Bruins: Bobby Orr is the greatest defenseman of all-time

Many consider Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr to be the greatest defenseman ever. Do the statistics support that?

In my latest piece where I ranked the most recent first-overall draft picks, I learned more about Taylor Hall’s injury woes. When I saw this, it made me think about other players who have been riddled with injuries in their careers as well. One player that jumped out to me was Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr.

Playing way back in the late 60s and the 70s, hockey was not so focused on the skill, finesse, and speed of players. It honed in on the aggressiveness, the fighting, and the heavy hits. If there was a player who was fast and had a lot of skills, the other bigger and stronger players would try to injure them, ultimately slowing them down.

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Orr was that player that would be targeted for his elite skill and high-level skating ability. He dominated in the offensive zone, to the point where he won two Art Ross trophies, to lead the entire league in points. He remains the only defenseman to have won the trophy in NHL history.

Orr is known as the greatest defenseman in NHL history. He is hands-down the greatest player on one of the most historic teams in NHL history.

He also holds a lot of hardware. Orr has won the following awards.

2 Stanley Cups
3 Hart Trophies
8 Norris Trophies (most of all-time)
2 Art Ross Trophies
2 Conn Smythe Trophies
1 Pearson Trophy
1 Calder Trophy (1966-67)
9 all-star appearances
Enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame

Orr recorded 270 career goals, 645 career assists and 915 career points while playing in just 657 games. He ranks seventh among defenseman in goals while playing in the fewest amount of games within the top 50 defensemen in goals. Orr ranks 13th all-time for defensemen in assists while playing the fewest amount of games within the top 50 defensemen in assists.

Finally, he ranks 11th all-time for defensemen in points, while playing in the fewest amount of games within the top 50 defensemen in points. Every defenseman who ranks ahead and below him in every statistical category mentioned has played in far more games than Orr.

To put that into further perspective, Orr ranks first among defensemen in goals per game, first among defensemen in assists per game, and first among defensemen in points per game. Not only that, but Orr ranks fourth all-time in points per game and third all-time in assists per game.

When Orr played, the NHL did not calculate average ice-time per game, which led me to use per game stats per season to determine roughly what he would have scored had he played. Orr ended up missing 351 career NHL games, including an entire 80 game season. He played a full season three separate times. Based on my calculations, Orr could have scored a projected 120 goals, 287 assists, and 407 points.

If you add those numbers to his career statistics, he would’ve had 390 goals, 932 assists and 1,322 points in 1,008 games played. Orr would have ranked third in goals for defensemen, fourth in assists for defensemen, and third in points for defensemen.

The reason why he isn’t the most productive defenseman, even with the added points that were lost from injury, is because of how short his career wound up being. Orr’s injuries wound up being too much to handle, forcing him to retire after 12 seasons. If you added three more seasons, Orr would have recorded 96, 84 and 82-point seasons, respectively.

Those totals would have put him up at 1,248 games played, recording 467 goals and 1,117 assists for 1,584 points. That would have given him the all-time lead in points for a defenseman, third all-time in assists for defensemen, and the most goals all-time for a defenseman.

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It’s likely that, with the added three seasons, Orr could have won another two Norris trophies and had another 3 all-star game appearances. He would have expanded on his record for most Norris trophies for a single defenseman. Orr is a one-of-a-kind defenseman, and it is evidenced by his accolades.

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