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Denis Savard
Hockey Hall of Fame, 2000
Bobby Hull! (4691880892).jpg
Savard in June 2010
Born (1961-02-04) February 4, 1961 (age 63)
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Right
Played for Chicago Blackhawks
Montreal Canadiens
Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL Draft 3rd overall, 1980
Chicago Black Hawks
Playing career 1980–1997
Website http://www.savard18.com

Denis Joseph Savard (born February 4, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1997, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2017 Savard was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. Savard was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and became the forefront of the team during the 1980s. He led the Blackhawks to the Conference Finals four times, losing each time, twice being to Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers. Savard is known for the spin' o rama move, a tactic in hockey used to create distance between the puck carrier and opponent. Savard won one Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. Savard also played with the Tampa Bay Lightning for two seasons before returning to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1994, and then retiring there in 1997. He has also served as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL, and now serves as an ambassador for the Blackhawks' organization. Savard was born in Gatineau, Quebec, but grew up in Montreal.

NHL playing career

As a youth, Savard played in the 1973 and 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Verdun, Quebec.

For the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, the Montreal Canadiens held the first overall pick and many fans hoped the Canadiens would use it to draft Savard. Instead, the Canadiens drafted Doug Wickenheiser and Savard was chosen third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. He was the highest drafted player in Blackhawks' history, until the organization drafted Patrick Kane with the first overall pick in 2007. He began his career during the 1980–81 NHL season in which he had three assists in his first game. He then went on to set the Blackhawks' record (since broken) for most points by a rookie with 75.

He was known for his trademark move, the 'Savardian Spin-o-rama' (a term actually coined by Danny Gallivan, referencing the move performed by Serge Savard), which entailed Savard whirling around with the puck in a full rotation allowing him to defeat defenders and goaltenders alike.

Savard had two separate stints with the Blackhawks. The first was from the 1980–81 season to the 1989–90 season. The second was from 1994–95 to 1996–97. During his absence from Chicago, he played for the Montreal Canadiens (1990–91 to 1992–93) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (1993–94 to 1994–95).

On June 29, 1990, Savard was infamously traded to the Montreal Canadiens for star defenceman Chris Chelios and a second-round pick (Mike Pomichter), a transaction that has since been considered largely in Chicago's favor as Chelios would produce some of his best seasons as a Blackhawk while Savard's career was on the decline. Savard won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993, although Savard was kept out of much of the postseason due to a hairline fracture in his ankle, and was essentially an assistant coach by the clinching game five.

He signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the summer of 1993, where he played a season and a half. On April 6, 1995, Savard was traded back to Chicago, for a 1996 sixth-round pick (Xavier Delisle). Savard's NHL career would end where it had started, with the Blackhawks.

In 1,196 NHL games, Savard scored 473 goals and 865 assists, totalling 1338 points. He trails only Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita for total points in Chicago Blackhawks history. Five times during his career he scored at least 100 points and for seven straight years he had at least 30 goals. His highest point total of 131 came in 1987–88 and his highest goal total of 47 came in 1985–86. In 169 playoff games, he scored 66 goals and 109 assists for a total of 175 points.

Savard officially retired from professional hockey on June 26, 1997. On March 19, 1998, the Blackhawks retired his jersey number #18. Savard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 13, 2000.

Awards

NHL Accolades

  • #24 All Time in Career Assists (865) - "Regular Season"
  • #29 All Time in Career Points (1338) - "Regular Season"
  • #19 All Time in Career Assists Per Game Average (0.72) "Regular Season"
  • #20 All Time in Career Points Per Game Average (1.12) "Regular Season"
  • #19 All Time in Career Playoff Goals (66)
  • #18 All Time in Career Playoff Assists (109)
  • #16 All Time in Career Playoff Points (175)
  • #9 All Time in Career Playoff Hat Tricks (3)
  • 12 Regular Season Hat Tricks
  • 3 Playoff Hat Tricks
  • 4 time Hart Trophy Nominee (1981–82) (1982–83) (1983–84) (1987–88)

(Regular Season)

