Wow! The Boston Bruins actually did something! This is amazing! The offseason dry spell of them sitting around and doing virtually nothing has ended! Hooray!
So, if you’re not keeping up, you may be asking yourself: what could they be doing this time of year? This is the equivalent of the Bruins 3 a.m. sleep, seeing them up and active is surprising. But they had to announce that they will be retiring legend Rick Middleton’s No. 16. The sweater, as the kids are calling them these days, will be retired on November 29 when the Bruins take on the New York Islanders (who are not the best team going).
Middleton joins some elite company with this announcement. He will be the 11th player ever to have his number retired by the Bruins, a team which has been in business for over 90 years. In this honor, he will be joining a list which features the likes of: Lionel Hitchman, Aubrey Clapper, Edward Shore, Milton Schmidt, Bobby Orr, John Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Ray Bourque, Terence O'Reilly and Cam Neely.
Middleton had quite the career with the Bruins to say the least. In 12 seasons, he put up 898 points (402 goals, 496 assists) over the course of 881 games. That means he put up over one point per game for his entire career. That’s incredible, and not like that Pixar movie.
Here’s a couple of other things worth noting when it comes to Middleton as well. First off, he ranks third all-time on the Bruins goals scored chart behind Johnny Bucyk (545) and Phil Esposito (459). Plus, you might not have known that he was actually initially drafted by the New York Rangers in 1973. You’re welcome for telling you it. That could come in handy during a bar trivia night game sometime.