The first season that saw forward passing allowed in the National Hockey League was by far and away the best of Cooney Weiland’s career.  In that, his sophomore campaign in hockey, Weiland led the NHL in scoring with 43 Goals, 73 Points, and destroyed Howie Morenz’s record of 51.  That season, he would also win his first Stanley Cup.  

Trivia question: Who was the first player to lead the NHL in plus/minus when it became an official statistic?

Answer: Dallas Smith.

Adam Oates was only with the Boston Bruins for five years, but during his tenure with the B’s, he was a bona fide scoring machine, finishing third in scoring twice.  Oates is third all-time in Points per Game for the Bruins and still holds the franchise record for Assists and Points for a season.  It is actually quire amazing how many teams had Oates throughout his Hall of Fame career.

Oates would later be named to the NHL 100th Anniversary Team.

While the man nicknamed “Taz” was not your most skilled player, he embodied Boston Bruin hockey better than almost anyone.  He was rough and tough (his 2,000-plus PIM tells you that), but he was just skilled enough to provide some solid offense, and in a career spent entirely in Boston, he was good enough to score over 600 Points and make two All-Star Games.  If this list were ONLY based on popularity, Terry O’Reilly could very well have been in the top five.  The Bruins retired his number 24 in 2002.