Boston Bruins | History & Notable Players (2024)

Boston Bruins, American professional ice hockey team based in Boston that plays in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Bruins have won the Stanley Cup six times (1929, 1939, 1941, 1970, 1972, and 2011).

Established in 1924, the Bruins were the first American team to join the NHL. Success came to the team relatively early, with the Bruins winning the 1929 Stanley Cup over the New York Rangers in the first Stanley Cup finals to feature two American teams. The early Bruins teams featured future Hall of Fame members Eddie Shore, Aubrey (“Dit”) Clapper, and Cecil (“Tiny”) Thompson, among others. The Bruins took home two more Stanley Cups, after the 1938–39 and 1940–41 seasons, behind goal-keeping great Frank Brimsek. They returned to the Stanley Cup finals five more times between 1943 and 1958 but lost on each occasion.

After a dreadful run in the 1960s, during which the Bruins finished last in the NHL in six of the seven seasons from 1960–61 to 1966–67, superstars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito emerged to resurrect the franchise. The two led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 1970, in the team’s first league championship in 29 years. Orr, a defenseman, was the Bruins’ most popular player until he left the team after the 1975–76 season, netting three league Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards (1970–72) and leading the team to another Stanley Cup win in 1972.

Future Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque joined the Bruins in 1979 and quickly became the new face of the franchise, playing for the team for almost two decades. The Bruins consistently contended during this period, as evidenced by their NHL-record 29 consecutive playoff appearances between 1968 and 1996, but they often played second fiddle to teams such as the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers.

After playing through a stretch of seasons from 1997–98 to 2007–08 that saw the Bruins lose in the first round of the playoffs in five of their six postseason appearances, the team returned to the Stanley Cup finals after a 20-year absence in 2010–11. Behind the outstanding play of goaltender Tim Thomas—who set a finals record by recording 238 saves over the course of the series—the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to capture their sixth championship. The Bruins returned to the Stanley Cup finals in 2012–13 but lost in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2013–14 the Bruins had the best record in the NHL but were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. Over the following four years, the team continued to post winning records but failed to make significant progress in the postseason when the team qualified for it. Boston broke through in 2018–19, advancing to the Stanley Cup finals (a seven-game series loss to the St. Louis Blues) behind outstanding goaltending by Tuukka Rask.