Bucyk still enjoying lifelong relationship with Bruins

The 66-year anniversary would have slipped past Johnny Bucyk if he hadn't taken a June 10 call of congratulations. When you're a Hall of Fame icon, a member of the Boston Bruins family for that many years, you have more dates in personal history than you can keep track of.

"Sixty-six years," Bucyk said with a chuckle. "A lot of people don't have the same job now for even six years, much less spend 66 with the same company."

For decades, the 88-year-old has been the Bruins' beloved ambassador, one of countless jobs he has held with the team.

"The fans all want to say hi, take pictures, and I enjoy that," he said.

Bruins president Cam Neely cherishes a legend who almost surely would be a face on the team's modern-era Mount Rushmore.

Johnny Bucyk comes out from behind the net in early-career action with the Boston Bruins, and a poker chip-sized calling card, one of 100 that he had marking his NHL career from 1955-78. The inner ring of the coin is a likeness of Bucyk's retired number banner that hangs at TD Garden. Harold Barkley courtesy Bert Barkley; Dave Stubbs

"You have generations of fans, a grandfather is bringing his grandson or granddaughter to a game and he sees Johnny walking down the hall and he says, 'Oh my God, this is one of my favorite players,'" Neely said of Bucyk's folksy ability to bridge generations of fans. "Someone is bringing family members to games now who watched him play, knew how he played, saw the things that he did, and they share those stories.

"Johnny coming around as much as he does is very valuable for the organization, just because of how he is and how he carries himself and represents the team."

It was on June 10, 1957 that Bucyk, a 22-year-old with 104 economically-used NHL games to his name, was traded to Boston by the Detroit Red Wings with an unspecified sum of cash in exchange for 447-game goalie Terry Sawchuk.

The deal returned the 27-year-old netminder to the team he'd begun his career with in 1950, a happy homecoming given that he'd been suspended by the Bruins five months earlier when he walked out with rattled nerves complicated by the residual effects of mononucleosis.

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Never did Bucyk imagine that over the next 21 seasons he would play 1,436 games for Boston, most in its history until passed by Ray Bourque (1,518), twice winning the Stanley Cup while becoming one of the most adored Bruins of all time.

"I've loved the city since the day I arrived," Bucyk said. "It looks a little different now than it did in those days, the trains then running above the streets, but it was interesting with a lot of history. And there's great fish. I love fish. You couldn't get anything out of the ocean that's better than what you'll get in Boston."

From his late-1950s reunion in Boston with Edmonton minor-pro linemates Vic Stasiuk and Bronco Horvath, dubbed the Uke Line for their Ukrainian heritage, Bucyk would go on to captain the Bruins in 1966-67 and from 1973-77, win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972 and have 1,339 points (545 goals, 794 assists) for the spoked-B through his retirement in 1978.

To this day, he remains Boston's all-time leader in goals and ranks second to Bourque in assists and points.

Add to those totals 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) he previously had with the Red Wings.

"Sixty-six years later, I think of the wonderful way I've been treated all these years by the owners and management and fans," Bucyk said. "I can honestly say that there was only one game I recall that I was booed. Our Uke Line had a terrible game and rightly, the fans booed us. The fans liked the way I played -- very physically but trying to stay out of the penalty box. And I was scoring goals."

An Edmonton Journal report published Jan. 7, 1954, detailing Johnny Bucyk's first goal as a professional. He scored twice the night before for the Western Hockey League's Edmonton Flyers. Newspapers.com

Bucyk was home with his family in Edmonton in June 1957, thinking about another season of likely warming the bench in Detroit, when word of the trade came in a call from Bruins general manager Lynn Patrick.

He'd been property of the Red Wings since his teens, having made his pro debut with Edmonton of the Western Hockey League on Jan. 6, 1954, scoring twice at age 18 on a quick look-see call-up from the city's junior Oil Kings.

A full season and six more games of apprenticing with the WHL later, Bucyk made his NHL debut in Detroit's 1955-56 season opener at home against the Chicago Black Hawks, his first of 38 games. He'd score his first NHL goal in his 16th game, at home against the New York Rangers on Dec. 11 against goalie Gump Worsley, a power-play game-winner in a 2-0 victory.

