1952 – 53 Chicago Black Hawks season The 1952 – 53 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team ' s twenty - seventh season in the NHL , and they were coming off of two consecutive seasons of finishing in last place in the six team NHL . The Black Hawks had a record of 17 – 44 – 9 in 1951 – 52 , missing the playoffs for the sixth straight season . In the off - season , the Black Hawks and Toronto Maple Leafs completed a trade which sent Harry Lumley to Toronto for Al Rollins , Cal Gardner and Gus Mortson . Chicago also fired head coach Ebbie Goodfellow , and replaced him with Sid Abel , who would be a player - coach . Abel would name defenceman Bill Gadsby as the new team captain . Chicago also saw a change in ownership , as Arthur Wirtz and James D . Norris took over the struggling and near bankrupt franchise . The Black Hawks started the season off strong , sitting with a 10 – 5 – 3 record in their first 18 games , however , the club would fall into a slump , and went 2 – 7 – 5 in their next 14 games to fall to . 500 . Chicago would continue to hover around the . 500 for the rest of the season , battling with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot . Going into the final weekend of the season , Chicago would earn big wins against the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers to clinch the fourth and final playoff spot , and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 1946 . The Hawks finished with club records in wins with 27 , and points with 69 . Offensively , the team was led by Jim McFadden , who scored a team high 23 goals and 44 points , while newly acquired Cal Gardner earned a club best 24 assists , en route to earning 35 points . Jimmy Peters would join McFadden as the only Hawks with over 20 goals and 40 points , as he scored 22 and 41 respectively . George Gee scored 18 goals and 39 points , while posting a team high 99 penalty minutes . Team captain Bill Gadsby led the defense with 22 points , while fellow blueliner Al Dewsbury scored 5 goals , and finished with 97 penalty minutes . In goal , Al Rollins played in all 70 games , setting a team record with 27 victories , along with a solid 2 . 50 GAA , and 6 shutouts . The Black Hawks would face the second place Montreal Canadiens in a best of seven opening round series . The Canadiens finished the year with a 28 – 23 – 19 record , earning 75 points , which was six more than the Hawks . The series opened up at the Montreal Forum , and the favored Canadiens won the series opener by a 3 – 1 score , then took a 2 – 0 series lead by winning a close second game by a 4 – 3 score . The series shifted to Chicago for the next two games , and the Black Hawks would respond , winning the third game in overtime to cut the series lead to 2 – 1 , as the team won their first playoff game since 1944 . The Hawks evened the series up at 2 – 2 with a 3 – 1 win in the fourth game , sending the series back to Montreal . Chicago stunned the Montreal crowd in the fifth game , defeating the Canadiens 4 – 2 to take a 3 – 2 series lead . The Canadiens , though , would shut out Chicago 3 – 0 in the sixth game , setting up a seventh and final game . Montreal would easily win the game , defeating the Black Hawks 4 – 1 , putting an end to a very surprising season for the Black Hawks .