NHL history: Best trade in Chicago Blackhawks history
We are going WAY back for this one. The Chicago Blackhawks have been on the other side of some really, really bad trades in team history. This one absolutely went their way. In fact, the Red Wings of this era were like the Peter Chiarelli of this era. They traded away Johnny Bucyk, Terry Sawchuk, and here trading Glenn Hall. The time after the Red Wings 1950s dynasty was not a good one.
Hall played ten years with the Blackhawks. In five of those seasons, the Hawks literally didn’t need a backup goalie because he played all 70 games. Another season he led the league with 64 games played. Not only was he a work horse, but he was efficient. He led the league in goals saved above average three times, he led the NHL in goalie point share five times in his ten seasons, and he helped the Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup.
The Red Wings didn’t get much back in return for Hall. Johnny Wilson and Forbes Kennedy played small roles immediately after the trade, but their impact was fleeting. Bill Preston never played for the Red Wings, and Hank Bassen wasn’t really a priority with Sawchuk playing for the team at the time.
This is actually all Ted Lindsey’s fault. He tried to unionize the Red Wings, and that angered the Wings owners. They traded him to the Blackhawks to get him away from getting the team rights in negotiations. He wasn’t a huge impact on the Blackhawks, but he did score 58 points in his second year in Chicago.