John Paul "Chief" Bucyk (born May 12, 1935) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. A left winger, he played most of his career with the Boston Bruins, he has been associated in one capacity or another with the Bruins' organization since the late 1950s. Bucyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017.
Bucyk was considered a skilled left winger and the largest of his day. While he never was regarded as the best at his position (being a contemporary of superstars Bobby Hull and Frank Mahovlich), he had a long and notable career, and retired as the fourth leading point scorer of all time and having played the third-most games in history, and recorded sixteen seasons of scoring twenty goals or more. Despite his reputation for devastating hip checks, he was a notably clean player who won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship in 1971 and 1974. Bucyk was the senior alternate captain of the Bruins when they won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972.
Following his retirement Bucyk has remained a member of the Bruins serving many different roles such as commentator, director and now currently works as an ambassador for the team.
Early life Bucyk was born in Edmonton to Sam and Pearl Bucyk, Ukrainian immigrants from the village of Butsiv, in what is now Yavoriv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. The family was poor, with Pearl working two jobs and his father, Sam, was unemployed for over four years. Due to this much of his early equipment consisted of broomsticks and other homemade gear, he originally started out as a goalie with his pads being made out of magazines and old catalogs. His father died when Bucyk was 11 years old. Poverty prevented Bucyk from owning a pair of ice skates which resulted in him only playing street hockey up until he was 13 years old when he finally got his first skates which were hand me downs from his brother Bill.
During the offseason, Bucyk returned to Edmonton and worked at the car dealership that sponsored his junior team.
Junior and minor-league career Bucyk played junior hockey for four seasons for his hometown Edmonton Oil Kings before signing with the Detroit Red Wings in 1955. Bucyk was originally an awkward skater, and Oil Kings coach Ken McAuley arranged for Bucyk to train offseason with a figure skater until his technique improved. He went on to be one of the leading scorers on a strong Oil Kings squad that included future Hall of Famer Norm Ullman. The team won the Abbott Cup in 1954 and Bucyk and the Oil Kings went to the 1954 Memorial Cup final against the St. Catharines Teepees, with Bucyk scoring a blistering 28 goals in 21 playoff games to lead the WCHL, as well as 14 goals in 14 Memorial Cup games to lead all scorers that season.
Following the Memorial Cup final, Bucyk signed a professional contract with the Edmonton Flyers of the Western Hockey League, the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings. There, he was reunited with junior teammate Ullman, and paired on a line with future Bruins teammates Bronco Horvath and Vic Stasiuk. It was during this time that Horvath was responsible for nicknaming Bucyk "Chief", purportedly out of Horvath's admiration for how Bucyk used his stick like a tomahawk to fight for pucks along the boards. In 1955, his lone full season with the Flyers, he finished second on the team to Horvath with 30 goals, 58 assists and 88 points as the Flyers won the league championship.
NHL career
Detroit Red Wings Following the 1955 WHL playoffs, Detroit called Bucyk up for the 1955 Stanley Cup playoffs. Practicing with the team as a so-called "Black Ace", he saw no game action, as Detroit defeated the Montreal Canadiens four games to three for the Cup. Unusually, his first NHL game was in the 1955 All-Star Game, played in October between the defending Cup champion Red Wings and an all-star team from the rest of the league. He saw only spot duty in his rookie season of 1956 scoring his first NHL goal against Gump Worsley on December 11th 1955 in a 2-0 victory over the Rangers. He finished the year with 38 appearances on the year with 9 points (1 goal, 9 assists). During the postseason Bucyk appeared in all 10 playoffs games scoring both his first NHL playoff goal and assist as the Red Wings beat Toronto to advance to the 1956 Stanley Cup final, however they were defeated by Montreal 4-1.
The following year Bucyk made 6 appearances for the Edmonton Flyers before returning to the Red Wings squad for the rest of the 1956-57 season where he played in 66 games scoring 10 goals and 11 assists. Bucyk once again appeared in all 5 postseason games but the Red Wings were defeated by Bucyk's future team the Boston Bruins 4-1. Bucyk's scoring output with Detroit wasn't indicative of his talent; it was more due to being sat during certain points in games by Jimmy Skinner. Bucyk later recalled "My first two NHL years with Detroit, I usually got on the ice if we were up five goals or down five goals," Bucyk said, laughing again. "I used to sit on the end of the bench, catch cold and watch Gordie Howe.
Boston Bruins 1950s Going into the 1958 season, the Boston Bruins had acquired Horvath and Stasiuk, and general manager Lynn Patrick believed that reuniting them with Bucyk would recapture the success they had in Edmonton. Detroit dealt him to the Bruins in a surprising deal for Terry Sawchuk, one of the greatest goaltenders of the day.
