This June will mark ten years since the third championship of the Blackhawks’ dynasty team was won (even if you wouldn’t know if from the complete absence of mentions from the organization this year).
If we don’t count the COVID bubble — which most people don’t — as an actual playoff appearance, it’s been eight years since the Blackhawks qualified for the postseason. And that 2015 Stanley Cup championship is the last time the Chicago Blackhawks made it past the first round of the playoffs.
It’s been a minute since the Blackhawks were the top of the heap in the NHL.
There have been moments where we felt like the Blackhawks could become a thing again. Artemi Panarin’s arrival and Patrick Kane’s MVP season were fun. Alex DeBrincat eventually replacing Panarin on Kane’s wing and the chemistry those two developed was exciting. Having high picks in the draft and using them on players like Kirby Dach got the fan base’s attention.
None of it got the Blackhawks anywhere closer to a championship.
For years, Blackhawks fans have been sold on the idea prospects were going to change the trajectory of the franchise. Well, when there were fans to sell an idea. A reminder: when Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook began their NHL careers in October of 2005, the Blackhawks averaged the second-lowest attendance in the NHL (under 14,000 per game). There were a lot of nights that the Hawks didn’t get to a fifth digit on the butts in seats. There weren’t a lot of Blackhawks fans in this fine city.
So when we were told that Kane and Jonathan Toews were going to change everything, there was understandable skepticism. But they showed up and looked the part. And the ship started to change direction. And people started to show up — but the Blackhawks still averaged under 17,000 per night during the rookie season for 19 and 88. And that number went up as the season went on and the two youngsters showed they belonged.
Since then, we’ve been told a lot of prospects were going to hit. Hell, I’ve been one of those who have been excited about the potential of guys like Dylan Olsen and Brandon Pirri and Jeremy Morin and (as painful as it is for me to say) Ian Mitchell. The guys who did hit? Traded away before they did much for the Blackhawks. The guys we were told would be the new faces? Too many never hit.
This isn’t exclusively a Blackhawks issue in Chicago.
How many quarterbacks have the Bears cycled thru? There’s still cynicism about Caleb Williams’ future because we’ve heard it before.
The Cubs won a World Series in 2016 but my grandma lived a long, wonderful life and didn’t get to see that. She spent her whole life being told it was going to be next year. And it feels like we’re back in a cycle of “prove it and then I’ll believe it” with the Cubs.
The Bulls? They were great with the greatest player the game has ever seen. Since then? Great moments, for sure. But injuries blew out any hopes of getting back to the top of the mountain for them, too.
How many rebuilds have the White Sox sold us on? They felt like there were close to doing something before they brought Tony LaRussa back from his display at the Field Museum to manage the team.
Chicago has seen this whole song and dance about drafting a winner before. Though it worked for the Blackhawks and Cubs, this is absolutely a What Have You Done For Me Lately city. It’s been almost a full decade since either of those building projects paid dividends.
Which is what made me want to write this today.
Sunday night, the Blackhawks lost a game. They made some mistakes that cost them goals and another team that isn’t in the playoff picture beat them soundly.
But there was a palpable excitement in the building. Two young players made their NHL debuts and were noticeably good. Sam Rinzel looked like he belonged skating 20 minutes per night from his first shift in the NHL. Oliver Moore didn’t look timid or out of place against NHL competition whatsoever. They looked like NHL players.
When Kyle Davidson took over as the general manager of the Blackhawks, he told us he was going to tear this thing down to the studs and rebuild from scratch. And he’s done precisely that, painfully trading away players a lot of fans liked and moving on from the two centerpieces of the last time this method paid off for the organization, Kane and Toews.
It’s been three long, hard NHL seasons since he started tearing it down. And we’ve watched as the Blackhawks hoarded draft picks like guys in their 40s buying baseball cards during the pandemic.
Every summer, we’ve read national analysts give the Blackhawks a good draft grade and talk about how impressed they are with the talent and (especially) the speed the Blackhawks are collecting in the pipeline.
But that Chicago skepticism remains.
Show me.
I noted in my Monday morning bullets that we have now seen 12 players make their NHL debut over the past two seasons. The Blackhawks skated five defensemen who were 23 and under on Sunday night. And they dressed five forwards who haven’t celebrated their 23rd birthday yet.
And, though there are learning moments and mistakes that are made by every one of these young players, most of them have looked like they belong in the NHL almost immediately after getting the call. Some of them look like they could become difference makers. And a few look like they might even become stars in the league.
The Blackhawks looked fast last night. Did they always know where to go and what to do? Not always. That will come with experience.
They moved the puck quickly. Decisively? Not always. That will come with experience. On target? Not always. That will come with experience.
When the first wave of the Blackhawks’ dynasty made their starts in the NHL 20 — yes, twenty — years ago, they did it in front of a half-empty and apathetic building. Their mistakes happened without social media to over-scrutinize and micro manage every shift. And without fans watching their every move.
That generation of Blackhawks turned the United Center into a place to be when there was an NHL game on the calendar. This rebuild project does not have the luxury of doing it quietly and nearly anonymously because of the success of those great, future Hall of Fame players.
But I’m here to get on my soap box and preach that it is actually okay to be excited about Blackhawks hockey again.
The playoffs aren’t going to happen this year, and they might (probably won’t) not next year. But the early returns on Davidson’s drafting has been impressive. And, unlike so many prospects over the years, these guys look like legitimate NHL-caliber players who can make a significant impact and help the organization climb back to the championship mix.
The project isn’t done. The building is not complete. There are more prospects to come up and develop and make their mistakes and learn in front of us in the NHL. But it’s really is okay to not be immediately dismissive of where things are going with the Blackhawks. Maybe, just maybe, the front office knows that its doing. And maybe, just maybe, this rebuild is going to make the Blackhawks something special once again.