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Top 50 Chicago Blackhawks

An Original Six team, the Chicago Blackhawks first came into existence in 1926, and in 1934, they won 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 1950s, they reinvested in the team and acquired bright young prospects (Stan Mikita & Bobby Hull) and finally won 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 either attempt.  They would go 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 winning their fifth and sixth Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015, respectively.


This list is up to the end of the 2024/25 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 you can go wrong regardless of which way you go, but we chose Stan and his importance due to his longevity with the franchise. However, if you think we should have gone 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 in 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 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 to…
When you are the brother of the legendary Phil Esposito, it is easy to stay in the shadows.  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…
Granted, this list is intended to focus solely on accomplishments with the Chicago Blackhawks, but when discussing an incredible talent and career like Chris Chelios, certain other aspects 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 (you can't win an award that didn't exist yet), but look at the consecutive string of All-NHL Selections he had!
The top blueliner for well over a decade with the Blackhawks, Doug Wilson won the Norris Trophy in the 1981-82 season, also earning First Team All-Star honors.  Wilson would also be named a Second Team All-Star twice and was also an All-Star for the Blackhawks six times.  The Defenceman would…
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 special…
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 have been for years after that he did!  Savard tore it up in the Quebec Juniors, and with Chicago, he continued to show off elite…
Except for his last two seasons (which were with the New York Rangers), Steve Larmer was a Chicago Blackhawk throughout his professional career.  A late-round pick in the 1980 Draft, Larmer proved to be a pleasant surprise, providing Chicago with 674 Points and making two All-Star appearances after being named…
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 committed to the University…
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, and…
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…