Sunday, December 18, 2011

Mike Bullard

Mike broke into the NHL after a very impressive three-year junior career with Brantford of the OHA. He collected an impressive 356 points in 174 games which led to his first round selection in the 1980 Entry Draft (9th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Bullard made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh at the end of the 1980-81 season and he played parts of seven seasons with the Penguins. Over that period, Mike recorded four 30-goal campaigns, including a career-high 51 goal season in 1983-84. He also played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1984 and he represented Canada at the 1986 World Championships.

Bullard was traded to Calgary midway through the 1986-87 season in exchange for Dan Quinn. He played parts of two seasons with the Flames, including the 1987-88 season when he recorded career-highs in assists (55) and points (103) during the 1987-88 season.

Disappointingly for Mike, Calgary traded the slick scoring center to St. Louis prior to the beginning of the 1988-89 season. Bullard, Craig Coxe and Tim Corkey were traded in exchange for Doug Gilmour, Mark Hunter, Michael Dark and Steve Bozek. It was unfortunate for Mike because the Flames went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1989. Bullard would be traded to Philadelphia after just 20 games in St. Louis.

Bullard playing one more full season in Philly in 1989-90 before going over to Europe to play the 1990-91 season in Switzerland.

His NHL absence was short lived though, as "Bully" returned to the NHL for the 1991-92 campaign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He scored 14 goals and 28 points in what proved to be his final NHL season. In total Mike played 11 seasons in the NHL. He play in 727 regular season games, totalling 329 goals, 345 assists and 674 points. He added another 44 points in 40 playoff contests.

After his 11 seasons of pro hockey in North America, Bullard continued his hockey career in Europe. He played one season in Switzerland moving to Germany for a number of seasons.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

bully coaches jr b in brantford and just won coach of the year for 2011/2012. congrats bully !

  © Blogger templates Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP