Bruins Centennial Bruins’ Captain History

[JustinCaron]

With it being the Centennial season and while we’re waiting on the announcement of who’ll be the next captain. I put together a list of all captains through franchise history. I do realize there is six uncredited captains from the 1930s and 1940s but without available sources I didn’t include them in this piece. Who is goes down as the greatest ever for you and why?

Boston Bruins' Captain History - The Hockey Writers Bruins History Latest News, Analysis & More

The Boston Bruins have had an array of captains throughout their history, so let's take a deep look at each of them.

thehockeywriters.com

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[smithformeragent]

Turned this into a poll.

Obviously the guys from 60-100 years ago aren’t going to get a fair shake since most of us weren’t around.

I went with Chara.

Everything changed when they signed Chara.
Those who weren’t fans prior to 2006, you have no idea how irrelevant the Bruins had become.

 

[Gee Wally]

In the 9 , so far, in my lifetime I go with Chara. Not only did he bring leadership as they all did , but he actually changed the culture. No ‘rookies’. Only one language in the room.

He also led not only by example, again as with all, but also with words.

My best example was during his rookie year. Marchand was chirping the Caps from the bench. Off the rails. Chara stood up leaned over and you could lip read perfectly. “ sit down and shut the f*** up”.

well, that was that.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Voted for Milt Schmidt, but it should be a landslide for Chara.

 

[Patdud]

Chara single handedly made the bruins a thing again, not just a winner but also a thing that kids are into again. The latest crop of great players being drafted from Massachusetts was his doing, what he helped build here. biggest UFA signing ever (literally and figuratively).

 

[BMC]

Yes, I had to vote for Big Z too. As others have said, he literally changed the culture of the team. Plus he's just an outstanding person. If Chara wasn't on the ballot I'd vote for Ray Bourque.

 

[missingchicklet]

So many of the Bs captains over the past 100 were great players but weren't actually captains for very long. Z was captain for 14 years, second most to Bourque. Z changed the culture, set a standard that I think is still with the organization, was a model citizen, mentored who knows how many young players, and delivered big time as a player, including a Cup win. To do what he did at such a high level for so long is incredible.

Bucyk would be my second choice. Even though the Bs went without an official captain between Bucyk's stints with the C (1968-1973), look at who skated with the Cup first in both those Cup seasons. Bucyk was the unofficial captain for sure. Honestly anyone who votes for Bucyk over Chara will get no argument from me. Z and the Chief were both awesome leaders.

 

[Fenian24]

Went with O'Reilly, still the definition of a Bruin to me. Outworked everybody, made the most of his talent and stood up for his teammates.

 

[TCB]

 

[LSCII]

Went with O'Reilly, still the definition of a Bruin to me. Outworked everybody, made the most of his talent and stood up for his teammates.

100% this. No other choice to me. He was the physical embodiment of what a Bruin was

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Gotta be Jason Allison no?

 

[Alicat]

Gotta be Jason Allison no?

No he spells his name wrong

 

[McGarnagle]

Gotta be Jason Allison no?

Possibly the most underrated player in Bruins history. A legitimate top tier #1 C for a couple years in his prime. Bruins didn't want to pay him as such and were justified in doing so since he got hurt and lost his legs completely shortly into his stint with LA.

 

[Si Hopkins]

Where my Cleghorn fanatics at????

 

[jgatie]

Where my Cleghorn fanatics at????

Part of me wishes he were a modern player. Not because I know anything about him, but just to nickname him "Foghorn Cleghorn".

 

[Si Hopkins]

Part of me wishes he were a modern player. Not because I know anything about him, but just to nickname him "Foghorn Cleghorn".

Definitely had the same thought. Like the memes would be pretty fun on that guy.

 

[Fenian24]

I don't know, sounds like we could use somebody jut like him on this D:

Henry William Sprague "Peg" Cleghorn (March 11, 1890 – July 12, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player from Westmount, Quebec who played 17 professional seasons between 1911 and 1929 for the Renfrew Creamery Kings and Montreal Wanderers in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams, winning with the Senators in 1920 and 1921 as well as with the Canadiens in 1924. His brother Odie was also a professional player and the two played several seasons together.

A tough and physical defenceman, Cleghorn had a reputation for violent play; he was twice charged with assault following on-ice incidents and was subject to efforts to have him banned from the NHL. His reputation made him an effective defender, and he used his offensive skill to become one of hockey's first offensive defencemen. At the time of his retirement, Cleghorn's 169 career goals were second most in professional hockey history by a defenceman, behind Harry Cameron's 173. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

 

[Mione134]

Love this! I'm sure there's a thread on here but obviously I can't see it lol congratulations to Marchy.

 

[KrejciMVP]

who was Dit Clapper?

Went with #77

 

[ranold26]

Centennial season with no top C and 2C, Garden ice still the same,...and now Marshmont the captain...
And we''re off...................

 

[bruinsfan1968]

who was Dit Clapper?

Went with #77

The OP posted a link to an article with a brief history of each Captain. That's a start!

 

[McGarnagle]

On a side note, I was watching a game from the 1992 playoffs on youtube yesterday and Ray Bourque was out injured and they actually had the C sewn onto Dave Poulin's chest.

I seem to recall a couple times from my childhood in the mid-90s where they'd do that and put the C on someone else's chest when Bourque was hurt. Somewhere along the line they stopped doing that though.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

Dave Poulin isn't officially recognized as a captain, but he wore the C briefly while Bourque was injured.

 

[rfournier103]

I can’t pick one. Almost all of them are legends. We were lucky to have them!

By the way… I don’t think Shore was ever a captain.

 

[PepeBostones]

Been some great captains over the years. Schmidt, O'Reilly and Bourque gets the "A" but in this case it's Zdeno Chara who gets the "C".
Head coach: Harry Sinden and GM: Art Ross. Marvelous job
Bruins is one the best teams in NHL history. 20 finals not bad and top three winning records