The leading scorer of his generation, and possibly of the entire history of the NHL, is no more. Former hockey player Michael Bossy has died aged 65 from lung cancer. He died at home surrounded by his loved ones.
Posted at 8:09
Winner of four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders, the Quebecer still holds the NHL record for the highest career goals per game average (minimum 500 games).
Back injuries forced him to retire at age 30. However, although he was limited to 752 games in the season, he nevertheless found a way to score 573 goals. He added 85 more in 129 playoff games.
“My dad loved hockey, sure, but first and foremost he loved life. And until the end of his journey, he hung on. He wanted to live more than anything. This life, which he held at the end of his arms, decided otherwise, for reasons that escape us, ”wrote Tanya Bossy, in a press release written on behalf of the family.
Born on January 22, 1957 in Montreal, Bossy, like many young boys of his generation, developed a taste for hockey from an early age. One of 10 siblings, little Michael takes his first steps on the ice that his father maintains in the backyard of the family home in the Ahuntsic district. He was only six years old when he impressed the curious who saw him grow up on the ice rinks of the parish of Saint-Alphonse.
After rising through the ranks of minor hockey, he began his junior career with the Laval National in the QMJHL. For a little over four seasons, he exerted unchallenged domination on the Quebec circuit, collecting 532 points in 263 games. It is above all his 309 goals that mark the imagination: more than 40 years after the end of his junior internship, Bossy’s record has never been beaten. No player from another Canadian league has even come close.
From Montreal to Long Island
Although he grew up admiring the Detroit Red Wings, the perfectly bilingual young man seemed like a natural prospect for the Montreal Canadiens. In the 1977 draft, the Habs, who had just won two consecutive Stanley Cups, opted for Mark Napier. Considered too frail and not combative enough by several NHL teams, Bossy waits until the 15thand row to hear his name.
The New York Islanders make him their first-round pick because, writes the New York Times in a portrait made a few years later, “they need goals”.
This is exactly what the Quebecer gives them from his professional debut. He scored 53 goals in his very first season, which earned him the title of Rookie of the Year in the league.
UPI ARCHIVE PHOTO
Michael Bossy celebrates his third goal of the game with teammate Bryan Trottier during the 6and Stanley Cup Series game between the Bruins and the Islanders in May 1983.
The following season, his 69 goals made him the top scorer in the NHL. At the time, only Phil Esposito had done better in a single season (76 goals in 1970-1971).
Above all, on Long Island, Bossy joins a team that is at the heart of a meteoric rise. With Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies and Billy Smith, among others, the Islanders were already a power when they welcomed the maverick in the late 70s.
In 1979-1980, when the almost unbeatable Montreal Canadiens began to lose feathers, the Islanders did not miss their chance to take the upper hand. They then won the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups, only one less than the absolute record of five, held by the Habs of Maurice Richard, from 1956 to 1960.
Bossy never stopped: in 1980-1981, he tied the Rocket mark by scoring 50 goals in 50 games. And it was he who scored the winning goals that gave his team the cup in 1982 and 1983. To this day, no player has achieved this feat two years in a row.
Back problems, however, seriously slow him down. To the point where, after scoring “only” 38 goals in 1986-1987, he was forced to announce his retirement at the age of 30, at the end of a career limited to 10 seasons.
Under his reign, he was the top scorer on the circuit, closely followed by a young Wayne Gretzky. The two share, even today, the record of nine seasons of 50 or more goals.
Media
After his retirement, Bossy held all sorts of jobs. He went into business with his agent at the time, the late Pierre Lacroix, and then worked in particular for the equipment manufacturer Titan and for the manufacturer of potato chips Humpty Dumpty. Endowed with an obvious sense of humor and self-mockery, he appears himself in the company’s advertisements.
In the 90s, he began a media career that made him even more of a public favourite. After having participated in the televising of the Nordiques de Québec matches, he turned to commercial radio. At CKOI, he joined the team of Richard Z. Sirois in Crazy lunchtimesin 1992, then, in 1994, he became a columnist for the famous morning show Yé too earlyanimated at the time by Normand Bratwaite.
He momentarily held a job with the Islanders in the mid-2000s, but soon returned to the media world for good.
In 2014, he joined the MSG network, and the following year, he made the jump to TVA Sports, where he worked as an analyst until illness forced him to leave the airwaves in 2021.
“I can assure you that I intend to fight with all the determination and all the ardor that you have seen me display on the ice and in my game, he wrote in a letter addressed to his public. This same determination that helped me achieve my dreams and score my goals, the one that propelled me to the top of my sport, when I was still putting on my skates. »