Brad Park, the NHL’s bridesmaid but they allowed him into the Hockey Hall of Fame anyway! Six times the runner up for the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. Three times to the Stanley Cup finals but no ring. A rookie card that stands in the shadow of the 1970-71 trio of Sittler, Clarke and Perreault.
Brad Park
It started well, and was quite frankly a pretty amazing career. It’s just that teams like the Bruins, before he was a Bruin, and the Canadiens got in the way. Also, there were a few other blueliners in the NHL like Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin and Larry Robinson that got in Park’s way.
Brad played three years of junior hockey in the OHA from 1965-66 to 1967-68, all with the Toronto Marlboros. In the second season, Toronto swept the Hamilton Red Wings in four games to capture the Robertson Cup championship. The Marlboros then went on to beat Port Arthur to win the Memorial Cup.
The only other championship for Park would come in 1972 at the Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. Brad played all eight games and contributed five points as, you may have heard, Canada won the series.
Originally, Park was the second overall pick by the New York Rangers at the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft, behind Barry Gibbs who went first overall to the Boston Bruins. 1966 still was not a real draft a more a dispersal of leftover talent that wasn’t already claimed by the six NHL clubs.
Brad went on to play 1,113 regular season National Hockey League games between 1968-69 and 1984-85 with the Rangers, Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. He scored 213 goals and assisted on 683 for 896 points. Despite never winning a Stanley Cup, Park played in a whopping 161 playoff games, contributing 125 points from the point.
Brad Park Collection
In 1973-74, Park exploded offensively with the Rangers with 57 assists and 82 points. He led the Rangers in both categories, finishing seventh in the NHL for assists and tied for ninth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy.
After being named team captain at the start of the 1974-75 season, the Rangers dealt Brad to the Bruins on November 7, 1975 along with Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi in exchange for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.
With the Bruins, he once again found himself on the NHL leaderboard for assists. In 1976-77, Park placed tied for tenth in the NHL with 55 assists. The following year, he was once again tenth in the league, this time with 57 assists.
His three appearances in the Stanley Cup finals were great ones. In 1971-72, his Rangers met up with his future club, the Bruins. The mighty Bruins proved too much to handle and downed New York in six games. In consecutive seasons with Don Cherry and the Bruins, Park met up with the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. This was right in the middle of the Habs dynasty. Boston was swept in 1976-77 and lost in six in 1977-78.
His final year in Boston before being shipped to Detroit was 1982-83. By this time, Gerry Cheevers had moved behind the Bruins bench to become head coach and his assistant was the man that came over with Park in the 1975 trade, Jean Ratelle. Boston finished first overall in the NHL with 110 points in 80 games. However, they came up against another dynasty in the semi-finals, falling to the New York Islanders in six games.
In 1988, Brad Park was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with Tony Esposito, Guy Lafleur and Buddy O’Connor.
Brad Park – Rookie Card
There are two cards in the 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee set that are considered to be the Brad Park rookie card. Number 67 in the set is Park’s regular card and is the most valuable at about ten times that of a common card. Number 239 commemorates his selection as a First Team All-Star and is valued at around four times that of a common card.
His would have been the most valuable of rookie cards in 1970-71 had it not been for a trio of future superstars. The Park RC ranks fourth behind Gilbert Perreault, Bobby Clarke and Darryl Sittler. Park and Sittler got to play together in both their final years with the Red Wings. The 1984-85 Wings were a collection of aging former greats. The team didn’t fare so well but with all that talent, a young Steve Yzerman had many mentors to help develop yet another Hockey Hall of Fame career.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1965-66 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 33 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 48 |
| 1966-67 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 28 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 73 |
| 1967-68 | Toronto Marlboros | OHA | 50 | 10 | 33 | 43 | 120 |
| 1968-69 | New York Rangers | NHL | 54 | 3 | 23 | 26 | 70 |
| 1968-69 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 17 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 49 |
| 1969-70 | New York Rangers | NHL | 60 | 11 | 26 | 37 | 98 |
| 1970-71 | New York Rangers | NHL | 68 | 7 | 37 | 44 | 114 |
| 1971-72 | New York Rangers | NHL | 75 | 24 | 49 | 73 | 130 |
| 1972-73 | New York Rangers | NHL | 52 | 10 | 43 | 53 | 51 |
| 1973-74 | New York Rangers | NHL | 78 | 25 | 57 | 82 | 148 |
| 1974-75 | New York Rangers | NHL | 65 | 13 | 44 | 57 | 104 |
| 1975-76 | New York Rangers | NHL | 13 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 23 |
| 1975-76 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 43 | 16 | 37 | 53 | 95 |
| 1976-77 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 77 | 12 | 55 | 67 | 67 |
| 1977-78 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 80 | 22 | 57 | 79 | 79 |
| 1978-79 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 40 | 7 | 32 | 39 | 10 |
| 1979-80 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 32 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 27 |
| 1980-81 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 78 | 14 | 52 | 66 | 111 |
| 1981-82 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 75 | 14 | 42 | 56 | 82 |
| 1982-83 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 76 | 10 | 26 | 36 | 82 |
| 1983-84 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 80 | 5 | 53 | 58 | 85 |
| 1984-85 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 67 | 13 | 30 | 43 | 53 |
| NHL Totals | 1113 | 213 | 683 | 896 | 1429 |