Artemi Panarin, Corey Perry Headline Former Blackhawks With a Chance to Hoist the Stanley Cup in 2024
The Blackhawks have missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season, but many former Chicago players will skate in the postseason — some on very good teams.
Artemi Panarin, Corey Perry Headline Former Blackhawks With a Chance to Hoist the Stanley Cup in 2024The Chicago Blackhawks will finish 31st in the NHL this season and miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season and sixth time in seven. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of representation of former Chicago players in the 2024 postseason.
With all 16 playoff spots clinched, we can look at all the teams to see which former Hawks have a chance to win the Stanley Cup — whether that be for the first time and how much of a role they had in getting their teams to the playoffs.
We'll also look at how impactful each player could be for their teams and how far they are expected to go.
Patrick Kane, second on Chicago's all-time scoring list, and Alex DeBrincat didn't qualify for the playoffs with Detroit. The Red Wings narrowly missed after two great games to close out the season.
Kane helped the Blackhawks win three Stanley Cups. DeBrincat wasn't drafted until 2016 and debuted in the NHL in 2017-18, missing Chicago's 2010, 2013 and 2015 championship teams.
Atlantic Division
The Atlantic side of the bracket has the most former Blackhawks on teams and this division is loaded once again. The Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are the top four teams and only one will make it to the Eastern Conference Final.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers won the division, but only have one former Chicago player, Gustav Forsling. The 27-year-old defenseman has made a massive impact on the Panthers this season and just earned himself a large and lengthy contract extension. The Blackhawks traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes five years ago, who then placed him on waivers two years later and allowed Florida to scoop him up.
Forsling is the MVP of the Panthers back-end and a top pairing D-man. He does it all and hasn't won a Cup yet. If the Panthers make it back to the Stanley Cup Final, he will be a big reason for it.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins aren't well represented by former Blackhawks as the only possible player is Ian Mitchell. He has played 13 games for Boston this season, but there are nine defenders ahead of him on the depth chart. If the Bruins win, there is a very slight chance he even plays to get his name on the Cup.
Toronto Maple Leafs
There are three well-liked former Blackhawks on the Maple Leafs' playoff roster this season — Max Domi, Jake McCabe and David Kampf.
Kampf has the least impact and is a depth piece, but Domi and McCabe play big roles on the team in the top-six and top-four. Domi had a good season for Chicago in 2023-24 before he was traded, but the opportunity on the Blackhawks helped him rejuvenate his career. While Domi was traded to the Dallas Stars, McCabe was dealt straight from the Blackhawks to the Maple Leafs and has only appeared in the playoffs once with Toronto (last season).
Domi is a playoff performer and has a style of play that boosts his value once the postseason starts. Neither Domi, McCabe or Kampf has won the Cup yet.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The fourth and final team on this side of the bracket is the Lightning that have four players who previously played for Chicago — forwards Brandon Hagel, Anthony Duclair and Tyler Motte, and defenseman Calvin de Haan.
Hagel and Duclair are point-producers and have each done so since they arrived in Tampa Bay at different times. The Lightning aren't as deep as when the team appeared in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. That's why these two will need to produce throughout the playoffs.
Motte has not been as productive as the team would have liked when signing him last summer, but he does have a fair bit of playoff experience. His contributions in the postseason are not great though.
The Lightning may be without Mikhail Sergachev, so de Haan could play a larger role this season. He has skated in over half of the team's games this season and has playoff experience, but might be alternated into the lineup on the third pair. His potential impact can range this year.
Metropolitan Division
The Metropolitan side of the playoff bracket has some very recognizable names that have had great seasons for the Blackhawks in the past, and are contributing nicely to their current teams.
New York Rangers
The Presidents' Trophy winners, the New York Rangers, have gotten where they are over the past few seasons thanks to Artemi Panarin, a Chicago fan favorite that didn't want to leave and nobody wanted see go.
He is fourth in the league in points with 120 and finished the season with 49 goals. He should receive some Hart Trophy votes and could very well lead his team to the Stanley Cup. The Rangers are a favorite to win it all this season. Panarin came into the NHL the season after the Blackhawks claimed their last Stanley Cup and he won the Calder Trophy in 2015-16 skating with Kane.
Defenseman Erik Gustafsson is the other former Blackhawks player on the Rangers. Fans of Chicago might remember him for a stellar season in 2018-19 when he recorded 60 points. It came at a bad time and he never got to cash in on his success. His offensive talents have not gone away. He stepped into the top offensive role on the back-end when Adam Fox was injured and is seventh on the Rangers in points this season.
Carolina Hurricanes
Next up is the Carolina Hurricanes with two former Blackhawks players on their playoff roster. Teuvo Teravainen is a big contributor to the Hurricanes' success and has lots of playoff success to go along with it. He was with the Hawks when they won their last Cup, but he's been with Carolina since 2016-17 and is trying to help the Hurricanes win their second championship in franchise history.
