Blackhawks: Brent Sopel was a great player for the organization
The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of recognizable names in the recent past but Brent Sopel brought a lot to the team while he was there.
The Chicago Blackhawks have had some Hall of Fame level superstars come through their organization over the last decade in a half with players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook. They have also had some very good level players come through like Patrick Sharp and Nicklas Hjalmarsson. With all of those great players be a part of a great core for a long time, they still needed to be supplemented with some key depth players in order to develop into a championship-level team.
One of those players for Chicago was defenseman Brent Sopel. He was not even close to a game breaker and his offensive game wasn’t anything great either. What he did do was use his ice time, which varied from 15-20 minutes throughout his career, was play a responsible defensive game and work hard out there in order to help his team win. He carved out a great career playing his role and he did so very well when the Blackhawks gave him a chance.
He was a member of the team for three seasons from 2007-2010. His Chicago tenure ended by raising the Stanley Cup with the 2010 Championship team. He played in 154 regular-season games for Chicago in which he scored three goals and had 27 assists for 30 points. He was the definition of a defensive defenseman for the Blackhawks, even though he had been a bit more offensive earlier in his career. The fact remains that in order to win the Cup, the top defenseman on the team needs an extra couple of depth guys out there who can be reliable with the minutes that are given and that is what Sopel did.
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Sopel spent the other nine years of his career as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, and Montreal Canadiens. It was great that he was able to be on the Blackhawks and win the Cup with them as well as be able to extend his career by a few years when they gave him an opportunity. These depth players are always important to all Stanley Cup-winning teams and Sopel was no different on the back end for the Blackhawks.