  • 5 times Top 10 in Points (1981–82) (1982–83) (1984–85) (1985–86) (1987–88)
  • 5 times Top 10 in Assists (1981–82) (1982–83) (1984–85) (1984–85) (1985–86) (1987–88)
  • 1 time Top 10 in Goals (1985–86)
  • 2 times Top 10 in Even Strength Goals (1985–86) (1986–87)
  • 2 times Top 10 in Shorthanded Goals (1987–88) (1988–89)
  • 2 times Top 10 in Game Winning Goals (1985–86) (1986–87)
  • 2 times Top 5 in Hat Tricks (1984–85) (1986–87)
  • 4 times Top 10 in Goals Created (1981–82) (1982–83) (1985–86) (1987–88)
  • 7 times Top 10 in Assists Per Game (1981–82) (1982–83) (1984–85) (1985–86) (1987–88) (1988–89) (1989–90)
  • 4 times Top 5 in Assists Per Game Average (1981–82) (1982–83) (1987–88) (1988–89)
  • 7 times Top 10 in Points Per Game Average (1981–82) (1982–83) (1985–86) (1986–87) (1987–88) (1988–89) (1989–90)
  • 2 times Top 3 in Points Per Game Average (1982–83) (1987–88)

(Playoffs)

  • 5 times Top 10 in Points (1982) (1983) (1985) (1989) (1995)
  • 3 times Top 10 in Assists (1985) (1989) (1995)
  • 5 times Top 10 in Points (1982) (1985) (1989) (1990) (1995)
  • 3 times Top 10 in Goals Per Game Average (1982) (1983) (1985)
  • 1 time Top 10 in Assists Per Game Average (1985)
  • 2 times Top 10 in Points Per Game Average (1985) (1995)
  • 5 times Top 10 in Goals Created Per Game (1982) (1983) (1985) (1989) (1995)

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1977–78 Montreal Juniors QMJHL 72 37 79 116 22 13 3 17 20 0
1978–79 Montreal Juniors QMJHL 70 46 112 158 88 11 5 6 11 46
1979–80 Montreal Juniors QMJHL 72 63 118 181 93 10 7 16 23 8
1980–81 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 76 28 47 75 47 3 0 0 0 0
1981–82 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 80 32 87 119 82 15 11 7 18 52
1982–83 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 78 35 86 121 99 13 8 9 17 22
1983–84 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 75 37 57 94 71 5 1 3 4 9
1984–85 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 79 38 67 105 56 15 9 20 29 20
1985–86 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 80 47 69 116 111 3 4 1 5 6
1986–87 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 70 40 50 90 108 4 1 0 1 12
1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 80 44 87 131 95 5 4 3 7 17
1988–89 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 58 23 59 82 110 16 8 11 19 10
1989–90 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 60 23 57 80 56 20 7 15 22 41
1990–91 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 28 31 59 52 13 2 11 13 35
1991–92 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 28 42 70 73 11 3 9 12 8
1992–93 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 16 34 50 90 14 0 5 5 4
1993–94 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 74 18 28 46 106 — — — — —
1994–95 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 31 6 11 17 10 — — — — —
1994–95 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 12 4 4 8 8 16 7 11 18 10
1995–96 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 69 13 35 48 102 10 1 2 3 8
1996–97 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 64 9 18 27 60 6 0 2 2 2
NHL totals 1,196 473 865 1,338 1,336 169 66 109 175 256

Coaching career

Shortly after his retirement as a player, Savard began a coaching career with the Blackhawks in December 1997. On November 27, 2006, Savard was named head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks after Trent Yawney was fired mid-season. He was commended for leading a young Blackhawks team to within 3 points of a playoff berth during his second season as coach. The Hawks finished just one victory away from the .500 mark in 2007–2008. The 40 wins in 2007–08 marked the first time the club had reached the 40 win mark in six years.

On October 16, 2008, just four games into the season Savard was fired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. He was replaced by former Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville, who had been hired as a scout for the Blackhawks during the previous summer. In 147 games as coach, Savard posted a 65–66–16 record. Savard remains as an ambassador for the Blackhawks and received Stanley Cup rings in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Coaching record

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L OTL Pts Division rank Result
Chicago Blackhawks 2006–07 61 24 30 7 55 5th in Central Missed playoffs
Chicago Blackhawks 2007–08 82 40 34 8 88 3rd in Central Missed playoffs
Chicago Blackhawks 2008–09 4 1 2 1 3 2nd in Central Fired
NHL totals 147 65 66 16 –

Personal life

Savard has a cousin named Jean Savard who also played for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1970s. He also shared the same number as Serge Savard, who is unrelated to him. They shared the same number (#18), and in the 1990s Serge was general manager of the Habs when he acquired Denis from the Blackhawks.

Savard is sometimes called "Savoir-Faire" referring to a fictional French Canadian mouse that was the archnemesis of the cartoon character Klondike Kat.

Savard is mentioned in The Bear, a Hulu comedy-drama series set in Chicago. In a flashback from the first season episode "Ceres", Mikey Berzatto (played by Jon Bernthal) claims to have run into Savard at a party the night after his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

See also

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