SeanMoneyHands
Registered User
- Apr 18, 2019
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I would think it's easily top 5, up there with Crosby's Team Canada golden goal, #99 first cup win in Edmonton, #99 surpassing Gordie Howe for most career NHL points, etc.
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Happy for him to have won it, but him joining contenders solely for it after 22 years with a good team in Boston wasn't really all that special. And once Colorado retired his number it became even a bit of a farce. Positively memorable overall still, but I wouldn't rank it.
I kind of agree with this sentiment. Of course, Bourque was obviously no passenger when he got to CO and he was rejuvenated in general. With that said, however, him joining an already stacked squad annoyed me at the time even as a kid. It cheapens his victory.
In terms of top moments, though, it's pretty high up there. Bourque was the talk of professional sports for a bit there, which is unheard of for hockey. His Cup win was a big deal in that regard.
When Bourque was traded to Colorado they were 4 games over .500. They finished the season 11-2-1 with Bourque. Lost in 7 seven games to Dallas in the third round when Ed Belfour outplayed Patrick Roy. Bourque missed the first two games of the series but averaged over 30 minutes per game in the next five games.
The next season they won the Cup, Bourque was a first team all-star, averaged over 28 minutes a game in the playoffs, had the best plus/minus of all Avs defensemen in the regular season & playoffs. Best of all, at age 40 Bourque played more total minutes than any other player in the NHL that season.
Hardly a cheapened Cup.
When Bourque was traded to Colorado they were 4 games over .500. They finished the season 11-2-1 with Bourque. Lost in 7 seven games to Dallas in the third round when Ed Belfour outplayed Patrick Roy. Bourque missed the first two games of the series but averaged over 30 minutes per game in the next five games.
The next season they won the Cup, Bourque was a first team all-star, averaged over 28 minutes a game in the playoffs, had the best plus/minus of all Avs defensemen in the regular season & playoffs. Best of all, at age 40 Bourque played more total minutes than any other player in the NHL that season.
Hardly a cheapened Cup.
When Bourque was traded to Colorado they were 4 games over .500. They finished the season 11-2-1 with Bourque.
Why?This concept of a "cheapened" Cup win because Bourque went to a new team near the end is... bizarre.
When Bourque was traded to Colorado they were 4 games over .500. They finished the season 11-2-1 with Bourque. Lost in 7 seven games to Dallas in the third round when Ed Belfour outplayed Patrick Roy. Bourque missed the first two games of the series but averaged over 30 minutes per game in the next five games.
The next season they won the Cup, Bourque was a first team all-star, averaged over 28 minutes a game in the playoffs, had the best plus/minus of all Avs defensemen in the regular season & playoffs. Best of all, at age 40 Bourque played more total minutes than any other player in the NHL that season.
Hardly a cheapened Cup.
Boston reached the finals twice with him, you can't ask for more during that era and with Neely's injuries.But why couldn't he do that with Boston in any of the years they had a pretty great team as well? I love Bourque. All of your points about him are totally correct and I acknowledged that. I just think it takes a bit away that it happened in Colorado and not New England. And I'm not a Bruins homer or anything.
Boston reached the finals twice with him, you can't ask for more during that era and with Neely's injuries.
But why couldn't he do that with Boston in any of the years they had a pretty great team as well? I love Bourque. All of your points about him are totally correct and I acknowledged that. I just think it takes a bit away that it happened in Colorado and not New England. And I'm not a Bruins homer or anything.
Colorado had won the division every single year of their existence. In 1999 they had started the season on the road (without Forsberg and eventually Sakic no less) as the new Pepsi Center was being opened, and conversely played almost exclusively at home to finish the season. The narrative that they were anything but one of the very strongest teams in the league already is just false. Bourque (who won 2 of his final 14 games in Boston by the way) was a good add, but the team was ready even without him.
That's one way to see it, another is that Boston's long cupless drought coincides largely with his time with the Bruins despite them usually being one of the stronger teams in the league. They won in 1972 and in 2011, but not 1979-2000. That's of course not to say that Bourque is to blame, but if he was not the problem he was also not the solution.
He was a good supplementary piece and helped them to solve Gusarov's decline among other things, but if you look at even just their defensive additions for the cup run in 2001, Rob Blake had at least the same if not a bigger impact.
Bourque got a ton of legacy votes that year. He was still good, but not on par with Zubov & co.
He was a good supplementary piece and helped them to solve Gusarov's decline among other things, but if you look at even just their defensive additions for the cup run in 2001, Rob Blake had at least the same if not a bigger impact.