Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #4 Denis Savard

The Chicago Blackhawks have had some great offensive stars, and Denis Savard had to be one of the funnest stars to ever lace up the skates in Chicago Blackhawks history. 

Besides

Murray Bannerman

, no other player may have been more exciting to listen to Pat Foley broadcast than Denis Savard. When Foley would tell us listening on radio that the Savard had just done the spin-0-rama you couldn’t wait to possibly see a highlight of it on TV.

Like so many of the All-Time Chicago players (Michael Jordan, Jonathan Toews), Savard was the third selection of the NHL draft in 1980 and didn’t waste anytime playing 76 games in the 1980-81 season.  Savard scored 28 times with 47 assists in his rookie season to end up finishing 5th in the Calder Trophy race.

Savard would be part of the new core of players that turned the Hawks into a perennial contender, and one of the most exciting teams to watch on a nightly basis.

Savard was lightning in a bottle, and he could do some real magic with the puck whether he was scoring goals or setting up his linemates with some great feeds to score goals.

Savard picked up 86 or more assists in a season 3 different times which is a whole lot of helpers, and if it wasn’t for Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Wayne Gretzky would have had the stats to have been a Hart Trophy Winner.

Savard as you have probably read earlier in these Greatest posts played on my favorite line with Al Secord and Steve Larmer.  What an offensive #1 line that was, it’s a shame that Secord wasn’t able to stay healthy to prolong the fun.

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Savard and the 1980’s Hawks couldn’t get to the Stanley Cup Final so when the Hawks brass decided they need to make a change they sent Savard to the Montreal Canadiens for Chris Chelios.

Savard would win his Stanley Cup with Patrick Roy and the rest of the 1993 Canadiens. Savard returned to Chicago for a farewell tour and then retired from the NHL.

If you ask me, one of Savard’s biggest accomplishments was getting all the young Blackhawks playing time as Chicago Blackhawks head coach before Dale Tallon replaced Savard with Joel Quenneville. The young Hawks as we know have already won 3 Stanley Cup Championships.

Savard is third all-time in Chicago Blackhawks points in franchise history with 1,096 being only one of three Blackhawks with over 1,000 career points and 2nd all-time in assists with 719.

Savard’s #18 jersey rightfully hangs from the United Center rafters, and is currently a Blackhawks ambassador.

Next: Blackhawks Greatest 100- #5 Steve Larmer

Only 4 Days left until the Blackhawks season finally kicks off.