Throwback Thursday-Tom Lysiak

Tom Lysiak-Chicago Blackhawks (Picture courtesy of (Polishsportshof.com)

Tom Lysiak

Career Games-919

Goals-292

Assists-551

Blackhawks Career

Games-474

Goals-137

Assists-265

Lysiak was 2nd pick overall in the 1973 draft by the Atlanta Flames.  Lysiak played for five years with the Flames which included being the team Captain for the last two seasons before being traded to Chicago in a huge 8 player trade which at the time was the biggest in NHL history.

Lysiak was a staple of the Blackhawks during their very good stretch of the 1980’s where they had some great players but could never get past the Edmonton Oilers. Lysiak was very consistent scoring  20-30 goals a game. No matter how good Lysiak was there is only one thing most people remember  about Tom Lysiak.

On October 30, 1983 Lysiak tripped linesman Ron Francis.  The incident cost Lysiak a 20 game suspension, but many think this was the beginning of the NHL league office coming down harder on the Hawks than any other franchise in the NHL.  The Hawks and their fans have felt in the past that Lysiak had cursed their team with bad officiating and extra games of suspension because of one fateful trip on the night before Halloween. One thing that is amazing in 2013, is not being able to find anything on Youtube with the lowlight of that play.

One thing that the recent run of 2 Cups in 4 seasons is that no one ever mentions Lysiak’s name in disgust anymore.

What do you remember about Tom Lysiak?

For more Blackhawks conversation and updates follow us on Twitter @Blackhawk_Up or Like our Facebook page at Blackhawkup.