Bobby Orr.... best bruin of all time, best defenseman of all time, and arguably the best player of all time

Terry O'Reilly! He could score a few, bash a few and had guts. Not the most skilled overall but he would eat the goal post if it meant winning. I will take heart over flash any day!

There are soooooo many choices. But I'd have to say Bobby Orr. Not only the greatest Bruin, but the best NHLer ever. I agree with Revo, I'm hoping that Bergeron and/or Lucic excel to the levels of Bucyk, Espo, O'Reilly and oh so many more. Dark Horse: Wayne Cashman (yeah I know)

timmy thomas.

Please, the discussion begins and ends with Robert Gordon Orr. Not only "best Bruin", but considered by many best ever. Bad knees forced him out of the game too early and Alan Eagleson forced him out of Boston. There are many great players that have played in "the Hub", but only 4 can be 1.

Number 4 Bobby Orr.. NO CONTEST
Could skate around anyone.. had five gears
could shoot as accurately as anyone..
scoring?? c'mon... as a defenseman he won the scoring title!! Unheard of in the day
In an era of hardnose Hockey Orr could stand toe to toe with anyone and most often come out on top!
Passing... was there anyone better??
He is the best to ever lace a pair of skates no question.

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This question or debate needs a bit of fine-tuning, eh? If we're talking about most skilled/best Bruin of all-time, Orr's the obvious choice. If we're talking about guys who were the best "true Bruins", that's where O'Reilly, Neely, Cashman, etc. come in, though I dare say, when it came to playing in pain and with almost reckless disregard for the welfare of his own body, Orr didn't play second fiddle to any of those great, "true" Bruins.

But let's digress to the unmatchable, magnificent #4. Highlight videos don't do him justice by the way. You'd be even more impressed by all of those great moves, goals and passes if you were knew the context in which many of them took place.

People frequently, especially non-B's fans, mistakenly allowed Orr's outrageous skill level to mask his heart and toughness. It's too bad to see some of same happening here by Bruins fans, though I suspect that most who feel that way are too young to have watched Bobby play night-in, night-out.

The bottomline on Orr, and you can take this right to the bank: No one in any team sport has ever controlled a game the way Orr did. Not Gretzky, Howe, Mario, Lafleur, Hull, Richard or Crosby; not Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell or Wilt; and certainly not any football or baseball player.

What other team athlete could you say that about? That's right...

A phenomenon that reflected Orr's unique ability to control games more than any other professional team athlete: Whether it be at home or on the road, Orr regularly had fans laughing audibly, simply because many of the things he did had never been done (before or since) to the degree that he did them. A few guys here and there, but Orr did it all, and did it all at top speed! A lot of guys have to slow down to be at their best. During his peak years, Orr could, by himself, speed up or slowdown most games he played in. What did the situation call for? What did the B's need? Hell, Orr was on the ice most of the time anyway, I'd love to know what his average minutes played were (they didn't keep track of that back then)!

Orr was similar to that kid in your neighborhood or school who was by the far the best, usually at every sport he participated in. What made Orr unique is that as a professional athlete, that simply ain't supposed to happen. But in Orr's case, and in his alone, it did. And we were lucky enough to have him in our own backyards right here in New England.

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This one is easy! Robert G. Orr. Greatest Hockey player of ALL TIME!!!!

A better post would be;
Other than Orr, who is the best Bruin of all time?

This would allow us to bring up some of our personal favorites from the many greats that have pulled over the spoked B. (Neely, Bourque, O'Reiley, Cheevers, Shore, etc..)

But as the question now reads there is only one answer, Orr.

not even close ,,BOBBY ORR he had 2 surgical proccedures in jr,s on his knees before starting a pro career could you see him as a healthy 18 year old. ........ NEELY a distant 2ND

Let's make a team

D -Bobby Orr !! - EASY the best

Followed By not in any order

D -Ray Bourque -
LW -Johnny Bucyk
RW -Cam Neely
C - Phil Esposito
G -Gerry Cheevers by default

others that might qualify by I never saw play

Milt Schmidt
Terry Sawchuck
Ernie Shore

One more if he had played his WHOLE career here is Brad Park

Bobby Orr no question. The person that started this ridiculous thread should have their head examined. By monkeys. Blind monkeys. Retarded blind monkeys.

