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Denis Savard

Denis Joseph Savard (born February 4, 1961) is a Canadian former Hall of Fame professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League from 1980 to 1997. He is the current head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. Savard was born in Pointe Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.

NHL Playing Career

Denis Savard was drafted in the first round, 3rd overall, in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Black Hawks. 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 Black Hawks' record (since broken) for most points by a rookie with 75.

He was known for his trademark move, the 'Savard 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).

In 1990, Savard was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Defenceman and future team captain Chris Chelios and a second-round pick (Mike Pomichter) on June 29, 1990. Savard won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993. He was soon traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he played 2 seasons. On April 6, 1995 Savard was traded back to Chicago, for a 1996 sixth-round pick (Xavier Delisle).

In 1196 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 also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 13, 2000. Denis Savard has a cousin named Jean Savard who also played in the NHL. Despite the same last name and the same number (#18) as Serge Savard, the two are only distantly related.

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	--	--	--	--	--
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
QMJHL Totals			214	146	309	455	203	21	12	22	34	54
NHL Totals			1196	473	865	1338	1336	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 became the interim 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.

Coaching Record

Team	Year	Regular Season						Post Season
Team	Year	G	W	L	OTL	Pts	Division Rank	Result
CHI	2006–07	61	24	30	7	(71)	5^th in Central	Missed Playoffs
CHI	2007–08	82	40	34	8	88	3^rd in Central	Missed Playoffs
CHI	2008–09	0	0	0	0	0
Total		143	64	64	15	143