1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1987–88
Year:	1987
Team:	Chicago Blackhawks
Record:	30–41–9
Homerecord:	21–17–2
Roadrecord:	9–24–7
Division:	Norris
Divisionrank:	3rd
Captain:	Vacant
Goalsfor:	284
Goalsagainst:	328

The 1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks season was the 62nd season of operation of the Chicago Blackhawks in the National Hockey League.

Offseason

The 1987–88 Chicago Black Hawks were coming off a year in which they finished third in the Norris Division and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks made several moves in the offseason with GM Bob Pulford replacing himself as coach with Bob Murdoch and trading young star Eddie Olczyk and aging star Al Secord to the Toronto Maple Leafs for wingers Rick Vaive and Steve Thomas and defenseman Bob McGill. Goaltender Bob Mason was the summer's big free agent signing. Though relatively untested at the NHL level, Mason was in demand after an impressive performance in the 1987 playoffs. In addition to Mason, the team signed Ed Belfour who had just backstopped the University of North Dakota to the NCAA championship, and used their number one pick in the June draft to select Jimmy Waite from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Blackhawks regular goaltenders from the previous season, veterans Murray Bannerman and Bob Sauve, never played another regular season game for Chicago. The Blackhawks also acquired Duane Sutter from the New York Islanders in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. Captain Darryl Sutter retired before the start of the season and the team chose not to name a replacement.

Regular season

The Blackhawks were a streaky team – winning five times in a row in October, followed by 7 straight without a win, then won five of the next seven, then lost eight straight. The up and down season ended on the down with the Hawks going winless in their last eight games of the season. The team's fortunes were greatly hampered by injuries, with regulars Doug Wilson, Keith Brown, Steve Thomas, Wayne Presley, Duane Sutter, Bob Murray, and Behn Wilson, all missing considerable playing time. They would finish the season 30–41–9 (69 Points) – good for 3rd place in the Norris Division.

Offensively, the Blackhawks were again led by Denis Savard, who had an outstanding season leading the team in scoring for the seventh year in a row with team highs of 44 goals, 87 assists and 131 points (which ranked third in the league behind Lemieux and Gretzky). Steve Larmer was again second in points with 41 goals and 48 assists. Offseason acquisition Rick Vaive was second in goals with 43, and mid-season addition, Dirk Graham had 37 points in his half-season with the Hawks. On defense, Doug Wilson again led the club with 32 points (in just 27 games), with Keith Brown leading in the club in plus/minus with +5. Gary Nylund led the team in penalty minutes with 208.

In goal, rookie Darren Pang took over in the net with a 3.48 GAA and a 17–23–1 record in 45 games. Bob Mason was relegated to the bench more and more as the season wore on and finished with a 4.15 GAA and 13–18–8 record in 41 games.