Orr

Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, Cam Neely, Terry O'Reilly. Gerry Cheevers, Byron Dafoe

I was going to say... Dafoe? Although I love the guy, and I'll always remember the best-man brawl vs. Kolzig. But I don't believe he belongs on the list. Especially when you have Cheevers, Tiny Thompson, Moog & Brimsek. But upon further review, it ain't a stretch for the modern era.

Bobby Orr revolutionized the way defensemen play the game. Perhaps he wouldn't be effective in today's clutch-and-grab neutral zone trap BS NHL, but he stands out as one of the greats of all time.

[Quote]This question or debate needs a bit of fine-tuning, eh? If we're talking about most skilled/best Bruin of all-time, Orr's the obvious choice. If we're talking about guys who were the best "true Bruins", that's where O'Reilly, Neely, Cashman, etc. come in, though I dare say, when it came to playing in pain and with almost reckless disregard for the welfare of his own body, Orr didn't play second fiddle to any of those great, "true" Bruins.

But let's digress to the unmatchable, magnificent #4. Highlight videos don't do him justice by the way. You'd be even more impressed by all of those great moves, goals and passes if you were knew the context in which many of them took place.

People frequently, especially non-B's fans, mistakenly allowed Orr's outrageous skill level to mask his heart and toughness. It's too bad to see some of same happening here by Bruins fans, though I suspect that most who feel that way are too young to have watched Bobby play night-in, night-out.

The bottomline on Orr, and you can take this right to the bank: No one in any team sport has ever controlled a game the way Orr did. Not Gretzky, Howe, Mario, Lafleur, Hull, Richard or Crosby; not Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell or Wilt; and certainly not any football or baseball player.

What other team athlete could you say that about? That's right...

A phenomenon that reflected Orr's unique ability to control games more than any other professional team athlete: Whether it be at home or on the road, Orr regularly had fans laughing audibly, simply because many of the things he did had never been done (before or since) to the degree that he did them. A few guys here and there, but Orr did it all, and did it all at top speed! A lot of guys have to slow down to be at their best. During his peak years, Orr could, by himself, speed up or slowdown most games he played in. What did the situation call for? What did the B's need? Hell, Orr was on the ice most of the time anyway, I'd love to know what his average minutes played were (they didn't keep track of that back then)!

Orr was similar to that kid in your neighborhood or school who was by the far the best, usually at every sport he participated in. What made Orr unique is that as a professional athlete, that simply ain't supposed to happen. But in Orr's case, and in his alone, it did. And we were lucky enough to have him in our own backyards right here in New England.[/Quote] I grew up watching number 4 on Channel 56, and I couldn't agree more, except I would add that Pele really is in the same league; nobody else...at least nobody that I am aware of...in fact, Pele was Orr and Gordy Howe all in one (and I just can't put Gretzsky in this conversation as terrific as he was), skill, speed, longevity, toughness, charisma, strength.

Bobby Orr

Cam Neely

Terry O'Reilly

Pesonal favorites -

Wayne Cashman

Stan Jonothan

John Wensink

Al Secord

you kidding? Orr

one other thing, bobby had 5 surgeries and didn't play a full year after turning 26.......we never saw him at his best as he never reached his prime.....

[Quote] I grew up watching number 4 on Channel 56, and I couldn't agree more, except I would add that Pele really is in the same league; nobody else...at least nobody that I am aware of...in fact, Pele was Orr and Gordy Howe all in one (and I just can't put Gretzsky in this conversation as terrific as he was), skill, speed, longevity, toughness, charisma, strength.[/Quote]

Pele...excellent point, I'm sure. Though I did see him play when he was older (NASL Cosmos), I didn'd then and still don't today, know enough about soccer to be able to compare Pele and Orr's comparative abilities to control games in their respective sports. Having said that, if Pele...still regarded as the best soccer player ever...is the only other team athlete who could be compared to Orr as far as controlling games within their sport, that's further testimony to the rarified air that Orr breathed.

Amen "gilardo". The only thing Orr couldn't do was beat bad knees. I posted last week only 4 can be 1.