The Chicago Blackhawks have had a long and storied history as one of the National Hockey League’s “Original Six” franchises. There have been a number of Hall of Famers and colorful characters to have put on the famed Blackhawks sweaters through the decades. This list chronicles the top 20 goal scorers in team history.
1. Bobby Hull (604)
The Golden Jet started to rewrite the record book when he arrived in Chicago in 1957. He is still the measuring stick that all Blackhawks players are subject to. He is the only player in franchise history to score over 600 goals. Not only is he the all-time franchise leader in goals, but he is also fifth in assists (549), second in points (1,153) and fourth in games played (1,036)
Hull was a Stanley Cup winner, 12-time All-Star, two-time Hart Trophy winner and won the Lady Byng Trophy once. He won the second of three Art Ross Trophies for being league’s leading goal scorer in 1961-62 by becoming the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season. It was the first of five 50-goal seasons for the Blackhawks.
Hull’s time with the Blackhawks came to end in 1972 when he
decided to sign with the Winnipeg Jets in the upstart World Hockey Association.
This scenario of a superstar player leaving Chicago because the Wirtz family wouldn’t
pay them fair market value is one Blackhawks fans would get used to over the decades.
2. Stan Mikita (541)
While Hull is the Blackhawks all-time leading goal-scorer, Mikita is the greatest player in franchise history. He is second all-time with 541 goals and leads the franchise with 926 assists and 1,467 points. He spent his entire career with the Blackhawks and was seen many times at the United Center cheering on his team throughout their recent run of Stanley Cup success. Chicago and the entire hockey world mourned his passing on Aug. 7, 2018.
Mikita won two Hart Trophies for being the league’s most valuable player and four Art Ross Trophies in his career. He was an eight-time All-Star and had his named etched onto the Stanley Cup in 1961.
His back-to-back Lady Bing Trophies, for being the league’s “most gentlemanly player,” could be his most impressive feat. He had 26 total penalty minutes during the 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons, after posting a combined 300 penalty minutes during the 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons.
3. Steve Larmer (406)
Larmer is one of the best late-round draft picks in NHL history. The Blackhawks selected him in the sixth round of the 1980 Entry Draft. He won the Calder Trophy by scoring 43 goals and 90 points in his rookie season of 1982-83.
Related: Hockey Hall of Fame – Steve Larmer
Not only is Larmer just one of three players in team history to score 400 goals, but he was also an absolute workhorse. He didn’t miss a single game from the start of his rookie year through his final season with the Blackhawks in 1992-93.
Larmer was traded to the Hartford Whalers on Nov. 2, 1993, for Bryan Marchment, Eric Weinrich and Poulin. The Whalers then traded him to the New York Rangers, where he won the Stanley Cup in 1994. How he is not inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a mystery.
4. Patrick Kane (389)
Kane is the first of two active players on this list. He has pretty much accomplished everything one could imagine since being drafted first overall by the Blackhawks in 2007. He has been part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams to go along with his Calder, Hart, Ross and Conn Smythe Trophies.
At just 31-years-old, Kane should not have a problem
reaching the 500-goal plateau if he continues to play at a high level. Outside
of a broken collar bone in 2015, he has not had much of an injury history and has
missed just one game in the last five seasons. Can he give Hull a run for the
all-time record? Only time will tell.
5. Denis Savard (377)
The Blackhawks selected Savard with the third overall pick in the 1980 Entry Draft, six rounds before landing Larmer. He brought a rare combination of skating, passing and scoring, much like what we have used to seeing from Kane for the past 12 years.
Savard scored 351 goals in his first stint with the Blackhawks. He was traded Montreal Canadiens on June 29, 1990, for fellow future Hall of Famer Chris Chelios. He was a Stanley Cup champion in his first season in Montreal but never had the same personal success that he had earlier in his career.
After a short stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he was traded back to the Blackhawks in 1995 and scored the final 26 goals of his career over 145 games.
