When Orr released his book in 2013 I went with my family to his book signing. At the time I was like 9 years old, I was looking the other way and he(Orr) smacked me on the head with the book to get my attention... still one of my favourite memories of all time 😆

What a lot of people forget is that Orr put up these astounding numbers on one good knee for most of his career. The most complete player in hockey history played with a tormented knee. He's the best there is, was and ever will be.

Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky were the 2 greatest players I have ever had the pleasure to watch. Nobody could go end to end like Orr, he would just blow by everyone on the ice.

The great thing about Orr was that his slap shot from the point was always on net, hence the goalies HAD to make a save often giving up the rebound to a waiting Esposito (hence all the assists) . They really complimented each other well. Add in all the excellent puck handling and you had a monumental tallent. Glad you covered him.

A great job of describing my favorite player of all time. I felt like I was 10 years old when I had the opportunity at a meet and greet for Bobby to sign a jersey, a card, and on a piece of paper. His character that was famous was on full display when after we were done, I glanced back and my daughter went back to him and asked if she could get a picture with him. Before he could answer a gentleman who was overseeing the lineup came over & explained that if people wanted a picture that maybe everyone in line wouldn't get the chance to see him. Bobby politely listened and as soon as the gentleman turned around he leaned over and said, "come and get a picture with me." I was off to the side and got my favorite picture of Bobby Orr and my daughter and a friend of hers. It's a memory I will always cherish...

Gifted but so humble. He's the best player I ever saw in my many years of following hockey !

One of my favorite stories of Bobby Orr comes from Harry Howell. He was for much of his career expected to be one of the best defensemen to never win the Norris until finally at the age of 34 the long-time Ranger won the Norris in 1966-'67. He said he was especially happy that he won that year because he said Orr would "own" the Norris from then on (Orr was third in Norris voting that year). Orr would win the Norris for the next eight years.

I'm a 77 year old recovering leaf fan who (as my memory serves me right) was at a game at Maple Leaf Gardens where the junior team which might have been all star but I think it was the Generals. It was against the Soviet Union team. Like I say, what I remember is Orr played the whole game and we won 1 to nothing. Oh ya, and he scored the goal. What about the best pizza in Toronto, ever. Bobby Orr Pizza.

He is the reason I started watching hockey at 10. The first game I watched and actually payed attention to was the 69/70 cup winning match. He was the most exciting player of that era. He could dominate games like no one else.

I was watching your career videos for Gretzky, Lemieux and Howe and I was like “I wonder when he’s gonna do bobby?” Thanks Shannon 👍 keep up the good work

I remember a game where Orr was ragging the puck on a penalty kill. Got his glove knocked off with a slash. He skated around the rink, with the puck, skated by and bent over to pick up his glove and put it on without losing control of the puck. Never saw that again.

I so wish I could have seen him play. What an amazing and humble athlete. There are several documentaries on him and it's awesome to hear not just his teammates but opposing players talk about how fantastic he was. Clearly a lot of respect there. There are some great stories about him killing penalties and how the team on the power play couldn't get the puck away from him. Plus, like Shannon said, he was an excellent defensive defenseman too. Basically he could do it all better than anyone else and on one leg. Amazing.

What a great board that TEG put together

Can't love this game and not recognize Orr as best player ever. Even if you hated the Bruins (as I did n the 70's), you couldn't help but appreciate what he accomplished, not just for his team, but for the game, and for every player that has followed.

Happy Birthday Bobby Orr .. The Greatest Hockey Player of All Time !!👍🏒

Friends of mine, in Toronto for a Children's Wish trip for their boy ( who's sadly passed away since ) saw Orr at the Bruins' practice. They approached him. He happily sat the boy on his knee for several photos and signed autographs. They told him I was his biggest fan, so I got one of each, too. One of the classiest people in hockey history.

