Stan Mikita, prior to this season (2015/16) was the last Chicago Blackhawk to win the scoring title. Back in 1967/68.
Stan, one of hockey's all-time greats, made winning the scoring title look almost too easy during a very competitive era. In Mikita's era, the centre had to compete against players like Alex Delvecchio, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Red Kelly. They all played his position. Plus, there was Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, not to mention Stan Mikita's great teammate, Bobby Hull!
But all Stan did was win the Art Ross Trophy in 1963/64, 1964/65, 1966/67 and 1967/68. In '67, Stan was good for 97 points, which at the time was an NHL record for one season.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, they had (Up until 1967) another centre who would win the scoring title in 1968/69, setting a new single-season record for points with 126. And he's up it to an amazing 152 in 1970/71. But that man wasn't playing with Chicago anymore by the time that all rolled around. Bobby Hull got more than 100 points in '68/69 (As did Gordie Howe), but it was well short of the leader.
Who was this chap, you ask? Why Phil Esposito. Phil was foolishly traded by Chicago after they lost in six game to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1967 playoffs. The deal soon turned out to be a little one-sided. White the Hawks got a pretty good player in Pit Martin from the Boston Bruins, it was the Cubs who got someone who'd perfectly compliment their amazing rookie from 1966/67, some guy named Bobby Orr.
Orr took care of the scoring title himself with an amazing 120 points. And he was a defenceman. Even Phil Esposito, who was second himself, managed just 99 points. Mikita was third with 86. Stan stayed productive in the 1970s, but couldn't wrest the Art Ross from Esposito, Orr, Guy Lafleur, Bryan Trottier and Marcel Dionne.
When Chicago played the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of the 1979/80 NHL season, Mikita was playing his last season. The Oilers, arriving in the National Hockey League from the World Hockey League after '79, had an amazing player facing Mikita and company that night. Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky tied Dionne for the scoring lead that year with 137 points (Marcel declared the winner by having more goals), it was obvious the NHL had entered a new era. Gretzky had it to himself the next season, breaking Phil Esposito's single season record with 164 points. It was all his until Mario Lemieux took it upon himself to win in 1987/88. Wayne and Mario made it very difficult for anyone to come anywhere near them points-wise for the rest of the 80s and almost all of the 90s.
Not that the Blackhawks didn't have some firepower of their own. Arriving in 1980/81 was Dennis Savard, and was he ever an exciting player. 100 points came for him, many of them highlight-reel ones. He'd dance around the ice, and the Chicago crowd was pulled out of their seats time and time again. Now, he could catch Gretzky in his prime, but he brought a lot of respectability to the Hawks. In 1983 and 1985, Savard took Chicago all the way to the Campbell Conference Finals, where they lost to Gretzky's Oilers. Savard's best season was 1987/88. His 131 points trailed only Gretzky and Lemieux. Dennis Savard left Chicago after the 1989/90 season.
Chicago still iced some amazing teams in the 1990s, even getting to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1991/92, falling to Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins. Mario had a sidekick by then named Jaromir Jagr. Jagr would go on to win some scoring titles of his own. The 20th century ended without another scoring title by a Blackhawk.
The new century wasn't very kind to Chicago at first. Actually, beginning in 1997/98, the wheels came off the old chariot. Stars like Jeremy Roenick, Ed Belfour and Chris Chelios left, and what was left wasn't good enough to take the team anywhere in the standings or to compete for the scoring title. It was the Sedin twins out west in Vancouver who took home that honour as the second decade of the new century came to a close. Earlier, guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin (The new Penguin stars) and Alexander Ovechkin started to rack up some Art Ross to their name.
But Chicago started some resurgence as the decade neared it's end. The arrival of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane brought the battered Blackhawks out of the basement. Kane finished ninth in the Art Ross in 2009/10. Then, he finished fifth in scoring in 2012/13. There was hope. Toews has yet to make a top-ten appearance on the scoring lists, but has contributed greatly at both ends for Chicago.
Kane took his game to the next level in 2015/16. Having helped Chicago win Stanley Cups in 2009/10, '12/13 and 2014/15, he set his sights out on adding to his hardware collection this last season. He left 'em all in the dust. Finishing with 106 points, Patrick lead the league. Jamie Benn was a distant second with 89 points. Crosby had 85 for third. The stigma was over. And while the Hawks were eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of this year's postseason, there is no doubt that Chicago will be back next year with an excellent chance at a fourth Stanley Cup of the decade.
