Division 5th American Home record 3–13–6 Goals for 33 | 1928–29 record 7–29–8 Road record 4–16–2 Goals against 85 | |
The 1928–29 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's third season of play. The Hawks would miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
Regular season
The team was coming off a 7–34–3 season, in which they finished in last place in the league. The Black Hawks would let head coach Hugh Lehman go and hire Herb Gardiner to become the team's head coach. This season was also a long one for the club, as they finished with a league worst 7–29–8 record, and 25 points out of a playoff spot. Chicago would score an NHL record worst 33 goals, averaging less than a goal per game, while giving up 85 goals, which was the highest in the league. In one stretch from February 7 through February 28, the Hawks were shut out in eight consecutive games. Gardiner was fired after posting a 5–23–4 record, and for the remainder of the season, the Hawks used team captain Dick Irvin as a player-coach.
Due to the new Chicago Stadium, the new home of the Black Hawks, not being ready for the 1928–29 season, the team was only able to get ice time at Chicago Coliseum through January. Chicago would then play the rest of their "home" games in Detroit, Michigan and Fort Erie, Ontario in February and March.
Vic Ripley would have a team high 13 points, which included 11 goals, which was 1/3 of the Hawks goal total. Dick Irvin would score 6 goals, while youngster Johnny Gottselig scored 5. Goaltender Chuck Gardiner saw all the action in net, winning 7 games, while posting a 1.85 GAA and earning 5 shutouts.
While they improved by their point total by 5 points over the previous season, they still were a long way from contending for a playoff spot.
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.