Chicago Blackhawks: Weirdest season in franchise history is over

The Chicago Blackhawks had a hard-fought game but they lost in overtime to the Dallas Stars by a final score of 5-4. It was a tough way to lose as they blew a 4-2 lead but it doesn’t matter as both teams have finished their season with the disappointment of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It concluded what was the weirdest season in the history of the franchise. There are many things that made it unique but there is a lot of work to do before 2021-22.

2020-21 was the weirdest season in the history of the Chicago Blackhawks.

The final game was off to a really good start. Alex DeBrincat scored his 32nd goal of the season which is a lot for the 51 games he played out of 56. That is a pace of 51 goals in a full 82 game season. He needs to take everything that made this year successful for him and bring it into the next season. He has a chance to be a very good player for a very long time. That was evident throughout the season.

Pius Suter is another player that really came onto the scene in 2020-21. He scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 2-0. If he can be a guy who puts up 20 goals in a full season, he will prove to be a very valuable middle-six forward. Dylan Strome getting back into the lineup was nice to see as well and he scored his ninth of the year. Everyone knows that he can be a good player when he is healthy. He could be used as trade bait but 2021-22 is a big year for him.

The final Chicago goal came from Vinnie Hinostroza. The goal was Vinnie’s fourth of the season and his 12th point in 17 games. That is very good for a player that had 0 points in 9 games for the Florida Panthers before the trade. He showed the Hawks that he just plays well with his hometown team and deserves an extension. If he makes it back for next year, it is going to be interesting to see what he can do.

As mentioned before, this game ended the weirdest season in franchise history. They were forced to play 56 games (along with the rest of the NHL) because of the COVID-19 pandemic canceling last season. They finished last season at the end of the summer and into the fall in the Canadian bubble cities which led to this season starting in January.

Before the year even started, there were some injury/health issues. Jonathan Toews was missing for the entire season due to health concerns. We hope to see him back next season healthy and better than ever.

Kirby Dach hurt his wrist during the World Juniors which was a huge blow as well. He came back in the latter part of the season but was never able to get in a true rhythm in terms of scoring. However, he had his flashes of brilliance so expect him to return in the fall as strong as ever.

They started the year 0-3-1 and that came after worries that this was the worst roster in the history of the franchise. The injuries didn’t help at all but it was clear that the team being iced didn’t look very good.

Then they went on a run that made them look like a legit playoff team. They were one of the best teams in the Central Division during that run which made them feel like a lock to walk into the playoffs. Outside of the first four games (the 0-3-1 open), they had an incredible start to the season. Once March hits, however, the magic ran out and they started to crumble back down to earth. It was clear that they were overachieving early in the season because the roster wasn’t very good.

There are a lot of individual performances to go over as the weeks roll on here but the team as a whole needs to be better. Management needs to make some big changes in order for that to happen, however, which might be more difficult than you think. The team defense was terrible for the most part and that makes it hard to win. The top guns were the top guns when healthy which is nice but the rest of the team just wasn’t good enough. This is certainly a big summer for the team as it looks to get back to winning sometime soon.