A tough guy with leadership qualities that could score. Plain and simple, that’s the description of Terry O’Reilly. Called a goon by opposing team’s fans but this was a guy that netted 29 goals and put up 90 points in his top offensive season in the National Hockey League. The value of O’Reilly’s 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee rookie card reflects his popularity even if not quite a superstar.
Terry O’Reilly – Junior and Minor Pro
O’Reilly played three years of junior with the Oshawa Generals from 1968-69 to 1970-71. The Gens weren’t the greatest team in the league in 1970-71 but Terry excelled, leading the team in points with 65 on 23 goals and 42 assists over 54 games. Besides O’Reilly, Oshawa fans were entertained for the season by netminder and eccentric Gilles Gratton, aka Grattoony the Loony.
Terry spent just one year in the minors before catching on full-time with the Boston Bruins. In 1971-72, he played for the Boston Braves in the American Hockey League. Over 60 games with the AHL club, Terry scored nine and assisted on eight for 17 points while sitting 134 minutes in the box. He added four points over nine games in the Calder Cup playoffs. O’Reilly also made it into one game with the Bruins, his first in the NHL. He scored a goal in his first game.
The Braves were coached by Bep Guidolin. O’Reilly would also play under Guidolin in the NHL. The team tied for first overall in the eleven team AHL with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. Boston was then swept by the very same Voyageurs in the Calder Cup semi-finals.
Terry O’Reilly – NHL
The Boston Bruins selected O’Reilly in the first round of the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft, 14th overall. Of the 14 first rounders, Terry went on to the third highest career game total, behind second overall pick Marcel Dionne and first overall pick Guy Lafleur. Boston’s first pick was Ron Jones. Jones was selected sixth overall by the Bruins and went on to play 54 games in the NHL with the Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
Over his career, Terry played 891 regular season games between 1971-72 and 1984-85, scoring 204 goals and assisting on 402 for 606 points. His 2,095 penalty minutes place him tied for 44th all-time with Al Secord. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, O’Reilly played 108 games, adding 67 points and sistting another 335 PIM. His entire NHL career was spent with the Bruins.
He just missed out on Boston’s 1971-72 Stanley Cup championship and never hoisted the Cup. However, he was part of three teams that played in the finals. The 1973-74 Bruins lost in six to the Philadelphia Flyers. The 1976-77 Bruins were swept by the Montreal Canadiens. The following year, Boston won two games but still fell to the Habs in the finals.
O’Reilly’s personal pinnacle was the 1977-78 season. He scored 29 goals and assisted on 61 for 90 points over 77 regular season games. He tied for sixth in the NHL with Jacques Lemaire for assists. In the race for the Art Ross Trophy, Terry placed seventh, one point behind Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders and one ahead of Gilbert Perreault of the Buffalo Sabres. His 211 PIM placed him sixth in the NHL.
As for the Terry O’Reilly that played with his gloves off, 1979-80 was his top season. O’Reilly sat 265 minutes in penalties, placing him fourth in the NHL behind Jimmy Mann of the Winnipeg Jets, Tiger Williams of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks and Paul Holmgren of the Philadelphia Flyers.
On October 24, 2002, the Boston Bruins honoured Terry by retiring his jersey number 24.
Terry O’Reilly – Coach
Terry was head coach of the Bruins for a short time from 1986-87 to 1988-89. In his first year, he replaced Butch Goring 13 games into the season. The team was swept by the Canadiens in the opening round.
Once again a finalist, O’Reilly coached the Bruins to a Stanley Cup final series in 1987-88. After beating Buffalo 4-2, Montreal 4-1 and the New Jersey Devils 4-3, Boston faced off against Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers in the finals. The mighty Oilers swept the Bruins in four.
In his final year as head coach of the Bruins, it was a little bit of deja vu for O’Reilly. Boston once again met the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round, winning this year in five games. Once again, the second round matchup was with the Montreal Canadiens. However, this time the Habs came out on top in five.
Terry returned behind an NHL bench for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons as assistant coach with the New York Rangers. The Rangers were star-studded but did not make the playoffs in either season. In 2002-03, Bryan Trottier started the season as head coach before being replaced by Glen Sather. In 2003-04, Sather was replaced by Tom Renney midseason.
Terry O’Reilly – Rookie Card
The Terry O’Reilly rookie card appears as number 254 in the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set. The first O’Reilly hockey card is valued at around ten times the value of a common card. It is the third most valuable rookie card in the set. The top RC belongs to Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens. The second most valuable is the rookie card of Billy Smith of the New York Islanders.
Terry O’Reilly Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1968-69 | Oshawa Generals | OHA | 46 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 87 |
| 1969-70 | Oshawa Generals | OHA | 54 | 13 | 36 | 49 | 60 |
| 1970-71 | Oshawa Generals | OHA | 54 | 23 | 42 | 65 | 151 |
| 1971-72 | Boston Braves | AHL | 60 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 134 |
| 1971-72 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972-73 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 72 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 109 |
| 1973-74 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 76 | 11 | 24 | 35 | 94 |
| 1974-75 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 68 | 15 | 20 | 35 | 146 |
| 1975-76 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 80 | 23 | 27 | 50 | 150 |
| 1976-77 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 79 | 14 | 41 | 55 | 147 |
| 1977-78 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 77 | 29 | 61 | 90 | 211 |
| 1978-79 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 80 | 26 | 51 | 77 | 205 |
| 1979-80 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 71 | 19 | 42 | 61 | 265 |
| 1980-81 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 77 | 8 | 35 | 43 | 223 |
| 1981-82 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 70 | 22 | 30 | 52 | 213 |
| 1982-83 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 19 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 40 |
| 1983-84 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 58 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 124 |
| 1984-85 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 63 | 13 | 17 | 30 | 168 |
| NHL Totals | 891 | 204 | 402 | 606 | 2095 |