Mike Bossy Michael Dean " Mike " Bossy ( January 22 , 1957 ) in Montreal , Quebec is a former player on the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four - year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s . Known for his powerful shot , he was among the league ' s goal scoring leaders and considered one of the greatest bona - fide snipers of the game . His career was cut short by injuries . Playing career . He started his junior career with Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at the age of 14 . Despite scoring 309 goals in four seasons , Bossy was considered a timid player by NHL scouts . In the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft , he was passed over by twelve teams , with the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs ignoring him twice . However , the New York Islanders made him their first choice , 15th overall . General manager Bill Torrey was torn at first between taking Bossy and another forward . Bossy was known as a scorer who couldn ' t check , while the other forward could check but wasn ' t very good offensively . Coach Al Arbour persuaded Torrey to pick Bossy , figuring it was easier to teach a scorer how to check . Bossy was placed on a line with Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies , known as The Trio Grande . Bossy boldly predicted that he would score 50 goals in his rookie season . He made good on his promise , scoring a then - record 53 goals as a rookie in the 1977 – 78 season , won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year , and was named a Second Team All - Star . In 1980 – 81 , Bossy scored 50 goals in 50 games & 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season , the first to do so since the great Maurice Richard thirty - six years earlier . Richard was on hand to congratulate Bossy for achieving that milestone . Bossy was known for being able to score goals in remarkable fashion , the most incredible , perhaps , in the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals against the Vancouver Canucks when , up - ended by a check from Tiger Williams and flying several feet in the air , parallel to the ice , Bossy nonetheless managed to hook the puck with his stick and score . Bossy was also noted for his clean play , never resorting to fighting ( and being one of the first players to speak out against violence on the ice ) , and winning the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play three times : 1983 , 1984 and 1986 . Bossy has harbored some animosity towards Gretzky and the Oilers , stating that the Islanders got little recognition for their dynasty ( 1980 – 1983 ) compared to the Montreal Canadiens ( 1976 – 1979 ) or Edmonton Oilers ( 1984 – 1990 ) . Bossy complained " I do a lot of promoting for how good [ the Islanders ] were . . . We never got one millionth of the recognition we should . We had a very low - key organization . They didn ' t want guys doing too much , because they thought the hockey might suffer . People don ' t talk about us in the first mention of great teams . " The dominant scoring star of the late 1970s was Guy Lafleur but his skills waned in the 1980s . In 1982 , Bossy set a scoring record for right - wingers with 147 points while also winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy . However , far more attention was given to Gretzky who not only won the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy , but also shattered scoring records with an unheard of 212 points and 92 goals . Bossy aspired to be the best player of his era but fell short , as the Hart and Art Ross Trophies were two of the awards that eluded Bossy during his career , going to Lafleur , Trottier , and Gretzky . Although the Islanders swept the Oilers in the 1983 final to win a fourth consecutive championship , Gretzky and his Oilers still received the most attention . During Gretzky ' s interview with the New York Post in 1993 , he praised Bossy as the best right - winger ever to play , saying that their scoring totals would have been even higher if the two had played together . Bossy ' s response in the Post was not complimentary , as he pointed out that their playing styles were different , and also said that Trottier was the best . Gretzky afterwards could not be reached for comment . The Islanders made a fifth consecutive Stanley Cup final in 1984 but they were outmatched by the Oilers who defeated them 4 games to 1 . Bossy , who had scored 8 goals after the first three rounds of the playoffs ( and 17 goals in the past three consecutive post - seasons ) , was silenced completely in the finals series . Afterwards , the Islanders would slowly decline , while injuries would take their toll on Bossy ' s back . He was limited to 63 games in the 1986 – 87 season but he still managed to score 38 goals . Accomplishments . Bossy holds the current NHL record for most consecutive 50 + goal seasons with nine . Bossy and Wayne Gretzky are the only players to have scored 50 or more goals for nine seasons . Additionally , both are the only players ever to have scored 60 or more goals in as many as five seasons . Unlike Gretzky , however , who played 20 seasons , Bossy was healthy enough only for 10 , of which only the first nine were full . As he never played long enough for his skills to diminish , his scoring averages remain quite high . Bossy averaged . 762 goals per game in the regular season , more than any other player in NHL history , and . 659 in the playoffs , second only to Mario Lemieux at . 710 . In 1977 – 78 , his rookie season , he scored 53 goals which established a rookie record . This was broken in 1992 – 93 by Teemu Selänne ' s 76 goals . In 1980 – 81 , he scored 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season . He also recorded nine hat tricks that season , establishing an NHL - record ( later broken by Gretzky in 1981 – 82 with 10 . Gretzky tied his own record with 10 hat tricks again in 1983 – 84 ) . In 1982 , Bossy set scoring records for right - wingers with 83 assists and 147 points in 80 games . These would stand until the 1995 – 96 season when Jaromír Jágr broke both records with 87 assists and 149 points , in what was an 82 - game schedule . Bossy earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982 , and scored 17 goals in three straight playoffs - - 1981 , 1982 , and 1983 - - the only player ever to do so . In reaching the Stanley Cup Finals five times , between 1980 and 1984 , Bossy scored 69 goals . By contrast , in Gretzky ' s five Stanley Cup Finals playoffs during his peak years with the Edmonton Oilers , he scored 59 goals . Bossy earned 5 First Team All - Star selections , one of only four right wings ever to do so , again a notable achievement considering that the other three had much longer careers ( Gordie Howe - 26 years ; Maurice Richard - 18 years ; Guy Lafleur - 17 years ) . He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 . His # 22 jersey was retired by the Islanders on March 3 , 1992 . In 1998 , he was ranked number 20 on " The Hockey News " ' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players , despite having an injury - shortened career . Bossy is the fastest player to reach 100 goals in the amount of games played in ' 78 - ' 79 . In 81 ' - 82 ' Bossy was the fastest player to reach 300 goals in the amount of games played , as well as the fastest player to reach 500 goals in the amount of games played in 85 ' - 86 ' , to only have both goal marks to be surpassed and scored faster by Wayne Gretzky ' s 300 goals in 83 ' - 84 ' and 500 goals in 86 ' - 87 ' . Bossy is the third fastest player to reach the 500 goal mark in the amount of games played ( 647 ) , only behind Wayne Gretzky ' s 500 goals in 575 games played and Mario Lemieux ' s 500 goals in 605 games played . Bossy is ranked 19th on the NHL all time goal scoring list with 573 life time goals . Bossy has had seven 100 + point seasons in his NHL career .