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Game Winning/Tying Goal	Record
1	L	October 8, 1987	5–7	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		0–1–0
2	L	October 10, 1987	4–6	@ Washington Capitals (1987–88)		0–2–0
3	W	October 11, 1987	5–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)		1–2–0
4	W	October 14, 1987	5–3	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		2–2–0
5	W	October 17, 1987	3–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		3–2–0
6	W	October 18, 1987	6–4	Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)		4–2–0
7	W	October 21, 1987	5–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		5–2–0
8	L	October 23, 1987	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1987–88)		5–3–0
9	L	October 24, 1987	3–5	@ Hartford Whalers (1987–88)		5–4–0
10	T	October 27, 1987	4–4 OT	@ New York Islanders (1987–88)		5–4–1
11	L	October 31, 1987	5–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		5–5–1
12	L	November 1, 1987	3–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)		5–6–1
13	T	November 4, 1987	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)		5–6–2
14	L	November 6, 1987	3–6	@ Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)		5–7–2
15	W	November 8, 1987	8–5	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		6–7–2
16	W	November 11, 1987	6–3	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		7–7–2
17	L	November 14, 1987	0–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)		7–8–2
18	W	November 15, 1987	5–4	Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)		8–8–2
19	W	November 18, 1987	5–2	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		9–8–2
20	L	November 20, 1987	2–5	@ New Jersey Devils (1987–88)		9–9–2
21	W	November 22, 1987	3–2	Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)		10–9–2
22	L	November 25, 1987	4–6	@ Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)		10–10–2
23	L	November 27, 1987	3–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)		10–11–2
24	L	November 30, 1987	0–4	@ Calgary Flames (1987–88)		10–12–2
25	L	December 2, 1987	1–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		10–13–2
26	L	December 4, 1987	0–12	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		10–14–2
27	L	December 5, 1987	3–7	@ Boston Bruins (1987–88)		10–15–2
28	L	December 9, 1987	2–6	Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)		10–16–2
29	L	December 12, 1987	1–2	@ Washington Capitals (1987–88)		10–17–2
30	W	December 13, 1987	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		11–17–2
31	W	December 16, 1987	4–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		12–17–2
32	W	December 19, 1987	6–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		13–17–2
33	L	December 20, 1987	2–4	Boston Bruins (1987–88)		13–18–2
34	W	December 23, 1987	7–5	New York Islanders (1987–88)		14–18–2
35	L	December 26, 1987	4–5	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		14–19–2
36	L	December 27, 1987	2–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		14–20–2
37	L	December 30, 1987	4–6	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		14–21–2
38	W	December 31, 1987	4–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		15–21–2
39	L	January 3, 1988	3–5	Calgary Flames (1987–88)		15–22–2
40	L	January 6, 1988	1–6	Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)		15–23–2
41	W	January 8, 1988	7–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		16–23–2
42	W	January 10, 1988	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)		17–23–2
43	T	January 11, 1988	2–2 OT	@ New York Rangers (1987–88)		17–23–3
44	W	January 13, 1988	2–1	Hartford Whalers (1987–88)		18–23–3
45	L	January 16, 1988	1–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)		18–24–3
46	W	January 17, 1988	5–4	Washington Capitals (1987–88)		19–24–3
47	L	January 20, 1988	3–8	Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)		19–25–3
48	W	January 23, 1988	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		20–25–3
49	W	January 24, 1988	3–1	Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)		21–25–3
50	W	January 26, 1988	6–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		22–25–3
51	L	January 29, 1988	2–3 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1987–88)		22–26–3
52	L	January 30, 1988	2–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)		22–27–3
53	L	February 1, 1988	3–5	Boston Bruins (1987–88)		22–28–3
54	L	February 3, 1988	4–6	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		22–29–3
55	T	February 5, 1988	1–1 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)		22–29–4
56	T	February 7, 1988	5–5 OT	@ Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)		22–29–5
57	W	February 12, 1988	4–3 OT	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		23–29–5
58	W	February 14, 1988	4–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)		24–29–5
59	L	February 17, 1988	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		24–30–5
60	L	February 20, 1988	1–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		24–31–5
61	T	February 21, 1988	3–3 OT	Calgary Flames (1987–88)		24–31–6
62	W	February 24, 1988	6–4	Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)		25–31–6
63	T	February 25, 1988	1–1 OT	@ New York Islanders (1987–88)		25–31–7
64	W	February 28, 1988	7–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)		26–31–7
65	L	March 2, 1988	1–2	Hartford Whalers (1987–88)		26–32–7
66	W	March 5, 1988	4–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		27–32–7
67	L	March 6, 1988	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)		27–33–7
68	W	March 9, 1988	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		28–33–7
69	L	March 12, 1988	4–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)		28–34–7
70	W	March 13, 1988	5–4 OT	Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)		29–34–7
71	T	March 15, 1988	7–7 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		29–34–8
72	W	March 17, 1988	4–3 OT	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)		30–34–8
73	L	March 19, 1988	0–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)		30–35–8
74	L	March 20, 1988	2–5	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		30–36–8
75	L	March 23, 1988	4–5	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		30–37–8
76	L	March 25, 1988	2–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)		30–38–8
77	L	March 26, 1988	5–9	@ Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)		30–39–8
78	T	March 28, 1988	7–7 OT	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)		30–39–9
79	L	March 30, 1988	3–4	New York Rangers (1987–88)		30–40–9
80	L	April 3, 1988	3–4 OT	New Jersey Devils (1987–88)		30–41–9

Playoffs

The Hawks faced Brett Hull and the St. Louis Blues, who finished second in the Norris. After the Blackhawks had been swept two years in a row in the first round, they opened the series in St Louis and lost both games 4–1 and 3–2. The series moved to the Chicago Stadium where the Hawks broke their 11-game playoff losing streak with a 6–3 victory. The winning ways did not last though, as the Hawks lost the next two games – 6–5 and 5–3.

