The obvious answer to the question about Bobby Orr's knees is that the game-altering defenseman had at least another 5-6 great years ahead of him. The injuries piled up by the time he was 27, which for most players is the prime of their careers. Bruins fans of the 1970s were robbed of the chance to see a prime Orr, and modern day fans are left wondering how to compare him to the offensive boom of blueliners in this generation.
Orr had six consecutive seasons with over 100 points before the 1975-76 season. He played just 10 games in that season, which were the last he would ever play in a Boston Bruins jersey. His career ended with 26 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, but that's a section of his career that Bruins fans would like to forget.
Orr is currently 126th on the all-time NHL points list, which is an amazing thing to think about considering many view him as a top-five player in history. Let's assume that Orr was entering his prime when his knees failed him for the final time: How high could Orr have climbed on the list?
He had six straight years of over 100 points, and there's no reason to believe he couldn't have kept that going for the next six years. That would have added 700 to his total, then he could've played out the rest of his career with a slight dropoff and still put up another 200 at least in the twilight.
Those totals would've put him in the 1800 range, which funny enough makes him top five in points. It isn't all about how many you put on a scoresheet, but a defenseman doing that would've shown just how revolutionary he was. The next closest on the list would be Ray Bourque in 14th with 1579.
Bobby Orr's current day relevance
It likely peeves Bruins fans when they hear analysts comparing some of the new-age defensemen to Orr. You often hear names like Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes being mentioned in the same breathe, which is a bit of a stretch, but understandable considering players recorded more points in those days. It's no different than Connor McDavid getting compared to Wayne Gretzky even though The Great One was putting up 200-point seasons.
Hughes and Makar haven't been able to reach the 100-point plateau in their careers. The last defenseman to do it was Erik Karlsson in 2022-23, which broke a 21-year drought, as the previous to do it before him was Brian Leetch in 1991-92.
Maybe it's the longevity of Orr's career costing him historical relevance or maybe it's just the national media trying to prop up the modern day players. However, the truth is that no defenseman is going to come close to Orr's impact, and it's a shame he didnt get another decade added to his career to further widen that gap.