft was January 1, 1957. Bossy was born January 22, 1957, so he wasn't eligible to be drafted until he was ~20.5 years old.

He joined the NHL as soon as he possibly could under the rules, and won the Calder Trophy w/ 53 goals and 91 points in 73 games. 53 goals by a rookie was an NHL record that stood until Teemu Selanne (at age 22) scored 76 in 1992-93; Bossy's 53 goal mark is still second all-time. (The only other rookies with 50+ goals in their first seasons are Ovechkin (52), Gretzky* (51) and Nieuwendyk (51).)

Mike Bossy was categorically not a "late bloomer".


(*The NHL don't count Gretzky as ever having had a 'rookie' season because he played in the WHA, but that's the mark he hit as an 18/19-year-old in '79-'80.)

IIRC Newy was the second guy to score 50 in his first 2 seasons, after Bossy. Well, Gretzky too but he doesn’t count, and anyway, he scored less than 50 in the WHA.

ETA: Bossy’s rookie season 53 was in only 73 games as well, and his follow up season of 80 games was 69 goals (nice).