76: Pierre Pilote-NHL

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

When you think of the greatest defensemen to ever play in the NHL, a few names come immediately to mind: Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey, Ray Borque and Denis Potvin. But one of the most overlooked names is Pierre Pilote and he deserves to be mentioned in any conversation when it comes to who was the greatest blueliner to ever play. Some of the reasons Pilote might be overlook, and even forgotten, are: his name only appears once on the Stanley Cup, he didn’t start playing in the NHL until he was 24, and he never scored at the pace of an Orr, Borque or Potvin. When Pilote played the game, defensemen were not known as big-time scorers. Yet, Pilote led the Blackhawks in scoring during their incredible run to the 1961 Stanley Cup Championship. Pierre was as tough as nails. He never won a Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship, but he won the Norris Trophy three times. The NHL started to track plus/minus during the 1959-60 season, and in the 10 years that followed, twice Pilote led the league. In 1963-64 he was a plus 31 and in 1966-67 he was a plus 54. Only twice did he end a season minus. The Blackhawks were not a very good team when Pierre joined them having qualified for the playoffs just twice for the post season in the 10-years prior to his arrival. In his final 10-season with Chicago, the Blackhawks made the post season every year, three times making it to the Stanley Cup Finals and they won it 1961. Despite starting the game at such an advanced age, his mid-teens, Pierre Pilote made up for lost time quickly and ultimately wound up in the Hall of Fame. Waxy Gregoire, a terrific writer who co-authored the book, “Heart of the Blackhawks,” with Pilote is on SFH for an in-depth discussion about the man who helped turn the Blackhawks fortunes around.

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