Played for Both Bruins & Blues, All-Time Team

 Here's a fun thing I like to do every once in a while, assemble a squad of players who played for two distinct franchises. I did it for Leafs/Wings when they played in the Winter Classic a few years back. Also, I'm working on a squad of guys who played for both the Canucks and Leafs that includes such names as Vaive, Benning, Butcher and Kurtenbach. What follows is the all-time team of players who at some point in their careers, suited up for both of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finalists Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues.
The fact that goaltender Hannu Toivonen is pictured at the top may seem a strange selection, but he is  the only retired player to play his entire career ONLY for Boston and St. Louis. Currently playing, David Backes has done the same, playing for only St.Louis and Boston. Toivonen came up with the Bruins in 2005/06 playing behind Tim Thomas and Andrew Raycroft, during the summer of 2007 he was dealt to the Blues for Carl Soderberg. He would back-up Manny Legace for the 2007/08 season before bouncing between Finland, the AHL and Sweden before retiring in 2013.
The All-Time Bruins/Blues team will begin with two Centres who were traded for each other in February 1992, Craig Janney and Adam Oates. Combined the two played 1010 games for the two franchises, producing 1203 points. They can definitely anchor the combined squad. Behind these two, current Bruin David Backes would have to fill the third Centre slot, having played 928 games with 551 points for the two teams. Fourth Centre will be Ron Schock who although known more as a Penguin, played near equal amounts of games for Boston (128) and St. Louis (122). Other Centres who played mostly for one team with a cup of coffee for the other, include Derek Sanderson, Vlad Sobotka, Terry Crisp, Craig MacTavish and Mike Walton.
The Right Wingers on the team go as follows; Joe Mullen (half a season with Blues at the end of his career), Brad Boyes (who spent his first 6 seasons between the two teams),  Dave Christian (three seasons with Boston/St. Louis) and Bill Guerin (203 total games for the clubs). On Left Wing we have Geoff Courtnall who started his career with three full season with Boston and finished it with four for St. Louis. Glen Sather played two full years with the Bruins in the late 60's and one with the Blues in 74/75. The pickings get slim after this with Garnet "Ace" Bailey playing a total of 303 games for the two and Scott Pellerin the longtime Blue who played half a season with the Bruins in 2001/02. 
On Defence we can start with Dennis Wideman who spent his first two seasons with St. Louis before being traded for Boyes and playing three more for Boston. Stephane Quintal came up for four seasons with Bruins before joining Janney in the Oates deal. He played all of 1992/93 with the Blues before moving on. Guy Lapointe, known more as a Canadien Hall of Famer, played his last two full years with St. Louis and Boston respectively. Don Awrey spent his first ten years with the Bruins before being dealt to the Blues and producing 21 points in 75 games in 73/74. Other defenders to have played for both franchises include; Rick Zombo, Jamie Rivers, Gordie Roberts, Glen Featherstone and Barry Gibbs.
Now we get to the Goalies. Hall of Famer Jacques Plante has to make the list having helped lead the Blues to two Cup Finals in 1969 and '70. His stint with Boston was short and sweet, finishing up his NHL career going 7 and 1 with a 2.00 GAA to end the 1972/73 season. Eddie Johnston played 11 years with Boston and 4 for St. Louis and would rightfully claim the top spot on the merit of 562 career games for the teams. Current Bruin back-up Jaroslav Halak of course played four seasons with the Blues prior to moving to the Islanders. Rounding out the goalie brigade are the likes of Jon Casey and Vincent Riendeau.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...
Read more