FEATURE: The Unsung Heroes Behind the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Dynasty
How key depth players delivered defining playoff moments throughout Chicago’s three championship runs
By
Harvey Wittenberg
In the Chicago Blackhawks’ banner seasons, it took a lot of different combinations to capture three Stanley Cups in six seasons.
They were largely led by the Core Seven, built through draft picks (Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews), smart trades (Patrick Sharp) and key free-agent signings (Marian Hossa). It remains one of the strongest nuclei assembled in the NHL’s salary-cap era.
But championships aren’t won by stars alone. Just beneath that top tier were players who delivered in massive moments and filled crucial roles throughout all three postseason runs.
Take Dustin Byfuglien in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After going pointless in the first round against the Nashville Predators, head coach Joel Quenneville decided to move Byfuglien from defense to forward, where Big Buff became an unstoppable force.
"He was in the middle of everything," Hossa said.
He really arrived on the scene in the semifinals against the Vancouver Canucks, most notably in Game 3, when he became the first Blackhawk to record a road playoff hat trick since Bobby Hull on April 9, 1972. His celebration toward the Canucks fans sitting in the front row after his second goal still gets a laugh to this day.
"That’s just Buff being Buff," Dave Bolland told The Athletic in 2020 when reminiscing about those battles with Vancouver. "He was showing off, telling the fans, 'Hey, look at this.'"
Added Hossa: "I got the picture in my mind. That series, he was the most dominant player."
Big Buff played everywhere in that series, whether it was the fourth line, first line, defense, or the net-front role on the power play. He got under Vancouver's skin.
"I think so," Byfuglien said after one of the games when asked if he felt he was throwing the Canucks off their game. "They've got to worry about me coming and worry about getting hit."
Byfuglien kept rolling into the next round against the San Jose Sharks, scoring a goal in all four games of the Blackhawks’ series sweep in the Western Conference Final. Three of those goals turned out to be game-winners, including the overtime winner in Game 3.
"It’s great, something I’ll definitely remember,” Byfuglien said.
Then came the Stanley Cup Final and the unforgettable battles with Chris Pronger. Perhaps Byfuglien’s most memorable moment came in Game 5 when he laid a big hit on Pronger in front of a roaring United Center crowd in a four-point night (two goals, two assists).
Without Big Buff, who knows if the Blackhawks would ever snap their 49-year championship drought? Not bad for an eighth-round pick, a round that doesn’t even exist in the NHL Draft anymore.
"He was unbelievable," Ben Eager told The Athletic. "He was a force. He’s a good player. He’s tough to stop. He’s not the meanest guy, which is probably a good thing. But when you’d get him just a little fired up, he’s tough to stop."
New faces were added in 2013 to strengthen the lineup, plus promising draft picks were hitting their stride. Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger, both fifth-round draft picks, came on board along with second-rounders Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad. Defenseman Johnny Oduya joined the team in a trade late in the previous season, while Corey Crawford and Ray Emery were the top two NHL goalies. The Blackhawks set an NHL record point streak to start a season at 24 games (21-0-3).
And when the playoffs arrived, it became Bryan Bickell’s stage.
He began the postseason in more of a depth-type role. By the end of it, he was skating on the top line with Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews.
It started off with a bang when he scored the overtime winner in Game 1 against the Minnesota Wild, which helped set the tone for the rest of his playoffs. He scored a goal in three of the five games as the Blackhawks cruised to a series win. He also finished the series with 35 hits, which led all players in Round 1.
"I’ve always brought a physicality to the game," Bickell told NHLPA.com. "When you look at that aspect of your game, you want to use it to help your team, to provide a boost and to help open up the ice for your linemates."
In the next series against the Detroit Red Wings, Bickell was held off the scoresheet in the first four games. But then he made his mark when the Blackhawks’ backs were up against the wall after falling into a 3-1 series hole, with goals in Games 5 and 6 to help force a do-or-die Game 7 that ended with a Brent Seabrook overtime winner.
Bickell saved some of his best work for the Western Conference Final against the Los Angeles Kings. He recorded a point in all five games and finished the series with seven points (three goals, four assists), emerging as arguably the series MVP.
