islesinfo - Mike Bossy

Arguably the greatest goal scorer in the history of the NHL, Mike Bossy was the New York Islanders 1st choice, 15th Overall, in the 1977 Entry Draft. Thanks to the Islanders Quebec League scout Henry Saraceno, GM Bill Torrey decided to draft Bossy over Dwight Foster who went on to an uneventful career with the Boston Bruins. Since Mike was such a prolific offensive player, there were some unfounded questions about his defensive play. But over his career as an Islander he proved to be quite an adequate presence in his own zone. Torrey weighed his decision on taking the possible home run player in Bossy over the supposed sure bet in Foster. He obviously made the right decision.

Henry Saraceno

Mike Bossy

Bill Torrey

During the 1970's, the WHA was battling the NHL for talent. The short lived Indianapolis Racers drafted Bossy, but did not have the money to sign him. The Quebec Nordiques got into the bidding war to sign him, but the Islanders countered their offer and that's where history began. Plus, Mike had always dreamed of winning the Cup and proving his critics wrong by showing he could be a good all around NHL player. At the press conference to introduce Bossy to the press, Mike promised Torrey that he would score 50 goals in his rookie season. Torrey just laughed. No rookie had ever scored 50 goals in a season before. When Mike notched 53 goals in 1977-78, Torrey nor anyone would laugh any more. This was a special player. His success was helped along with the fact that he solidified a feared Islander attack as he was teamed with C Bryan Trottier and LW Clark Gillies to form the "BTG" line, or better known as the "Trio Grande" line.

Over the next 10 years, Bossy would put together 9 straight 50 goal season which stands as a record today. Five of those seasons saw him score 60 goals, including an NHL leading 69 goals in only his second year of 1978-79, as well as his leading 68 in 1980-81. The 1980-81 season was another record setting year for Mike. Once again he predicted that he would become only the 2nd player to score 50 goals in 50 games played, not done since his idol Maurice Richard became the first to do it in 1944-45 with the Montreal Canadiens. Coming into his 50th game with 48 goals, Mike scored 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the game against the Quebec Nordiques' goaltender Ron Grahame. A tremendous celebration followed by Bossy on the ice. Just one of many he would have along with his teammates during the early 1980's.

Mike was an outstanding playoff performer, and perhaps he proved that most prevalent during the 1982 playoff year. In scoring a record tying 7 goals against the Vancouver Canucks in the Finals, Bossy and the Islanders took home their 3rd straight Stanley Cup Championship. Game 1 saw Bossy score in the final seconds of overtime. In Game 3 at Pacific Coliseum, he scored a goal in mid air with his body parallel to the ice. His 17 goals in each of the 1981, 82, and 83 playoffs is the best 3 year total in NHL history. Plus, he set a record by scoring 4 game winning goals in a series against the Boston Bruins in 1983. A record that may never be matched again.

Mike suffered from a chronic bad back throughout his career, and it didn't help that he was the target most nights of many checking forwards. Before the beginning of the 1987-88 season, he announced that he would have to sit out the entire season in hopes that his back would heal enough for him to return the next year. This was following a 38 goal effort in 1986-87, the lowest output and only non 50 goal season of his career. Unfortunately, Bossy was forced to officially retire on October 24, 1988 after only 10 years of NHL play. A fantastic career cut too short, Mike is perhaps the most popular favorite player in Islander history.

Following his retirement, Bossy worked for three seasons on Quebec Nordiques telecasts. He has done radio work for CJAD in Montreal and for Radio-Canada, the French-language version of Hockey Night in Canada on television. Additionally, he is the spokesperson for “Safe & Fun Hockey,” a national initiative of General Motors aimed at kids aged six to nine. He runs clinics and encourages clean hockey based on skill, not intimidation. Bossy is also the spokesperson for WorldCom, and has been the director of public relations for Humpty Dumpty potato chips, a snack-food manufacturer based in Montreal, for the last three years. He started out doing promotional work for the company in the late 1990s, after a three-year stint as part of the morning zoo crew on CKOI, a French-language radio station in Montreal. He's also dabbled in the restaurant business.

None of Bossy's jobs has involved an association with an NHL team, something he has tried not to be bitter about. "To be honest, no NHL team ever has called me," says Bossy, who lives in Rosmere, Quebec, with wife Lucie and their two daughters. "I contacted the Canadiens at least two or three times [in the mid-1990s] because I thought I could help the organization in some way, not necessarily as a coach but in some role that could be developed. They never called back."

