As the Olympic Break approaches, many Blackhawks fans are excited about the potential of the current roster but also have some level of apprehension when looking towards the future. Considering the salary cap concerns coming next summer, the odds are that the Blackhawks could be active in the trade market and Hawks fans don’t want to see their favorite player leave… especially if you just spent a couple hundred dollars on a jersey. With that in mind, between now and the March 3 trade deadline, we’re going to look back at some major trades in the history of the Blackhawks, and how they shaped the history of the franchise.
In the 1989-90 season, the Blackhawks had a fantastic season. Under new head coach Mike Keenan, the team stormed to the top of the Norris Division with 88 points. Behind Steve Thomas (team-high 40 goals), Steve Larmer (team-high 90 points) and Denis Savard (80 points in only 60 games), the Hawks had one of the most dynamic offenses in the league. They ended the season second in the Campbell Conference, and had the veteran leadership in place to make a deep run throught he playoffs.
They would do precisely that, defeating the Minnesota North Stars 4-3 and then the St. Louis Blues 4-3 before an epic six-game series with the Edmonton Oilers. The Hawks lost the series to the Oilers, being outscored 25-20 in the six games. One of the surprises from that playoff run was a young netminder that was called up for the playoffs. Ed Belfour posted a 4-2 record with an impressive 2.49 goals against average in that postseason after not appearing in a regular season game for the Hawks.
There was a feeling that something special was coming in the future for the Blackhawks.
Then, on June 29, 1990, newly-named General Manager Keenan made his first bold move to shake up the roster.
Keenan dealt alternate captain Savard to the Montreal Canadiens for Chris Chelios and a second round pick in the 1991 draft (which was used to select LW Mike Pomichter). The player coming back to Chicago had a fantastic resume, but leaving was an icon.
Savard was the third overall player selected in the 1980 draft (behind Doug Wickenheiser and Dave Babych), which was the highest the Blackhawks had selected in team history until Patrick Kane was taken with the first overall pick 27 years later. He set the franchise record with 75 points in his rookie season, created the “Spin-O-Rama” and was in the middle of one of the best lines in the team’s history with Larmer and Al Secord.
In the decade Savard had spent in Chicago, he had established himself as the best scorer the franchise had seen since Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. He scored over 100 points four times in the 1980s, with an incredible 131 in 1987-88 (still the franchise record). He set the team record for assists in a season with 87 in 1981-82, and tied the mark in the 1987-88 season.
Moving Savard, who was just 29-years old at the time, was hard for any Hawks fan to stomach.
Coming back in the deal was Chelios, who wasn’t a slouch. Chelios, then 28, had played six full seasons for the Habs and had served as their co-captain with legend Guy Carbonneau in the 1989-90 season. In his six seasons, Chelios had scored 307 points (72 G, 235 A) in 390 games. He was a member of the All Rookie Team in 1985, finishing second in the Calder Trophy voting to some guy named Mario Lemieux. After the 1985-87 season, Chelios won his first Stanley Cup with Montreal. After the 1988-89 season, Chelios won his first Norris Trophy.
How did the aftermath of the trade work out?
Savard would win the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993, and would then spend less than two seasons with Tampa Bay before being dealt back to the Blackhawks for a sixth round pick. In the four-plus seasons Savard spent away from the Windy City, he would score 242 points (96 G, 146 A) in 315 games. He was clearly not as productive as he was in Chicago, where he had scored 1,013 points (309 G, 704 A) in just 736 games.
Chelios, on the other hand, took his game to another level. He would win the Norris Trophy two more times, in 1993 and 1996, and would serve as the team’s captain from 1995-1999. With young players like Belfour and Jeremy Roenick, he helped transition the Hawks from the high-flying teams of the 1980s into the 1990s and kept them competitive. The Hawks would advance to the Stanley Cup Finals once while Chelios was in Chicago, losing to Lemieux’s Penguins in 1992. He would play in six All Star Games as a member of the Blackhawks before being traded to Detroit in March of 1999 for Anders Eriksson and two first-round draft picks.