There is a great documentary that has aired on the NHL Network a few times about the 70's Bruins. It has a great quote from Bobby Clarke in it where he says the first time he played against Bobby Orr in the NHL he said, "That bigger should be in a league higher than this one". I highly recommend watching it. It is one of if not the best hockey documentary I have seen.

Imagine if he had good knees for his whole career imagine how crazy his numbers would have been

He's the best player,ever, to put on skates. I was watching the late night news during Bobby's last year and the news had Mr. Orrs play as a huge news story because he wasn't Bobby Orr any more. I cried, just as when Muhammad Ali lost to Larry Holmes. Their godlike talents had to leave my young eyes, and it really hurt... so much. Love the show, don't ever stop, or this now 60 year old might be driven to tears again.

I really like that you have all the stats and awards right there to look at... It's almost habit for me to pull that up in a side window when watching someone talk about a player.

I always visit the Orr bronze when in Boston. They’ve since moved it from in front of TD. He’s my biggest hockey hero.

Bobby by far, was the best hockey player ever. Good job on this, but..the other players you have mentioned did not control the whole game. I'm old enough to have seen Orr play right from when entered the NHL. He could control the whole game. If he chose to (which sometimes he did), he could hold on to the puck forever. It was not uncommon to see him with the puck, in the other team's end, and skate back into his end, basically playing keep-away. This is not a generational player, this was the best there ever was...We will never see another...

I grew up watching Bobby Orr. He was my idol and reason for learning and playing hockey. To me he is the Greatest of All Time. There are great names like Howe, Gretzky and Lemieux but I cannot think of another player that fundamentally changed the way the game was played the way he did. He was so exciting to watch.

While I'm too young to have watched Orr, seeing his highlights and what he was able to do is always impressive. As for future career videos, I would love to see a career video on Chris Kunitz. 4 cups over the course of his career and was important to those cup runs. Underated career.

My hockey watching started in 1970, so I got to watch most of Bobby Orr's prime years, but by his last complete year (74-75) I was still only 14 years old, and at that age and younger you can't really appreciate what you're watching. You just don't understand the game enough. But I'd still say Orr was the greatest player I ever saw. Two things about him: when he retired and until Gretzky came along, he had the highest PPG of any player in NHL history-as a defenseman. Second, he was the best player in the league and also the best fighter. Can't even begin to imagine that nowadays, when good players aren't allowed to fight. I used to get a kick out of Orr interviews, because he always came across as such a mild, soft spoken guy, but the same guy on the ice, when something broke out-watch out. It wa slike he was two completely different guys. One other thing. Around this time you had three players in different sports that seemed to have other-worldly talent, talent beyond merely being great players: Orr in hockey, Sandy Koufax in baseball, and Gale Sayers in Football. And all three had very short careers and were basically finished before they were 30. My father used to say that you couldn't be that good and last long because the human body wasn't made to do such things and would eventually break down. Now we see with McDavid, a similar talent, that he's been able to stay in the line up most of the time. And he has actually suffered a serious injury, but with no permanent effect on his career. Makes you think that if Orr was around now, with modern sports medicine, he could have played 15-20 years. They would have figured out his knee problems. But he came along too soon.

Without a doubt the greatest talent in NHL history. Arguably the best player as well. I think he is.

in my opinion, Orr is the goat. I think of it as "who wins, 5 Gretzky's or 5 Orr's?" its Orr every time.

My dad has the games for the 76 Canada cup and its ridiculous how good he is even with his knees finished the roster is loaded with Hall of fame guys like Lafleur and Gilbert perreault and Orr still stands out

It wasn’t just about the numbers with Orr, it was how he played the game, the style, the grace The phenomenal way he carried the puck. The way he left the other players guessing what and when he was going to do something special.

Because the other players in the NHL couldn't catch him, when they would stick check him they would hit him in the knees to slow Bobby down. If that didn't happen, he would have had a longer career. I grew up playing hockey in Las Vegas, NV and number 4 Bobby Orr was my hero. My grandfather took me to see him play the Los Angeles Kings in 1970. Happy 77th birthday Bobby!

