the 1983 bruins

With the Bruins last win over the Hurricanes, they surpassed their 1983 home win record of 11 games. I thought, for fun (also, betting purposes) it might be interesting to take a look at that 1983 Bruins team, to see if there are similarities with the 2008-9 Bruins squad.

The 1983 Bruins competed in the Wales Conference in a league featuring 21 teams (man, the good old days), and finished the year with 110 points in 80 games.

There were still three Original Six players left in the league, who all retired at season's end, but Wayne Cashman, by reaching the Wales Conference Finals, became the last Original Six player to play. For a guy who lived so recklessly, his longevity should be respected.

The Bruins met the Nordiques in the first playoff round, winning 3-games to 1, and advanced into a 7-game series with the Sabres. The Bruins won that round, and had the dubious honour to advance against the New York Islanders who were three-cups-deep into their Dynasty. The Islanders won the series against the Bruins (4-games to 2) to advance against the Edmonton Oilers. This was the year that Islanders won 4 straight games against the Oil, stopping Gretzky from scoring a single goal, winning their 4th-straight League Title (a feat no other major professional sports team has repeated, since).

The Bruins highest scorer that year was Barry Pederson, who had 107 points (Pederson would be dealt to Vancouver for Cam Neely). Rick Middleton, Keith Crowder and Peter McNabb would bring in the next three positions (scoring 96, 74 and 74 points respectively) and a young, third year defenseman named Raymond Bourque would round out the top five, scoring 73 points (note that Bourque was still wearing number 7!).

This was a Bruins squad that featured some famous and infamous Bruins -- Terry O'Reilly, Brad Park, Mike Milbury, Pete Peeters, Steve Kasper, as well as Craig MacTavish and (wait for it) Mike O'Connell.

Notably, Larry Melnyk played for the Bruins in 1983 and was traded to Edmonton for the 84 season. He'd play the entire season in the minors, being called up for 6 playoff games with the Oil, and winning the Cup with them. However, his name would not be engraved on the chalice because he did not play enough games with the team -- an honour he would receive after the 1985 season.

What does all this mean? Well, honestly nothing.

But I thought it may provide an interesting framework to evaluate the success of the 2008-9 Bruins, by knowing how a similarly powerful team faired. If the Bruins surpass a 16-game home win streak, then we can have a look at the 1976 Bruins, to see how this team measures up.