Another 66 games followed in 1956-57, though Bucyk recalls many nights barely getting onto the ice.

Johnny Bucyk in a snapshot at age 17 with the junior Edmonton Oil Kings, and in a mid-1950s portrait with the Detroit Red Wings. Le Studio du hockey/Hockey Hall of Fame; Turofsky/Hockey Hall of Fame

"I only played when we were up by five goals or down by five goals," he joked, though he did form a lifelong friendship with Red Wings legend Gordie Howe.

"I wasn't long in Detroit but I became very close to Gordie, we were very good friends," Bucyk said. "He looked after the rookies. If anybody gave us a hard time, he was right there. I used to do things with him off the ice, he took me under his wing. We just hit it off like you wouldn't believe.

"There was a game when Detroit came to Boston, when I was with the Bruins, and Gordie got hurt and ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. I went up to see him and when he was released, I brought him home, we had a nice steak dinner at the house.

"That's stuff you don't forget. How could I forget him, everything he did for me? He was my idol."

From the end of the Red Wings bench, a young Bucyk saw Mr. Hockey's famous brawn up close.

Johnny Bucyk in a 1954 portrait with his junior Edmonton Oil Kings and from the late 1950s, the Bruins' famed "Uke Line." From left: Vic Stasiuk, Bronco Horvath, Bucyk."

"I sat on the bench in Detroit 90 percent of the time and watched Gordie," he said. "I remember an incident in Toronto with [Maple Leafs center Gord] Hannigan. He was all over Gordie all through the game, dragging him down, wrestling him. Gordie took his glove off and -- whack! Down went Hannigan and Gordie skated away like nothing happened. That's a pretty good deal -- knock a guy on his (behind) and you don't get a penalty."

General manager Patrick's call surprised Bucyk, but he was buoyed when told he'd truly get the chance to play in Boston with Horvath, at center, and Stasiuk, who played right wing to accommodate Bucyk on the left side.

"I was introduced to Bruins captain Fernie Flaman," he said. "He knew a lot of people, showed me around Boston, and made the adjustment very easy."

The Bruins lost the 1958 Stanley Cup Final to the Montreal Canadiens' five-straight dynasty in Bucyk's first season in Boston, lost a seven-game semifinal to Toronto in 1959, then missed the playoffs the next eight consecutive seasons.

Boston's Johnny Bucyk backhands the puck through the legs of Toronto goalie Johnny Bower, the puck seen just between Bower's left pad and catching glove, in 1961 action at Maple Leaf Gardens. Michael Burns Sr./Hockey Hall of Fame

Each offseason, he'd return to Edmonton and take a summer job with a car dealership that had been part of his life since its sponsorship of his junior team.

"It worked out good," Bucyk said. "When anyone went on holiday for a couple of weeks, I'd do their job. I changed oil, washed cars, changed tires, I'd be shop foreman for two weeks. I'd drive the tow truck. I did bodywork on cars, pounded out fenders for years."

Hammering sheet metal would be a perfect metaphor for how Bucyk played the game, crushing opponents with his thunderous hip checks.

"I didn't have the hip check," Neely said of Bucyk's punishing calling card. "It was tough not to get physical in Boston Garden. John was a big body, thick and strong. His hip check was legendary. If you didn't have your head up, you'd be in the third row of seats."

Even with that rough edge on his six-foot, 215-pound frame, Bucyk spent only 493 minutes in NHL penalty boxes, winning the 1971 and 1974 Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player.

Johnny Bucyk in a 1960s portrait and in action at Maple Leaf Gardens, skating past Toronto goalie Bruce Gamble. Macdonald Stewart/Hockey Hall of Fame; Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame

"I played on the edge but I never took stupid penalties, that's what cost you games," he said. "I always used to say, 'Why take a penalty? You can't score goals in the penalty box.' As for the hip check, I picked that up when I was playing junior in Edmonton. I guess it's because I've got big hips and the guys couldn't get around them."

