Well, the chances that the Blackhawks would be in this position, before hoisting the Stanley Cup this spring, were pretty high.
So, here we are.
The Blackhawks are down 3-1 in the Western Conference Final, and the prospect that they will be playing golf soon is a very realistic possibility. While it is hard to write the Blackhawks off completely but the LA Kings are a very talent team, and the only other western conference team to win the Stanley Cup since 2009. I’d love to go on a hateful rampage similar to one I would go on about towards a team like the St. Louis Blues, but the Kings have earned some respect. They are doing something that very few teams have done to the Chicago Blackhawks, which is making them look mortal. I did go on record and say that I would have preferred to see the shallow depth, revolving door defense and crowded cast of characters in the Ducks net, so don't point fingers at this writer, Kemo Sabe.
Fans need to take a couple of things into account, when spouting off like anything less than a Stanley Cup every year is a colossal failure. The Blackhawks have played more hockey in the last 17 months than any other team. These players were forced to play a condensed season that ran long into June and had very little time to rest. The summer quickly led into training camp and the Blackhawks hit the ground running. Don’t forget that while many of the role players got February off, the star players on this team played playoff equivalent hockey in Sochi. Half of this team was involved in one way or another. Again, taxing on the body, as well as the mind.
When healthy, the Hawks are one of the top teams in the NHL, and making it to the conference final is evidence of that, along with two Stanley Cup Championships in the last 5 years. As the Pittsburgh Penguins will attest, it takes a perfect storm of circumstances to win just one Stanley Cup. Repeating is even harder. We, as fans, should be proud of what we’re experiencing. It’ll hurt if the Blackhawks get eliminated, but they have already had an impressive run. Celebrate it.
This isn’t to say that they aren’t good enough to run the table and win the cup, because they most certainly are capable, but the wear and tear just may have gotten the best of this team. We can bemoan the decisions that Quenneville has made or not made. They may have made slight differences, but the core of this team should be able to win another cup with minimal help. Similar to the 2010 cup run and even last spring.
The moral of the story is that in Chicago we are lucky to have a team this good, with this many superstars. This is a phenomenon that comes along once every couple of decades, if we're lucky. In the 1990's it was the powerhouse of the Chicago Bulls, and in the 2010's it is these very Blackhawks. Don't ruin the experience with stupid expectations and idiotic irrational blame. If you want to be that fan, well...