Chicago Blackhawks: Dave Bolland was a great player for CHI

The Chicago Blackhawks did a lot of winning over the last decade or so and the depth players had a whole lot to do with it.

Former Chicago Blackhawks center Dave Bolland has been pretty active on Twitter over the last few days. He has been talking back and forth with fans and media online over a very popular topic in the hockey world. The Toronto Maple Leafs have their star right-winger Mitch Marner sitting unsigned as a restricted free agent, and Bolland seems to think that he is worth more than Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. It is a wild take, but he is entitled to his own opinion.

That got us thinking about his time in Chicago. The Blackhawks run from 2009-2016 will mostly be highlighted by stars like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook. That is all great but lots of teams are loaded with stars, and you don’t win without depth. Dave Bolland was one of the better depth players on the team throughout their runs and was a two time Stanley Cup Champion with Chicago.

He was a member of the Blackhawks from 2006-2013. During those seven years with Chicago, he had 70 goals and 98 assists for 168 points in 332 games. That s around half a point per game for him. That is great production for a guy who spent a majority of his tenure on the third or fourth line. It got even better in the playoffs, as he had 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points in 67 playoff games. His points per game increased from .50 in the regular season to .64 in the playoffs.

One of those 17 playoff goals was one of the biggest goals in Chicago Blackhawks history. In game six of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, he banked in a rebound that hit the post off a Johnny Oduya shot deflected by Michal Frolik. That goal put the Blackhawks ahead 3-2 with less than a minute to go 17 seconds after Bryan Bickel tied the game. They went from a plane ride back to Chicago for a game seven to be the Stanley Cup Champions in less than half a minute. It was one of the greatest sequences in NHL history.

This goal made Dave Bolland a fan favorite for the rest of time and a will forever be known for that legendary moment. He will be known as a great depth player during the greatest era in team history. He signed a deal with Toronto after winning the Stanley Cup in 2013 but between those three years and then one stint with the Florida Panthers, he didn’t have the same level of success but injuries had a lot to do with it. Either way, he was really good in his role for the Blackhawks and everyone will always remember him fondly.