You're Connor Murphy and you're reflecting on the grim summer of 2020. For the first time in your National Hockey League career, you taste the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But the Blackhawks are confined to that "bubble" in Edmonton, a one-timer necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. From the hotel to the rink, back to the hotel. Constant testing for the virus, social distancing, one sacrifice after another. Correct?
"Not at all," said Murphy. "We didn't have anything to complain about then and we don't now. At that time, people all over the world were living in fear. Losing jobs, losing family members and friends. We're hockey players, lucky to play a game we love. We're pampered. We've earned our way into the NHL, but it's a privileged existence. First-class accommodations, meals, charter flights, medical staff. We had a lot of protocols and still do, but so does everybody else. Nothing. We have nothing to complain about."
If that sounds like someone you should know, an athlete with vision beyond the glass, the Blackhawks think so, too. Murphy, 28, is an alternate captain, along with Alex DeBrincat, who turned 24 just before Christmas. Murphy wears the "A" for road games, DeBrincat for home games. Jonathan Toews was named captain in 2008 at age 20, then the third-youngest ever in the league. He is the longest-serving "C" in franchise history, by a lot. Fellow superstar Patrick Kane is an alternate, also decorated and respected.
But in Murphy and DeBrincat, the Blackhawks have identified the next generation of leaders in the clubhouse, two steadily improving stalwarts who will, it is presumed, pave the path to the next parade. Neither seeks the stage, but have no fear -- they got the "A" because they get it.
LONG READ: The 'A' Team
The Blackhawks have identified the next generation of leaders, Alex DeBrincat and Connor Murphy, two steadily improving players
