The Bruins’ 2025 Sportsman’s Dinner is coming up quick, on May 3!
This week, we’ll be releasing bios for this year’s three special guest speakers, starting today with Brian Skrudland:
Brian Skrudland kicked off his NHL career with a bang during the 1985-86 season, walking into a dressing room featuring the likes of Hall-of-Famers Larry Robinson, Chris Chelios, and a rookie Patrick Roy.
At just 22 years of age, Skrudland would play all 20 of Montreal’s playoff games that spring, en route to defeating the Calgary Flames in the Finals to claim his first of two Stanley Cups.
Following seven and a half seasons with the Canadiens, Skrudland was traded to Calgary midway through the 1992-93 season. While his time donning the “flaming-C” was brief, Skrudland’s next stop in Florida would see him achieve some of his biggest career accomplishments.
Claimed by the Florida Panthers in the 1993 Expansion Draft that summer, Skrudland was named the first captain in Panthers’ Franchise history and would finish top-five in voting for the NHL’s Selke Trophy – awarded annually to the league’s Top Defensive Forward – in each of his first two seasons in the sunshine belt.
In 1996 Skrudland captained the Panthers on their incredible run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals, which included a thrilling seven-game series win over the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins led by superstars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In 1997-98, Skrudland played 59 games for the New York Rangers, before moving on to Dallas, where he would cap his career with a second Stanley Cup ring in 1999, the first championship in Dallas Stars’ franchise history.
The following year, Skrudland again made the Finals with the Stars, though this time falling in six games to the Cup champion New Jersey Devils, before retiring that summer.
Skrudland finished his NHL career with 881 career regular season games, and another 164 coming in the playoffs. He won two Stanley Cups (’86, ’99) and made the Cup Finals an additional two times (’89, ’96).
The Bruins’ 2025 Sportsman’s Dinner will be May 3 at the Power Dodge Curling Centre. Find tickets and full details at link below:
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Marty Martinson/Estevan Bruins PxP/Marketing Director
On X: @MartyMartyPxP1