Update: Mike Bossy was finally hired by the New York Islanders on October 14, 2006 as the Executive Director of Corporate Relations. He joins Bryan Trottier once again in the organization as Bryan was hired as an organizational coach during the off-season.

Hat Tricks

2/4/78 vs. Washington(Bernie Wolfe)
12/7/78 vs. St.Louis(Ed Staniowski)
12/28/78 at Atlanta(Dan Bouchard)
1/2/79 vs. Vancouver(Glen Hanlon)
3/13/79 vs. Boston(Gerry Cheevers)
4/7/79 4 goal game vs. Philadelphia(W. Stephenson(3), Robbie Moore(1))
12/27/79 at Montreal(Michel Larocque)
3/4/80 vs. Edmonton(Ed Mio(1), Jim Corsi(2))
10/28/80 vs. Montreal(Denis Herron)
11/8/80 vs. Chicago(Tony Esposito)
11/11/80 4 goal game vs. Minnesota(Gilles Meloche)
11/18/80 at St. Louis(Mike Liut)
12/14/80 at Winnipeg(Pierre Hamel)
12/21/80 at Chicago(Tony Esposito)
1/13/81 5 goal game vs. Pittsburgh(Greg Millen)
1/17/81 vs. Washington(Rollie Boutin)
3/3/81 vs. Edmonton(Ed Mio)
2/6/82 vs. Detroit(Gilles Gilbert)
3/4/82 vs. Toronto(Michel Larocque(1), Vincent Tremblay(2))
3/23/82 4 goal game vs. Washington(Al Jensen(2), Dave Parro(2))
12/17/82 at NY Rangers(Ed Mio)
1/27/83 at Los Angeles(Gary Laskowski)
2/10/83 vs. Washington(Al Jensen)
3/17/83 at New Jersey(Glenn Resch)
10/6/83 at Montreal(Rick Wamsley)
10/29/83 vs. New Jersey(Glenn Resch)
11/15/83 vs. Hartford(Greg Millen)
11/26/83 vs. Chicago(Tony Esposito)
1/18/84 at Chicago(Tony Esposito)
10/20/84 4 goal game vs. Los Angeles(Bob Janecyk)
11/1/84 4 goal game at Montreal(Steve Penney(3), Doug Soetaert(1))
11/17/84 vs. NY Rangers(Glen Hanlon(1), John Vanbiesbrouck(2))
2/7/85 vs. NY Rangers(John Vanbiesbrouck(2), Empty Net Goal(1))
11/27/85 at Minnesota(Don Beaupre)
2/15/86 vs. New Jersey(Glenn Resch)
3/11/86 4 goal game vs. Calgary(Rejean Lemelin(2), Mike Vernon(2))
3/20/86 at Toronto(Ken Wregget)
11/29/86 vs. Philadelphia(Ron Hextall)
3/8/87 at Chicago(Murray Bannerman)

NHL Awards

Stanley Cup: 1980, 81, 82, 83
Calder Trophy: 1978
Lady Byng Trophy: 1983, 84, 86
Conne Smythe Trophy: 1982
First All-Star Team: 1981, 83, 84, 86
Second All-Star Team: 1978, 79, 85
Played in All-Star Game: 1978, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86
Isles retire #22 Mar. 3, 1991
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, 1990

Nickname(s): Hoss, (the) Boss

Cups:

Season	Club	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIMS	GP	G	A	Pts	PIMS
1977-78	New York Islanders	NHL	73	53	38	91	6	7	2	2	4	2
1978-79	New York Islanders	NHL	80	*69	57	126	25	10	6	2	8	2
1979-80	New York Islanders	NHL	75	51	41	92	12	16	10	13	23	8
1980-81	New York Islanders	NHL	79	*68	51	119	32	18	*17	*18	*35	4
1981-82	New York Islanders	NHL	80	64	83	147	22	19	*17	10	27	0
1982-83	New York Islanders	NHL	79	60	58	118	20	19	*17	9	26	10
1983-84	New York Islanders	NHL	67	51	67	118	8	21	8	10	18	4
1984-85	New York Islanders	NHL	76	58	59	117	38	10	5	6	11	4
1985-86	New York Islanders	NHL	80	61	62	123	14	3	1	2	3	4
1986-87	New York Islanders	NHL	63	38	37	75	33	6	2	3	5	0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
		Total	752	573	553	1126	210	129	85	75	160	38