Chicago Blackhawks

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1926
• Home arena: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
• Owner: Wirtz Corporation
• Team colors: Red, white, and black

Overview

The Chicago Blackhawks is a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that plays in the Central Division of the Western Conference. One of the “Original Six” NHL teams alongside the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Blackhawks first played in 1926. Since that time, the team has won multiple Stanley Cup championships and earned numerous other accolades. In 2021, the Blackhawks’ all-time record stood at 2,812 wins, 2,768 losses, 814 ties, and 175 overtime losses. With so many notable achievements, the Blackhawks have long been known as one of the NHL’s most competitive and accomplished teams. The Blackhawks are also one of the NHL’s most financially successful franchises, worth an estimated $1.88 billion in 2023.

In addition to their on-ice activities, the Chicago Blackhawks maintain a strong commitment to philanthropic endeavors, primarily through the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation (CBF). An official team charity, the CBF actively works toward growing the game of hockey and helping the underserved of the Greater Chicago region. To that end, the CBF supports such charitable programs as Building Champions and Healthy Hawks. Building Champions is a six-week after-school program aimed at encouraging social and emotional learning through sports. Healthy Hawks is a one-day classroom program during which students learn how to prepare healthy snacks and engage in activities that promote physical fitness. The CBF also runs programs like Summer Skate and Family Skate, which provide various nonprofits with the opportunity to hold open ice-skating sessions.

History

The history of the Chicago Blackhawks began with the collapse of the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1926. The WHL was a short-lived professional hockey league founded in 1921 that operated almost exclusively in Canada. Its lone American team was the Portland Rosebuds, a franchise that moved to Oregon in 1925 after starting out as the Regina Capitals. As the WHL was approaching its end in 1926, the NHL awarded an expansion franchise to a Chicago-based syndicate spearheaded by former football player Huntington Hardwick. Hardwick also simultaneously engineered the purchase of the Portland Rosebuds’ players from WHL president Frank Patrick. A short time later, Hardwick and his syndicate sold their new NHL franchise to coffee magnate Frederic McLaughlin.

Under McLaughlin’s leadership, the franchise was officially established in Chicago, Illinois, and became known as the Chicago Black Hawks—a name that was not formally changed to Blackhawks until decades later. Initially housed at the Chicago Coliseum, the Blackhawks made their NHL debut with a 4–1 victory over the Toronto St. Patricks on November 17, 1926. After finishing their inaugural season in third place in the American Division, the Blackhawks spent the remainder of the 1920s struggling to find their footing in the NHL. Before the decade ended, however, the team moved from its original home at the Chicago Coliseum to the Chicago Stadium in 1929.

In the 1930s, McLaughlin set out to construct an all-American team. As a result, the Blackhawks roster came to be composed primarily of American hockey players from Minnesota. While this move outraged many Canadian fans of the game, it helped the Blackhawks to gradually improve their performance on the ice. In the 1933–34 season, the Blackhawks reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time. After a grueling four-game series against the Detroit Red Wings that ended with an overtime goal in the final contest, the Blackhawks lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. The team made history again when it returned to the Stanley Cup Finals at the end of the 1937–38 season and defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs to win its second Stanley Cup championship with a roster that included a then-record eight American players.

The Blackhawks struggled through the 1940s and 1950s, finishing in last place most seasons and only managing to make the playoffs once. Eventually, Tommy Ivan of the Detroit Red Wings was brought in to take over as the Blackhawks’ general manager. During his tenure, Ivan put together a system of farm teams that helped the franchise groom a new crop of young players. Ivan’s work ultimately allowed the Blackhawks to become one of the NHL’s top teams of the 1960s, winning the Stanley Cup again in 1961 and returning to the Stanley Cup Finals in both 1962 and 1965. The team’s success continued into the 1970s, a decade during which the Blackhawks were perennial favorites and reached the Stanley Cup Finals on two more occasions.

For much of the 1980s, the Blackhawks played their way through an extended rebuilding period. By the early 1990s, the team was once again a major contender. In addition to returning to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992, the Blackhawks recorded a first-place finish in the 1992–93 season. A few years later, the team left its longtime home at Chicago Stadium and moved into the newly built United Center. By the end of the decade, the team again found itself struggling for wins. That struggle would continue throughout the 2000s, only ending when the team made its way back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010. Facing off against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Blackhawks pulled off a Game 6 win to claim their first Stanley Cup championship since the 1960s. Despite remaining competitive, the Blackhawks did not return to the Stanley Cup Finals until 2013, when they beat the Boston Bruins in six games to lift the Stanley Cup once more. Continuing their run as one of the best NHL teams of the 2010s, the Blackhawks performed well for several more years before returning yet again to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015. Facing the Tampa Bay Lightning this time around, the Blackhawks recorded a clutch Game 6 victory to win another Stanley Cup championship. Although they fell short of returning to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Blackhawks continued to be one of the NHL’s leading teams for the remainder of the 2010s, playing well in subsequent regular seasons and making the playoffs the majority of years.

