What was Mike Bossy's nickname?

[Albatros]

By the way, the Bossy's name in French/Italian would be 'Bossi', wouldn't it? I've always wondered how it got Anglicized, and why. Anyone know?

Yes, his grandfather Volodymyr Bosyj (Володимир Босий) changed his name to Walter Bossy after escaping to Canada in 1924 from what was then Poland. He was a Ukrainian nationalist and had participated in a failed plot to murder the police commissioner of Lwów (the Polish police did not treat Ukrainian nationalists kindly at the time).

You can read more about Walter Bossy here:

http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\B\O\BosyVolodymyr.htm

And about his later activity in Canada:

https://multiculturalismcanada.com/...-of-the-canadian-ethnic-mosaic-confederation/

 

[Crosbyfan]

Per the quote above, Did Gretzky seriously say Bossy was the best RW ever? Better than Howe or Richard?

Probably not. But he no doubt called each of them "best player ever" more than once.

 

[LeafChief]

Michael.

 

[Pominville Knows]

He probably did not need a nickname, having that surname.

 

[Boxscore]

Michael "Anything I want it to be because I score 50 every year" Bossy

 

[Michael Varnakov]

He was commonly refered to as the 'sniper', and a few sources refered to him as the 'phantom'.

The sniper is obvious, but I can't figure out what part of his game resembled a phantom. Can you?

 

[JackSlater]

He was commonly refered to as the 'sniper', and a few sources refered to him as the 'phantom'.

The sniper is obvious, but I can't figure out what part of his game resembled a phantom. Can you?

Play style and also possibly a callback to Joe Malone. Anyway, here is a quote from Bowman specifically relating Bossy's style of play to a phantom:

"Bossy seems to disappear through the ice and come up through the pipes. He comes out of nowhere, like a phantom".

The Phantom of the Rinks

 

[daver]

Bossy is certainly one of the great offensive players ever, and deserves his high placement among the very greatest wingers. I do think, though, that his offensive stats would have plummeted if he had played (in good health) beyond 1986-87.

Why? At age 28 he was 2nd in goals and 5th in points and arguably the #3 forward in the league. No reason to think a healthy Bossy has a couple of more 50 goal seasons in him and solidifies himself in the GOAT goalscorer conversation.

 

[Big Phil]

There was no nickname for him. Not commonly used at least.

 

[Big Phil]

Of course not. His accomplishments are fantastic, legendary. But his status as top goal-scorer of his era, and as "the only guy in 36 years to get 50-in-50" went crashing down very quickly and in ridiculously pointed fashion.

This is probably why Bossy has had that resentment towards Gretzky. He cracks the Rocket's record, and scores two late goals in his 50th game to do it, and then all of the sudden this skinny kid just shreds that old record and re-writes his own.

 

[BobbyAwe]

He probably said the same for those 2 in different interview, when asked about a player Gretzky tend to praise them really high.

True. He said that Howe was the greatest.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Well, my Dad called him Lester, because he was a dead ringer for this guy we knew named Lester. I still can't help but think "lester" every time Bossy's name comes up.