Ivan Boldirev was a first round pick by the Boston Bruins at the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft and played a total of 13 games with the team to start his NHL career. Boldirev played two games with Boston in 1970-71 and eleven more at the start of 1971-72 before being traded to the California Golden Seals on November 17, 1971 for Chris Oddleifson and Rich Leduc.
Boldirev went on to play 1,052 regular season and 48 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1970-71 and 1984-85 with the Boston Bruins, California Golden Seals, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings. He was a 20 goal scorer ten times and topped 30 goals on five occasions.
He didn’t score a goal in any of his 13 games with the Bruins. His first of 361 goals in the NHL came in his first game with the Golden Seals. On November 18, 1971, the day after being traded from Boston, Ivan scored a third period power play goal at the Aud in Buffalo. The marker was scored on Roger Crozier and assisted by Gerry Pinder and Ernie Hicke. The Seals won the game, beating the Buffalo Sabres 7-5.
If you’re looking to truly test your hockey trivia knowledge, take a 20 Question Hockey Trivia Quiz!