Tony Esposito's Blackhawk Legacy

Tony Esposito is one of the most influential goalies not only in Blackhawk history, but in all of NHL history. The hall of famer spent 16 years in the NHL and 15 of those were with the Blackhawks. In his time with the Blackhawks, he won the Calder Trophy. To go along with that he also won three Vezina trophies, given out to the leagues best goalie. Esposito is also often credited for being one of the pioneers of the butterfly style of goaltending that we see in the NHL today.

Esposito's numbers without a doubt put him in the argument of greatest Blackhawk goalies of all time. 418 wins with the Blackhawks, franchise record. 24,376 saves with the Blackhawks, franchise record. 873 total games played with the Blackhawks, franchise record. And lastly, 74 shutouts with the Blackhawks, yet another franchise record.

Unfortunately for Esposito, the one thing that eluded him during his time with the Blackhawks, was the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks made the Stanley Cup playoffs many times with Esposito in net, however they only advanced to the Stanley Cup Final twice in his career. Both of those series the Blackhawks would lose to the Montreal Canadiens in 1971 and 1973. Even though the Blackhawks were not able to come out on the winning end in either of those, nothing can be taken away from Tony Esposito and what he was able to accomplish during his time as the Blackhawks netminder. The Blackhawks showed just how much he meant to them in 1988 when they decided to officially retire his number 35 jersey.