Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #78 Trent Yawney

There are players that are all-time greats when they step on to the ice, or when they get behind the bench.  Yet some of the greatest only made a small but meaningful contribution on both sides of the bench in their Chicago Blackhawks career.

Trent Yawney was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks with the 45th selection overall in the 1984 draft, and he has seen almost the entire span of good and bad with this franchise.

Yawney was a defenseman in the late 80’s and early 90’s for the Chicago Blackhawks when they were a very good team that just couldn’t find their way to get past the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks to get to the Stanley Cup Final.

Yawney never put up big offensive numbers with the Blackhawks, but he was there during those great seasons including the Presidents Trophy season in 1991.  He was traded in December of 91 for Stephane Matteau which means he didn’t get to the Cup Final in 1992.

Yawney came back to the Hawks to end his career in 97 before his career came to end after playing in 593 career games with the Hawks and Calgary Flames.

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After his career ended he took his talents to behind the bench, and in 2005 when the Hawks were at their lowest became the head coach of the franchise.

He has been credited for putting two very young defenseman together that year in Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. If that was his big move in his coaching career, it was a really good move to make.

Dale Tallon fired Yawney a year later and replaced him with Denis Savard because he wasn’t happy with how Yawney was using his young players which is funny because Savard got fired so Joel Quenneville could put in discipline.

Yawney saw the good, the bad, and the really bad while in Chicago. Too bad he was never there for the Stanley Cup.

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