After long wait, Pilote's number to be retired
What many believed to be an oversight for more than three decades finally gets corrected tonight when the Blackhawks retire Hall of Fame defenseman Pierre Pilote's No. 3 in a ceremony that also honors the late Keith Magnuson.
It seems it has always been easy to overlook Pilote when analyzing Blackhawks history.
Pilote played on and captained some great Hawks teams in the 1960s, but those were clubs that featured legends Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Glenn Hall, so it was easy to forget that Pilote was the rock on the blue line.
In later years when great Hawks defensemen were discussed, Pilote's name often got lost in the mix behind more recent stars Chris Chelios and Doug Wilson.
Despite going into the Hall of Fame in 1975, there was never much talk of retiring Pilote's number until last summer when chairman Rocky Wirtz and president John McDonough took the step to make it happen.
While Hull and Mikita were more than willing to discuss their years in so-called exile from the organization when they were formally welcomed back into the family last season, Pilote would prefer to simply enjoy the moment rather than wonder why it took so long.
"There's no reason to feel bitter," Pilote said Tuesday. "You just move on."
During his 13-year Hawks career from 1955-68, Pilote was the kind of defenseman the NHL hadn't seen before. He would take the puck and carry it up the ice in an era when it was rare to see a defenseman even cross the red line as part of the offensive attack.
Pilote set scoring records, many that stood until Bobby Orr burst onto the scene with the Boston Bruins and obliterated them.
Pilote was a left-handed shot who played the right side - another rarity back then - and could pass the puck like a forward while also gaining a reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the game despite playing at 5-feet-10 and 165 pounds.
He racked up 400 assists in his Hawks career, many of them coming after he got the puck to either Hull or Mikita, and wound up with 77 goals. Pilote finished his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs after getting traded for Jim Pappin.
"Most defenseman in that era were stay-at-home, pass-it-out guys," Hawks general manager Dale Tallon said. "But he was one of the first two-way, well-rounded defensemen who carried the puck. It was rare to see a defenseman play that way."
Pilote earned three straight Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenseman from 1963-65 and finished second on three other occasions. He was either a first- or second-team all-star for eight straight seasons and played on the last Hawks team that won the Stanley Cup in 1961.
"I was always thinking offense, but maybe that's because I started playing organized hockey when I was 17 as a center," Pilote said. "I could see the play and read the play, and of course I had two guys beside me that I could pass to who scored the goals for me, Bobby and Stan Mikita."
Pilote attended last weekend's Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony in Toronto where he was reminded what a great honor was ahead for him at the United Center.
"Just to tell you how important this is to me, I was in Toronto on Saturday watching the Hockey Hall of Fame game and I happened to be sitting beside (Montreal Canadiens legend) Yvan Cournoyer, and we were talking about it," Pilote said. "His number has been retired for a couple years and he looked at me and said, 'Pierre, it's the greatest honor that can be bestowed on you.'
"I feel the same way. You can have a lot of honors, but when the club you played with for so long wants to retire your number it feels great. My head hasn't gotten any bigger, but my heart is pumping."