This Week in Chicago Blackhawks History: birth of a legend, banner raised & lockout ended

We are starting to get more eventful weeks as the calendar flips from September to October. This upcoming week saw the birth of the greatest goaltender in team history, a championship banner head to the rafters, and the end of a historic lockout that cost the NHL an entire season. It’s time to fire up the CHGO time machine for our weekly lesson in Chicago Blackhawks history.

Sept. 29

1928 – Ray Timgren was born in Windsor, ON. After winning two Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was loaned to the Blackhawks on Nov. 4, 1954. The left wing nicknamed “The Golden Boy” played the final 14 games of his NHL career in Chicago and scored one goal and two points. He began a career in education after retiring from hockey in 1956 and served as a principal in Ontario into the 1970s.

1940 – John Miszuk was born in Naliboki, Poland. The Blackhawks acquired him on June 9, 1964, in part of a four-team trade that included the Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. The defenseman had a goal and an assist in five games over two seasons before being selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft.

1965 – Trent Yawney was born in Hudson Bay, SK. The Blackhawks drafted the blueliner in the third round (45^th overall) of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. In his first four seasons with the team, he had 15 goals and 70 points in 215 games. On Dec. 16, 1991, he was traded to the Calgary Flames for forward Stephane Matteau.

Yawney returned to the team as a free agent in 1997. He had a goal in 65 games before retiring on Feb. 4, 1999, and immediately joined the coaching staff as an assistant. He served as head coach of the Norfolk Admirals in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 2000 to 2005. On July 7, 2005, he was named head coach of the Blackhawks and went 33-55-15 before being dismissed on Nov. 27, 2006, when Denis Savard replaced him. He is currently an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings.

Sept. 30

1952 – Kirk Bowman was born in Leamington, ON. The left wing signed with the Blackhawks in 1974 after a season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). He had 11 goals and 28 points in 88 games over two seasons. He headed to Europe in 1979, where he played professionally until 1988.

2000 – Tony Amonte was named the 31st team captain in Blackhawks history. He replaced Doug Gilmour, who was traded to the Buffalo Sabres the previous season. Amonte wore the “C” for the next two seasons until he left the team via free agency in 2002, signing with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Oct. 1

1946 – Cliff Koroll was born in Canora, SK. He played his entire 11-season NHL with the Blackhawks. The popular right wing had 208 goals and 462 points in 814 games between 1969 and 1980. He had a stretch of five straight seasons with at least 21 goals, including a career-high 33 goals in 1972-73. After retiring, he served as an assistant coach for six seasons. Koroll is the president of the Blackhawks Alumni Association and was inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame.

1969 – Igor Ulanov was born in Krasnokamsk, USSR. The defenseman was a 10^th-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1991. The Blackhawks acquired him on Oct. 17, 1995, from the Washington Capitals for a third-round pick used on Dave Weninger, who never made the NHL. He had one goal and nine points in his 53 games in Chicago. On Jan. 15, 1996, Ulanov was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning with Patrick Poulin to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Enrico Ciccone. The teams also swapped second-round picks, the Blackhawks used theirs on Jeff Paul, who never played in the league, and Tampa traded theirs to the New Jersey Devils.

1970 – Alex Zhamnov was born in Moscow, USSR. He was acquired on Aug. 16, 1996, from the Phoenix Coyotes with Craig Mills and a first-round pick for Jeremy Roenick. That pick was used on Ty Jones, another player that never played in the NHL. Zhamnov was put into a nearly impossible spot trying to replace one of the most popular players in team history. It was more challenging because Roenick was a goal-scorer, and Zhamnov was more of a facilitator. He played 528 games for the Blackhawks and scored 140 goals and 424 points. On Feb. 19, 2004, he was traded to the Flyers for a second-round pick, Colin Fraser and Jim Vandermeer. That pick was used to take Bryan Bickell, who got his name on the Stanley Cup with Fraser in 2010.

