For some reason, there were still some members of the Hawks’ fan base that weren’t satisfied with Crawford as the team’s last line of defense. “I don’t know why I did that”.
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There are players coming to the tournament from Toronto, Boston, Vancouver, Wisconsin and elsewhere. And I will not soon forget the night they finished off the sweep of the Astros; Jerry Reinsdorf and players alike partied like tiny kids.
Sport, in North America as much as anywhere else in the world, is a business.
At least, that’s how it worked for me.
It’s the irony in how a dynasty is marked in the modern era, children celebrate like it is the newest release of Halo, while adults simply and quietly mark the occasion as point in history, making sure they mark down the day they saw the Hawks win the cup. Phenoms Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are all but assured of being the first two players taken, in that order by the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres.
There are always feel good stories for a championship team. Elsie explained that hockey fandom in Europe isn’t the same as in Chicago. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning four games to two.
“I think there’s a good chance [The Cup] will be there, but there are conflicting [reports] of who it will march with; there are several interested parties [wanting to host The Cup]”, Andrew Sobotka, the CGHA president, said June 22.
We’ll start at the top with Patrick Sharp.
“Everybody wants to know what’s the best Cup”, said Sharp, whom Chicago thanks for shaving.
What is interesting is there appears to be a greater market for Sharp than there is for Crawford.
Reif’s family was a big part of the Stanley Cup celebration in Chicago Monday, but it was especially nice for such a public acknowledgement of one of the team’s beloved behind-the-scenes staffers.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad.
“Yeah, I’m pretty good with that”. He brought some humor late to the rally, but he also provided the most emotional moment of any of the three previous city-wide parties in Chicago.
The 46-year-old would probably still be there (or out of hockey) if he hadn’t received a call out of the blue eight years ago from his best friend who was GM of the American Hockey League’s Norfolk Admirals. It’ll be the second time Versteeg, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, has departed.
Williams will turn 34 in October, but his stats from the 2014-15 regular season didn’t dip from the 2013-14, when he scored 19 goals and then won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs in the Kings’ most recent championship run.
Chicago are likely to go in opposite directions to a crop of unrestricted free agents.
Antoine Vermette had two game-winning goals for the Hawks in the finals.
Up came team captain and perhaps the most valuable player/leader in the NHL, Jonathan Toews, carrying that something over his head, the gleaming, silver Stanley Cup. On that: enforcers are featuring less and less in the NHL as the year’s progress. A team like the Edmonton Oilers could potentially look to grab the veteran netminder, and with their wealth of prospects and draft picks, a package could entice Bowman to make a move.
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Yet, all is not lost in Chicago. Stamkos is a respected young leader like Toews, Victor Hedman a game-controlling defenceman like Duncan Keith and Nikita Kucherov could develop into some facsimile of Patrick Kane. Each time the organization has won, salary cap constraints have forced the Hawks to tear down and rebuild, usually with young, cheaper players who have been under Bernard’s oversight.
