Considered one of the best scorers in ice hockey history, Bossy remains the NHL's all-time leader in average goals scored per regular season game and holds the NHL's third-highest all-time mark in average points scored per regular season game.

The Canadian amassed 573 goals and 1,126 points in 752 games.

Four times a Stanley Cup champion, Bossy also won the Canada Cup in 1984.

Canada escaped with a 3-2 win over the Soviet Union in the semi-finals thanks to Bossy's winning goal in overtime. 

The Canadians went on to beat Sweden in the best-of-three final and Bossy finished the tournament with a team-leading five goals.

Bossy also played in the 1981 Canada Cup - finishing as the leader scorer with eight goals.

The Canada Cup was an International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event designed to allow the world's best professional players to meet in international competition, and a precursor to the World Cup of Hockey.

In October last year, Bossy announced he was stepping away from his position as an analyst with the French-language network TVA Sports in Canada to undergo treatment after being diagnosed with lung cancer.  

"It is with a lot of sadness that I need to step away from your screens, for a necessary pause," Bossy wrote in French in an open letter . 

"During this break I'll be receiving treatment for lung cancer. 

"[The score is] 1-0 so far, but I haven't said my last word.

"I intend to fight with all the determination and fire you've seen me show on the ice."

Born in Montreal, Bossy spent his entire NHL career, which lasted from 1977 to 1987, with the New York Islanders, and helped lead the team to four consecutive Stanley Cup titles in the early 1980s.  

The Islanders star was named the league's best rookie in 1978 after scoring 53 goals in his debut campaign and committing only three minor penalties the entire season. 

Bossy also won the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1982 as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Lady Byng Trophy, for combining a high standard of playing ability with sportsmanship, three times. 

During his career, Bossy was a supporter of fair play and violence-free hockey and teamed up with Cassie Campbell-Pascal and Bobby Orr to advocate for a peaceful, friendly game.

The legendary Islanders winger is one of only five players to score 50 goals in the first 50 games of an NHL season. 

He played 10 seasons with the franchise before announcing his retirement in 1988 as a result of a back injury. 

Bossy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 and was named to the NHL's 100 all-time greatest players list in 2017.

He still holds the Islanders record for career playoff goals with 85, and an NHL record with 19 consecutive playoff series wins. 

Bossy never had the chance to play at the World Championship or Winter Olympics, but he did compete at the two Canada Cup tournaments. 

His daughter Tanya mentioned her father was "no longer in pain" in a family statement, following his death at home in Montreal yesterday.

"My dad loved hockey, sure, but first and foremost he loved life," she said.

"Until the end of his journey, he hung on. 

"He wanted to live more than anything."  

Bossy managed to score 50 or more goals in each of his first nine seasons - the NHL's longest such streak.

Former Canada team-mate Wayne Gretzky, widely considered the greatest ice hockey player of all time, posted a photo of himself with Bossy on his Instagram page in tribute.

Gretzky and Bossy are the only players in NHL history with nine 50-goal seasons.

The International Ice Hockey Federation expressed deepest sympathy for Bossy's family and fans.

Clark Gillies and Jean Potvin, fellow Canadian members of the 1980s Islanders' dynasty, also passed away in January and March, respectively.