Bucyk was paid $6,500 for each of his first three NHL seasons. Only once during his 23-season career did he sign a multiyear contract, a pact for three seasons in the mid-1960s after a productive run.

"I felt that if signed a one-year contract, I had to produce to get a new contract the next year," he reasoned.

Bucyk retired in 1978 ranked fourth all-time among NHL point-scorers (he's currently 27th), his No. 9 retired by the Bruins in 1980, a year before his Hockey Hall of Fame enshrinement.

Johnny Bucyk in a 1960-61 Weekend Magazine portrait, and signing a hat at the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. Louis Jaques/Hockey Hall of Fame; Dave Stubbs

In 2017, he was voted among the 100 Greatest NHL Players as part of the League's Centennial-year celebrations.

For a half-century, Bucyk held the record as the oldest NHL player to score 50 goals in a season, 35 years and 308 days when he scored his 50th of the 1970-71 season. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was 36 years, 215 days when he scored his 50th of the 2020-21 season.

And where Bucyk was a jack-of-all-trades with his hometown car dealership, so too has he done it all with the Bruins in retirement. For two decades he worked as the analyst alongside play-by-play radio voice Bob Wilson, dipping into other front office duties as needs arose.

He co-managed the team's public and media relations and settled into a role as the Bruins' road services coordinator, streamlining travel to and from airports, reserving restaurant tables when none existed, sniffing out stores, sleuthing out bargains, finding theatre tickets.

Bruins legends Johnny Bucyk (left) and Willie O'Ree at Boston's TD Garden on Jan. 17, 2018. Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

For years he has been the unofficial mayor of TD Garden, in the building for every Boston home game, greeting guests and fellow alumni and working the arena's corporate suites.

Bucyk says he deeply appreciates the support of the Jacobs family, who own the franchise; TD Garden president Amy Latimer; and especially Bruins president Neely.

"They've all been excellent, they just let me do what I want to do and when I want to do it," he said.

Bucyk instantly fell for Neely and his rugged yet highly skilled game when the latter arrived with Boston on June 6, 1986, in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks.

"When Cam came to the Bruins as a player, I idolized him," Bucyk said. "Many games, I'd stand by the door when he'd walk out, I'd smack him on the shoulder and say, 'All right, get a goal tonight.' I'd hate to tell you how tell you how many goals he scored because of me punching him. Now he's paying me back by letting me be team ambassador."

Neely laughs at the thought.

"The magic that 'Chief' had," he said, referring to Bucyk by his decades-old nickname, "sure, he can take some credit. I remember that vividly. Sometimes he'd say, 'You get one (goal) and one (assist) tonight' and I'd end up getting one and one, or two."

In 1970-71, Bucyk enjoyed a 51-goal season. Exactly 20 years later, so did Neely.

Hockey Hall of Fame forward Cam Neely, today president of the Boston Bruins, sits in the Boston Garden penalty box on Jan. 11, 1990. Paul Bereswill/Hockey Hall of Fame

"Chief was always around," Neely said. "That was the great thing when I was traded to Boston, I didn't really realize how many of these great alumni were still in the Boston area. They'd come into the locker room every now and again, but Chief was there every day. He's done it all. He's just such a huge part of this organization."

The Bruins' 2023-24 centennial season is almost at hand, the franchise deep into planning for myriad activities to celebrate 100 years of Boston hockey.

"What's special about it is that we're the first American NHL team to be 100 years old," Neely said, the Red Wings, New York Rangers and Blackhawks to follow in 2026-27. "We take great pride in that. With that comes great responsibility to put on a really good show. "

Expect Bucyk to be front and center for a good deal of it, Chief truly to be in his element wading into crowds, shaking hands, signing autographs, posing for photos.

"The Bruins are going all out, the centennial is going to be a first-class deal," he said.

And then, with a laugh:

"At my age, what else could I do? I've never stopped working."

Top photo: Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron accepts the annual John P. Bucyk Award from the Bruins legend on March 30, 2023 at TD Garden in Boston. The award recognizes a player's charitable and community work. Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images