Mike Bossy, an NHL scoring great who won four straight Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders, died on Friday at the age of 65, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed. Canada’s Bossy had announced in October that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
“The Na-tional Hockey League mourns the passing of Mike Bossy, the dynamic winger whose goal-scoring prowess during a remarkable 10-year career ranks, by almost any measure, as one of the greatest in NHL history and propelled the New York Islanders to four straight Stanley Cups,” Bettman said in a statement.
The commissioner noted that Bossy’s 573 goals in 752 games — a .76 goals per game average — is the highest in NHL history. “He is the only player ever to record nine straight 50-goal seasons and his five 60-goal seasons are matched only by Wayne Gretzky,” Bettman added, noting that Bossy was just as dominant in the Stanley Cup playoffs, in which he scored 85 goals in 129 games.
Bossy, who was born in Montreal on January 22, 1957, scored at least 70 goals in each of his four full seasons with Laval of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.—APP