1973 – Mike Maneluk was born in Winnipeg, MB. The left wing was traded to the Blackhawks on Nov. 17, 1998, by the Flyers for Roman Vopat. He had four goals and seven points in 28 games before being claimed off waivers by the Rangers on March 4, 1999.

1981 – Johnny Oduya was born in Stockholm, Sweden. The blueliner was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 27, 2012, for a second and third-round pick. He played 219 games for the Blackhawks and scored 10 goals and 45 points. More importantly, he formed the solid second defensive pairing with Niklas Hjalmarsson that was key to winning the Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015. Oduya signed with the Dallas Stars in 2015 but was traded back to Chicago on Feb. 28, 2017, for Mark McNeill and a conditional draft pick. He had a goal and an assist in 15 games before signing with the Ottawa Senators the following offseason.

1997 – Current assistant general manager Norm Maciver scored the game-winning goal in the Coyotes’ 6-2 win over the Blackhawks. Bob Probert and Sergei Krivokrasov had the Chicago tallies in the first of seven straight losses to start the 1997-98 season.

2013 – The Blackhawks raised their second Stanley Cup banner in four years to a sellout crowd at the United Center. After the festivities, they started their title defense with a 6-4 victory over the Capitals. Brandon Bollig had the first goal of the season, and Oduya had the game-winner late in the third period.

Oct. 2

1905 – Ralph “Bouncer” Taylor was born in Toronto, ON. The defenseman played 80 games for the Blackhawks between 1927 and 1930 and scored two goals and three points. He was claimed off waivers by the Rangers on Jan. 8, 1930.

1922 – Jimmy Peters was born in Montreal, QC. Nicknamed “Shakey,” the two-time Stanley Cup winner was acquired from the Red Wings on Aug. 20, 1951, in part of a seven-player trade. He had 43 goals and 89 points in 186 games for the Blackhawks before he was traded back to Detroit on Jan. 25, 1954, for unknown compensation. He finished his career with a third championship to close out the 1953-54 season. His son, Jimmy Jr., also played with the Red Wings.

1952 – Rob Palmer was born in Detroit, MI. The center was a sixth-round pick (93^rd overall) by the Blackhawks in 1972. He had three assists in his 16 NHL games over three seasons.

1958 – Brian Young was born in Kitchener, ON. The Blackhawks selected him in the fourth round (63^rd overall) of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. The defenseman had two assists in eight career games, all coming in the 1980-81 season.

1991 – The Edmonton Oilers traded defenseman Steve Smith to the Blackhawks for Dave Manson and a third-round draft pick, used to select Kirk Maltby. Smith spent the next six seasons in Chicago. He had 25 goals and 136 points in 317 games. He signed with the Calgary Flames in 1998.

2000 – The Blackhawks and Maple Leafs swapped defensemen as Alexander Karpovtsev went to Chicago in exchange for Bryan McCabe. Karpovtsev struggled in three-plus seasons, scoring seven goals and 46 points in 182 games. On March 9, 2009, he was traded to the New York Islanders for a fourth-round pick and was the subject of a legendary Pat Foley rant shortly after. The Blackhawks used the pick from the Islanders to select Hjalmarsson in 2005, so it worked out well in the end.

2009 – The Blackhawks began their historic championship season with the first of two games against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland. Ville Koistinen had a big day in his home country with a goal in regulation before scoring again in the shootout. Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun made 52 saves in the 4-3 win. The Blackhawks got goals from Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, and Patrick Sharp.

Oct. 3

1931 – Glenn Hall was born in Humbolt, SK. The Blackhawks acquired the goaltender and fellow future Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay from the Red Wings on July 23, 1957, for Hank Bassen, Forbes Kennedy, and Johnny Wilson. Hall played in an NHL-record 502 consecutive games, which will never be broken, and led the way to the 1961 Stanley Cup. He went 227-229-107 in his 10 seasons with Chicago, posting a .916 save percentage (SV%), 2.60 goals-against average (GAA), and 51 shutouts. He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft and played for four more seasons. Mr. Goalie was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975, his No. 1 was retired by the Blackhawks in 1988, and he was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017.

