The Blackhawks' Fourth Quarter: A six seed never felt so good

You know, if I'm looking back on these quarterly graphics many years down the road, I might wonder why I had an image of a celebratory Patrick Kane when the team had finished fourth in the division. Was that good enough to make the playoffs that year? I might wonder. There's probably going to be a wee bit of outcry for the league to change how they determine postseason seedings after how things turned out this year. Or maybe Gary Bettman will be able to use this as leverage to get the players union to reconsider that realignment deal. Or maybe nothing will change.

I'm almost certainly still going to be talking about this throughout the playoffs—of which, the Blackhawks, thankfully, will be a part. Despite that hideous purple tint to the record, that's still a 101-point team. Better yet, they completed this last quarter of the year completely without their captain, who's likely returning just in time for the first round of the playoffs.

And the weirdest thing of all is that I actually rooted for this near the end of the year. With the "Where-the-fuck-did-THEY-come-from" Blues clearly in line to win the division and the Predators comfortably locked into that apparent four-spot, why in the world wish for a first-round matchup with the team the Hawks lost four of six to this year—especially when you can have Detroit do that instead? Nashville would have been a disastrous opening round opponent, but instead Chicago draws the much more favorable matchup with Phoenix. Sure, fourth is a helluva lot lower than I had this team finishing when I made picks at the beginning of the year, but all things considered, it does not seem out of the question for this team to still make a legitimate run at the Cup.

Yep, the almighty St. Louis Blues end up on top of a Central that had four teams with 100+ points. To be fair, this was the same story over in the Atlantic in the Eastern Conference as well this year, but the Blackhawks end up being the team, to me, that goes into the playoffs playing some of their best hockey. The defense has shown dramatic improvement, as has Corey Crawford in net, and the team generally seems to have put that abysmal losing stretch long behind them.

Still, there's the small matter of whether playing Jonathan Toews is really in the franchise's best interest. No. 19 will likely be retired with Toews' name on the back, but that's assuming that he still has more years to play. With the rash of concussions and effects from head injuries garnering as much attention as even the National Football League has earned, it is a fair question to ask if maybe it would be better for the team long-term not to risk anything severe happening to the captain.

It leaves this fan in a somewhat awkward position. Will I be watching or listening to each playoff game with my toes curled while sitting on the edge of my seat? (Of course ... it's the playoffs, after all.) Do you try to minimize his ice time? (Depends on the situation?) Is the possibility of a reward realistic enough this year justify the risk?

On that last question, I want so badly to say "Yes." You get by the Yotes, then upset either the 'Nucks or the Blues, and deal with ... Nashville or Detroit? No, it wouldn't be easy, but it certainly wouldn't be completely impossible either. So I'll root and root like I always do, albeit through gritted teeth, fearing the worst while hoping for nothing but the best.