Claude Julien lauds Bobby Orr as legend turns 70
Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr turned 70 on Tuesday, which will certainly make people in the 50-something age group who grew up idolizing the Boston Bruins defenceman feel old.
Canadiens coach Claude Julien is one of those people.
“He was my hero growing up,” Julien, 57, said after the Canadiens practised Tuesday in Brossard.
Julien was born in Blind River, Ont., and raised near Ottawa in Orléans. Like Orr, Julien was a defenceman as a player, but was a career minor-leaguer, playing only 14 games in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques and picking up one assist before turning to coaching.
Orr remains the only defenceman to win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer — doing it twice — and won the Norris Trophy as the best defenceman eight times. He also holds the NHL plus/minus record of plus-124, set during the 1970-71 season when he posted 37 goals and 102 assists and won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Norris. Orr remains the only player to win the Hart, Art Ross, Norris, Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in the same season, accomplishing that feat in 1969-70.
Orr’s career was cut short by knee injuries and he retired after the 1978-79 season at 31, but he was basically done after the 1974-75 season when he posted 46 goals and 89 assists in 80 games with the Bruins, winning the Art Ross and Norris. Orr would play only 36 games during the next four years — including the final two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks — because of knee injuries and missed the entire 1977-78 season.
Julien said he got to know Orr during his 10 years coaching the Bruins before joining the Canadiens last season.
“I was fortunate enough to become friends with him and you talk about a person who’s accomplished a lot — even though he had a short career — but you’d never know by spending time with him,” Julien said. “That’s not what he’s all about. He’s been a great influence, not just as a guy I looked up to as a kid playing hockey, but also spending time with him and talking with him. His knowledge of the game, he sees things in the game still today that he thinks could improve the game. He’s very, I guess, sharp when it comes to what’s going on around teams and the league. He’s a pretty smart individual.”
Orr is still involved in hockey as a player agent running the Orr Hockey Group and he certainly doesn’t look his age.
“The fact that he’s 70, he looks more like 55,” Julien said with a smile. “I know that if I’m standing next to him, you’ll probably think I’m older than him. That much I know.”