1934 – The Blackhawks acquired future Hall of Famer Howie Morenz, Marty Burke, and Lorne Chabot from the Montreal Canadiens for Lionel Conacher, Roger Jenkins, and Leroy Goldsworthy.

1972 – Michael Nylander was born in Stockholm, Sweden. The winger was acquired from the Lightning on Nov. 12, 1999, for Bryan Muir and Reid Simpson. He had 63 goals and 180 points in his 239 games for the Blackhawks. On Nov. 1, 2002, Nylander was traded to the Capitals with a third-round pick for Andrei Nikolishin and Chris Simon.

1976 – Michel Larocque was born in Lahr, Germany. The Blackhawks acquired the goaltender on Aug. 23, 1999, from the San Jose Sharks for a fifth-round pick. He went 0-2-0 in three games during the 2000-01 season with a .847 SV% and 3.55 GAA. The Sharked selected Michael Pinc with the draft pick, who never played in the NHL.

1994 – Seth Jones was born in Arlington, TX. On July 23, 2021, he was traded with a sixth-round pick to Chicago by the Columbus Blue Jackets for Adam Boqvist and two first-round picks. Jones had five goals and a career-high 46 assists in his first season with the Blackhawks. The Blue Jackets drafted Cole Sillinger and Aleski Heimosalmi with those first-round picks. The sixth-round pick in this past year’s draft was used to select forward Dominic James.

1996 – Adam Gaudette was born in Braintree, MA. He was acquired on April 12, 2021, from the Vancouver Canucks for Matthew Highmore. He had two goals and six points in 15 games before the Ottawa Senators claimed him off waivers on November 27, 2021. Gaudette is currently in training camp with the Maple Leafs.                                                               

2001 – Legendary defenseman Paul Coffey retired. He played 10 of his 1,409 career games for the Blackhawks during the 1998-99 season and registered four assists

2009 – Antti Niemi picked up his first career shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Panthers in his native Finland. The Blackhawks got goals from Brian Campbell, Kane, Sharp, and Byfuglien. It was their first of 52 regular season wins in 2009-10.

Oct. 4

1913 – Les Cunningham was born in Calgary, AB. The center spent the 1939-40 season with the Blackhawks and scored six goals and 17 points in 37 games.

1984 – Petri Kontiola was born in Seinajoki, Finland. The Blackhawks selected him in the seventh round (196^th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He played 12 games during the 2007-08 season and had five assists. On March 9, 2009, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks with James Wisnewski for Samuel Pahlsson and Logan Stephenson. He returned to Europe in 2010 and is still playing professionally in Finland.

1999 – The Sharks had the first “double hat trick” in their history. Owen Nolan and Jeff Friesen each scored three goals in a 7-1 win against the visiting Blackhawks. Nolan also has three assists for a six-point night. Eric Daze opened the scoring with an early first-period power-play goal, but it was all downhill after that.

Oct. 5

1900 – Lorne Chabot was born in Montreal, QC. The Blackhawks acquired the two-time Stanley Cup winner from the Canadiens in the previously mentioned 1934 trade. The netminder played all 48 games of the 1934-35 season and went 26-17-5 with a 1.80 GAA and eight shutouts.

1916 – Roy Conacher was born in Toronto, ON. He was the youngest of the three Conacher brothers. The left wing landed in Chicago on Nov. 1, 1947, when Red Wings traded him for cash. Before his time in Detroit, he won two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins. Conacher played 264 games for the Blackhawks and scored 102 goals and 227 points. He won the Art Ross Trophy after leading the NHL with 68 points during the 1948-49 season. He joined his brothers Charlie and Lionel in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.

2005 – The Blackhawks lost 5-3 to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Yawney’s debut as head coach. More importantly, this was the first game after an owners’ lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season. Mark Bell, Curtis Brown, and Rene Bourque lit the lamp while Nikolai Khabibulin made 19 saves in the losing effort.