OTD: Hawks Steal Tony O from Montreal

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James
June 11, 2022 (1:16)

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Tony Esposito made an immediate mark on the Chicago Blackhawks and a lasting impression on the NHL.

There's no doubt that June 11, 1969 marks the greatest waiver deal ever in Blackhawk history.
On that day, Chicago general manager Tommy Ivan picked up rookie goalie Tony Esposito on waivers from the defending Cup champion Montreal Canadiens for the sum of $30,000.

There was this thing at that time called the intra-league draft and after every season, teams had to make a list of the players that they chose to protect and then, the teams from the lowest placed to the highest placed would be able to pick through those unprotected players and add them to their clubs. Each team protected fourteen skaters and two goalies.

Montreal had won its second straight Cup and its fourth in five seasons while the Hawks missed the playoffs with a last-place conference finish despite having a winning record. Montreal General Manager Sam Pollack and head coach Claude Ruel decided to keep veteran goalies Rogie Vachon and Gump Worsley, even though rookie Esposito performed well in 13 games for the Canadiens in the previous season with a .919 save percentage, 2.75 goals against average and two shutouts.

Esposito made the Canadiens regret letting him go right off the bat as his 1969-70 season was one of the best by any rookie in league history. He played 63 games, winning 38 of them and setting a single-season rookie record that still stands today with 15 shutouts. His propensity for keeping opponents off the scoreboard earned him the nickname «Tony O.» His first start with Chicago? A 5-0 blanking of the Habs. How fitting.

He won the Calder Trophy for being the top rookie and also won the Vezina Trophy, which at the time, was given to the goaltender on the team that allowed the fewest goals. Esposito also finished second to Boston defenseman Bobby Orr in Hart Trophy voting as the season's most valuable player.

He was also in goal when the Blackhawks knocked the Canadiens out of the playoffs in the final game of the regular season, 10-2, the first time Montreal missed the playoffs in 22 seasons. With that win, Chicago finished in first place, tied with Boston in points but owned the tiebreaker with five more wins, marking the first time in NHL history that a team went from last place one season to first the next.

Esposito helped lead Chicago to the playoffs in 14 seasons. The Blackhawks reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1971 and 1973, losing each time to his former team, Montreal.

Tony O won two more Vezina Trophies in 1972 and 1974 and retired in 1984 after playing a franchise-record 873 games. He is also the all-time Blackhawks leader with 418 wins and 74 shutouts. He is one of only eight goaltenders with a right glove hand to win a Vezina Trophy. His No. 35 was retired in 1988, the same year he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Esposito unfortunately passed away on August 10, 2021 following a bout with pancreatic cancer at the age of 78, but his legacy lives on in the hearts of Blackhawk fans everywhere.