1970-71 O-Pee-Chee 152 Gerry Desjardins Hockey Card (Front)
1970-71 O-Pee-Chee 152 Gerry Desjardins Hockey Card (Back)
1970-71 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Gerry gives Chicago the best back-up goaltender in the NHL. Along with Tony Esposito, the Hawks fabulous sophomore goalie, Chicago has the best goal-tending duo in the NHL today. He was considered a “steal” by NHL standards when he came to Chicago in a trade with Los Angeles.
En Français
Gerry est le meilleur gardien de réserve de la LNH. Avec le fabuleux Tony Esposito, il forme le meilleur duo de gardiens dans la Ligue Nationale de nos jours. Les Hawks firent un très bon marché quand ils l’obtinrent de Los Angeles dans un échange.
Details
As back-up to Tony Esposito, Gerry Desjardins would play a total of 32 regular season and one playoff game over three seasons between 1969-70 and 1971-72. That single playoff game was a 6-5 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 9, 1972. Gerry turned away 29 of 34 shots in the game, including six from Syl Apps. Pit Martin scored just 12 seconds into overtime, assisted by Dennis Hull and Jim Pappin to give the Hawks the win and a series sweep of the quarter-final series.
Desjardins came to Chicago from Los Angeles via a February 20, 1970 trade that included Bryan Campbell and Bill White also going to the Blackhawks in exchange for Denis DeJordy, Gilles Marotte and Jim Stanfield. He was just a year removed from his 61 game rookie season in 1968-69 when he finished fourth in voting for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.
His time in Chicago would come to an end after the New York Islanders selected him as their first pick at the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft. Desjardins and Billy Smith, another former Los Angeles Kings, shared duties with the Islanders over the team’s first two years in the NHL.
Between 1968-69 and 1977-78, Gerry Desjardins played 331 regular season and 35 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres. He also played 41 games in the WHA with the Michigan Stags / Baltimore Blades franchise in 1974-75.