Antti Raanta, the other former Blackhawk on Carolina, started the season as the backup, but has since dropped down the depth chart and sits fourth. He has spent a good chunk of the season in the AHL and may not make the playoff roster. The Hurricanes' goaltending is more injury-prone than others, so he could join the team, even if he doesn't play.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals just squeaked into the playoffs in a very unlikely season. The goal differential for the team is horrible for a playoff team, but at least one former Blackhawks player had a big part to play in them qualifying.
Dylan Strome has become an integral piece in Washington after Nicklas Backstrom started to miss a lot of time and Evgeny Kuznetsov's game fell off and was in need of a change in scenery.
Strome is second on the team in goals and leads the team in points. He had an up-and-down four years in Chicago, but the Blackhawks didn't end up qualifying him as a RFA and let him walk into free agency as a UFA two years ago. Don't expect the Capitals to get very far in the playoffs, but there's always a chance for him to win his first Cup.
The other Washington player who used to skate for the Blackhawks is Trevor van Riemsdyk. He won the Stanley Cup in Chicago in 2015 in his rookie season. On the Capitals, his role has gone from a third pairing defenseman to a top-four D-man since both Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin are injured. He too will play a much larger role than initially expected.
Pacific Division
The Blackhawks have history with all three teams that are expected to be on the Pacific side of the playoff bracket. Chicago defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the play-in series in 2019-20, were swept by the Nashville Predators in the first round in 2016-17, and last saw the Vancouver Canucks in the playoffs in 2010-11, losing to them in overtime in Game 7.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have three former Blackhawks on the team, none of whom have a big impact, but are still pieces that have helped Vancouver have success this season. This includes Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter, and Nikita Zadorov.
Zadorov was acquired earlier in the season by the Calgary Flames and has played 53 games for the Canucks, recording five goals, 14 points, 98 penalty minutes, 120 hits, and 17 minutes of ice time per game. He brings a playoff style of hockey the Canucks need to go deep.
Suter is 10th on the team in points with 29 and is currently lining up on the top line. He is more realistically a bottom-six player, but the lines are spread out to be more productive from top to bottom. Lafferty is a physical depth forward that hasn't impacted special teams much at all this season. He has 13 goals and 24 points, but is playing on the fourth line. None of these three players have a Cup in their career.
Edmonton Oilers
Corey Perry is the lone Edmonton Oiler who used to play for the Blackhawks. The 38-year-old appeared in only 16 games for Chicago before his contract was terminated in November for violating team policies.
He only recorded nine points with the Blackhawks, but has been a key member of the third line for the Oilers, meshing well with faster, more skilled young players. Perry won a Stanley Cup in his second season in the league, 2006-07 with the Anaheim Ducks.
Nashville Predators
The other team with former Blackhawks that is expected to be on this side of the bracket is the Predators with two players — Anthony Beauvillier and Kevin Lankinen.
The Blackhawks acquired Beauvillier from the Canucks earlier this season when a number of forwards were injured and Perry was released. At the trade deadline, Chicago moved him over to the Predators for some bottom-six forward depth. He had two goals and six points in 23 games for the Blackhawks and has one goal and three points in 15 games for the Predators. The former Islander first-round draft pick has played 49 playoff games in the NHL.
Lankinen is the backup to Juuse Saros in Nashville and likely won't see much time, if any, in the postseason this year. He would still get his name on the Stanley Cup though. Lankinen has been a formidable backup this season and was sharp in the Predators' 5-1 win at Chicago on April 12.
Central Division
It actually makes sense that the fewest former Blackhawks are in the same division (in the playoffs), even if the Los Angeles Kings are technically in the Pacific and Predators in the central.
Colorado Avalanche
There are only two depth players on the Colorado Avalanche who played for the Blackhawks in their careers, Jack Johnson and Caleb Jones.
With Samuel Girard injured, Johnson and Jones are defense partners on the third pair. The top-four will play a lot more minutes than them, but both of them will still have a part to play if the Avalanche want to make it out of this tough division and go on a deep run, winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years. Johnson won the Cup two years ago with the Avalanche while Jones has only played in two playoff games in his career.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings are the other team with multiple players who once played in Chicago, including Phillip Danault and Andreas Englund. Unfortunately for Danault, he spent the majority of the 2014-15 season in the AHL instead of in the NHL winning a Stanley Cup, then was traded the following season.
Danault still has a big impact on the success of the Kings as he is very good defensively. He still has to play on the second line because Pierre-Luc Dubois has not been the player the Kings expected him to be when they traded for him and signed him. Danault was very close to a Cup later in his career when the Montreal Canadiens went to the Final in his last season there. He has a good amount of playoff experience, but only produced for the Kings.
Andreas Englund also played for the Blackhawks for a time in his career, but has been an everyday member of the Kings this season. He doesn't play a whole lot, but hasn't missed a game. He's tough and physical, both things Los Angeles will need from him in the playoffs, but doesn't impact the game much past that.
The Blackhawks have gone through a large number of players who find themselves on other teams in key roles. At least one of them is bound to hoist the Stanley Cup this season.