Who’s Tougher 70′s Bruins or Today’s Bruins

It’s hard to look at two different teams from two different eras and determine which team is “tougher”. Comparing the 1970′s Boston Bruins teams with the current Bruins teams in terms of toughness is like comparing the pitching of today’s Philadelphia Phillies to the 1960′s Cardinals teams: it’s just hard to do. One of the reasons for this is how the game has changed. In the 1970′s the game was, at it’s core, tougher. You have more holding, more open ice checking, and more “cheap shots”. Today’s game is a lot more wide open, which means that the players aren’t allowed to be as tough as they once were. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on how you like your hockey, to be honest.

If you are going to go from purely a penalty minute perspective, the classic 70′s Bruins teams are fairly similar to today’s teams, with minute paling in comparison to the 80′s teams which were known for racking up the minutes. With that said, the 1970′s Bruins teams did feature Bobby Orr, who was known as not only one of the best defensemen of all time, but also one of the best scorers as well. He was also one tough SOB as well.