Founding On May 15, 1926, the NHL owners met in
Montreal and awarded an expansion franchise for Chicago to a syndicate headed by former football star
Huntington Hardwick of
Boston. At the same meeting, Hardwick arranged the purchase of the players of the
Portland Rosebuds of the
Western Hockey League for $100,000 from WHL president
Frank Patrick in a deal brokered by
Boston Bruins' owner
Charles Adams. However, only a month later, Hardwick's group sold out to Chicago coffee tycoon
Frederic McLaughlin. McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the
86th Infantry Division during
World War I. a Native American of the
Sauk nation who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois. McLaughlin named the new hockey team in honor of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using
Native Americans as icons. However, unlike the military division, the team's name was spelled in two words as "Black Hawks" until 1986, when the club officially became the "Blackhawks", based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents. The Black Hawks began play in the
1926–27 season, along with its fellow expansion franchises, the
Detroit Cougars (now the Detroit Red Wings) and
New York Rangers. The team had to face immediate competition in Chicago from
Eddie Livingstone's rival, the
Chicago Cardinals, who played in the same building. McLaughlin took a very active role in running the team despite having no background in the sport. He hired
Bill Tobin, a former goaltender who had played in the Western League, as his assistant, but directed the team himself. He was also very interested in promoting American players, then very rare in professional hockey. Several of them, including
Doc Romnes,
Taffy Abel,
Alex Levinsky,
Mike Karakas, and
Cully Dahlstrom, become staples with the team, and under McLaughlin, the Black Hawks were the first NHL team with an all-American-born lineup.
Norris era (1944–1966) After McLaughlin died in December 1944, his estate sold the team to a syndicate headed by longtime team president
Bill Tobin. However, Tobin was only a puppet for
James E. Norris, who owned the rival Red Wings. Norris had also been the Black Hawks' landlord since his 1936 purchase of the Chicago Stadium. For the next eight years, the Norris-Tobin ownership, as a rule, paid almost no attention to the Black Hawks. Nearly every trade made between Detroit and Chicago ended up being Red Wing heists. As a result, for the next several years, the Black Hawks were the model of futility in the NHL. Between
1945 and
1958, they only made the playoffs twice. In 1950, Norris' eldest son,
James D. Norris, and Red Wings minority owner
Arthur Wirtz (the senior Norris' original partner in buying the Red Wings 23 years earlier) took over the floundering club. They guided it through financial reversals, and rebuilt the team from there. One of their first moves was to hire former Detroit coach and general manager
Tommy Ivan as general manager. In the late 1950s, the Hawks struck gold, acquiring three young prospects (forwards
Bobby Hull and
Stan Mikita and defenseman
Pierre Pilote), and obtaining both star goaltender
Glenn Hall and veteran forward
Ted Lindsay (who had just had a career season with 30 goals and 55 assists) from Detroit. Hull, Mikita, Pilote, and Hall became preeminent stars of the team, and all four would eventually be inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame. After two first-round exits at the hands of the eventual champions from Montreal in
1959 and
1960, it was expected the Canadiens would once again defeat the Hawks when they met in the semifinals in
1961. A defensive plan that completely wore down Montreal's superstars worked, however, as Chicago won the series in six games. They then bested the Wings to win their third Stanley Cup championship. and
Eric Nesterenko battle in front of the Toronto net The Hawks made the Cup Final twice more in the 1960s, losing to the Leafs in
1962 and the Canadiens in
1965. They remained a force to be reckoned with throughout the decade, with Hull enjoying four 50-goal seasons, Mikita winning back-to-back scoring titles and MVP accolades, Pilote winning three consecutive
Norris Trophies, and Hall being named the First or Second All-Star goaltender eight out of nine seasons. Hull and Mikita especially were widely regarded as the most feared one-two punch in the league. However, despite a strong supporting cast which included
Bill Hay,
Ken Wharram,
Phil Esposito,
Moose Vasko,
Doug Mohns, and
Pat Stapleton, the Hawks never quite put it all together. In
1966–67, the last season of the six-team NHL, the Black Hawks finished first, breaking the supposed "Curse of Muldoon", 23 years after the death of Frederic McLaughlin. However, they lost in the semifinals to Toronto, who went on to win their last Stanley Cup of the era. Afterward, Coleman, who first printed the story of the curse in 1943, admitted that he made the story up to break a writer's block he had as a column deadline approached.
