I entered this year with my expectations for the Blackhawks somewhat tempered by the fact that the defending champion would be bringing back essentially the entire roster it won the Cup with in 2012—not to mention the fact that some of their players were getting about three more months of rest than Cup winners normally do. However, when Chicago came storming out of the gate and made through each of the first two quarters of this 48-game season without losing a single game in regulation, those expectations were raised about as high as they could be set by the time we got to the third and fourth quarters of the year.
Entering the playoffs as the top seed, anything less than winning the whole damn things seemed unacceptable. That said, this year's run did not seem to be quite the formality it felt like in 2010. I might be downplaying some of the more stressful moments from that postseason, but you could see supposed fans of the team this year leaping off the bandwagon at numerous times when Blackhawks trailed in games or series. Judging by the parade turnout yesterday, I think most of them came back. Maybe they now realize what fans in other cities learned this season the hard way: you can never count this team out.
While I am reluctant to make a comparison to 2010 because both years were joyous occasions, this postseason run had to be the more formidable of the two. In fact, it was almost like the complete opposite of the previous campaign. Whereas I would now say that the stiffest challenge of those playoffs came in the first round when Chicago fell behind Nashville 1-0, 2-1 and nearly 3-2 in that opening round series, everything that followed was much more laid back (OK, maybe there was some nervousness when Game 6 against Philadelphia went to overtime? Maybe? I don't seem to remember really ever fearing that the Blackhawks were going to lose that series).
This time around, however, it was almost as though everything after the first round was more stressful. The opponents this time around were even more challenging, and appropriately enough, the Bruins club that the Blackhawks beat to win Lord Stanley was probably the toughest hockey team that I think I've seen Chicago face in the Toews era. All of that said, every single round provided more than its fair share of moments that deserve to be savored.
Consider the very first game of the playoffs against Minnesota that I had predicted the Blackhawks would lose:
Or think back to how Chicago fell behind 3-1 to Detroit, came back to force a Game 7, only to have yet another critical goal inexcusably taken off the board before this finally happened in overtime:
And then there was, of course, the defending champion Kings, who tied Game 5 with only seconds remaining before this happened in double OT:
Finally came a triple OT Game 1 win that led to another OT victory in Game 4 (which looked like this on TVs in Austin) and this 17-second stretch in Game 6 that was unlike anything I've ever seen before:
So yeah, a truly unforgettable year. And inevitably, the question is what next? Considering that the cap has come down dramatically because of the new CBA that was the cause of this work stoppage, Stan Bowman will certainly have his work cut out for him. I believe there's only about $2 million in cap space to work with, but the good news is that none of the major key players are UFAs this off-season. Better yet, as winners of the Cup, multiple players once again see their values increase to levels they would not otherwise be at the end of a more unsuccessful campaign. Aside from Toews, Kaner and Keith, I don't think anybody is really off-limits. I would primarily be looking for takers on Dave Bolland or Brent Seabrook, both of whom had their moments in the highlights above that might hopefully compel another general manager to think that either could be a tremendous asset for their own club.
There is work to be done this off-season, for sure, but for now I think I should probably just sit back and enjoy the moment. Because of the shortened season, I think this elevated the important of regular season games. Additionally, I made tremendous use of the WGN app on my phone this year, listening to every single game that was not on TV this season (and remember, I live in Austin, TX, now, so that's a lot). I followed every single moment of the 48 regular season games and the 23 playoff games, so it was perhaps even more touching than last time when I saw each one of the players get his chance to lift Lord Stanley on the ice in Boston. Repeating as Stanley Cup winners is almost impossible these days, and there will be an additional challenge next year when more teams are playing more games with fewer nights off because of the Olympics in Sochi. Then again, the last time there was a Winter Olympics interruption was in 2010. I think you know how that ended.
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