And maybe a few more scoring titles from Kane, too!
References
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 8 May 2016.
Stan, one of hockey's all-time greats, made winning the scoring title look almost too easy during a very competitive era. In Mikita's era, the centre had to compete against players like Alex Delvecchio, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Red Kelly. They all played his position. Plus, there was Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, not to mention Stan Mikita's great teammate, Bobby Hull!
But all Stan did was win the Art Ross Trophy in 1963/64, 1964/65, 1966/67 and 1967/68. In '67, Stan was good for 97 points, which at the time was an NHL record for one season.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, they had (Up until 1967) another centre who would win the scoring title in 1968/69, setting a new single-season record for points with 126. And he's up it to an amazing 152 in 1970/71. But that man wasn't playing with Chicago anymore by the time that all rolled around. Bobby Hull got more than 100 points in '68/69 (As did Gordie Howe), but it was well short of the leader.
Who was this chap, you ask? Why Phil Esposito. Phil was foolishly traded by Chicago after they lost in six game to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1967 playoffs. The deal soon turned out to be a little one-sided. White the Hawks got a pretty good player in Pit Martin from the Boston Bruins, it was the Cubs who got someone who'd perfectly compliment their amazing rookie from 1966/67, some guy named Bobby Orr.
Orr took care of the scoring title himself with an amazing 120 points. And he was a defenceman. Even Phil Esposito, who was second himself, managed just 99 points. Mikita was third with 86. Stan stayed productive in the 1970s, but couldn't wrest the Art Ross from Esposito, Orr, Guy Lafleur, Bryan Trottier and Marcel Dionne.
When Chicago played the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of the 1979/80 NHL season, Mikita was playing his last season. The Oilers, arriving in the National Hockey League from the World Hockey League after '79, had an amazing player facing Mikita and company that night. Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky tied Dionne for the scoring lead that year with 137 points (Marcel declared the winner by having more goals), it was obvious the NHL had entered a new era. Gretzky had it to himself the next season, breaking Phil Esposito's single season record with 164 points. It was all his until Mario Lemieux took it upon himself to win in 1987/88. Wayne and Mario made it very difficult for anyone to come anywhere near them points-wise for the rest of the 80s and almost all of the 90s.
Not that the Blackhawks didn't have some firepower of their own. Arriving in 1980/81 was Dennis Savard, and was he ever an exciting player. 100 points came for him, many of them highlight-reel ones. He'd dance around the ice, and the Chicago crowd was pulled out of their seats time and time again. Now, he could catch Gretzky in his prime, but he brought a lot of respectability to the Hawks. In 1983 and 1985, Savard took Chicago all the way to the Campbell Conference Finals, where they lost to Gretzky's Oilers. Savard's best season was 1987/88. His 131 points trailed only Gretzky and Lemieux. Dennis Savard left Chicago after the 1989/90 season.
Chicago still iced some amazing teams in the 1990s, even getting to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1991/92, falling to Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins. Mario had a sidekick by then named Jaromir Jagr. Jagr would go on to win some scoring titles of his own. The 20th century ended without another scoring title by a Blackhawk.
The new century wasn't very kind to Chicago at first. Actually, beginning in 1997/98, the wheels came off the old chariot. Stars like Jeremy Roenick, Ed Belfour and Chris Chelios left, and what was left wasn't good enough to take the team anywhere in the standings or to compete for the scoring title. It was the Sedin twins out west in Vancouver who took home that honour as the second decade of the new century came to a close. Earlier, guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin (The new Penguin stars) and Alexander Ovechkin started to rack up some Art Ross to their name.
But Chicago started some resurgence as the decade neared it's end. The arrival of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane brought the battered Blackhawks out of the basement. Kane finished ninth in the Art Ross in 2009/10. Then, he finished fifth in scoring in 2012/13. There was hope. Toews has yet to make a top-ten appearance on the scoring lists, but has contributed greatly at both ends for Chicago.
Kane took his game to the next level in 2015/16. Having helped Chicago win Stanley Cups in 2009/10, '12/13 and 2014/15, he set his sights out on adding to his hardware collection this last season. He left 'em all in the dust. Finishing with 106 points, Patrick lead the league. Jamie Benn was a distant second with 89 points. Crosby had 85 for third. The stigma was over. And while the Hawks were eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of this year's postseason, there is no doubt that Chicago will be back next year with an excellent chance at a fourth Stanley Cup of the decade.
And maybe a few more scoring titles from Kane, too!
References
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 8 May 2016.
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