Great summary, giving his amazing stats and also his all-around game. I started watching hockey when the Habs were in the middle of their 5 Stanley Cups, and I'm about as far from being a Boston fan as you can get, but I have to say that I've never seen anyone who dominated games the way Bobby Orr did. He did it all, and did it at an extremely high level.

He was so amazing, I'm so blessed to have seen him live so many times. Wish I'd been there to see the Cup winner set up by my alltime favourite Bruin, Derek Sanderson.

Bobby Orr was definitely the best all around player of all time. Imagine leading scoring in the league as a defenseman, and winning the Norris? Crazy.

This was a great video and so glad you did it. I hope some ppl will read this comment about him: I was fortunate enough to meet Bobby Orr twice as a kid, just the kindest man alive. At a providence bruins game one time when I was 12 he was eating dinner at a restaurant at the rink upstairs and the head security guard came down to tell me so I could go up to the restaurant and meet him. When I got over to where he was seated, his own security guard said “cmon kid he’s eating. Leave Mr. Orr alone. Let’s go”. Bobby saw me and heard his security guy tell me to get lost so he yelled out to the guy “hey, go take a break. Hey buddy cmon over and take a seat” then let me sit down and eat lunch with him for 20-30 min. When he was all done he asked if I had anything to sign, which I didn’t aside from my Bourque jersey (which I had him sign lol) so he asked 12yo me to write down my address in a piece of paper which he took and placed in his inside pocket. About two weeks my dad yells “hey Andy, you’ve got some pretty special mail here!” SO, Number Four Bobby Orr literally personally mailed me 36x24” personally autographed photo of “the shot”. The address was written in his own hand meaning he did wrote and sent it himself. I will forever love him for that. It’s been 25 years and I still absolutely love telling that story and letting people get an idea of just what kind of man Bobby Orr is; and that’s nothing short of a wonder, kind and considerate human being, who also just so happened to be good at hockey.

Orr was a gem. Such a shame that he didn’t play longer.

I just have to thank you. I'm from TN and was a kid when Nashville got the preds. Back then they were giving away tickets like crazy just trying to sell hockey in such a small southern market. My dad got us tickets to a couple games when I was 10-12 and I still this day have never experienced a more fun sporting event than live hockey games. Over the years I've always kind of kept an eye out for the preds performance but never really got to far into hockey as a hole. I've lost my interest in NFL and NBA in recent years and just started watching highlights of NHL and caught the bug. Then your channel showed up and I'm quickly becoming a serious fan. I love the history videos as that's the stuff I never knew and always made me feel like an outsider.

I'm surprised it took you so long! Arguably the greatest of all time as far as peak goes. Was just talking about it yesterday on hfboards how I couldn't believe he was +124 in 70-71

So skilled, so much hockey sense, and effort was there in spades.

Not even a question of greatest Dman of all time. Absolute icon

Bobby Orr is the Greatest Ever. Greatest Playmaker, Greatest Defender, Greatest Scorer, Greatest Team Mate

Orr said he did not pick the number 4, it was the trainer who put that jersey in his stall when he first got to Boston in his first training camp. I've told this story before. My first exposure to hockey as a little kid. All the adults were watching a game on tv (black and white tv). I knew next to nothing about the game except it was played with skates, on ice with sticks. After watching for a bit I noticed it was always the same player with the puck. I asked one of the adults (I can't recall who) "How come the man in black keeps the puck all the time, isn't he supposed to share with the ones in white?". I was about 9 years old. From that point I was a Bruins and an Orr fan. I only wish I had been old enough to appreciate what I was seeing back then.

Orr had his first serious knee injury in his rookie season, and the injury was compounded by further debilitating injury throughout his career. He had at least eight very invasive knee surgeries in his career, as that was what knee surgeries were in those days. That he managed the amazing stats that Shannon chronicled is a testament to Orr's toughness and skill. The GOAT in my book. Plus, the man is so humble and respectful.

