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Brad Park and Bobby Orr in 1976 - did they actually share the ice?

Cursed Lemon

Cursed Lemon

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Nov 10, 2011
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So Brad Park gets traded to the Bruins in 1976, which was Bobby's last year with them and one in which he only played 10 games.

Does anyone know of any references that show Orr and Park on the same ice together, possibly on the same line?
 
Cursed Lemon said:
So Brad Park gets traded to the Bruins in 1976, which was Bobby's last year with them and one in which he only played 10 games.

Does anyone know of any references that show Orr and Park on the same ice together, possibly on the same line?
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They played on the PP and PK together, but different regular defensive pairings. I believe Boston went 6-1-3 in the ten games.

1975-Playing%20Defense%20With%20Brad%20Park.jpg


1975-Passing%20To%20Brad%20Park.jpg
 
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Cursed Lemon said:
Good stuff, thanks!

How spoiled is Boston when it comes to defense? Orr, then Park, then Bourque.
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Park was acquired because they knew Bobby's knees were going to become useless very soon (and they did shortly after like you posted, 10 games in) then they got lucky the Kings valued Ron Graham more than 1 star and Bourque was available at 8th.

Even after he leaves, 5 seasons later they get Chara.
 
I can remember reading reports about how very well they both played together; you wonder if Montreal might have had one or two fewer Cup titles between 1976 and 1979 had Orr's knee not given out the way it did.

Don Cherry talked about that in his book Grapes: A Vintage View of Hockey, in which following a game at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers (Orr's last game as a Boston Bruin, I think), Bobby came up to him saying that he had been casually talking with Rod Gilbert following the contest and he said that he could feel the knee locking again. "Goodbye, Stanley Cup" was the first thing that came to Grapes' mind when Bobby told him that. Bet that is still not easy for many Bruins fans to talk about something like that.
 
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Cursed Lemon said:
Good stuff, thanks!

How spoiled is Boston when it comes to defense? Orr, then Park, then Bourque.
Click to expand...

Harry Sinden was a cheapskate but he did do some things right. He longed to have the best defenseman in the NHL on the Bruins. He had Orr for so long and when he realized that wouldn't be for much longer he traded for Park, who you could argue was the next best defenseman in the NHL. Or had been several years running (Potvin during that year seemed to overtake him though).

That's why he drafted Bourque as well. Part of what has made the Bruins great for decades, or at least competitive, is having a star defenseman on their team.
 
The plan was to split them up because they wanted to have at least one of them always on the ice, but use them both together on the power play. Park said in his book that Cherry used to yell at them that they were spending too much time on the power play passing it back and forth instead of shooting.
 
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Big Phil said:
Harry Sinden was a cheapskate but he did do some things right. He longed to have the best defenseman in the NHL on the Bruins. He had Orr for so long and when he realized that wouldn't be for much longer he traded for Park, who you could argue was the next best defenseman in the NHL. Or had been several years running (Potvin during that year seemed to overtake him though).

That's why he drafted Bourque as well. Part of what has made the Bruins great for decades, or at least competitive, is having a star defenseman on their team.
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It was a fantastic trade too. While Espo was still a 80 point player at the time of the trade, Sinden knew his value was still stupid high after a 127 point season and knew he'd be due for some regression at 35. He managed to get a 28 year old/prime Park (top 5 defenseman in the league) and Ratelle, who was older than Espo but was still a consistent 80-90 point player. he got a defensemen to replace some of what they were losing with Orr and a centre who could produce similarly to Espo.
 
reckoning said:
The plan was to split them up because they wanted to have at least one of them always on the ice, but use them both together on the power play.
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we're still talking about pronger and niedermayer. i can't even imagine orr and park, especially as a fan of a team that has never had even one true franchise level d-man.
 
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