Glenn Hall started his NHL career, and his amazing ironman streak, with the Detroit Red Wings. However, it wasn’s until Hall was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks that he appeared on cardboard for the first time.
The Glenn Hall rookie card is number 20 in the 1957-58 Topps set. The card is the highest valued rookie card in the set at $400 and the second highest valued card overall. Gordie Howe is the only more valuable player at $500. The rookie cards of Norm Ullman and Johnny Bucyk are next in line at $250 each. The 1957-58 Topps set consists of 66 cards with a full set valued at $3000.
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At the start of his NHL career, Glenn played very sparingly with the Red Wings. He sat on the bench for the 1951-52 Stanley Cup finals but did not play. Detroit won the Stanley Cup and, despite not playing, Hall’s name was inscribed on hockey’s holy grail. He appeared in six games during the 1952-53 season and two more in 1954-55 before playing every one of Detroit’s games in 1955-56. He earned the Calder Memorial Trophy that year as the league’s top rookie.
Despite again playing every game for the Red Wings in 1956-57, Detroit traded Glenn to Chicago for the start of the 1957-58 season. Hall played every game for the Black Hawks over the next 5+ seasons and still (and most likely will always…) holds the record for most consecutive starts by a goaltender with 502.
Hall was picked up by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. Glenn finished out his NHL career with four years in a Blues uniform.
In 1960-61, with the Black Hawks, Glenn played all the team’s playoff games as Chicago ousted Detroit in the finals to capture the Stanley Cup. This would be his only true Stanley Cup victory. However, Hall appeared on the losing end of six Stanley Cup finals over his career, one with Detroit, two with Chicago and three with St. Louis.
In that first expansion year with the Blues, Hall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He was just the second player to be awarded the Conn Smythe while on the losing end of the finals. Roger Crozier of the Red Wings was the first. Reggie Leach and Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers along with J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks are the other three.
Glenn finished his NHL career with a 2.49 goals against average and 84 shutouts over 906 regular season games. The shutout total still ranks him fourth overall today, behind Martin Brodeur, Terry Sawchuk and George Hainsworth. He finished with two more shutouts than rival Jacques Plante.
Other accolades for Hall include three Vezina Trophies, seven First Team All-Star selections and three Second Team All-Star selections. Glenn played in 13 All-Star games during his career. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.