Arthur Wirtz era (1966–1983) Before his death in 1966, one of James D. Norris' last moves in the NHL was to arrange an expansion franchise in
St. Louis, where he owned the
St. Louis Arena. Tobin died in 1963, a vice president of the team until his death. Ownership now passed to Norris' longtime partner
Arthur Wirtz and his son
Bill Wirtz. The Wirtz–Norris partnership dated over three decades; Arthur Wirtz had been a minority partner in the syndicate the senior Norris put together to buy the Red Wings in 1932. Goaltender Glenn Hall was drafted by the
St. Louis Blues expansion team for the
1967–68 season, while Pierre Pilote was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for
Jim Pappin in
1968. In the 1968–69 season, despite Bobby Hull breaking his own previous record of 54 goals in a season with 58, the Black Hawks missed the playoffs for the first time since 1958, and the last time before
1997–98. In 1967, the Black Hawks made a trade with the Boston Bruins that turned out to be one of the most one-sided in the history of the sport. Chicago sent young forwards
Phil Esposito,
Ken Hodge and
Fred Stanfield to Boston in exchange for
Pit Martin,
Jack Norris and
Gilles Marotte. While Martin would star for the Hawks for many seasons, Esposito, Hodge and Stanfield would lead the Bruins to the top of the NHL for several years and capture two Stanley Cups. In Boston, Esposito set numerous scoring records en route to a career as one of the NHL's all-time greats. tallied a franchise-high 418 wins between
1969 and
1983. Nonetheless, in the
1970–71 season, life was made easier for the Black Hawks, as in an attempt to better balance the divisions, the expansion
Buffalo Sabres and
Vancouver Canucks were both placed in the
East Division while the Hawks moved into the
West Division. The Hawks became the class of the West overnight, rampaging to a 46–17–15 record and an easy first-place finish. With second-year goaltender
Tony Esposito (Phil's younger brother and winner of the
Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year the previous season), Hull, his younger brother
Dennis, Mikita, and defensemen Stapleton,
Keith Magnuson and
Bill White, the Hawks reached the
Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Canadiens. A critical blow to the franchise came in
1972–73 with the start of the
World Hockey Association (WHA). Long dissatisfied with how little he was paid as the NHL's marquee star, Hull jumped to the upstart
Winnipeg Jets for a million-dollar contract. Former
Philadelphia Flyers star
Andre Lacroix joined him, having received very little ice time during his single season with Chicago, and the pair became two of the WHA's great stars. However, the Black Hawks repeated their appearance in the
Stanley Cup Final that year, again losing to Montreal. Stapleton also left for the WHA after that year, depleting the team further. While the team led or was second in the West Division for four straight seasons, for the rest of the 1970s, the Black Hawks made the playoffs each year—winning seven division championships in the decade in all—but were never a successful Stanley Cup contender, losing 16-straight playoff games at one point. The team acquired legendary blueliner
Bobby Orr from the Boston Bruins in 1976, but ill health forced him to sit out for most of the season, and he eventually retired in 1979, having played only 26 games for the Hawks. Stan Mikita did the same the following year after playing for Chicago for 22 years, the third-longest career for a single team in league history. By
1982, the Black Hawks squeaked into the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Norris Division (at the time the top four teams in each division automatically made the playoffs), and were one of the NHL's
Cinderella teams that year. Led by second-year
Denis Savard's 32 goals and 119 points and
Doug Wilson's 39 goals, the Hawks stunned the
Minnesota North Stars and St. Louis Blues in the playoffs before losing to another surprise team, the Vancouver Canucks, who made the
Stanley Cup Final. Chicago proved they were no fluke the next season, also making the third round before losing to the eventual runner-up
Edmonton Oilers. After an off-year in
1984, the Hawks again faced a now fresh-off-a-ring Edmonton offensive juggernaut of a team and lost in the third round in
1985.