When the trade went down, Hawks fans were stung by the loss of one of the most popular players in franchise history. But the return on the transaction was a player that is still held in the highest regard and who, if he ever retires, could see his jersey number hanging from the rafters at the United Center right next to Savard’s.
Sunday night, the Blackhawks will celebrate the career of Jeremy Roenick by honoring him with a “Heritage Night.” The thought of celebrating Roenick’s career got the wheels turning… so many memories, so many great highlights, such an ugly divorce.
What do you remember most about the Jeremy Roenick Era of the Chicago Blackhawks?
Roenick was drafted eighth overall in 1988 and climbed to the NHL level late that season. He pitched in 18 points in 20 games and was effective in the playoffs his rookie season.
Roenick’s first full season in the NHL, 1989-90, saw him score 26 goals and 40 assists as the Blackhawks improved 22 points in the standings. He was starting to establish himself as a leader on an aging team that was going through some dramatic changes.
After the 1990 season, in part because of Roenick’s emergence as a scoring threat, the Blackhawks traded long-time fan favorite Denis Savard to Montreal for Chris Chelios and a second round draft pick. Roenick backed up the faith (or penny pinching) or management in 1990-91 by scoring 41 goals, 53 assists (94 points) and he was selected to play in the legendary All Star Game at the Chicago Stadium that season. The Hawks jumped another 18 points to win the Presidents’ Trophy.
During the ‘90-’91 season, Roenick led the team with 10 game-winning goals, and he teamed up with Steve Larmer (who had 101 points that year) to give the Hawks one of the most potent offenses in the league.
The next season, 1991-92, was magic for the Blackhawks, as they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Roenick scored 103 points that year (53 goals, 50 assists). He played in his second All Star Game, and was firmly established as one of the elite scoring forwards in the NHL.
The two seasons that followed that campaign made Roenick a legend in Chicago and a league-wide household name. JR had back-to-back 107-point seasons. That total was the highest for a Blackhawks player not named Savard since Bobby Hull’s incredible 107-point season in 1968-69.
Despite the team’s successes of the early 1990s, this was a time filled with frustration from Hawks players and the fans. The trade of Savard for Chelios ended up bringing another eventual Chicago legend home, but unloading one of the best players in franchise history wasn’t the easiest trade to stomach.
Again in large part due to Roenick having established himself as the team’s top scorer, the team moved another fan favorite, Steve Larmer, with Bryan March to Hartford for Eric Weinrich and Patrick Poulin, on November 2, 1993. Larmer hadn’t missed a game, or the playoffs, in a Chicago uniform in over a decade, but Dollar Bill Wirtz was beginning to show an unwillingness to keep a great core together. Larmer wanted to win the Cup, and Wirtz wasn’t showing any signs of keeping the Hawks competitive.
The reasons for Larmer’s departure seemed to effect many of the young Hawks as they entered the mid-1990s. So did Wirtz being one of the most recklessly cheap owners in the history of professional sports.
That 1993-94 season was Roenick’s fourth All Star Game, and he set career highs in power play goals (24) and short handed goals (five). He was +21, and ranked by a number of major publications as one of the top players in the league. But the Hawks fell back further in the standings, something Larmer wanted nothing to do with, and it was appearing that an implosion of the roster was coming.
It was in 1994 that Roenick took another step in his evolution as a legend: NHL ‘94 made Roenick a god.
In the movie “Swingers,” Vince Vaughn absolutely wrecks another guy on the game, referring to Roenick by name a couple times (including a supposed fight between Roenick and Wayne Gretzky on the great video game). It will be interesting to see if Vaughn, who was in attendance on Wednesday night at the United Center, makes another appearance for Roenick’s Heritage Night on Sunday.
Another development that began the erosion of Roenick’s roster status in Chicago in 1993-94 was the arrival of Tony Amonte. Just as Roenick did with Savard and Larmer, over the next couple seasons it would be Amonte’s talent, coupled with Roenick’s expiring contract, started to make the superstar expendable.