6. Jonathan Toews (345)
Toews fell to the Blackhawks at the third pick of the 2006 Entry Draft after the St. Louis Blues selected defenseman Erik Johnson and the Pittsburgh Penguins chose center Jordan Staal. He made an immediate impact with 24 goals and 54 points in his rookie season. He finished third in Calder Trophy voting behind Kane and Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals.
He became the youngest captain in franchise history at the
start of the 2008-09 season and has worn the C on his sweater ever since. In
2010, he won the Conn Smyth Trophy while leading the Blackhawks to their first Stanley
Cup win in 49 years. Toews has scored at least 20 goals in each of his first
full 12 NHL seasons. He is likely to finish his career in the top four in
all-time goals scored for the franchise.
7. Dennis Hull (298)
Despite being overshadowed by his older brother Bobby,
Dennis Hull still put together a heck of a career. The Silver Jet had great
success on the MPH line with Pit Martin and Jim Pappin, including a career-high
40 goals in 1970-71. He appeared in 904 games for the Blackhawks before being
traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 1977. He played one season and scored his
300th career NHL goal before retiring.
8. Tony Amonte (268)
The Blackhawks acquired Amonte from the Rangers on March 21, 1994, for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan. He went on to score 268 of his 416 career NHL goals in 627 games with the Blackhawks. He was reunited with his former Thayer Academy teammate Jeremy Roenick and they formed quite the one-two punch.
In a seven-season stretch from 1995 to 2002, Amonte had six seasons of at least 31 goals, including four seasons of over 41 goals, all while missing just two games. He left the Blackhawks following the 2001-02 season, signing as a free agent with the Phoenix Coyotes.
9. Jeremy Roenick (267)
Roenick was one of the most popular players in Blackhawks’ history by being an elite goal-scorer while playing a tough and physical style of hockey. He was drafted eighth overall in the 1988 Entry Draft. He had a four-season stretch of at least 41 goals, including 53 and 50 goals in 1991-92 and 1992-93, respectively. He scored 12 goals and 22 points in the Blackhawks run to the 1992 Stanley Cup Final.
Money was the driving force that led to his trade out of
Chicago. On Aug. 16, 1996, Roenick was moved to the Coyotes for Alexei Zhamnov,
Craig Mills and a first-round pick that was used to select Ty Jones, who only
played 14 career games in the NHL.
10. Bill Mosienko (258)
Mosienko set the standard early on in Blackhawks history as
he was the franchise leader in goals until Hull and Mikita arrived in town. He
spent his entire 14-season career with the Blackhawk, playing 711 games between
1941 and 1955. He had two 30-goal seasons; scoring a career-high 32 goals in
1943-44 before scoring 31 eight years later in 1951-52. The Hall of Famer still
holds the record for the fastest hat trick in NHL history when scored three
goals in 21 seconds against the Rangers on March 23, 1952.
11. Kenny Wharram (252)
Much like Mosienko, Wharram spent his entire 14-season career with the Blackhawks; making his NHL debut in 1951 and retiring in 1969. He was a member of the 1961 Stanley Cup-winning team. Wharram had his greatest success as a member of the famous “Scooter line,” including seven straight seasons of at least 20 goals.
The original line featured Wharram, Mikita and veteran Ted Lindsay. After Lindsay retired, Ab McDonald filled in and the line didn’t skip a beat.
12. Patrick Sharp (249)
Sharp was acquired in one of the best trades in Blackhawks history. On Dec. 5, 2005, the Blackhawks traded Matt Ellison to the Philadelphia Flyers for Sharp. Ellison played in seven games for the Flyers while Sharp was an important part of three Stanley Cups.
He scored a career-high 36 goals in 2007-08, the same year Kane, Toews and many young players who would be part of a championship two years later debuted. He had four seasons of at least 33 goals and can still be seen as part of the Blackhawks broadcast crew.