Bucyk later commented on his initial thoughts on being traded to Boston stating:
Bucyk became the top left wing in Boston playing with his "Uke Line" partners of Stasiuk and Horvath, who had previously played together in Edmonton. During his first year with the Bruins in 1957-58 Bucyk's scoring doubled and the trio had an immediate impact, leading the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1958, with Horvath finishing fifth in league scoring, and Bucyk and Stasiuk each scoring 21 goals. Buyck finished the year with 57 points in 68 games. The moniker "Uke Line" came from the trio's purported Ukrainian background (in fact, Stasiuk was of Hungarian origins). Bucyk's first hat trick was scored in one of the first nationally televised games, a 7–4 win over the New York Rangers. Throughout his first 3 seasons in the NHL Bucyk was paid $6,500 a year. Throughout the rest of his time with Boston Bucyk would only sign one year contracts, besides a successful stretch during the mid 1960s when he signed a 3 year deal. He later commented on why he only signed one year deals stating "I felt that if signed a one-year contract, I had to produce to get a new contract the next year."
Buyck's numbers went up once again the following year in 1958-59 where he scored 24 goals and 36 assists in 69 games. During a game vs. Chicago on November 11, 1958 Bucyk recorded an at the time career best 5, points (3 goals 2 assists) in a Bruins 8-4 victory. He appeared in all 7 postseason games scoring 6 points however the Bruins were defeated 4-3 Toronto in the first round.
1960s Bucyk and his Uke Line linemates continued to star together (Horvath losing the league scoring championship to Bobby Hull by a single point in 1960). That year Bucyk failed to score 20+ goals but was still nearly a point per game scorer with 52 points in 56 appearances including a 5 point game vs. Chicago on November 3, 1959. However the Bruins failed to make the playoffs. The following year in the 1960-61 season, the trio's defensive deficiencies caused coach Milt Schmidt to break the Uke lineup. Bucyk was then paired with Stasiuk and Jerry Toppazzini, before the Ukes were reunited, but the line was permanently broken up with Stasiuk and Horvath both being traded by the 1961 offseason, with the team missing the playoffs for a second straight year. That year Bucyk appeared in all 70 games scoring 19 goals and 20 assists.
Boston fell on hard times in the 1960s, and once again during the 1961-62 season the Bruins finished in last place. During this time Bucyk — generally paired with centre Murray Oliver and winger Tommy Williams as the "BOW" line. Despite the Bruins lack of success Buyck ended up becoming one of the teams few stars and led the team in points scoring 20 goals and 40 assists in 67 appearances. The following year in 1962-63 Bucyk led the Bruins in Goals (27), assists (39) and points (66). This led to Bucyk being selected to the 1963 All Star game. Buyck had another solid year the following year in 1963-64 appearing in 62 games, scoring 18 goals and 36 assists. Buyck would then go on to lead the team in goals, assist and points in 1964-65 with 55 points (26 goals 29 assists. This led to him being selected to play in the NHL All Star game for a third consecutive year.
During the 1965-66 campaign Bucyk was named one of three alternate captains and appeared in 63 games scoring 27 goals and 30 assists. Bucyk started off the 1966-67 season by naming named the Bruins sole captain for the first time. During the season he went on to score his 200th goal, along with leading the team in points (48) and assists (30). However the Bruins missed the playoffs for an eighth straight year—a then-league record—in which the Bruins would miss the playoffs.
Return to glory
Assembling a team behind the acquisitions of Bobby Orr Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge in 1967-1968, Bucyk and the Bruins were able to return to prominence for the first time in nearly a decade. Bucyk was once again named one of the teams 3 alternate captains, and in 72 appearances he would have his first of 7 30+ goal seasons along with 39 assists, finishing second behind Esposito in team scoring (and ninth in league scoring). For his efforts Bucyk was named to his fifth All-Star Game, and was named to the leagues Second Team All-Star for the first time in his career. In addition the Bruins broke their streak of missing the playoffs however they were eliminated in the first round. During this period Bucyk proved particularly effective playing on the left side on Boston's greatly feared power-play unit, which featured Phil Esposito, John McKenzie, Bobby Orr and Fred Stanfield. He also was a highly accurate shooter, finishing in the top ten in the league in shooting percentage in eleven seasons, and leading the league in 1971, 1973, and 1974.
The 1968-69 season saw Bucyk play in 70 games, scoring 24 goals and 42 assists. The Bruins made the postseason for a second straight year and Bucyk appeared in all 10 playoff games scoring 11 points (5 goals 6 assists) The Bruins defeated Toronto in the first round but were defeated by Montreal 4-2 in the semifinals.
Early in the 1969-70 season Bucyk recorded his second 5+ point game scoring 2 goals and 3 assists during a game vs. Pittsburgh in a Bruins 6-4 victory. Bucyk would finish the regular season appearing in 76 games scoring a career high at that point 31 goals along with 38 assists. and being named to play in the 1970 NHL All-Star Game. The Bruins finished second in the East Division that year and Bucyk would play a pivotal role in helping the Bruins postseason run appearing in all 14 games he finished fourth in team scoring and second in goal scoring in the playoffs with 19 points. The Bruins then reached the 1970 Stanley cup finals where they faced St Louis, in game 1 Bucyk would score a hat trick as the Bruins won 6-0. Then in game 4 Bucyk would score a pivotal goal to tie the game up and send it to overtime, which led to Bobby Orr iconic series winning goal. While he had not been the team's captain after 1967, as the senior assistant captain, he had the honor of being the first to ceremonially skate the Stanley Cup around the Boston Garden ice.