Russel, Yaz, Orr, Bird, Papi, Brady - all played as hard as they could for as long as they could. Living through all that makes struggling through Boston winters worthwhile. Orr got me on hockey skates and I still play to this day.

I was a kid living south of Boston when Orr was in his heyday and the Bruins won the two Cups. And after all these years, and the comings and goings of other great players, I STILL regard Orr as the best at any position to ever lace up a pair of skates. He will always be the gold standard for defensemen (defencemen for my Canadian friends). To wit, the other day I saw an interview video where Bo Byram of the Avalanche responded (modestly) to a question about a slick goal he had scored. One of his teammates (who was not in the video shot) called him "Bobby Orr," to which Bo just laughed and moved on. But it just goes to show that when you talk about an amazing performance by a defender, the automatic comparison is Bobby Orr.

Listening to you speak of Orr brings on the water works..I was blessed in 71/72 to watch him play almost all his home games at the garden.. It was even hard to hold it together getting his autograph a few years ago My girl kept saying breathe just breathe and he was so humble. I was like one of those crazy girls watching the Beatles with a little more poise.... Thank you so much for talking about Orr.. Why don't you do a show on Brad Park and Bobby Orr.. You know how many Norris trophies Park would have won without Orr in the League.. I'd like to hear the stats of the 20 games they played together before they were split up

What makes Orr different from other offensive defensemen is that the defensive side of his game didn’t suffer. He could literally play two positions at once.

Bobby Orr is the greatest 200 foot player of all time. Also was responsible for what we see now as the modern Defenseman. I’ll take him over anyone.

This was a great video, thank you, brought back lots of memories

Thanks for your good work, Shannon.

Thanks Shannon. I really enjoyed this video. Happy Birthday Bobby Orr! This was my introduction to watching hockey... saturday night hockey at my grandpa's house. How lucky was i!

Great job! I’m sure you have lots of request ….Jean Ratelle or Bras Park would be great career for you to review….keep up the great work Shannon!

Bobby Orr the best of all time it's too bad his knee got the better of him if it wasn't for that who knows how long he could have played

Funny thing about ORR, is he lives in the same town I grew up in. Sandwich Massachusetts. Met him at the grocery store, extremely nice man. And the kids who lived close to him on the golf course always talked about how he gave the best trick or treats on Halloween.

Bobby Orr is the greatest hockey player of all time.

Boston born I was 10 when Orr scored the famous goal, glen Hall of the blues tripped him, if I wasn't on the ice we were playing street hockey,(car) everyday, back then the bruins were very popular even before the cup year, the Patriots Shaffer stadium had loads of empty seats,lol, until Brady, hodge,cashman, Johnathan, pie, the chief, espo, great teams those years. Thanks for memories.

Another great post…keep’em coming:)

Bobby got me into hockey back in the day... loved the rivalry with Montreal. Liked Montreal, then fell for the Canucks. Fond of the 70s Canucks as a BC boy, but not much to cheer for. Nucks been breaking my heart since 82.

70-71 I remember the Canucks owner at the time saying Vancouver could sell 45,000 tickets to watch Orr play in his city.

My godmother dated Bobby Orr about 40 years ago. She isn't a blood relative but was my mother's best friend throughout childhood and up until today.. I need to ask her about him.

Great video, thank you.

An amazing career and I always think of him as 2nd all time behind Gretzky. However, Orr had the greatest and most impressive run of any player ever. He could do it all and it's such a shame things went the way they did before he reached his full potential... crazy talk...

Orr is the best D man to ever played the game. Imagine the numbers without that knees 😮 INSANE!

Great video Shannon. He is my favorite player of all time even with me being a Habs fan. If you ask Orr who was the greatest he will say Gordie Howe. So sad to see him have to retire when he did. I actually got a chance to him play live at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in the1974-1975 season. He was amazing to watch. What Eagleson did to him was just wrong. The Bruins were offering him 18.5% ownership of the franchise and he was never told.

