Ray bourque is the career leader in goals, assists and points for a D, he has 5 Norris Trophies and he has more end-of-season All Star team appearances than anyone other than Gordie Howe.
So where does he rank all time among the greatest defencemen ever? Is he #2? Is he not even in the Top 5 as one of us used to believe?
Listen to us talk about Bourque here:
Ray Bourque’s Career:
- NHL: 1979-2001; 22 seasons, all quality
- Totals:
- 410G (1st D All Time)
- 1169A (4th All Time, 1st D) for
- 1579P (11th All Time, 1st D),
- +527 (3rd All Time) in
- 1612 Games (12th All Time, 4th D);
- 242.7 PS (2nd All Time – behind only Gretzky)
- 27:37 ATOI (last 3 seasons only);
- Bourque is 1st All Time in Defensive Point Shares
- Bourque is 1st All Time among D in Offensive Point Shares
- Per Game: Among D, Bourque is
- 5th All Time in GPG
- 3rd All Time in APG
- 4th All Time in PPG
- Draft: Drafted 8th overall in 1979, Bourque is
- 7th in Goals (1st D)
- 2nd in Assists
- 2nd in Points
- 1st in Plus/Minus (by +79)
- 1st in Point Shares (by 82.3 – there are players in the Hall of Fame with fewer point shares)
- Era: [Because Bourque is the career leader in so many categories for D, we decided to open this up to all skaters] Of the 9 players to play in at least 1,394 games (17 seasons) between 1979 and 2001, Bourque is
- 5th in Goals (1st D)
- 6th in GPG (2nd D)
- 2nd in Assists (1st D)
- 4th in APG (2nd D)
- 4th in Points (1st D)
- 5th in PPG (2nd D)
- 1st in Plus/Minus
- 3rd in OPS (1st D)
- 1st in DPS (by 17.7, an elite season by a skater)
- 2nd in PS (1st D)
- 82-game average: 21G, 60A for 80P, +27
- 3-year peak (1982-85): 80-game average of 27G, 67A for 94P, +48 [Bourque’s 7 best seasons are spread out over 13 years – basically he had 3 separate 3-year peaks, all of which are extremely close in terms of PS per season: the aforementioned one plus 1989 through 1994]
- No possession stats
- Playoffs:
- 41G (4th D All Time),
- 139A (3rd All Time, 1st D) for
- 180P (14th All Time, 3rd D),
- +27 in
- 214 Games (13th All Time, 6th D)
- Per Game: Among D, Bourque is
- 11th All Time in Playoff GPG
- 6th All Time in Playoff APG
- 7th All Time in Playoff PPG
- Adjusted:
- Hockey Reference:
- Totals:
- 368G (1st D All Time)
- 1058A (8th All Time, 1st D) for
- 1426P (17th All Time, 1st D)
- 82-game Average: 19G, 54A for 73P (-7P per 82 GP)
- Per Game: Among D, Bourque is
- 7th All Time in Adjusted GPG
- 4th All Time in Adjusted APG
- 4th All Time in Adjusted PPG
- Totals:
- VsX:
- Totals:
- 377G1,
- 147A (9th All Time)
- 1,338P (22nd All Time)
- Per Game: Bourque is not on any leader-boards but if the qualifier is set to 1,230 games (15 seasons), Bourque is
- 18th All Time in APG
- Totals:
- Hockey Reference:
- Trades:
- Traded at 39 with Dave Andreychuk (36) for Brian Rolston (27), Martin Grenier (19), Sami Palhsson (22) and a 2000 First Round Pick (Martin Samuelsson)
Ray Bourque’s Accomplishments:
- Top 5 in Hart voting four times
- Norris (‘87, ‘88, ‘90, ‘91, ‘94) – 4th most ever
- Top 5 in Norris voting a further 14 times (the most ever, and he was Top 3 further 10 times, also the most ever)
- Calder (‘80)
- Clancy (‘92)
- Back Check MVP (‘90)
- Top Player:
- Best Player (by PS) once (‘90)
- Top 5 Player ten times (‘80, ‘83, ‘85, ‘87, ‘88, ‘91, ‘94, ‘96) – 1 of only 4 players (Gretzky, Broda, Glen Hall)
- Top 10 Player twelve times (‘92, ‘95) – 1 of only 4 players (Howe, Gretzky, Hall)
- Best Defensive Player (by DPS) twice (‘84, ‘90)
- Top 5 ten times (‘80, ‘83, ‘87, ‘88, ‘91, ‘93, ‘99, ‘01) – most ever
- Top 10 thirteen times (‘85, ‘86, ‘94) – 1 of only 4 D (Lidstrom, Harvey, Horton)
- Top 10 Offensive Player (by OPS) once (‘87)
- Goals:
- 30 goals once (1 of only 8 D ever)
- 25 goals twice (1 of only 8 D ever)
- 20 goals nine times (1 of only 2 D ever – Potvin)
- 15 goals eighteen times (only D ever by 5 more seasons than 2nd place)
- Assists:
- Leader-boards:
- Top 5 in Assists three times
- Top 10 seven times
- APG leader-boards:
- Top 5 in APG twice
- Top 10 five times
- Single-season totals:
- 70 assists three times (1 of only 4 D ever – Coffey, Orr, Leetch))
- 60 assists ten times (1 of only 4 players ever – Gretzky, Coffey, Oates)
- 50 assists thirteen times (1 of only 7 players ever, 2 D – Coffey)
- 40 assists seventeen times (1 of only 4 players ever – Francis, Gretzky, Howe)
- Leader-boards:
- Points:
- Leader-boards:
- Top 10 in Points once
- Single-season totals:
- 90 points four times (1 of only 3 D ever – Coffey, Orr)
- 80 points ten times (only D ever)
- 70 points twelve times (1 of only 21 players ever, only D ever)
- 60 points fifteen times (1 of only 13 players ever, only D ever)
- 50 points twenty times (1 of only 5 players ever – Francis, Howe, Jagr, Messier)
- Leader-boards:
- Plus/Minus:
- Top 5 three times
- Top 10 nine times (tied most ever with Gretzky)
- All Star:
- 1st Team All Star thirteen times (most for a D)
- 2nd Team All Star six times (most total end of season selections for a D)
- 19 All Star Game appearances
- VsX Peak:
- Best 7 Seasons:
- Goals: doesn’t qualify
- Assists: 44th All Time
- Points: 131st All Time
- Best 10 Seasons:
- Goals: doesn’t qualify
- Assists: 32nd All Time
- Points: 112th All time
- Best 7 Seasons:
Ray Bourque’s Great Teams:
- NHL:
- Best D on one Final Four (‘00 Avalanche)
- Best Player (by points) on one Final Four (‘91 Bruins)
- Best D (by points) on one Runner Up (‘88 Bruins) and two Final Fours (‘83, ‘92 Bruins)
- Best D (by points but missed 4 games) on one Runner Up (‘90 Bruins)
- Top 2 D on one Champion (‘01 Avalanche)
- Canada/World Cup:
- Best D (by points) on one Champion (‘87 Canada)
- Best D? (by points) on one Runner Up (‘81 Canada
- Top 4? D (by points) on one Champion (‘84 Canada)
- [Invited to 1991 tournament which Canada won, but declined to play]
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