[2] While he never was regarded as the best at his position (being a contemporary of superstars Bobby Hull and Frank Mahovlich), he had a long and stellar career, and retired as the fourth leading point scorer of all time and having played the third-most games in history, and recorded sixteen seasons of scoring twenty goals or more.

[3] Despite his reputation for devastating hip checks,[4] he was a notably clean player who won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship in 1971 and 1974.

[7] Bucyk played junior hockey for four seasons for his hometown Edmonton Oil Kings before signing with the Detroit Red Wings in 1955.

[4] He went on to be one of the leading scorers on a strong Oil Kings squad that included future Hall of Famer Norm Ullman.

Going into the 1958 season, the Boston Bruins had acquired Horvath and Stasiuk, and general manager Lynn Patrick believed that reuniting them with Bucyk would recapture the success they had in Edmonton.

[13] The moniker "Uke Line" came from the trio's purported Ukrainian background (in fact, Stasiuk was of Hungarian origins).

[14] Bucyk and his Uke Line linemates continued to star together (Horvath losing the league scoring championship to Bobby Hull by a single point in 1960), but by the 1961 season, the trio's defensive deficiencies caused coach Milt Schmidt to break the lineup.

He went on to score his 200th goal in the 1967 season (during which he was named team captain), the eighth straight year—a then-league record—in which the Bruins would miss the playoffs.

[18][3] Bucyk proved particularly effective playing on the left side on Boston's greatly feared power-play unit, which featured Phil Esposito, John McKenzie, Bobby Orr and Fred Stanfield.

At age 35, he was the oldest player in league history to score 50 goals (a record that stood until 2022 when broken by Alexander Ovechkin),[23] broke the league record for assists and points by a left winger, and remains the oldest player ever to score 50 goals for the first time.

He would remain a star for most of the 1970s, being named team captain again in 1973, winning the Lady Byng again in 1974, and finishing in the top ten of the league scoring twice more.

[24] At the time of his retirement, Bucyk was fourth all-time in points (behind Gordie Howe, Esposito and Stan Mikita) (currently 28th) and in goals (currently 27th), third in games played behind Howe and Alex Delvecchio (currently 17th), and was the leading career point scorer among left wings, a record since surpassed by Luc Robitaille.

[28] As part of Boston's coaching and administrative staff, Bucyk had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for a third time with the Bruins in 2011, his 53rd consecutive season with the organization.