Phil Esposito

Phil Esposito was born on February 20, 1942 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. After a few years in the minors, Esposito broke through with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1963. In Chicago he was soon tasked with being Bobby Hull's setup man. But his career as a Blackhawk would only last until 1967 when he was traded to the Boston Bruins along with Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield for Pit Martin, Jack Norris and Gilles Marotte. In Boston he was part of the great Bruin teams with superstar defenseman Bobby Orr. In 1969 he became the first NHL player to score over 100 points in a season, a feat he would accomplish a total of 6 times in his career. Apart from winning the Art Ross trophy as the leading scorer, Esposito also won the Hart Memorial trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1969.

The following year saw the Boston Bruins win their first Stanley Cup in 29 years. Esposito continued on his torrid pace as he broke Bobby Hull's single season record for goals by scoring 76 in the 1970-71 season. This record would stand until Wayne Gretzky scored 92 goals in 1981-82. In 1972 he was the central figure in Team Canada's emotional victory against the Soviet Union in the Canada Cup. Esposito would continue to chalk up points and accolades with the Boston Bruins. But in 1975 he was traded with Carol Vadanais to the New York Rangers for Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi. Though his most productive days were behind him, Phil Esposito continued to average a point per game with the Rangers and helped them reach the Stanley Cup finals in 1979. He retired from hockey in 1981 and was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He was the general manager of the New York Rangers between 1986-89, helped land a franchise in Tampa Bay in the early 1990s and was their first general manager.

Here is a summary of Phil Esposito's NHL career statistics;

Year    Team                 GP   G   A   Pts   Pim
1963-64 Chicago Blackhawks   27   3   2     5     2 
1964-65 Chicago Blackhawks   70  23  32    55    44 
1965-66 Chicago Blackhawks   69  27  26    53    49 
1966-67 Chicago Blackhawks   69  21  40    61    40  
1967-68 Boston Bruins        74  35  49    84    21  
1968-69 Boston Bruins        74  49  77   126    79 
1969-70 Boston Bruins        76  43  56    99    50  
1970-71 Boston Bruins        78  76  76   152    71  
1971-72 Boston Bruins        76  66  67   133    76 
1972-73 Boston Bruins        78  55  75   130    87 
1973-74 Boston Bruins        78  68  77   145    58 
1974-75 Boston Bruins        79  61  66   127    62 
1975-76 Boston Bruins        12   6  10    16     8 
1975-76 New York Rangers     62  29  38    67    28  
1976-77 New York Rangers     80  34  46    80    52 
1977-78 New York Rangers     79  38  43    81    53  
1978-79 New York Rangers     80  42  36    78    37 
1979-80 New York Rangers     80  34  44    78    73 
1980-81 New York Rangers     41   7  13    20    20 
NHL Totals                 1282 717 873  1590   910   



Trophies
Art Ross Trophy - 5 (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974)
Hart Memorial Trophy - 2 (1969, 1974)
Lester B. Pearson Trophy - 2 (1971, 1974)


Championships
Stanley Cup - 2 (1970, 1972)

Team Pages:
Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers

Other Phil Esposito Resources