Monday Links: Are the Chicago Blackhawks a Dynasty?

by Eric Burton | Jun 1, 2015

Monday Links: Are the Chicago Blackhawks a Dynasty?

by Eric Burton | Jun 1, 2015

Good Afternoon! The Stanley Cup Finals are finally here, we can all exhale for a moment. Whew. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals with impressive game-seven wins.

Saturday night, the Blackhawks joined the Lightning with an impressive 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Finals

For those keeping track at home, Blackhawks forward Brad Richards is now 8-0 in game 7’s.

On Saturday night, I was monitoring Twitter after the Hawks win. One of the first things to emerge was the D word. Almost immediately following the game, fans started tweeting about the Blackhawks being a dynasty.

Are the Blackhawks a dynasty?

This begs the question, are the Blackhawks a dynasty? Ultimately, history will be the judge. In my humble opinion, no. Post-2005 – the Blackhawks and the L.A. Kings have both won two Stanley Cups. During that time in question, there were five other teams that have won a single Stanley Cup.

If we’re talking about dynasties, at least for recent history, the Edmonton Oilers are the closest thing we’ve had to a dynasty. The Oilers won five Stanley Cups from 1983-1990. Maybe even more impressive, the New York Islanders won four Stanley Cups in a row from 1980-1983. No NHL team has won back-to-back Stanley Cups since the Detroit Red Wings did it in 1997 and 1998.

So, let’s compare, the Oilers won five Stanley Cups in seven years. The Blackhawks have won two cups in four years. I believe the Oilers streak is more impressive. If the Blackhawks were to win a few more cups in the upcoming years, then I would say yes.

Finally, I think it’s all a matter of personal perception. I also think we need to go further back in time to make any legitimate comparisons. As I mentioned earlier, the Detroit Redwings were the last hockey club to win back-to-back titles. They’ve also won the most Stanley Cups in the last 20 years (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008). So, I think the dynasty label is a bit premature. Maybe the Blackhawks are a mini-dynasty.