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Top 50 Chicago Blackhawks

An Original Six team, the Chicago Blackhawks first came to fruition in 1926, and in 1934 they would win the Stanley Cup for the first time.  They would repeat that effort in 1938 but following the death of the original owner and founder, Frederic McLaughlin in 1944, Chicago would suffer under poor ownership (they were owned by a “puppet” of Detroit’s owner, James E. Norris) and was horrible for years.  When his father died, James D. Norris and minority owner, Arthur Wirtz took over, and in the late 1950’s they reinvested in the team and would acquire bright young prospects (Stan Mikita & Bobby Hull) and would finally win their third Stanley Cup in 1961.

Chicago was loaded with talent throughout the 1960s and would return to the Stanley Cup Finals twice that decade (1962 & 1965) but they would not win in both attempts.  They would into another decade-long drought in terms of championships although they had some very good teams through this era, including the 1990/91 season where they led the league in Points.  It turned around with young talent like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and in 2010 the Cup would return to the Windy City.  That decade remained strong with Chicago as they would win their fifth and sixth Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015 respectively.


This list is up to the end of the 2022/23 season.

Note: Hockey lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.


This was not easy.  Do you go with Stan Mikita or Bobby Hull? Honestly, we don’t think that you can go wrong regardless which way you go, but we went Mikita due to his longevity and his importance to the franchise, though if you think we should have went with…
While we made the decision to go with Stan Mikita as the greatest Chicago Blackhawk of all-time, we don’t actually think that he was the most dynamic player and dare we say necessarily the best. In their respective primes, we would argue that the “Golden Jet” was actually the better…
This was really hard for us. While there should be absolutely no doubt that Patrick Kane should be among the top ten of the Chicago Blackhawks, are we incorrect at putting him at #3?
Glenn Hall is one of the greatest Goaltenders of all time and it was in the Windy City where he proved himself to be among the elite not only of his era but forever.
Duncan Keith's run with the Chicago Blackhawks was so brilliant, that we feel confident that he is the best Defenseman in franchise history.
What bothers us quite a bit is how Pierre Pilote has become a forgotten legend among the even some of the Chicago Blackhawks faithful.  Now granted he played with Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull and Glenn Hall but this is a player who for many was regarded as the first blueliner…
When you are the brother of the Phil Esposito it is easy to stay in a shadow.  While it didn’t hurt that Tony was a Goalie, there was no doubt that the younger Esposito carved his own career and when it was all said and done he wasn’t Phil’s younger…
Granted, this list is supposed to focus only on accomplishments with the Chicago Blackhawks but when you are discussing an incredible talent and career like Chris Chelios some other components need to be mentioned.
If you were to ask Art Ross after he first met Doug Bentley, he would have told you that both he and his brother Max would never have made the NHL let alone the Hockey Hall of Fame but Boston’s loss would become Chicago’s gain as the Bentleys were signed…
Earl Seibert may never have won the Norris Trophy as the National Hockey League’s top Defenseman, but look at the consecutive string of All-NHL Selections he had!
The top blueliner for well over a decade for the Blackhawks, Doug Wilson was the Norris Trophy winner in the 1981-82 season where he was also a First Team All-Star.  Wilson would also be named a Second Team All-Star twice and was also an All-Star for the Blackhawks six times. …
From the hockey rich city of Winnipeg, Jonathan Toews was the third overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft and he proceeded to finish third in Calder Trophy voting, where he lost to his teammate Patrick Kane, which certainly gave notice to the city of Chicago that they had a…
The Chicago Blackhawks likely did not expect to see Denis Savard fall to them when they drafted third in 1980 and how happy that must of have been for years after that he did!  Savard tore it up in the Quebec Juniors and with Chicago he continued to show off…
With the exception of his last two seasons (which were with the New York Rangers), Steve Larmer was a Chicago Blackhawk throughout his professional career.  A later round pick in the 1980 Draft, Larmer proved to be a pleasant surprise as he would provide Chicago with 674 Points and would…
If you asked hockey scouts when they saw Ed Belfour at the age of 18, none of them would have pegged Ed Belfour as a future Hall of Famer.  That may very well have been the case for his next four years.  Belfour went undrafted and he would sign with…
Bill Mosienko would make a relatively quick debut into the National Hockey League at the age of 20 in the 1941-42 season as the events of World War II would deplete the rosters of the premier league of Hockey.  Dubbed “Wee Willie” due to his short stature, Mosienko would blossom…
The second Russian born player in the NHL (though he arrived in Canada before he was one year old) played his entire National Hockey League career with the Chicago Blackhawks.  Gottselig could do it all for Chicago.  He could score, he could check and he was a locker room leader…
Jeremy Roenick made a claim as one of the greatest American born forwards in hockey history and luckily for the Chicago Blackhawks it was there where he was the most productive.
Max Bentley was not supposed to play in the NHL as the native of Saskatchewan was told by the Montreal Canadiens (who had his rights) that a heart condition would prevent him from being a professional hockey player. As you can see, the Habs physician was wrong.
Brent Seabrook played all 1,114 of his NHL Games with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he provided leadership, solid defense, and offensive rushes when needed.  Seabrook was an Alternate Captain but it was not that long ago that he was part of a youth movement that would bring the Blackhawks their…