And then, in the Stanley Cup Final, he put his stamp on his excellent postseason with a strong finish. Like the Detroit series, Bickell was relatively quiet in the first three games with no points to show for it. He then stepped up when it mattered most and posted four points in the final three games, which included the iconic game-tying goal in Game 6, the first of two in 17 seconds. You know how that story ends.
"It is a blur," Bickell said after the game. "I saw the puck come at me, I shot it, and I didn’t even know where it went. It went in."
In that playoff run, only Patrick Sharp (10) had more goals than Bickell’s nine for the Blackhawks, and only Patrick Kane (19) had more points than Bickell’s 17.
"There's some players they're regular-season guys, and there's some players who are playoff guys," Bickell said before the playoffs. "I feel like when it comes around to the playoffs that feels like my time. It brings the best out of me.”
Was he ever right.
New challenges faced the Blackhawks in 2014-15, and new faces were needed beyond the core group. Brad Richards started the season with the Blackhawks, Antoine Vermette was a trade-deadline addition, and rookie Teuvo Teravainen was new. Corey Crawford was backed up by minor-league goalie Scott Darling. All were key contributors in the playoff run.
That spring, it truly was all hands-on deck. And the Blackhawks, running on fumes, once again found a way to push through another grueling postseason on the way to another Stanley Cup.
In Game 1 of the first-round series against the Nashville Predators, Darling replaced Crawford to start the second period after the Blackhawks fell behind 3-0, making his first career Stanley Cup playoff appearance. Darling stopped all 42 shots he faced, setting an NHL record for the longest relief appearance without allowing a goal.
"Playing a playoff game of this magnitude and that situation, that’s one of the greatest relief performances you’re going to see," head coach Joel Quenneville said after the game.
Keith provided the game-winner in double overtime, marking the fourth straight year the Blackhawks opened the postseason with an overtime game.
Chicago rode Darling until Crawford reclaimed the crease in Game 6, when the Blackhawks finished off the Predators at the United Center. Simply put, they don’t get out of the first round without Darling.
With Crawford back in goal, the Blackhawks swept Minnesota in the second round, with “Crow” notching a road shutout in Game 3. The star players showed up in that series, and the sweep allowed Chicago 10 days of rest before the Western Conference Final.
The Pacific Division champions Anaheim Ducks were next, and the Blackhawks needed contributions across the lineup to get through the series.
After Anaheim took Game 1, Game 2 saw a classic battle, which set a Blackhawks record for the longest overtime playoff game. Crawford made a career-best 60 saves on 62 shots and Kruger jammed home the winner in the third overtime.
"I got lucky," Kruger said after the game. "Happy to see that go in."
Unfortunately, Shaw's head-butt goal in double overtime did not count, in what has gone down as one of the greatest disallowed goals ever.
"It was just a reaction right there," Shaw said. "You do whatever you can to get that puck across the line. I tried to sell it as much as I could. It was just exciting, the reaction at the net. I was just out there using my head, I guess."
The best was yet to come back at the UC. The Ducks took Game 3, and the Blackhawks were going into a pivotal Game 4 trailing the series 2-1.
Vermette, a healthy scratch the game before, responded by delivering one of the biggest goals of his career by scoring the double-overtime winner to even the series.
"It’s great," Richards said after the game of Vermette. "Shows his professionalism. No one’s happy not being in the lineup. He went out and scored the biggest goal maybe of his career. Hat’s off to him.”
"I'm glad he finished it for us," added Quenneville. "That was a huge goal for us. Huge, huge goal. Huge."
The Blackhawks won the next two games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final against Tampa Bay, where Vermette delivered again. He scored the game-winner in two of the four victories, including Game 5, pulling Chicago within one win of its third championship in six seasons. It was only the sixth time in NHL history that a player who joined a team in midseason scored two game winners in the Stanley Cup Final.
"I don’t know if I read that somewhere, where [Dave Tippett], their coach in Phoenix said in big games he comes up big," Hjalmarsson said. "He’s definitely big for us here."
The championship run was fueled by contributions throughout the lineup. Hjalmarsson, Saad, Shaw, Kruger, Crawford and Teravainen all played key roles as draft picks, while trades for Vermette and Oduya, along with free-agent Darling, completed the mix.
The dynasty was built by the Core Seven, but it was the unsung contributors who completed the championship formula.