Imagine Bobby Orr today in a 3 on 3 overtime with that much open ice! He skated around guys like they were cones! Best I have ever seen.

greatest player i ever saw.. glad i got to watch him.

Small correction. Orr didn’t play in the 77-78 season. He took that year off and tried to come back the next year in 78-79.

He was offered a 15% stake in the Bruins... absolutely screwed by Eagleson. Orr went bankrupt shortly after retirement and Eagleson said he was living outside his means. Meanwhile that 15% stake would've set him up for life. Eagleson once known as Uncle Al to Canada and holding the second highest civilian accolade from Canada (later revoked) did a lot for hockey both positive and negative. While he was absolutely atrocious in his misdeeds, who knows if hockey would be where it is today if he hadn't done the positives he did for the international scene amongst other things he did right. In the end, he had some great ideas, he was just a greedy bastard.

The GREATEST to ever play the game. #4

This Guy change the game forever what a player

I don’t know if he was the best defensemen ever, but he is undoubtedly the most important to the history of the game. I highly recommend his autobiography.

As Don Cherry would say, a team of Bobby Orrs would always beat a team of Gretzkys. He could do it all. Score, defend and hit. He was scary to watch as a Habs fan, but rarely celebrated his goals. He almost seemed embarrassed.

Greatest hockey player ever. Even better human being.

To me, it's pretty much impossible to definitely say who was the best (non-goalie) hockey player of all time because there's a huge difference between being a defenseman and a forward and how they play. In terms of forwards, one could make arguments for each of Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, or Mario Lemieux as being the best forward ever to play the game. However, the same can not be said of defensemen - there can only be one and that one is Bobby Orr. The fact is: there has never been a more complete and talented defensemen to have ever played the game (and probably never will be) - he set offensive records that no one ever dreamed possible and played the defensive side of his position better than most as well. "As great as Orr was, it's haunting to imagine what he would have done if he had good knees." - Dave "Tiger" Williams. Enough said ...

Orr is the greatest hockey player of all time. He's also a great human being.

Greatest of all time, and he did it on one knee.

I have Orr ahead of Mario. For the fact Orr played with one knee. And took a beating every game playing 40 minutes. The man did it all including blocking pucks like a goalie to scoring hat tricks. A player who owned every square inch of the ice. Oh and he could throw hands. They tested him his rookie year. They didn't test him again after that. Bobby Orr. #4. The best player in the NHL on one knee.

Best player in NHL history

There are very few players you would put in the same league as Orr. Small town Ontario legend.

He was a gentleman. I was responsible along with other people for the food at orr walton camp. I had a friends mother with me and I asked Bobby for his autograph. He asked if i had a pen to which i replied No. He said dont worry and he skated to other end of rink got a pen and told us to have a great day!!!

Eagleson only mentioned the money that Boston was offering. What he didn't mention was that Boston was offering an ownership share of the team. Of course that wouldn't benefit Eagleson because the agent would only be getting a percentage of the salary.

Awesome career video.

1K/14K 4 days ago 269K Loved this video I was born and bought up in Boston 1951 When Orr played I was 14 What a special player he was He is the nicest guy you were ever going to meet Once when I was at a Bruins Wifes Charity in the Garden i wondered what that line was for It was to see Bobby Orr When i got inside he was sitting with Miss Massachusetts It was a magic moment Signing posters of him flying though the air Not all humans can do that Bobby asked my name Bobby Wrote On a Slant Like many left handers do To Johhny Best of Puck Bobby Orr My Best Bobby Orr Story I was at a game Bobby picked up the rebound Skated up ice over 2 blue lines Had his stick in thair waiting to take a slap shot from the point when he looked back everyone on both teams had not left the zone yet Bobby like all the greats seem to have a vision of the future in real time it was just special watching I think it should be mention how the game has changed in other ways there were no helmets and 2 line off sides were a thing thank you Bobby for all the Hockey Many rinks were made in the Boston Aera becuse of Bobby The NHL was rewarded with so many quality players from the Boston area Happy 75th my friend and thanks to Hockey Guy

Bobby Orr was the guy that would lead the rush on the attack, and was the first guy back when the other team got the puck. No other player was as dominant on every part of the rink. The guy blocked shots as good as some goalies too.

