Jeff Hackett logged 500 brutal NHL games, often finding himself on the absolute worst teams of his era, a pattern that defined his entire career. It’s a wild ride to look back on, especially when you consider how many times a guy can get shafted by circumstance. This dude had a defined pattern: every single time he got a chance to rise from backup to starter, the team in front of him just completely fell apart. Seriously, it’s like a curse.
From Island Hopper to Shark Bait: A Descent into Chaos
Picture this: Hackett starts his NHL journey with a bad early 90s Islanders team. Rough, right? But it gets worse. He then jumped to the awful inaugural San Jose Sharks, where he only won 13 times in 78 games. The dude won just five games with the Islanders in 1990-91. Five! And if you check the highlights, even those five wins look generous. One of those second-season victories was a 4-1 home win against Winnipeg, where he had to make a massive 41 saves. Talk about earning your paycheck. He even got trucked by future Blackhawks teammate Bob Probert in a Detroit game, with the Islanders already down 8-4 in the third. What a rough night for the guy. With Mark Fitzpatrick and Glenn Healy already on the roster, Hackett was left exposed in the 1991 expansion draft and the Sharks, who were somehow worse than the Islanders, snatched him up. It really seemed like a move from one dumpster fire to an even bigger one.
Chicago Chaos: Belfour, Bullying, and Barely-There Hockey
A trade from a terrible expansion team to an Original Six playoff team sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Well, not for Hackett. When he landed in Chicago two years later, he ran straight into a new problem: Ed Belfour. Eddie the Eagle was already the starter and he wasn’t keen on sharing his net. Hackett had to put up with Belfour’s bullying for years before the elder goalie finally got shipped off to San Jose. Then, finally, Hackett got the net full time. The catch? The Hawks playing in front of him were the absolute definition of mediocre. Sam Fels, a Blackhawks fan and podcaster, walks us through the legendary Blackhawks goalie debates and in-fighting from that era, which occasionally escalated into actual fisticuffs. Chicago fans couldn’t even watch home games on TV thanks to a cheapskate owner, and honestly, the team was barely worth watching anyway. Hackett wasn’t a bad goalie during that time; he was more of an “innings eater” than anything else, just trying to hold the fort.
Fallow Periods and Forgotten Eras: Hackett’s Last Stands
Hackett’s last starting gig was with the Montreal Canadiens. The good news there was he wasn’t directly following a Hall of Famer this time. The bad news? Basically everything else. Mike, from the podcast, remembers Hackett mostly from his years as a Hab, during one of their serious fallow periods. Looking back, it’s a wide-ranging, nostalgic trip through 1990s and 2000s NHL hockey. This guy’s career is a testament to perseverance, even when the chips were consistently stacked against him.
It’s always wild to dive into the personalities and peculiarities of those old-school teams. We’re talking about an era before dynasties like the Toews-Kane-Keith Hawks completely reshaped franchises. Thanks to Sam for sharing those incredible, weird Blackhawks stories. We could listen to tales about a true lunatic goalie like Ed Belfour all day.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Lighthouse Hockey.
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