Send Rick Middleton's No. 16 to the rafters at TD Garden

A topic of conversation prior to the 40^th anniversary of the Bruins' 11, 20-goal scorers from 1977-78 on Tuesday night at TD Garden was whether or not the organization should retire Rick Middleton's No. 16. Here at BSJ, we discussed this topic in August and many fans participated in the discussion.

With some of the former players in town, it made sense to ask "Nifty" and some of his teammates for their thoughts.

“It would mean everything to me,” Middelton said. “I would be more thrilled for that to happen than the Hall of Fame, honestly. ... Just the recognition in the town that I put my roots down, had my kids here and call it my home. To be up there with all those other greats, great players and great people would really be the biggest honor of my life.”



The New York Rangers will send Jean Ratelle’s No. 19 to the rafters of Madison Square Garden on Feb. 25, and the former Bruin believes No. 16 should join Eddie Shore (2), Lionel Hitchman(3), Bobby Orr (4), Dit Clapper (5), Phil Esposito (7), Cam Neely (8), John Bucyk (9), Milt Schmidt (15), Terry O’Reilly (24) and Ray Bourque (77).

“Yeah, I think it should be,” Ratelle said. “When he played here he was a great player. I loved to watch him.”

Nifty’s career was impressive. He registered 898 points in 881 games. He’s not in the Hall of Fame but he should have a banner next to Neely's Hall-of-Fame No. 8.

“It’s a great comparison, (Middleton) and Cam. They basically have the same numbers,” said Brad Park. “Cam was such a force as a power forward, and Ricky was powerful because of his ability to make people look bad.”

Park recalled during one-on-one drills in practice, the team’s defensemen never wanted to go against Middleton.

“I don’t see why not,” Park said. “He’s a class act and I would love to see it.”