Very informative; thanks. I like doing crossword puzzles, and "Hockey great Bobby" is a popular crossword clue.

Doug Harvey was the first successful rushing defenseman. However, Harvey never put up numbers like Orr did.

Number Four, Bobby Orr. Number One, Shan non!

His 70-71 plus 124 is still the record for plus/minus

Wayne I think your great, but Bobby Orr was the greatest hockey player I ever saw (I've seen them both in person). And Bobby played on a bad knee almost his whole career. Can we imagine his play if he had played 100% healthy? Another factor to consider is that Bobby was very humble and respectful. He didn't like to embarrass other players or hockey cities. Only Bobby can say, but he may have backed off sometimes in order to not humiliate other goalies and teams. He may have backed off to let his team mates get some points.

In the 1969-70 season, not only did he win the Stanley Cup, but he also scored the Cup-winning goal 40 seconds into overtime.

I would love a Terry Sawchuk video!!!!:)

Until Orr broke it in his third season, the NHL record for single-season goals scored by a defencemen was held by Doug Mohns, who set it while playing for the Bruins. After being traded to Chicago, Mohns moved up to forward and was part of the famous Scooter Line, along with Stan Mikita and Ken Wharram.

Do not forget about the Orr cameo in The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

Nice presentation. Minor correction Orr sat out the 1977-78 season. 1978-79 was his final season. Orr's father wrote a letter to the Maple Leafs asking them to sponsor Orr's minor league team giving the Leafs the rights to Orr. Maple Leafs basically said "Don't call us we'll call you....."

(Pens fan here) Orr is the greatest of all - time. Sure Gretzky has a ton of records set when defense was...ahem..'minimal', and Lemiuex is up there (He's second behind Orr in my book) with his PPG, but Orr. Orr was special. Like watching Sandy Koufax pitch in his prime. "The light that burns twice as bright burns twice as fast, and you have burned so very bright my friend"

Bobby Orr retired 3 years before I was born and I didn't even get into hockey until 1990 because my parents weren't fans, but having watched enough clips, I'm fairly convinced he's the GOAT of hockey. Not Wayne, not Mario, not Lafleur. Those guys were all fantastic, top 5 all time players in the NHL. But he played prior to the Live Puck Era and put up insane offensive numbers. The Bruins could put him out on the PK and he'd just take the puck and go for a skate, from one end of the rink to the other and nobody could touch him. Obviously someone eventually did, because he had to retire early due to his bad knees. But I'd put him up with Pavel Bure in terms of his skating and explosiveness. He could just blow by opposing players like they were daydreaming. I can only imagine with the equipment and the training regimen today what kind of player he could have been. I can't tell you how good he was on the defensive side, but I guess he must have been pretty good if it was almost impossible to take the puck away from him at times.

Love that Bear is there showing the colors curled up in a ball for Orr. Was waiting for Bear to do the superman across the whiteboard, still was not disappointed.

The all time greatest. I grew up in Boston watching him play and have met him many times. THE nicest man ever as well as the greatest ever. I think Patrice Bergeron is the closest I've seen since as an incredible role model.

In the 72 series with the Soviets Canada missed their 2 best players, Orr and Hull.

I like the story from the player sent out to shadow Orr. They are skating up ice together he is keeping pace, then the puck gets loose and Orr turns it up a gear to get it. He thought they were both going as fast as they could, then Orr zoomed away.

I agree with Shannon. Bobby Orr changed the game. Before Orr, the one notable defenseman who controlled the game and initiated offensive thrusts was Doug Harvey of the Canadiens. But Orr took it to a FAR greater level.