Best Defence EVER

[Bruinator]

Orr - Bourque
Chara- Shore
Park - Clapper

Is there any other franchise in history that can boast anything close to this in top d in history? Am I missing anyone?

Click to read more...

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Orr - Bourque
Chara- Shore
Park - Clapper

Is there any other franchise in history that can boast anything close to this in top d in history? Am I missing anyone?

montreal would be the closest but i take orr over harvey... take bourque over robinson... shore over chelious... chara over savard and park over langway... didnt see clapper or even footage of clapper. i suppose montreal might have someone in their history that could be better but i do take our guys man for man over anything other teams can toss against us.

we had coffey and lapointe and leetch all wear the uniform for a few days too so the depth goes further of hall of fame guys that have dressed for us over the years.

now lets hope in 10 years we can start to mention hamilton among this list of names too

 

[Lobster57]

Glen Featherstone as the 7th, obviously

 

[Ratty]

Toronto has fielded some decent D-men:

Tim Horton - Allan Stanley
Borje Salming - King Clancy
Red Kelly - Carl Brewer

Though they don't compare to the Canadiens crop, or, even Boston's.

OT: anyone getting these annoying snowmobile ads? I X them out but they keep coming back.

 

[rcduthie77]

Orr - Bourque
Chara- Shore
Park - Clapper

Is there any other franchise in history that can boast anything close to this in top d in history? Am I missing anyone?

WOW! Just WOW!

Orr - Bourque could have been a pair if it hadn't been for the horrendous wear and tear on Bobby's knees. Imagine the early 80's with a top 3 or Orr, Bourque & Park....and if Kluzak could have stayed healthy....

 

[Boston Bruno]

Detroit has had some dandies..

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

i think if you list the top 50 dmen of all time both boston and montreal place at least 6 guys in that catagory. there are teams that have been around 30 years now that wouldnt place even 1 guy in that catagory.

we've been very spoiled here in boston to have a guy in the lineup almost every single year for the past 50 seasons that could be argued as one of the top 3 guys in the game. small short time period after bourque until chara being the exception

its no great coincidence that weve been a contender almost every single season for the past 50 years too.

dmen the quality of orr/park/bourque/chara are worth their weight in gold... and then some

 

[Gordoff]

I'm just happy that you mentioned Park etc. It seems that too many here don't go back past Bourque and when they do they don't know who Brad Park is. I'd like to throw in Carol Vadnais RIP as the seventh d-man (or honorable mention).

A list of other honorable mentions in no particular order:
Eddie Shore
Garry Galley
Dallas Smith
Don Sweeney
Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg
Bill Quackenbush
Leo Boivin
Fernie Flaman
Lionel Hitchman

 

[Gordoff]

WOW! Just WOW!

Orr - Bourque could have been a pair if it hadn't been for the horrendous wear and tear on Bobby's knees. Imagine the early 80's with a top 3 or Orr, Bourque & Park....and if Kluzak could have stayed healthy....

Great point!!!

 

[Gordoff]

....AND imagine if Mark Howe had played for the Bruins when he was drafted by them in 1974?? Double WOW!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Howe

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Hal Gill is the #7 defenseman right?

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Hal Gill is the #7 defenseman right?

Duh.

 

[kytem2]

Orr - Bourque
Chara- Shore
Park - Clapper

Is there any other franchise in history that can boast anything close to this in top d in history? Am I missing anyone?

Well, any Habs D from 76-79 by itself has this lineup beat.

Orr was great, but nobody ever coached him.

Bourque never won a cup with Boston, was constantly overmatched by the Oilers and Penguins in the playoffs.

Park was fat and ok with the Bruins.

 

[unifiedtheory]

Well, any Habs D from 76-79 by itself has this lineup beat.

Orr was great, but nobody ever coached him.

Bourque never won a cup with Boston, was constantly overmatched by the Oilers and Penguins in the playoffs.

Park was fat and ok with the Bruins.

I don't want to get the points I'll get for offering my true opinion so I'll just keep quiet.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

montreal would be the closest but i take orr over harvey... take bourque over robinson... shore over chelious... chara over savard and park over langway... didnt see clapper or even footage of clapper. i suppose montreal might have someone in their history that could be better but i do take our guys man for man over anything other teams can toss against us.

we had coffey and lapointe and leetch all wear the uniform for a few days too so the depth goes further of hall of fame guys that have dressed for us over the years.

now lets hope in 10 years we can start to mention hamilton among this list of names too

Totally agree with your first paragraph.

All were shameful signings. Disgusting moves by Sinden. Leetch came with Zhamnov when all the good FA's snubbed us.

And Boston fans should of and sort of did riot at the Coffey and Lapointe signings Sinden was a real piece of work and spat on us with those moves. Inking a washed up Coffey after Ray left was an insult. And what that ******* did to a deceased Clapper trying to give Lapointe his number makes me hate him to this day. Mother****er trying to give Clappers number to that bum when he was way past his best. Orr and the fans had to cause a huge stink to keep that POS from wearing Clappers retired number Sinden told him he could wear it which that dbag demanded when we signed him.


If we had all those guys to pick from I have to think ol Dit would have stayed at forward though where he was a perennial All Star first half of his career and never even thought about moving back to the blueline. We'd probably have an amazing second line that was also the best defensive line in the game something like Clapper-Bergeron-Sanderson.