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Game Winning Goal	Record
1	L	April 6, 1988	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		0–1
2	L	April 7, 1988	2–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		0–2
3	W	April 9, 1988	6–3	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		1–2
4	L	April 10, 1988	5–6	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		1–3
4	L	April 12, 1988	3–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)		1–4

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
	C	80	44	87	131	95	4	14	7	6
	RW	80	41	48	89	42	-5	21	7	0
	RW	76	43	26	69	108	-20	19	0	6
	C	79	22	36	58	96	-17	3	2	2
	W	42	17	19	36	32	4	6	1	2
	D	27	8	24	32	28	-17	6	1	1
	RW	77	10	20	30	44	-27	3	0	2
	D	58	6	23	29	166	-19	3	0	0
	LW	30	13	13	26	40	1	5	0	3
	D	62	6	20	26	44	-7	1	0	0
	RW	42	12	10	22	52	-13	4	0	1
	C	73	6	15	21	40	-14	1	0	1
	LW	57	8	12	20	126	-9	0	0	0
	D	76	4	15	19	208	-9	0	0	0
	LW	69	6	11	17	109	-15	2	0	0
	RW	37	7	9	16	70	2	3	0	0
	D	21	3	10	13	6	-3	2	0	0
	D	67	4	7	11	131	-19	0	0	1
	C	53	2	9	11	59	-10	0	0	1
	LW	27	4	6	10	57	-13	1	0	1
	D	15	2	8	10	15	1	2	0	0
	D	14	4	5	9	6	4	0	0	1
	D	24	3	6	9	45	5	0	0	1
	D	73	1	8	9	204	-7	0	0	0
	D	58	1	6	7	85	-19	0	0	0
	D	54	1	6	7	185	-12	0	0	0
	G	45	0	6	6	2	0	0	0	0
	LW	23	1	3	4	71	-14	0	0	1
	D	12	1	3	4	21	4	1	0	0
	RW	9	2	0	2	0	-5	0	0	0
	RW	18	1	1	2	25	-8	0	0	0
	G	41	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
	C	2	1	0	1	2	-1	1	0	0
	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
	2548	45	17	23	1	163	3.84	0	1501	1338	.891
	2312	41	13	18	8	160	4.15	0	1353	1193	.882
Team:	4860	80	30	41	9	323	3.99	0	2854	2531	.887

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
	RW	5	6	2	8	38	1	5	0	0
	C	5	4	3	7	17	3	0	1	1
	RW	5	1	6	7	0	1	1	0	0
	D	5	1	3	4	2	-1	1	0	0
	D	5	0	4	4	8	1	0	0	0
	W	4	1	2	3	4	-1	0	0	0
	LW	3	1	2	3	6	1	0	0	0
	LW	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
	D	5	0	2	2	10	-3	0	0	0
	C	5	1	0	1	8	-4	1	0	0
	C	5	0	1	1	13	0	0	0	0
	D	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	RW	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	D	5	0	0	0	27	1	0	0	0
	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	D	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0
	RW	3	0	0	0	4	-1	0	0	0
	D	5	0	0	0	10	-1	0	0	0
	G	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	RW	5	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	0
	C	2	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
	RW	5	0	0	0	21	-1	0	0	0
	LW	4	0	0	0	0	-2	0	0	0
	D	3	0	0	0	6	-2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
	240	4	1	3	18	4.50	0	130	112	.862
	60	1	0	1	3	3.00	0	31	28	.903
Team:	300	5	1	4	21	4.20	0	161	140	.870

^[1]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Draft picks

Chicago's draft picks at the 1987 NHL Entry Draft held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The Blackhawks attempted to select Derek Pizzey in the second round of the 1987 NHL Supplemental Draft, but the claim was ruled invalid since Pizzey hadn't turned age 21 yet and therefore did not meet eligibility requirements.^[2]

Round		Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	8	Jimmy Waite		Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
2	29	Ryan McGill		Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
3	50	Cam Russell		Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
3	60	Mike Dagenais		Peterborough Petes (OHL)
5	92	Ulf Sandstrom		Modo Hockey (Sweden)
6	113	Mike McCormick		Richmond Sockeyes (BCJHL)
7	134	Stephen Tepper		Westborough High School (USHS-MA)
8	155	John Reilly		Phillips Andover Academy (USHS-MA)
9	176	Lance Werness		Burnsville High School (USHS-MN)
10	197	Dale Marquette		Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
11	218	Bill LaCouture		Natick High School (USHS-MA)
12	239	Mike Lappin		Northwood School (USHS-NY)

See also

• 1987–88 NHL season

References

2. 1988–89 Chicago Blackhawks Yearbook (official team publication)

External links

• Web site: 1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks Games. Hockey-reference.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20160311161041/http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/CHI/1988_games.html. 2016-03-11. live. 2016-05-03 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-06-16 . 1987-88 Chicago Blackhawks Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.
2. Web site: 1987 NHL Supplemental Draft -- Round 2 Selections . Hockey Draft Central . December 6, 2021.