Chicago Blackhawks: 5 Best Goalies in team history

The Chicago Blackhawks have had many great players throughout the years. A few players that we don’t show low to are the goalies.

5. Charlie Gardiner

The Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup in 1934. The goalie that season was Charlie Gardiner. The tragic story of Gardiner was his death just two months after winning the Stanley Cup. The death was in June of 1934. Gardiner went into a coma because of a brain hemorrhage. From there, he had a tonsillar infection. He was just 29 years old.

Even though his NHL career was ended short, he still earned himself a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. In just seven NHL seasons, Gardiner was a four-time All-Star, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, and a Stanley Cup champion.

He played on some terrible Blackhawks’ team but would be the first goalie in franchise history to lift the greatest trophy in all of the professional sport’s leagues. During the 1933-34 season, Gardiner had his best numbers. He posted a career-low 1.63 GAA. That was also his second time winning the Vezina Trophy.

Even though he had a losing record throughout his career, he had four winning seasons. The majority of his poor play came during the early years of the Blackhawks. The years where they were just finding themselves as a team. He was apart of some of the worst offensive teams in all of hockey history.

If Gardiner’s life wasn’t cut so short, he could have moved up higher on this list. Maybe, the Blackhawks would have won even more with him. He was just 29 years old and was in the prime of his career.