Yes, like Bruins fans everywhere, I still have nightmares about the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. (Anyone know if Kaspars Daugavins learned how to score on an almost entirely open net yet?)
But even I can admit when we’re witnessing greatness, and that is exactly what the Chicago Blackhawks of the last seven years have been. In that stretch of time, they have been to five Western Conference Finals and three Stanley Cup Finals, three wins away from their third championship in six years. They were one overtime bounce away from a trip to the final last season. Now, you might not look at that as being anything special compared to past runs in hockey history. The Oilers five championships in seven years, the Islanders four straight cups in the early 80s, or the numerous Montreal dynasties come to mind. But one thing separates this Blackhawk run from those, and that is the time in which it is happening. We are in a salary cap world, specifically designed to produce the highest levels of parity throughout the league. The shelf life of good teams is short, as they inevitably run into cap issues (see: 2014-15 Boston Bruins), and a similar crisis seemed to be heading the Hawks way after their 2010 championship. Due to cap concerns, the team was forced to part ways with numerous key pieces of their championship team, including Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, and starting goaltender Antti Niemi. A couple down years followed, but before the rest of the league could blink an eye, they had rebuilt and were even stronger than they had been before. They have done it with Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford as their netminders, guys who don’t generate the same buzz as names like Quick, Lundqvist, Price, or Rask. I would go so far as to say Crawford is the one weak link in the entire organization. But the Hawks have maintained the highest levels of success no matter how many pieces have been torn apart.
Beyond just the pure numbers, the Blackhawks run is noteworthy because of how the team plays. You can never count them out of any game they play, as we’ve seen time and time again over the last seven years. It seems everyone on the team has the knack for scoring the big goal at just the right time. Guys like Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad are great examples of that. Also, they play an exciting brand of hockey. If you are looking to get someone into the NHL, show them a Blackhawks game. They don’t play the boring defensive style of the early 2000s Devils, or pull the whiny dramatics of the Canadiens. They go out there with the confidence that they can beat you either 1-0 or 5-4, and with the exception of a few guys, don’t run their mouths in the process. It doesn’t hurt that the Red sweater is one of the most iconic in hockey if not all of sports. The team is full of the biggest names in hockey, from Patrick Kane to Jonathan Toews to Duncan Keith and beyond. In many ways they are the most iconic brand in the NHL, and 20 or 30 years from now, I think we will be looking back on this run with an appreciation that we don’t quite have right now. Like the 80s NBA belongs to the Celtics and Lakers, the 2010s will belong to the Blackhawks. There is a real possibility that the cap will come back to actually bite them this time, and this could be the last real run for this group of guys. If it is, enjoy it, even if you are a Bruins fan like me. We’re watching something real special.
The Beantown Buzz 