13. Pit Martin (243)
While Martin played for four different teams during his career, he had his greatest success with the Blackhawks. He was acquired from the Boston Bruins in the ill-fated Phil Esposito trade. Yes, Martin had a nice run in Chicago, but he was not the elite goal-scorer Esposito became.
He had a stretch of six straight seasons with at least 22 goals before scoring a career-high 32 times in 1975-76. His time with the Blackhawks ended when he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1977 for future considerations, that eventually became goaltender Murray Bannerman.
14. Eric Daze (226)
Daze never got as much credit for how good of a player he was. Unfortunately, chronic back problems limited him from reaching his full potential. He was selected in the fourth round of the 1993 Entry Draft with the pick the Blackhawks received from the Buffalo Sabres for Dominik Hasek.
He had five seasons with 30 goals or more, including a career-high 38 in 2001-02; the only season he played in all 82 games. Three back surgeries in five years could not get him in good playing shape and he called it quits after the 2005-06 season opener at just 30-years-old.
15. Doug Wilson (225)
Wilson is the one and only defenseman to appear on this list. The Blackhawks selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 1977 Amateur Draft. His 39 goals during his Norris Trophy-winning season in 1981-82 are the fourth-most by any defenseman, in a single season, in NHL history.
His time in Chicago ended in 1991 when he was traded to the San Jose Sharks, where is still their general manager to this day. His 237 career goals are the 12th-most among all NHL blueliners.
16. Doug Bentley (217)
The Bentley family was the Sutter family decades before the Sutters arrived on the NHL scene. Doug was one of the six brothers to play professional hockey. He led the NHL goals in back-to-back seasons, first with 33 goals in 1942-43.
The following season, he formed the first-ever all-brother line with Max and Reg and led the league with a career-high 38 goals. Injuries forced him to retire in 1951, but he returned to play 20 games for the New York Rangers during the 1953-54 season. Bentley, a four-time All-Star, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964.
17. Jim Pappin (216)
After winning two Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs,
Pappin was traded to the Blackhawks for Pierre Pilote in 1968. He made an
immediate impact by scoring 30 goals in his first season in Chicago. He scored
at least 22 goals in each of his seven seasons with the Blackhawks. He had 41
goals in 1972-73 and 36 goals, at age 35, in his final season with the Blackhawks
two years later. He was traded to the California Seals following the 1974-75
season.
18. Al Secord (213)
Secord was a fan-favorite during his six seasons with the Blackhawks. He was acquired from the Bruins in exchange for defenseman Mike O’Connell. He was endeared for not only scoring goals but his physicality while playing next to Savard.
In 1981-82, he scored 44 goals while racking up 303 penalty minutes, become the first player ever to score 40 goals with over 300 penalty minutes. The following season he scored a career-high 54 goals. He was traded to the Maple Leafs, along with Eddie Olczyk, for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas and Bob McGill in 1987. He re-signed with the Blackhawks for the 1989-90 season, his final one in the NHL, and scored 14 goals in 43 games. Secord is currently a commercial pilot for American Airlines.
19. Cliff Koroll (208)
Koroll spent his entire NHL career with the Blackhawks, playing in 814 games over 11 seasons between 1969 and 1980. He had five seasons of at least 21 goals including a career-high 33-goal output in 1972-73. After he retired, Koroll spent six seasons as an assistant coach for the Blackhawks. He currently serves as president of the Chicago Blackhawks Alumni Association.
20. Eric Nesterenko (207)
Nesterenko concludes this list as the 20th and final player to score at least 200 goals in a Blackhawks uniform. He spent 16 of his 22 NHL seasons in Chicago and was part of the 1961 Stanley Cup team. He was acquired by the Blackhawks, along with goaltender Harry Lumley, from the Maple Leafs, for $40,000, in 1956. He only had one 20-goal season in his career and that came in 1957-58. Nesterenko was best known as one of the league’s top penalty killers during his playing time.