ON THIS DAY: Blackhawks Sign Bobby Orr

On this date, June 8, 1976, the Blackhawks made headlines, in English and French, throughout the United States, Canada and beyond, with a momentous free agent signing.
Bobby Orr, the incomparable defenseman, was leaving the Boston Bruins for Chicago. His enormous contract, $3 million over five years, staggered the sports world. But Orr stood as one of a kind, and 44 years later, No. 4 is revered as a soloist and conductor of an unfinished symphony.

Orr had been targeted by the Bruins when he was a 14-year-old who could skate, shoot, pass and invent. He joined the lowly Bruins in 1966, a season that would end with Orr winning the Calder Trophy and Harry Howell of the New York Rangers earning the Norris Trophy as best defenseman in the National Hockey League. Howell thanked everyone for the honor, then remarked: it's nice to get this now, because there's only one guy who's going to have it for a long time.
Howell was correct. Orr claimed eight straight Norris trophies. All he did, while revolutionizing the game, was lead the Bruins to two Stanley Cups. Individually, he collected the Hart Trophy three times, the Art Ross twice and Conn Smythe twice.

"The best player in the history of the sport," proclaimed Blackhawks Chairman Arthur Wirtz during a public press conference at the Bismarck Theater, where Mayor Richard J. Daley made Orr an honorary citizen of Chicago. Several of Orr's new teammates attended: Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, Keith Magnuson, Cliff Koroll and Ivan Boldirev, along with about 3,000 fans.
Bobby Hull had departed in 1972, and though the Blackhawks went to the Final without him the year after, they had flattened out and needed a jolt. Orr represented hope, albeit with a serious caveat. His ravaged left knee was bone on bone. He had played only 10 games in his last season with the Bruins.
"We are thrilled," intoned President Bill Wirtz. "We have gambled, we have placed our bet down, but at least we have bet on a thoroughbred."
Orr actually began his Blackhawk career with Team Canada, during a preseason tournament against the world's best from the Soviet Union, Sweden and Czechoslovakia. Canada triumphed and an ebullient Orr was voted most valuable player. But as Bobby Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers rued, "he did it on one leg."
Alas, it was not to be.
"That was a long time ago," Orr was saying the other day from his home in Massachusetts. "It was difficult to leave Boston, but I was excited about Chicago. Great city, another Original Six franchise, wonderful old building, terrific fans. Boston and Chicago had some great games against each other. Tough, competitive games. I knew the clock was ticking, though. My knee was bad, and not getting any better. I was thinking, while I played for my country in 1976, that I might not have much left. But I wanted to give it a go, because I played hurt before. I wish I could have done more for the Blackhawks, but I just wasn't able."

In his seventh game with the Blackhawks, Orr became the first NHL defenseman to record 900 points. He beat Eddie Johnston, an old pal from the Bruins, now in goal for St. Louis. But Orr would play only 20 games for the Blackhawks that season. When Coach Billy Reay was dismissed just before Christmas 1976, Orr became a co-coach beside Bill White and Mikita, who were also injured.
Orr took the entire 1977-78 schedules to rehabilitate, then tried again the next season. But he played just six games, then retired tearfully at only 30. The Hockey Hall of Fame waived protocol and inducted him as the youngest living member. Numbers? He produced 915 points in 657 games with a plus-582. For 74 playoff games, 92 points and a plus-60.
"My last goal for Chicago was at the Detroit Olympia," Orr went on. "That was in October of 1978. Like I say, I wanted to do more, but I had nothing left. I think that was also my last game, period. I'm not sure. Maybe I'll have to Google me."
Orr briefly served the Blackhawks in the front office, then returned to Boston in 1980. He is hugely successful as a representative for numerous NHL stars, there's a statue of his airborne 1970 clincher at the TD Garden there, and he's living happily ever after at 72.
"With some new parts," Orr noted. "Both knees, hip, shoulder. I could have used them with the Blackhawks. Too late now."
Last month, on March 10, Orr quietly marked a truly special occasion -- the 50th anniversary of his goal that clinched a Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins. There was to be a celebration in his adopted hometown, but COVID-19 intervened.
Still, there is that photograph of Orr, fittingly flying through the air on a horizontal path like Superman, after tucking the puck past Goalie Glenn Hall of the St. Louis Blues 40 seconds into overtime in Game 4 of the Final at Boston Garden. Noel Picard, a hefty defenseman who tried to trip Orr away from taking a shot, looks on helplessly. It is one of the most famous snapshots in sports history.

The black and white picture is on the cover of his autobiography -- "Orr, My Story" --and is forever embedded in the fabric of Boston, where the Bruins won their first Cup since 1941.
"I've told Bobby many a time," recalled Hall, a Hall of Famer who anchored the Blackhawks' championship in 1961. "By the time he landed, I had gone to the locker room, taken a shower and had a couple cold ones."
Orr chuckles at the recollection.
"Glenn was not only a great, great goalie," he said. "He's a heck of a good guy, and still very funny. He's probably seen that picture more than he cares to. I saw him not long ago, and he said, 'Bobby, is that the only goal you ever scored?"