1969-70 O-Pee-Chee Tony Esposito Rookie Card

When you think of the all-time best Chicago Blackhawks goalie, you would tend to think of either Glenn Hall of Tony Esposito. When it comes to the Blackhawks record book, hands down that goaltender is Tony Esposito. Esposito’s name is scrawled all over the pages of Chicago’s record books, whether it be for single season, career or play-offs. For the full run-down, check out Chicago Blackhawks Goaltending History at goaliesarchive.com.

Esposito broke into the National Hockey League during the 1968-69 season, playing 13 games for the Montreal Canadiens. However, the Tony Esposito rookie card didn’t appear until the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee series as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee number 138 did not appear in the parallel Topps series. In fact, Esposito’s first Topps card didn’t come out until the 1971-72 set.

The Tony Esposito rookie card is valued at up to $150 by Beckett Hockey. In contrast, Tony’s brother Phil Esposito’s rookie card from the 1965-66 Topps series is valued at up to $400. The Phil Esposito rookie card is the highest valued hockey card in that set.

Esposito played with Chicago from 1969-70 to his retirement after the 1983-84 NHL season. In his first year, he did everything in his power to show Montreal what they were missing. Playing 63 games for Chicago and posting 15 shutouts (a current team record) with a 2.17 goals against average, Tony earned the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year and the Vezina trophy as the league’s top goaltender.

The following season, Esposito led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup final where they were narrowly defeated

by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games. It would mark the last time Chicago would make it to the finals until their 2009-10 championship run.

During his NHL career, Tony appeared in six NHL All-Star games, won three Vezina Trophies, played four games for Canada at the famed 1972 Summit Series versus the Soviet Union (his 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Team Canada Summit series hockey card is valued at up to $30 by Beckett Hockey) and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988. His number 35 was retired by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1998. His 76 career regular season shutouts has him tied for ninth on the NHL all-time list with Ed Belfour.