Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #71 Moose Vasko

We are back to the Chicago Blackhawks greatest 100 list, and today we are looking back at a Chicago Blackhawks that won the Stanley Cup wearing the Chicago Blackhawks uniform.

Elmer Moose Vasko came up in 1956 with the Chicago Blackhawks, and when looking back at his career think Brent Seabrook.  Moose was a stay at home defenseman that had a pretty good shot.

Like Seabrook did in the mid 2000’s, Vasko played during some of the most lean times with the Chicago Blackhawks in the mid 1950’s. The Blackhawks were almost as bad as the Hawks were in the early to mid 2000’s.

It’s quite funny how Vasko got his nickname Moose.  Now today everyone would pick up what fans are cheering within a few minutes because of TV and social media, but back in the day there was only radio. So anyways because Vasko was such a big player compared to the rest of the players in the NHL, when he took to the ice the crowd would yell Mooooose.  For a short time, Vasko couldn’t understand why the crowd was booing when he took the ice.

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Anyways, after a while the nickname Moose stuck for the gentle giant. Vasko would play over 600 games for the Chicago Blackhawks during his career, and his greatest season was in 1961 of course.

In 61, the veteran defenseman was teamed up with a bunch of kids that made a run to the Stanley Cup championship.

For most of his career, Vasko was teamed up with Pierre Pilote which of course was his Duncan Keith of his era.

Vasko was a one of the original Minnesota North Stars when they came into the NHL so he did a little of everything during his career.

It’s hard to judge all defenseman by their stats, but one thing you can measure is the fact the Vasko hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1961 so he ranks 71st on our list this year.

Next: Defensive Free Agents Are Dwindling

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