Nov 17, 2008 - 1978-79 Leafs - Bruce Boudreau

(Note: Mondays, we'll have players from the 1978-79 team, 30 years ago this year.  They'll appear in alphabetical order.)

If I look back at any previous times I had Bruce Boudreau as Leaf of the Day, I'm sure the comments generally ranged somewhere between "Who?" and "Oh YEAH, that guy!"  Now, Bruce is the reigning Jack Adams winner and is enjoying a level of prestige and recognition that generally eluded him as a player.

Not that Bruce was all that bad as a player - he was the sort of guy who the Leafs always called up and would immediately put some points on the board.  He had a lot of offensive talent, just not a lot of size to go with it.  He'd come up and play well for a stretch, but never seemed to have the ability or good fortune to stick with the big club.  In the early 1980s, he and Mike Kaszycki were buried in the minors while guys like Frank Nigro would put up single-digit totals with the Leafs.

Bruce's offensive abilities made him the leading AHL scorer for the decade of the 1980s.  Despite seeing less than 20 regular season games in the NHL during that time, he kept playing and producing wherever he went.  There was a brief call-up to Chicago, and that was it.

Boudreau would make the transition to coaching.  He had actually done some time as a player-coach in the Leafs organization, but it was really with the cessation of his playing career in 1992-93 that got him going.  From there, it was year after year in the minor leagues until a big break as an assistant with the Washington Capitals.  A few games into the season, he got the promotion, had the sense to let his offensive talent loose, and the rest was history.

1978-79 should have been Bruce's year to stick with the Leafs, one would think.  He'd come off a 29-point performance in 40 games in which he was also a plus-8 (although there was a knee injury in there, that could have had a lingering effect).  It didn't turn out, though.  Four goals and three assists in 26 games, then the rest of the year spent in New Brunswick.  There would be one more good chance in 1980-81, and then the minor league odyssey really got underway.

Bruce Boudreau trivia: Bruce was in the opening scene in the movie Slapshot.  He wears #7 for the opposition.

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1972-73      Toronto Marlboros      OHA-Jr.      61      38      49      87      22                              
1973-74     Toronto Marlboros     OHA-Jr.     53     46     67     113     51                        
1974-75     Toronto Marlboros     OMJHL     69     68     97     165     52         22     12     28     40     26
1974-75     Toronto Marlboros     M-Cup     5     2     2     4     15                        
1975-76     Minnesota Fighting Saints     WHA     30     3     6     9     4                        
1975-76     Johnstown Jets     NAPro     34     25     35     60     14         9     6     5     11     7
1976-77     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     15     2     5     7     4     +2     3     0     0     0     0
1976-77     Dallas Black Hawks     CHL     58     37     34     71     40         1     1     1     2     0
1977-78     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     40     11     18     29     12     +8                    
1977-78     Dallas Black Hawks     CHL     22     13     9     22     11                        
1978-79     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     26     4     3     7     2     -3                    
1978-79     New Brunswick Hawks     AHL     49     20     38     58     20         5     1     1     2     8
1979-80     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     2     0     0     0     2     0                    
1979-80     New Brunswick Hawks     AHL     75     36     54     90     47         17     6     7     13     23
1980-81     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     39     10     14     24     18     -7     2     1     0     1     0
1980-81     New Brunswick Hawks     AHL     40     17     41     58     22         8     6     5     11     14
1981-82     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     12     0     2     2     6     -6                    
1981-82     Cincinnati Tigers     CHL     65     42     61     103     42         4     3     1     4     8
1982-83     St. Catharines Saints     AHL     80     50     72     122     65                        
1982-83     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL                             4     1     0     1     0 (playoffs only)
1983-84     St. Catharines Saints     AHL     80     47     62     109     44         7     0     5     5     11
1984-85     ECD Iserlohn     W.German     30     20     28     48     41         3     2     1     3     4
1984-85     Baltimore Skipjacks     AHL     17     4     7     11     4         15     3     9     12     4
1985-86     Chicago Black Hawks     NHL     7     1     0     1     2     +1                    
1985-86     Nova Scotia Oilers     AHL     65     30     36     66     36                        
1986-87     Nova Scotia Oilers     AHL     78     35     47     82     40         5     3     3     6     4
1987-88     Springfield Indians     AHL     80     42     74     116     84                        
1988-89     Springfield Indians     AHL     50     28     36     64     42                        
1988-89     Newmarket Saints     AHL     20     7     16     23     12         4     0     1     1     6
1989-90     Phoenix Roadrunners     IHL     82     41     68     109     89                        
1990-91     Fort Wayne Komets     IHL     81     40     80     120     111         19     11     7     18     30
1991-92     Fort Wayne Komets     IHL     77     34     50     84     100         7     3     4     7     10
1991-92     Adirondack Red Wings     AHL                             4     1     1     2     2
1992-1993     Muskegon Fury     ColHL                                            
1993-1995     Muskegon Fury     ColHL                                            
1995-1996     San Francisco Spiders     IHL                                            
1996-1999     Mississippi Sea Wolves     ECHL                                            
1999-2000     Lowell Lock Monsters     AHL                                            
Leaf Totals     134    27    42    69    44    -6    9    2    0    2    0
NHL Totals     141     28     42     70     46     -5    9     2     0     2     0

OMJHL Second All-Star Team (1974)
CHL Second All-Star Team (1982)
AHL First All-Star Team (1988)
Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award (Sportsmanship - AHL) (1988)
John B. Sollenberger Trophy (Leading Scorer - AHL) (1988)

- Selected by Minnesota (WHA) in 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, June, 1974.
- Claimed by Toronto as a fill-in during Expansion Draft, June 13, 1979.
- Signed as a free agent by Baltimore (AHL), March 5, 1985.
- Signed as a free agent by Chicago, October 10, 1985.

the HHOF take on Bruce:

Bruce Boudreau was a talented offensive centre whose size worked against him getting the ice time he wanted in the NHL. He was a force in junior and the minors and managed to suit up for 141 big league games over eight seasons.

The Toronto native amassed 365 points in three outstanding years with the Toronto Marlboros. He was chosen 42nd overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1975 after captaining the Marlies to the Memorial Cup and leading the OHA with 68 goals and 165 points. Initially, he couldn't agree on a contract with Toronto and joined the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA for a year.

The diminutive pivot signed on with the Leafs in 1976-77 and scored seven points in 15 games. He played most of his hockey that year with the Dallas Black Hawks and led the CHL with 37 goals. He played 40 games for Toronto as an injury replacement in 1977-78 but remained a farmhand through the 1982-83 playoffs. His best performance in the minors during this time came in 1981-82 when he scored 103 points in 63 games for the Cincinnati Tigers and was placed on the CHL second all-star team.

Boudreau played seven games for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1985-86 after signing as a free agent but was chiefly a minor league stalwart until retiring in 1992. In 1987-88, he led the AHL with 116 points while playing for the Springfield Indians. That year he was placed on the league's first all-star team and was the recipient of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike player.

You'd think they update this thing, but apparently not.

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