Roenick didn’t help himself, though. During the strike, Roenick infamously told the media that fans believing pro athletes were spoiled could “kiss my ass.” Unfortunately, pairing Roenick’s fan-directed comments with Wirtz was poison to a great fan base.
The final issue that would haunt the Blackhawks franchise was Wirtz’s disrespect for his players and the fans after the strike that shortened the 1994-95 season. Roenick scored 34 points in 33 games that season season (despite missing 15 games with leg issues), and the Hawks advanced all the way to the Conference Finals again. But 1995-96 was the final year of Roenick’s contract, and would be the end of his Chicago career.
Despite missing the final 11 games in 1996, Roenick led the team with 32 goals. When that season ended, Roenick ranked eighth all time with 596 points for the Blackhawks organization. His 267 goals were sixth all time (eventually eclipsed by one by Amonte), and he ranked in the organization’s top ten in assists as well.
That wasn’t good enough for Wirtz, though. Roenick wanted to get paid like a Top Ten hockey player, and Wirtz was running (and paying for) a Bottom Ten organization.
Roenick was traded to Phoenix on August 16, 1996 for Alexei Zhamnov and Craig Mills.
While the the organization tried to spin this as a move forward, it was clear that Bob Pulford and Wirtz were destroying what was one of the best young teams in the NHL piece by piece. Over the next three seasons, the Hawks would unload Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios and most of their paying fans in an effort to become an anonymous, losing franchise.
Roenick was sold as “washed up” and having lost a step on the ice, but Phoenix knew better. Roenick played in five All Star Games in the 12 seasons he played after leaving Chicago, and would prove to be a clutch playoff performer time after time.
Roenick would also continue stirring the pot after leaving Chicago. Even in his final season, one that saw him as an irrelevant player on the ice, Roenick made headlines when he claimed that Detroit head coach Mike Babcock hated American players, and refused to play Chelios because he was born in the US.
Do you remember Roenick for being a great scorer?
Do you remember Roenick for being one of those Chicago players that “got away”?
Do you remember Roenick for being a controversy waiting to happen?
Or…
Do you remember Roenick for being a god on NHL ‘94?
The point isn’t whether or not you remember Roenick, it’s how he’s placed in your memory. There is no questioning Roenick’s place among the great Blackhawks of all time, and Sunday night the team will celebrate his achievements.
#28 - Steve Larmer
Born June 16, 1961.
Right Wing
Drafted by Chicago in the 6th round (120th overall) in 1980.
Won Calder Memorial Trophy and was named to All-Rookie Team in 1983.
Named to Western Conference All Star Teams in 1990 (Pittsburgh) and 1991 (Chicago).
From 1982-1993, Larmer played in 884 consecutive games with Chicago, an NHL record streak with one team.
Named one of the right wings on the Blackhawks 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Awarded The Hockey News/Inside Hockey “Man of the Year” after the 1990-91 season.
Played in Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his 13 seasons (11 with Chicago, two with New York Rangers).
Member of 1994 Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers.
Scored his 1,000th point and played in his 1,000th game with Rangers in ‘94.
Larmer should be in the Hall of Fame.
Career Statistics
Chicago Blackhawks 1980-81 thru 1992-93; New York Rangers 1993-94 and 1994-95.
1,012 points (923 with Chicago, 4th in franchise history)
441 goals (406 with Chicago, 3rd in franchise history)
571 assists (517 with Chicago, 5th in franchise history)
131 playoff points (111 with Chicago)
56 playoff goals (45 with Chicago)
75 playoff assists (66 with Chicago)
+182 in Chicago career – best in franchise history
The Chicago Blackhawks are entering a world known by only a few living people affiliated with the organization. Not since the late 1980s have the Hawks had a young, athletic, competitive team that had outsiders talking Stanley Cup.
Now, the pressure’s on the kids to perform.