While the Blackhawks were able to secure a place in the playoffs for the 2019–20 season despite a delay until the summer of 2020 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared in March of that year, they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. After a failure to qualify for the 2021 playoffs, the team was plagued by a highly publicized off-ice sexual assault scandal subsequent to the release of an investigative report in October 2021. The report included details of an investigation that was begun into Brad Aldrich, once an assistant video coach for the Blackhawks, as a result of a 2021 lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a player during the 2009–10 season. The lawsuit and investigation indicated that while senior team staff had been notified of the alleged incident, no immediate action was taken. While Aldrich did resign from his position later in 2010, this only occurred after management pressure following the report of another alleged incident involving an intern; Aldrich reportedly committed other acts of sexual assault in his career throughout the following years. The player, who identified himself publicly as Kyle Beach shortly after the release of the report in October 2021, asserted that he had not been supported and that the team had mishandled his allegation. The NHL ultimately fined the Blackhawks organization $2 million, and both Stan Bowman, the general manager, and Al MacIsaac, senior vice president of hockey operations, who had been senior officials with the team in 2010, resigned their positions. Additionally, then-coach Joel Quenneville resigned from his position as head coach of the Florida Panthers for his role in mishandling the incident. The lawsuit between the Chicago Blackhawks and Kyle Beach was settled in December of 2021 for an undisclosed amount.

In 2022, the Blackhawks named Luke Richardson as their fortieth head coach. The team received the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and chose Connor Bedard, who is considered one of the best hockey players of his generation. The team also made trades to acquire experienced players and signed forward Ryan Donato to a two-year, four-million-dollar contract.

Notable players

Many Chicago Blackhawks greats have been honored with enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. Chief among these distinguished individuals is Bobby Hull, an outstanding left winger typically hailed as the greatest player in Blackhawks’ history. Playing in the 1950s and 1960s, Hull—also known as the “Golden Jet”—utilized his incredibly powerful slapshot to become one of the game’s best players. In addition to serving as a key member of the Blackhawks’ 1961 Stanley Cup team, Hull contributed to the game in a broader sense by helping to develop the curved hockey stick. After recording his fifth 50-goal season in 1972, Hull left the Blackhawks and the NHL to pursue a career in the rival World Hockey Association (WHA), where he played until making a brief return to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in 1979 prior to his retirement. Hull’s longtime linemate Stan Mikita was also a Hall of Fame player. During the course of his twenty-two-year career—which was spent entirely in Chicago—Mikita recorded 541 goals and 926 assists, as well as a total of nearly 1,500 points. Another figure key to the Blackhawks’ 1960s success who earned a place in the Hall of Game was goaltender Glenn Hall. In his ten seasons with the Blackhawks, Hall backstopped the team to 276 wins and recorded more than 17,000 saves. Some other notable Blackhawks Hall of Famers include goaltenders Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito, forwards Denis Savard and Phil Esposito, and defensemen Paul Coffey and Chris Chelios.

There have been many other notable Chicago Blackhawks as well. Dennis Hull, brother of Bobby Hull, spent thirteen seasons with the Blackhawks between 1964 and 1977 and recorded 298 goals and 342 assists in that time. Defenseman Doug Wilson played with the Blackhawks from 1977 to 1991 and recorded 225 goals and 554 assists during that span. Right winger Steve Larmer spent thirteen seasons with the Blackhawks from 1980 and 1993, scoring a total of 406 goals and recording 517 assists. Left winger Darryl Sutter spent his entire eight-year playing career with the Blackhawks in the 1980s before briefly returning to the team as a coach in the early 1990s. Center Jeremy Roenick played the first eight seasons of his career with the Blackhawks, scoring 267 goals and recording 329 assists. Right winger Tony Amonte played with the Blackhawks from 1993 to 2002, putting up 268 goals and 273 assists during that time and briefly acting as the team’s captain near the end of his tenure. Defenseman Duncan Keith made his Blackhawks debut in 2005. At the end of the 2020–21 season, his last with the Blackhawks, he had a total of 105 goals and 520 assists. Center Jonathan Toews joined the Blackhawks in 2008. By the beginning of the 2021–22 season, he had 345 goals and 470 assists. Right winger Patrick Kane started playing with the Blackhawks in 2007. By the end of the 2020–21 season, he had amassed a total of 404 goals and 684 assists.

Bibliography

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