Top 10 Greatest Players in Blackhawks History: Part III

This is part three of a three part series profiling the 10 greatest Blackhawks of all time. The previous seven are: 10. Keith Magnuson, 9. Bill Mosienko, 8. Doug Bentley, 7. Denis Savard, 6. Pierre Pilote, 5. Tommy Ivan, and 4. Glenn Hall.

3. Tony Esposito, G

Esposito played 15 seasons with the Blackhawks, and also played one other NHL season in Montreal. He finished with a record of 418-302-148 with the Blackhawks, a winning percentage of .581. He had several great seasons with the Hawks, going 31-10-6 in 1971-72, with nine shutouts and a 1.77 GAA. In 1973-74, he went 34-14-21, with a GAA of 2.04 and 10 shutouts.

Esposito won several awards in his NHL career. He claimed the Vezina trophy three times during his career, and he also won the Calder Trophy as a rookie with the Blackhawks. The year before that, his Montreal Canadiens claimed the only Stanley Cup he won during his long and illustrious career.

Other notable achievements include his time with the Canadian National Hockey team. He was the first goalie to defeat the Soviet team in the Summit Cup, in 1972, and he posted the lowest GAA of any player in that series. He was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988. His jersey number, 35, was retired by the Blackhawks that same year. He is also ranked No. 79 on The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Players.

He was also the first chief scout of the Tampa Bay Lightning, as his brother Phil was a co-founder of the club. Legend has it that the brothers named the team while they were discussing personnel during a thunderstorm.

He was also named a Blackhawks ambassador in 2008.

2. Bobby Hull, LW

Bobby Hull is widely regarded as one of the greatest left wingers in NHL history. He played for 15 seasons with the Blackhawks, in which he racked up some gaudy numbers. He scored 604 goals and 549 assists with the team, and also helped guide them to the 1961 Stanley Cup, the last one in franchise history. In 117 playoff games with the club, he had 62 goals and 67 assists. He also knew how to rack up penalty minutes, getting 102 in those games.

Hull is also one of the most decorated players in history in terms of awards. He won the Art Ross trophy as the league’s top scorer three times. He was a 10-time NHL First All Star. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy twice, the Lady Byng in 1965, and the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1969.

The accolades didn’t stop rolling in after he left the NHL, either. He joined the World Hockey League in 1972. He scored 303 goals in 411 career games with the Winnipeg Jets, and was an All Star three times. He was second in goals and third in points in his career. He is ranked No. 8 on The Hockey News 100. He also was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983, having his No. 9 retired by the Blackhawks. He retired from the NHL as the second leading goal scorer in history.

He was also named a Blackhawks ambassador in the 2007-2008 season.

1. Stan Mikita, C

Stan Mikita is widely considered the greatest center of the 1960s. He played his entire 22-season career with the Blackhawks, and retired as one of the best offensive players in history. He finished ranked second in NHL history in points (1,467), and is ranked high on the list of all-time goal scorers (541). He is currently 16th in career assists (926).

Among his many career accomplishments, he is the only player to win the Lady Byng, Art Ross, and Hart Trophies in the same season, doing so in back-to-back seasons in 1967 and 1968. He also won the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer two other years (1964 and 1965). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 along with teammate Hull.

Mikita also had a career transformation worth noting. In his early years, he was one of the most penalized players in the NHL, racking up 685 penalty minutes in the course of six seasons. After giving serious thought to the impact he was having on his daughter’s life, he decided to play a cleaner game, and he actually won the Lady Byng trophy for sportsmanship twice in his career. In his remaining 15 NHL seasons, he had only 605 penalty minutes.

In his playoff career, he had 59 goals and 91 assists in 155 games. In the 1965 playoffs, he had 53 penalty minutes in 14 games. He also was on the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup winning club in 1961.

He contributed to the sport of hockey in other ways, as well. He is believed to be the first player to use a curved stick, and he was one of the first practitioners of the slap shot. He also co-founded the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA), an organization that still works closely with the Blackhawks to this day.

He was named a Blackhawks ambassador in 2008, and his jersey No. 21 hangs from the rafters of the United Center. He was ranked No. 17 on The Hockey News 100 Greatest Players, the highest ranking for a player born outside of Canada.

This list is not intended to be the be all and end all of Blackhawks greats. The main reason we put this list together was because we wanted to celebrate the Blackhawks renaissance that is occurring at 1901 W. Madison, and the hope that it will continue for years to come. Go Hawks, and let the debate begin!