Bill Wirtz era (1983–2007) In 1983, Arthur Wirtz died and the club came under the sole control of his son Bill Wirtz. Although the Black Hawks continued to make the playoffs each season, the club began a slow decline, punctuated with an appearance in the
1992 Stanley Cup Final. During the 1985 playoff series against Edmonton, the Black Hawks and their fans started a tradition of cheering during the singing of "
The Star-Spangled Banner". Prior to the
1985–86 season, the team's original NHL contract was found to have their name printed as a compound word ("Blackhawks") as opposed to two separate words ("Black Hawks"). Official sources, including team and league records, had been using the latter for 60 years; the two-word moniker was also embraced by the public and media without question, especially since it lent itself to the shorthand "Hawks" as a nickname. In the late 1980s, Chicago still made the playoffs on an annual basis but made early-round exits each time. In
1988–89, after three-straight first-round defeats and despite a fourth-place finish in their division in the regular season, Chicago made it to the conference finals in the
rookie seasons of both goaltender
Ed Belfour and center
Jeremy Roenick. However, they failed to make the
1989 Stanley Cup Final, losing to the eventual champions, the
Calgary Flames. The following season, the Hawks did prove they were late-round playoff material, running away with the Norris Division title, but, yet again, the third round continued to stymie them, this time against the eventual champion Oilers, despite 1970s Soviet star goaltender
Vladislav Tretiak coming to Chicago to become the Blackhawks' goaltender coach. In
1990–91, Chicago was poised to fare even better in the playoffs, winning the
Presidents' Trophy for best regular season record, but the Minnesota North Stars stunned them in six games in the first round en route to an improbable
Stanley Cup Final appearance. In
1991–92, the Blackhawks – with Roenick scoring 53 goals,
Steve Larmer scoring 29 goals,
Chris Chelios (acquired from Montreal two years earlier) on defense, and Belfour in goal – finally reached the Stanley Cup Final after 19 years out of such status, winning 11 consecutive playoff games that year, setting an NHL record in the process. However, they were swept four games to none by the
Mario Lemieux-led defending Stanley Cup champion, the
Pittsburgh Penguins. In sweeping the Blackhawks, the Penguins tied the record Chicago had set only days before. Although the 4–0 sweep indicated Pittsburgh's dominance in games won, the individual games were contested closely. Game 1 saw the Blackhawks squander leads of 3–0 and 4–1, and would eventually be beaten 5–4 after a Lemieux power-play goal with nine seconds remaining in regulation. The Blackhawks' most lackluster match was game two, losing 3–1. A frustrating loss of 1–0 followed in game three, and a
natural hat trick from
Dirk Graham and stellar play from
Dominik Hasek (who showed indications of the goaltender he would later become) could not secure a win in game 4, which ended in a 6–5 final in favor of Pittsburgh. The defending NBA champion
Chicago Bulls were in their finals in
1992, but won their championship in six. This was the only year the city of Chicago would host the NBA and NHL finals concurrently in the same year; Blackhawks head coach
Mike Keenan would see this again in New York, when he coached the Rangers to their
first Stanley Cup in 54 years in
1994. Belfour posted a 40-win season in
1992–93 as the Hawks looked to go deep yet again, and Chris Chelios accumulated career-high penalty time with 282 minutes in the box, but St. Louis stunned Chicago with a first-round sweep to continue Chicago's playoff losing streak. (pictured in April 2014) in the middle of the
1994–95 season. Although they finished near .500 in
1993–94, the Blackhawks again qualified for the playoffs. They were eliminated by eventual Western Conference finalist Toronto, but broke their playoff losing streak at 10 games with a game three win. It was not enough, however, and the Blackhawks fell in six games. The 1993–94 season was also the Blackhawks' last at the Chicago Stadium, as the team moved into the newly built
United Center across the street for the
lockout-shortened
1994–95 season.
Bernie Nicholls and
Joe Murphy both scored 20 goals over 48 games, and Chicago once again made it to the conference finals, losing to the rival Detroit Red Wings. Also in 1994, management fired
Wayne Messmer, popular singer of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Jeremy Roenick, Ed Belfour and Chris Chelios were all traded away as the Blackhawks faltered through the late 1990s, until they missed the playoffs by five points in
1997–98 for the first time in 29 years, one season short of tying the Boston Bruins' record for the longest such streak in North American professional sport history. Chicago would also miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season in
1998–99, and missed the playoffs again in
1999–2000 and
2000–01 seasons. The new millennium started with disappointment for the Blackhawks.
