Bruins release full “Historic 100” list ahead of season

Just 12 days before their first preseason game vs. the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins officially released their full “Historic 100” list.

The list was determined by a team of media members, hockey historians, and general members of the hockey community. This same committee will also release a full All-Centennial team, ahead of the regular season on October 12.

The list consisted of:

• Jason Allison
• Don Awrey
• P.J. Axelsson
• Garnet “Ace” Bailey
• Marty Barry
• Bobby Bauer
• Patrice Bergeron
• Leo Boivin
• Ray Bourque
• Johnny Boychuk
• Frank Brimsek
• Johnny Bucyk
• Herb Cain
• Wayne Cashman
• Zdeno Chara
• Gerry Cheevers
• Dit Clapper
• Roy Conacher
• Bill Cowley
• Jack Crawford
• Keith Crowder
• Byron Dafoe
• Gary Doak
• Ted Donato
• Woody Dumart
• Phil Esposito
• Andrew Ference
• Fernie Flaman
• Gilles Gilbert
• Ted Green
• Lionel Hitchman
• Ken R. Hodge
• Flash Hollett
• Nathan Horton
• Bronco Horvath
• Craig Janney
• Eddie Johnston
• Stan Jonathan
• Steve Kasper
• Phil Kessel
• Gord Kluzak
• David Krejci
• Torey Krug
• Leo Labine
• Reggie Lemelin
• Ken Linseman
• Milan Lucic
• Fleming Mackell
• Brad Marchand
• Don Marcotte
• Charlie McAvoy
• Don McKenney
• Johnny McKenzie
• Peter McNab
• Rick Middleton
• Mike Milbury
• Doug Mohns
• Andy Moog
• Glen Murray
• Cam Neely
• Mike O’Connell
• Willie O’Ree
• Terry O’Reilly
• Adam Oates
• Harry Oliver
• Bobby Orr
• Brad Park
• David Pastrnak
• Barry Pederson
• Pete Peeters
• Johnny Peirson
• Bill Quackenbush
• Tuukka Rask
• Jean Ratelle
• Mark Recchi
• Sergei Samsonov
• Derek Sanderson
• Ed Sandford
• Marc Savard
• Bobby Schmautz
• Milt Schmidt
• Dennis Seidenberg
• Gregg Sheppard
• Eddie Shore
• Charlie Simmer
• Dallas Smith
• Rick Smith
• Fred Stanfield
• Vic Stasiuk
• Don Sweeney
• Tim Thomas
• Tiny Thompson
• Joe Thornton
• Shawn Thornton
• Jerry Toppazzini
• Carol Vadnais
• Cooney Weiland
• John Wensink
• Glen Wesley
• Eddie Westfall

Over the weekend, Milan Lucic and Charlie McAvoy were informed that they had made the list, at least as fans we were shown that they knew.

In the video, you can see Lucic being instructed to go give an envelope to McAvoy, but it shows nothing past that. This, in turn, brings the captain question back into play as, fellow captain front-runner Brad Marchand, was not in the video despite being a tenured player on the team, but was still named to the “Historic 100” list.

What does this mean for the captains race?

Now, there are a couple of ways to look at this in terms of who could be the next captain for the Bruins.

The first way to look at this is that they are keeping it a secret that Marchand will be wearing the “C” the season. He was a shoo-in for this list, and is a shoo-in for some kind of leadership role with the team this year: whether they wait to name a captain or wind up naming someone else the official captain.

The other way to look at this that Marchand will not be the captain this year, and will be naming McAvoy the captain. It’s highly unlikely given his – at times – lack of discipline, Lucic will be named captain, but it is possible. McAvoy has become a very vocal leader on the team in the last year, and is a very new-school style of defenseman.

Did the list have any surprises on it?

On the “Historic 100” list, there was no one on there of the older players that surprised me; however, on the newer players there were a few surprises.

I was a bit surprised to see Johnny Boychuk, Phil Kessel, Jason Allison, and Torey Krug on there.

Allison I was mostly surprised by due to his short tenure in the National Hockey League, the other three I was mostly surprised by due to the fact that they either finished their career somewhere else (Boychuk) or are continuing to play elsewhere, and have made the conscientious choice not to come back to play in Boston.

Don’t get me wrong, they are all deserving, but these four did surprise me a bit.

Congratulations to all, now we wait to see how they narrow it down to 20 come October!