Bobby Orr Signed Five-Year, $1 Million Contract in August of 1971
Published on July 12th, 2024 2:26 pm ESTWritten By: Dave Manuel

Bobby Orr was already a superstar when he signed the deal with the Bruins at the tender age of 22 years old.
By that point, Orr was already arguably the best player in the league - after all, he had just won his second straight Hart Trophy, and was in the midst of a run that saw him win seven Norris trophies in a row.
During the 1970-71 season, Orr scored 37 goals and 102 assists, topping the 33 goals and 87 assists that he had posted the year before.
Orr took nearly 400 shots over the course of the 1970-71 season, and posted an astonishing plus/minus of +124.
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The Bruins obviously didn't want to lose their young superstar, so they opened up the vault to sign Orr.
Compared to the contracts that players in the NHL currently get, saying that they "opened the vault" is laughable, but this was before the age of valuable TV contracts, arena sponsorships, etc.
On August of 1971, Orr signed a five-year, $1 million dollar to remain with the Bruins.
This contract was the richest in the NHL at the time - $200,000 per year back then works out to approximately $1.6-$1.7 million per year in today's dollars.
Again - not much when compared to current contracts, but at the time, this was a princely sum.
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Orr continued to produce at a very high level for the next four years for the Bruins. Orr would win the Norris Trophy four years in a row after signing his deal, and his 1974-75 season with the club was arguably his best.
Unfortunately for Orr, injuries derailed his career at the age of 27, and he would only play in 36 more games before retiring at the age of 30.