Éric Daze,
Alexei Zhamnov and
Tony Amonte emerged as some of the team's leading stars by this time. However, aside from a quick first-round exit in
2002 (where they lost to the St. Louis Blues in five games after winning game 1 of the series), the Blackhawks were consistently out of the playoffs from the 1997–98 season until the
2008–09 season, in most years finishing well out of contention, despite finishing in third place in the Central Division six times. Amonte left for the
Phoenix Coyotes in the summer of 2002. During the
2002–03 season, the Blackhawks finished third in the Central Division with 79 points, but would finish ninth in the Western Conference, which would make them miss the playoffs by 13 points. A somber note was struck in February 2004, when
ESPN named the Blackhawks the worst franchise in professional sports. Indeed, the Blackhawks were viewed with much indifference by Chicagoans for much of the 1990s and early 2000s due to anger over several policies instituted by then-owner Bill Wirtz, who was derisively known as "Dollar Bill". For example, Wirtz did not allow home games to be televised in the Chicago area, claiming it was unfair to the team's season ticket holders. He also raised ticket prices to an average of $50, making them among the most expensive in the NHL. The
Chicago Wolves, an
American Hockey League (AHL) team based in
Rosemont, Illinois, mocked the Blackhawks' struggle by using the marketing slogan, "We Play Hockey the Old-Fashioned Way: We Actually Win." Following the lockout of the
2004–05 season, new general manager
Dale Tallon set about restructuring the team in the hopes of making a playoff run. Tallon made several moves in the summer of 2005, most notably the signing of the
Tampa Bay Lightning's
Stanley Cup-winning goaltender
Nikolai Khabibulin and All-Star defenseman
Adrian Aucoin. However, injuries plagued Khabibulin and Aucoin among others, and the Blackhawks again finished well out of the playoffs with a 26–43–13 record, next-to-last in the
Western Conference and second-worst in the NHL. The Blackhawks reached another low point on May 16, 2006, when they announced that popular TV/radio play-by-play announcer
Pat Foley would not be brought back after 25 years with the team, a move unpopular amongst most fans; Foley then became the television/radio voice for the Chicago Wolves. With the third overall pick in the
2006 NHL entry draft, the team selected
Jonathan Toews, who led the
University of North Dakota's
Fighting Sioux team to the
2006 Frozen Four. The Blackhawks were eager to make a splash in the free agent market, and offered big money to many of the top free agents. However, they were denied, only being able to acquire two backup goaltenders in
Patrick Lalime and
Sebastien Caron. Chicago was one of the biggest buyers in the trade market, acquiring a future franchise player in
Martin Havlat, as well as
Bryan Smolinski from the
Ottawa Senators in a three-way trade that also involved the
San Jose Sharks. The Hawks dealt forward
Mark Bell to the Sharks,
Michal Barinka and a 2008 second-round draft pick to the Senators, while Ottawa also received defenseman
Tom Preissing and center
Josh Hennessy from San Jose. Havlat gave the Blackhawks the talented first-line caliber game breaker they desperately needed. The Havlat trade was soon followed by another major trade: winger and key Blackhawk player
Kyle Calder was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for grinding defensive center
Michal Handzus. The move caused a stir in Chicago, as Calder had won an increase in his contract through arbitration, which was accepted by the Hawks, but rather than ink their leading scorer, the team decided to address their need for a proven center by acquiring Handzus. Injuries to both Havlat and Handzus hurt the Blackhawks, and Smolinski was eventually traded at the trade deadline to the Vancouver Canucks. On November 26, 2006, Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon fired head coach
Trent Yawney and appointed assistant coach Denis Savard as the head coach. Savard had been the assistant coach of the team since 1997, a year after he retired as one of the most popular and successful Blackhawks players of all time. The Blackhawks continued to struggle, and finished last in the Central Division, 12 points out of the playoffs. They finished with the fourth-worst record in the NHL, and in the draft lottery, won the opportunity to select first overall in the draft. The team had never had a draft pick higher than third overall before, and used the pick to draft right wing
Patrick Kane from the
London Knights of the
Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Rocky Wirtz era (2007–2023) 2007–2009: Rebuilding On September 26, 2007, longtime Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz died after a brief battle with cancer. He was succeeded by his son
Rocky, who drastically altered his father's long-standing policies. Midway into the
2007–08 season, the franchise experimented with a partnership with