A team that was less that three years removed from being named the worst professional sports organization sold out every home game, and now has everyone pronouncing names like Huet and Toews correctly. After one of the great organizational turnarounds in the history of professional sports, the Blackhawks enter a season with huge expectations and bigger hopes.
There is plenty of reason to hope in Chicago, though. Last year, the Hawks advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals with a roster that had less playoff experience as a whole than some of Detroit’s forward lines. In fact, Jonathan Toews, the team’s captain, couldn’t legally consume alcohol until the end of April. The team grossly exceeded even the greatest of expectations.
But, despite all the reasons they couldn’t win a series against a veteran Calgary team, or an experienced and talented Vancouver team with an all-world goalie, the Hawks made it to the conference finals. Losing to Detroit was hard to stomach, but the experience was worth the journey.
Last season, the Hawks finished second in the Central Division behind, of course, Detroit. The Red Wings have maintained a strangle hold on the division for years, and the young Hawks put up a good fight. Throughout an exciting season that included a historic game against Detroit at Wrigley Field, the Hawks were every bit the story of the 2008-09 season.
Now begins the 2009-10 season, and the experience the young Hawks gained in May comes with some new additions.
The biggest addition to the Hawks roster is veteran wing Marian Hossa. The Blackhawks gave Hossa, 30, a huge deal to bring his experience and scoring touch to the already-talented roster they have in place. This addition was a big win for the Hawks, but it became bigger because they took the leading goal scorer away from the Red Wings. Detroit did not add another scorer to replace Hossa.
News broke after the second annual Blackhawks’ fan convention that Hossa would miss the first two months of the season because he needed shoulder surgery, which was an awkward surprise to many Hawks fans. Hossa has played in, and been on the losing end of, the last two Stanley Cup Finals.
By taking Hossa’s production away from Detroit, and adding it to the Hawks roster, Chicago made a strong statement both on and off the ice.
The rough reality behind the addition of Hossa was that Martin Havlat was not retained. A fan favorite in Chicago, the Hawks were not able to come to terms with Havlat before the free agency period began. It became clear, though, after the contract was signed with Hossa that the Hawks intention was to move on.
The irony of Hossa’s shoulder injury is that the Blackhawks made the move from Havlat to Hossa in large part because of Hossa’s relatively clean injury history. Havlat had missed a lot of time over the past few years because of various injuries, and the Blackhawks wanted a consistent presence on the ice moving forward.
Coming with Hossa from Detroit was Tomas Kopecky. Kopecky finished last year second on the Red Wings in hits, and is a strong two-way forward who can also play center. Coach Joel Quenneville has already made public his appreciation for Kopecky’s skill set, and he’ll be an intriguing player to plant among the Hawks lines.
Another addition that came relatively quietly was former New Jersey Devils center John Madden. He, like Kopecky, has a championship ring in his possession. He is another smart, strong two-way center that will likely be used to cover the tails of some of the Blackhawks’ more aggressive defenders like Brian Campbell and Cam Barker.
The experience, and championship pedigree added to the Blackhawks roster position them well to make the first step towards the Cup, dethroning the Red Wings in the Central Division.
Detroit didn’t only lose Kopecky and Hossa. Gone, too, is goalie Ty Conklin, who started more than half of Detroit’s games last year. The defending Western Conference champions also lost Jiri Hudler, who opted to play in Russia this year. The Wings did not make any substantial additions to compensate for these losses, which could make for an interesting season in Michigan.
The Blackhawks will also be moving on in between the pipes this year, as Nikolai Khabibulin left as a free agent. Last year’s surprise star in goal will now, perhaps finally, be replaced by last summer’s expensive addition, Cristobal Huet. Who will back up Huet was in question throughout training camp, but it now appears that Anti Niemi has won that competition, as Corey Crawford cleared waivers on Thursday and will likely be sent to the AHL when the team returns from Helsinki.
But all of the speculation, magazine and video game covers now mean nothing. On October 2, the Blackhawks begin their quest to bring the Stanley Cup to Chicago for the first time in nearly 50 years.
