(Photo credit: Getty Images/Denis Brodeur)

By: Steve McClure | Follow me on Twitter / X @stmcclure1993

Carol Vadnais was born on this day in 1945. The standout defenseman played for the Boston Bruins from 1972 to the beginning of the 1975 campaign.


The 6-1 defenseman was acquired late in the 1971-1972 season from the California Golden Seals in order to bolster the club’s blueline. Vadnais was inserted into Boston’s second-pairing on defense, and in the final sixteen games of the season, he tallied four goals to go along with six assists. In fifteen playoff games that spring, Vadnais contributed two assists as the Bruins rolled to their second Stanley Cup victory in three years.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Boston Globe)

An offensive-minded defenseman, Vadnais produced 40 or more points in nine of his NHL seasons; he accomplished this in his second and third full seasons with Boston—producing at a 16-43-59 clip in 1973-74 and an even better 18-56-74 clip in 1974-75. He was a strong stick-handler and spent time on the power-play unit, scoring fourteen times on the man-advantage during his short tenure in Boston. He was the NHL’s fourth-leading point-producing defenseman in 1974-75 (74 points), behind Montreal’s Guy Lapointe, New York’s Denis Potvin, and his fellow Boston teammate Bobby Orr.

Though he was primarily a playmaker, Vadnais was certainly not afraid to drop the gloves. In fact, he averaged 124 penalty minutes per year while playing with the Big, Bad Bruins, routinely taking on the opposition’s most willing customers.


On November 7, 1975, Vadnais was part of, perhaps, the biggest trade in franchise history. Vadnais and Phil Esposito were sent to the New York Rangers for Jean Ratelle, Brad Park, and Joe Zanussi. The trade involved three hall-of-famers-to-be in Esposito, Ratelle, and Park, and it marked the end of Vadnais’ prosperous time in Boston. He played 263 regular season games for Boston (39 more in the playoffs) and produced at a rate of 47-134-181. He also played in two Stanley Cup finals series for the Bruins.

Carol Vadnais passed away in August of 2014 at the age of 68 years old. He was a veteran of 1087 regular season NHL games and played on two Stanley Cup-winning teams. Let’s celebrate this Bruins’ alumnus today!