Bobby Orr

About Bobby Orr

Robert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

International play:

Was named to Canada's 1972 Summit Series team, but did not play due to injuries.

Played for Team Canada in the 1976 Canada Cup.

Career achievements:

Despite playing only twelve seasons and 657 games (of which only his first nine seasons, totaling 621 games, were full seasons), and only playing 47 NHL games after his 27th birthday, Orr accomplished many records and achievements, a number of which still stand today, and are listed below.

As of the end of the 2011–12 season:

• First and only defenceman to score nine hat tricks
  
• First defenceman to score 30 goals (1969–70) and 40 goals (1974–75) in a season.
  
• First player to record 100 assists in a season (1970–71)
  
• Only defenceman to win the Art Ross Trophy as league leader in scoring (1969–70, 1974–75)
  
• Only player ever to win the Norris Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Conn Smythe Trophy in one season (1969–70)
  
• Highest single season plus-minus rating, +124 in 1970-71. Second all-time in career plus-minus rating, +597. (retired as the overall leader; never finished a full season less than +30 since +/- once it became a statistic beginning with the 1968–69 season)
  
• Fifth in league history in career point-per-game average, all-time, (1.393) (highest among defencemen, minimum 500 career points) 
  
• Fifty-ninth overall in league history in career assists and 90th in career points
  

Bobby Orr Achievements

Awards:

• OHA First All-Star Team – 1964, 1965, 1966
  
• Awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) in 1967, the youngest ever to win the award, and the youngest ever to win a major NHL award up to that time
  
• Named to the Second All-Star Team in 1966–67 (his only full season when he did not make the First Team, as a rookie)
  
• Named to the NHL First All-Star Team eight times consecutively (1968-1975)
  
• Awarded the James Norris Trophy eight times (from 1968 to 1975, his last full season)
  
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game eight times (from 1968 to 1975)
  
• Won the Art Ross Trophy in 1969–70 and 1974–75
  
• NHL Plus/Minus leader in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975, the most in history
  
• Awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy three times consecutively (1970–1972)
  
• Awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1970 and 1972, the first two-time winner of the playoff MVP award
  
• Stanley Cup winner in 1970 and 1972
  
• Won Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year in 1970
  
• NHL All-Star Game MVP in 1972
  
• Received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award in 1970
  
• Voted the greatest athlete in Boston history in the Boston Globe newspaper's poll of New Englanders in 1975, beating out baseball and basketball stars such as Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Carl Yastrzemski and Bob Cousy
  
• Awarded the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1975
  
• Named the Canada Cup Tournament MVP in 1976
  
• Awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1979
  
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, with the mandatory three-year waiting period waived, making him the youngest inductee at 31 years of age
  
• Voted the second greatest hockey player of all time by an expert committee in 1997 by The Hockey News. Orr is behind only Wayne Gretzky and ahead of Gordie Howe as well as being named the top defenceman of all time. Gretzky said he'd have voted for Orr, or for his hero, Gordie Howe.
  
• Ranked 31 in ESPN's SportsCentury: 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century in 1999
  
• Named the top defenceman of all time in 2010 by The Hockey News
  

Records:

• Most points in one NHL season by a defenceman (139; 1970–71)
  
• Most assists in one NHL season by a defenceman (102; 1970–71).
  
• Highest plus/minus in one NHL season (+124; 1970–71)
  
• Tied for most assists in one NHL game by a defenceman (6; tied with Babe Pratt, Pat Stapleton, Ron Stackhouse, Paul Coffey and Gary Suter)
  
• Only player in history to win four major NHL awards in one season (Hart, Norris, Art Ross, and Conn Smythe in 1970), as well as only player to win the Norris and Art Ross in the same season more than once.
  
• Fastest goal from start of overtime to clinch the Stanley Cup - 0:40 - 1970 (game 4)