Believe it or not, there are going to be some Boston Bruins franchise records that are going to be broken at some point, and, well, some that won't be. One of the records that is going to be difficult to break and really unlikely to be touched is the single-season record for goals.
That record belongs to Phil Esposito, who scored 76 goals in the 1970-71 season, which was 25 more than the next closest player in the NHL, his teammate, Johnny Bucyk. The Chief had 51, and another Bruins player, Ken Hodge, had the fourth-most that season with 43, one behind Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks.
The great Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for goals in a season with 92 in 1981-82 with the Edmonton Oilers. That is just plain insane. That is a number that will likely never be touched again. In fact, it would be surprising if someone got close enough to sniff that number.
Back to Esposito and his 1970-71 season, the most insane stat was that he scored 76 goals in just 78 games. He also had 76 assists that season for a whopping 152 points. He scored 51 even-strength goals and 24 on the power play. He even added one shorthanded tally. What a season it would tke to break that record.
Phil Esposito has one Bruins record that will never be broken
What's crazy is that, of the Top 5 records for goals in a single season, four of them are Esposito's. He had 68 in 1973-74, 66 in 1971-72, and 61 in 1974-75. The only name currently that isn't Esposito's is David Pastrnak, who had 61 himself in the Black and Gold's 2022-23 record-setting regular season.
If there is someone currently on the roster who could come close to sniffing Esposito's record, it's Pastrnak. However, whoever comes close will find it difficult to net more than 76 despite the NHL going to an 84-game regular-season schedule in 2026-27. Is two games really going to make a difference? Unlikely, given that many injuries mount each season and player rest is becoming a part of the game, something that was never around back in Esposito's days. Imagine telling him to take a night off for rest?
Some records are meant to be broken, and some are not. This one might fall under the latter. Who knows; there just might be a time when someone does break it, but it's going to take a historic season to come close to sniffing Esposito's single-season record.
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