The Boston Bruins are a storied franchise with so many great players that have come and gone over their 90 year existence.
Throughout those years the Bruins have created a brand of hockey that will forever be remembered in Black and Gold. Bruins hockey. Tough, big, bad and sometimes ugly.
In this Two Pad Stack mini series, we will be looking at Bruins players who were at the forefront of establishing the ‘Big Bad Bruins’ style of hockey and those who were deemed the Boston Bruins toughest players. Believe me, categorizing those guys into a Top 10 is hard. Really hard. There will be a whole group of players who will miss out that could have easily made it in – we could easily have done a Top 30.
So without further ado, at No.8 of our toughest Bruins is…
WAYNE CASHMAN
One of the original members of the ‘Big Bad Bruins’, Wayne Cashman was one of the toughest customers of his era. Playing all 17 seasons in Boston on the way to helping his team win 2 Stanley Cup – plus serving as captain for a number of years – Cashman soon became one of the Bruins most cherished players.
A hard grinding left winger, the 6ft1″ Cashman was never afraid to use his big, physical nature. Spending the majority of his career on a line with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge, it was usually up to Cashman to hustle hard and get the puck to his linemates. Despite not being as skilful as others the Bruins winger was a very underrated playmaker and was recognised more because he worked hard to make everyone else better. Whether it was getting to the corners for a puck battle or protecting his teammates and taking on an enforcer role, he was ready to do it.
When protecting his teammates Cashman tallied up 45 fights for the Black and Gold along with chalking up 1,041 penalty minutes throughout his career, which is pretty impressive when you think he had eight 20+ goal seasons. He achieved the same feat in four straight seasons along with 100+ PIMs.
If opponents were ever tempted to take a run at Esposito or Bobby Orr, ‘Cash’ would normally make them think twice before they did it again.
Most Memorable Season
Cashman played in an era dominated by Orr, for many the greatest player the NHL has seen. He won 2 Stanley Cups whilst playing alongside the Boston legend so it’s safe to say Cashman had his fair share of memorable seasons.
But perhaps his most memorable season was in 1974. Cashman had his best ever points total putting up 30 goals and 59 assists on his way to finishing fourth in the league in points. This performance also meant Cashman made the All-Star game that year along with making the NHL Second All-Star Team at seasons end.
For somebody that dropped the gloves as often as Cashman an All-Star spot was one hell of an achievement even if he was playing on one of the most talented teams of that era.
Toughest Season
The 1970-71 saw Cashman hit the 100 penalty minute mark for the second straight season with exactly 100 PIMs. But in terms of toughness 45 of Cashman’s 100 minutes spent in the box came as a result of fighting. Nine regular season fights plus 1 in the playoffs that year proves that Cashman really was a bodyguard for his team.
Biggest Rival
The Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres have never liked each other. Whether it be 1970 or 2014 there’s quite a bit of bad blood.
1971 was no different as it was one of two occasions where Cashman and Reg Fleming went toe to toe although this particular situation portrayed the sheer hatred between the two teams rather than the two fighting fairly. They didn’t like each other. The teams didn’t and still don’t. You can be sure the fans feel the same and probably always will.
Like most physical players, as time went on they began to slow down. As the penalty minutes went down, so did the fights. 13 fights in his last five seasons was enough to prove that time was getting the best of Wayne Cashman. Following his retirement Cashman went on to a number of coaching roles, including head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and an assistant role at the Bruins.
Be sure to keep it here for No.7 of the Boston Bruins Top 10 Toughest Players.
