Chicago Blackhawks: Brent Seabrook retires an all-time great

A lot of people consider the 2003 NHL Draft to be the best in the history of the league. Well, the Chicago Blackhawks struck gold when they selected Brent Seabrook with the 14th overall pick in that year’s entry draft. It was a move that helped them build a team that would become a dynasty. Today, he retires as one of the greatest defensemen in the history of the franchise. That is some high praise because there have been some good ones and Seabrook deserves it.

Brent Seabrook is one of the greatest Chicago Blackhawks of all time.

Winning the Stanley Cup three times with the Hawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015, Seabrook’s name is a legend. He was also so good that he was selected to play with Team Canada at the Olympics where he has a Gold Medal. In his career, he tallied 103 goals and 361 assists for 464 points. In the playoffs, he managed to have 20 goals and 39 assists for 59 points. He was certainly productive in the offensive zone.

As good as he was on offense and joining the rush, he was so tough to play against. He used his big frame to make bone-crushing hits and backcheck as good as any defenseman in the league. Plus-minus isn’t the best stat to evaluate a player anymore but when you are +111 in your career, you did something right.

Seabrook formed one of the best defensive pairs (if not the very best for a few years) with Duncan Keith. When those two were on the ice together, it was borderline impossible to score. Some people might think of those Hawks teams as high-octane because of all the skill they had upfront but those forwards also knew how to defend and Seabrook really helped them with it. This top pair also allowed the rest of the defensemen on the team to play their game comfortably.

You are a stud defenseman in the NHL when you can do it all. That was the name of the game for Brent Seabrook. He killed penalties, was able to run a power play, and played dominant five-on-five hockey. We can’t ignore that blast of a shot he possessed as well. Goalies never liked facing that.

He played in 1114 regular-season games and 123 playoff games. That is a whole lot of hockey. He is retiring on the early side (35) but it makes sense when you consider all of the hockey he has played. Not only is it a large game total, but he also played the hardest minutes. He had the be out there for over 25 minutes a night playing against the team’s top players. All of this wore down his body by the end but he should certainly be proud of his career.

Congrats to number seven. He is one of the franchise’s all-time great players and deserves to be remembered as such. Hopefully, in a few years, we see that number seven hanging from the rafters of the United Center.