 

[TheRza80]

What about my close neighbour Leo Boivin. Guy can still kick ass. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet not to mention he was a beast on the blueline at 5'7. I take....

Bourque-Orr
Chara-Boivin
Shore-Clapper

 

[mikelvl]

Hunwick-Kampfer
Gruden-Rohloff
Kaberle-Van Impe

In case anybody wanted to see the worst B's defense ever.

By the way, Kaberle, Hunwick, and Kampfer were all on the ice together during the NJD-NYR preseason tilt the other night. Must be preseason.

 

[smithformeragent]

Thought I heard Kabs' name when I flipped over the other night.

Didn't realize he was trying out for an NHL club.
I thought he'd gone overseas.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Totally agree with your first paragraph.

All were shameful signings. Disgusting moves by Sinden. Leetch came with Zhamnov when all the good FA's snubbed us.

And Boston fans should of and sort of did riot at the Coffey and Lapointe signings Sinden was a real piece of work and spat on us with those moves. Inking a washed up Coffey after Ray left was an insult. And what that ******* did to a deceased Clapper trying to give Lapointe his number makes me hate him to this day. Mother****er trying to give Clappers number to that bum when he was way past his best. Orr and the fans had to cause a huge stink to keep that POS from wearing Clappers retired number Sinden told him he could wear it which that dbag demanded when we signed him.


If we had all those guys to pick from I have to think ol Dit would have stayed at forward though where he was a perennial All Star first half of his career and never even thought about moving back to the blueline. We'd probably have an amazing second line that was also the best defensive line in the game something like Clapper-Bergeron-Sanderson.

I really don't understand the hate Leetch gets for his time with the Bruins. I get it was a down time for the Bruins, and he's associated with the jerk Sinden, but what exactly were people expecting in his play at his age? I seriously did not come out of that feeling disappointed. Maybe it's because I was watching D-men like Hal Gill advertised as "good" at the time.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Hunwick-Kampfer
Gruden-Rohloff
Kaberle-Van Impe

In case anybody wanted to see the worst B's defense ever.

By the way, Kaberle, Hunwick, and Kampfer were all on the ice together during the NJD-NYR preseason tilt the other night. Must be preseason.

I never thought Kampfer was THAAT bad with the Bruins. I mean he always had expectations from others, that realistically, he could never meet. But, I just don't remember him (also had less playing time with the B's) being bad enough for long enough to deserve a place alongside Hunwick. Matt "offensive stats disguise my utter uselessness" Hunwick.

 

[doc5hole]

Totally agree with your first paragraph.

All were shameful signings. Disgusting moves by Sinden. Leetch came with Zhamnov when all the good FA's snubbed us.

And Boston fans should of and sort of did riot at the Coffey and Lapointe signings Sinden was a real piece of work and spat on us with those moves. Inking a washed up Coffey after Ray left was an insult. And what that ******* did to a deceased Clapper trying to give Lapointe his number makes me hate him to this day. Mother****er trying to give Clappers number to that bum when he was way past his best. Orr and the fans had to cause a huge stink to keep that POS from wearing Clappers retired number Sinden told him he could wear it which that dbag demanded when we signed him.

Harry said he tried to get the league to let him put a decimal point before the 5 but was denied. Still, never should have done it.

As for bringing Lapointe and Schoenfeld to Boston for cups of 83-84 coffee, it was a double attempt to replace Park who had left for Detroit as UFA. Harry's trade for Park had to be predicated on the belief that Orr's days were numbered. Ironic that Park's first 10 games for the Bruins were Orr's last 10 -- and his only 10 that season (75-76). Harry was brilliant at finding role replacements in the '70s. He dealt two young players for Bobby Schmautz because the Bruins missed Johnny McKenzie. Thanks to Gregg Sheppard, Fred Stanfield became expendable and Harry got Cheevers' replacement, Gilles Gilbert, from Minny.

His skills at this sort of maneuvering eroded over the years, and the Paul Coffey experiment was a lame-arse attempt to do the same thing upon Bourque's departure. After the fact, he admitted having lost his fastball, as it were.

O'Connell brought in Brian Leetch, but I don't judge O'C by his 2-minute grocery cart rush at the Sunday night shelves. The Bruins put themselves in a bind with a decision that was made over his head, and he had to scramble to fix it.

I agree that Harry certainly wasn't a good people person -- the Jacques Plante story is unreal -- but there was a method to his madness and, before he got too far out of touch with the league he was a genius, like him or not.

 

[kytem2]

Hunwick was pretty damn good until he needed to have his spleen removed during the 2009 playoffs. After that, he was not the same player at all.

He had 27 points in 53 games that season, scoring at the same rate as Torey Krug last season.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Hunwick was pretty damn good until he needed to have his spleen removed during the 2009 playoffs. After that, he was not the same player at all.

He had 27 points in 53 games that season, scoring at the same rate as Torey Krug last season.

He looked ****ing awful the whole time. It's pretty sad but that's the biggest "told you so" I ever had on this board. People were raving about him based on offensive stats, ignoring that he always seemed to get himself into pickles and turn the puck over. He's techincally a good skater so when he's not being challenged he CAN look good. But in his defensive zone, he was ALWAYS horrible. And he was never a particularly fast or overall, "effective" skater.

IMO.