Mike Bossy, one among hockey's most prolific goal-scorers and a star for the New York Islanders throughout their Nineteen Eighties Stanley Cup dynasty, has died after a battle with lung most cancers. He was 65.
TVA Sports activities, the French-language community in Canada the place he labored as a hockey analyst, confirmed Bossy died Thursday night time. An Islanders spokesman mentioned Bossy was in his native Montreal, the place the group will play Friday night time in opposition to the Canadiens.
Bossy helped the Islanders win the Stanley Cup 4 straight years from 1980-83, incomes the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982. He scored the Cup-winning purpose in 1982 and '83.
He revealed his prognosis in October in a letter to TVA Sports activities.
"It's with a number of disappointment that I have to step away out of your screens, for a needed pause," Bossy wrote in French. "I intend to struggle with all of the dedication and fireplace you've got seen me present on the ice."
It is the third loss from that Islanders period this yr after fellow Hockey Corridor of Famer Clark Gillies died in January and Jean Potvin died in March.
Daughter Tanya Bossy mentioned her father was "not in ache."
"My dad beloved hockey, positive, however at the start he beloved life," she mentioned in a press release in French on behalf of the Bossy household. "Till the tip of his journey, he held on. He wished to reside greater than something."
Bossy was a first-round choose in 1977 and performed his complete 10-year NHL profession with New York. He gained the Calder Trophy as rookie of the yr, bought the Woman Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct 3 times and led the league in targets twice.
Bossy scored 50 or extra targets in every of his first 9 seasons - the league's longest streak. He and Wayne Gretzky are the one gamers in hockey historical past with 9 50-goal seasons.
On Friday morning, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky tweeted a photograph of himself with Bossy, writing: "It was honor to play with you. You may be missed."
"The New York Islanders group mourns the lack of Mike Bossy, an icon not solely on Lengthy Island however all the hockey world," Islanders president and basic supervisor Lou Lamoriello mentioned. "His drive to be one of the best each time he stepped on the ice was second to none. Alongside together with his teammates, he helped win 4 straight Stanley Cup championships, shaping the historical past of this franchise endlessly."
Bossy is one among solely 5 gamers to attain 50 targets in 50 video games. He stays the all-time chief in targets a sport within the common season at 0.762, and solely two gamers have recorded extra hat methods than Bossy's 39.
He ranks third in factors a sport and seventh on the all-time scoring record. These are all within the common season when Bossy put up a number of the greatest numbers within the historical past of the sport. Within the playoffs, Bossy was much more clutch. He's the one participant with 4 game-winners in the identical playoff collection and scored three playoff time beyond regulation targets.
Led by Bossy, Gillies, Bryan Trottier and defenseman Denis Potvin, the Islanders succeeded Scotty Bowman's Nineteen Seventies Montreal Canadiens because the NHL's subsequent dynasty earlier than Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers took over the game.
Bossy was an eight-time All-Star and completed with 573 targets and 553 assists for 1,126 factors in 752 regular-season video games. He was the quickest participant to succeed in the 100-goal mark and at present ranks twenty second on the profession targets record. Within the playoffs, Bossy had 160 factors in 129 video games.
Again and knee accidents in the end ended his profession in 1987. He was restricted to 38 targets in 63 video games and unable to return for an eleventh season.
Bossy was inducted into the Corridor of Fame in 1991 and in 2017 was named one of many NHL's 100 biggest gamers.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman known as Bossy a "dynamic winger" whose goal-scoring prowess ranks among the many biggest in NHL historical past.
"Although containing him was the obsession of opposing coaches and checking him the main focus of opposing gamers, Bossy's brilliance was unstoppable and his manufacturing relentless all through his complete profession," Bettman mentioned. "He thrilled followers like few others."
Earlier than reaching the NHL, Bossy performed 5 seasons within the Quebec Main Junior Hockey League with the Laval Nationwide. He had 602 factors in 298 QMJHL video games. Bossy additionally represented Canada on the Canada Cup in 1981 and 1984, lengthy earlier than NHL gamers started competing on the Winter Olympics.
Bossy had his quantity 22 retired on March 3, 1992, and his banner now hangs in UBS Area.