Before the Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks]' dynasty in the early 2010s, there were many dark days for the franchise. But before that, there were some good teams and great players to play in Chicago. Every franchise has their ups and down, even if some are longer than others. When it comes to 50-goal scorers, they are pretty rare to come by and some franchises have never had one. Seven franchises have never had a 50-goal scorer including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Utah Mammoth, and Vegas Golden Knights. Beyond that, there aren't very many teams who haven't had a player reach 50 goals in a season prior to the last time the Blackhawks had someone. The last Blackhawks player to score 50 goals in a season was Jeremy Roenick, who did so in 1992-93. The Buffalo Sabres [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres] (Pat LaFontaine & Alexander Mogilny), LA Kings [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/los-angeles-kings] (Luc Robitaille), and New York Islanders (Pierre Turgeon) are the three other teams to have their last 50-goal scorer in that same season. Other than those teams, only the Carolina Hurricanes (Blaine Stoughton, 1981-82 *formerly the Hartford Whalers) and Montreal Canadiens (Stephane Richer, 1989-90) have had longer droughts without a 50-goal scorer. Connor Bedard is the obvious choice on the Blackhawks if we were to choose a player on the team that could do it next. He scored 22 goals in his rookie season and then 23 last season. He has some work to do and might be able to do it if he moves to the wing and has more of a focus on offense. Nick Lardis is a natural goal scorer and just potted 71 goals in 65 games, but that was in junior, not pro. We'll have to see how he transitions and if his goal scoring stays at a high level. Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/] team site to stay updated on the latest news, game day coverage, player features, and more.
