By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter: @NSimmz
Hundreds of National Hockey League players have donned the Boston Bruins iconic “Spoked B” throughout the team’s one-hundred-year history. Whether they started their career in the black and gold or came during their prime or twilight years, every former Bruin had a unique path leading to the Boston Garden. However, very few had led a path like Brian Gionta, a Boston College Eagle, Montreal Canadiens Captain, and US Olympian who came to the Bruins for one last shot at the Stanley Cup.
Gionta, a Rochester, New York native, was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the third round of the 1998 NHL Draft following the conclusion of his freshman year with Boston College, where he scored 30 goals and 62 points, and the Eagles fell to Michigan in the National Championship Game. Gionta scored 123 goals and 232 points over his four-year career with BC, making the Frozen Four each year, winning one National Title, and losing another Championship Game to North Dakota.
After his collegiate career concluded, Gionta joined the Devils’ AHL affiliate at the start of the 2001-02 season. Gionta scored 25 points in 37 games with the Albany River Rats before being promoted to the NHL and finishing the year with the Devils. He added 11 points in 33 games with the parent club and tacked on four points in six playoff games as the two-time reigning Eastern Conference champs were upset in the first round by the upstart Carolina Hurricanes.
The following year, in his first entire season in the NHL, Gionta recorded 25 points in 58 regular-season games, missing over a month due to injury. In the postseason, Gionta would only muster three points in the Devils’ first 17 playoff games. But he would come alive in the Final against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, recording six points in the series as New Jersey prevailed in seven games to win the Stanley Cup.
Gionta would enjoy a breakout season following the 2004-05 Lockout. Playing the full 82-game schedule for the first time, Gionta scored 48 goals and added 41 assists for a career-best 89-point effort. He added seven points in nine playoff games, but the Devils were eliminated by the eventual champion Hurricanes in the second round. Gionta struggled to replicate his career performance in 2006-07, scoring 25 goals and 45 points in 62 regular-season games. He would tack on a then career-best eight playoff goals as the Devils were eliminated in five games in the second round for the second consecutive year.
Reaching free agency for the first time in the summer of 2009, Gionta signed a five-year, $25 million deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Gionta’s maiden voyage with the Habs would see him score 28 goals in 61 games, his highest tally since ‘06, and would’ve equaled 37 goals in an entire 82-game season. The ensuing playoff run was a memorable campaign for both Gionta and the Canadiens franchise.
As the eighth seed in the East, Montreal overturned a 3-1 series deficit to the President’s Trophy-winning Washington Capitals. They followed up one stunning upset with another, dethroning the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games before running out of gas against the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference final. Backstopped by a white-hot Jaroslav Halak, Gionta, former New Jersey teammate Scott Gomez, and fellow newcomer Michael Cammalleri all set or equal career-best postseason scoring numbers. Gionta’s nine goals and 15 points would be the best output of his career.
His performance was rewarded by being named team Captain ahead of the 2010-11 season, only the second American ever to captain the Canadiens. The addition of the captaincy didn’t hinder Gionta’s production right away. He scored 29 goals and 46 points and added another three goals and two assists in the playoffs as Montreal fell to Boston in the first round. The following two years saw Gionta struggle with injury, limiting him to 31 games in 2011-12 and exiting the 2013 playoffs after three games.
Gionta’s final season in Montreal would end similarly to his first. After a 40-point regular season campaign, Gionta and the Canadiens would return to the conference final, downing another President’s Trophy-winning team (Boston) in seven games along the way. Gionta himself would only muster seven points during the playoff run, scoring in the opener against Tampa Bay and never finding the back of the net afterward.
Upon concluding his contract with Montreal, Gionta signed a three-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres and became the first New York native to captain the team. While his numbers had begun to decline, he was still a consistent contributor, finishing each season with 35, 33, and 35 points. With the Sabres still mired in the perpetual rebuild, Gionta never made the playoffs with the team, but he skated in his 1,000th NHL game with the team and commemorated the occasion with an exceptional goal.
After leaving Buffalo, Gionta opted not to sign with a new team immediately. With the Winter Olympics on the horizon and the NHL not sending players, he decided to commit to the US National Team instead, again being named Captain. Gionta and the National Team would make the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament but fall to the Czech Republic in a shootout.
Despite being held off the scoresheet in South Korea, he returned home with multiple NHL offers and signed with the Boston Bruins for the remainder of the season. Gionta hit the ground running with the Bruins right away, recording a pair of assists in his team debut and six total points in his first five games.
Gionta played in 20 regular-season games for Boston, scoring two goals and seven points. He also played in his first playoff game in four years, coming in for game four of the second round against Tampa Bay, which the Bruins lost in overtime. Gionta announced his retirement the following offseason and joined the Buffalo Sabres staff as a development coach. Gionta played in 1,026 NHL games for his career, scoring 291 goals and 304 assists. He added 68 points in 113 Stanley Cup playoff games and a Stanley Cup title in 2003. He is currently the Director of Player Development for Niagra University, a D1 Hockey school in the Atlantic Hockey America Conference.
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