Comcast SportsNet Chicago and
WGN-TV by airing selected Blackhawks home games on television. During the next season, Comcast and WGN began airing all of the team's regular season games. After taking over the position, McDonough was an instrumental figure in the Blackhawks' current marketing success. Wirtz was also able to bring back former Blackhawks greats Tony Esposito, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull as the franchise's "hockey ambassadors". (pictured in
2009), named captain before the season started, became the youngest player to captain the Hawks at age 20. In addition to the changes in the team's policies and front office, the younger Wirtz also made a concerted effort to rebuild the team. The Blackhawks roster was bolstered by the addition of Patrick Kane, the first overall selection in the
2007 NHL entry draft, who led all rookies in points. Kane and Jonathan Toews were finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's best rookie. Kane ultimately beat his teammate for the award. Kane finished the 2007–08 season with 21 goals and 51 assists in 82 games. The Blackhawks finished with a record of 40–34–8, missing the playoffs by three points. The 2007–08 season marked the first time in six years that the team finished above .500. Prior to the 2008–09 season opener, the Blackhawks named 20-year-old Toews as the new captain, succeeding Adrian Aucoin (who was traded to the Calgary Flames, after the 2006–07 season) and making him the third-youngest captain at the time of appointment. In addition to a new captain, the Blackhawks made several major roster changes before the season, trading
Tuomo Ruutu, their longest-tenured player, to the
Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward
Andrew Ladd on February 26, 2008. Later that day, the Blackhawks traded captain
Martin Lapointe to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick in the
2008 NHL entry draft. They also added former coaches
Joel Quenneville and
Scotty Bowman to their organization. On February 13, 2008, the Blackhawks announced they would hold their first fan convention. On July 16, 2008, the team announced that they would host the
2009 Winter Classic on a temporary ice rink at the Chicago Cubs' home park
Wrigley Field on
New Year's Day against fellow "
Original Six" members, the Detroit Red Wings; the Red Wings defeated Chicago 6–4. On June 16,
Pat Foley returned as the Blackhawks' TV play-by-play man, replacing
Dan Kelly; Foley called Blackhawks games from 1981 to 2006, and spent the next two years broadcasting for the AHL's Chicago Wolves. Foley was partnered with
Ed Olczyk to broadcast all of the Blackhawks' games. On October 16, 2008, the Blackhawks relieved Denis Savard of his head coaching duties and replaced him with Joel Quenneville. Savard has since been brought back to the organization as an ambassador. at the
2009 Winter Classic at
Wrigley Field. The Blackhawks finished the 2008–09 regular season in second place in their division with a record of 46–24–12, putting them in fourth place in the Western Conference with 104 points. The Blackhawks clinched a playoff berth for the first time since the 2001–02 season with a 3–1 win over the
Nashville Predators on April 3. On April 8, with a shootout loss to the
Columbus Blue Jackets, the Blackhawks clinched their first 100-point season in 17 years. The Blackhawks defeated the fifth-seeded Calgary Flames in six games to advance to the conference semifinals for the first time since 1996. The team proceeded to defeat the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks in six games, and then played the then-Stanley Cup champion, the Detroit Red Wings, for the Western Conference Championship, losing the series in five games. During the 2008–09 season, the team led the NHL in home attendance, with a total of 912,155 spectators, averaging 22,247 per game. This figure includes the 40,818 fans from the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Therefore, the total attendance for games hosted at the United Center is 871,337, good for an average of 21,783, which still led the NHL over Montreal's 21,273 average. The Blackhawks welcomed their one millionth fan of the season at the United Center before game 6 of the conference semifinals on May 11, 2009.
2009–2010: The Stanley Cup returns to Chicago showing the Blackhawks logo, the
Smurfit-Stone Building reading "Go Hawks", and the
Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower reading "Hawks win" the night after the
2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks won the
2010 Stanley Cup Final, viewed from the
Petrillo Music Shell lawn in
Grant Park. Prior to the
2009–10 season, the Blackhawks made another major free agent purchase, signing
Marian Hossa to a 12-year, US$62.8 million contract. The team also acquired
Tomas Kopecky,
John Madden and
Richard Petiot. In early July, general manager Dale Tallon and the Blackhawks management came under fire when the
National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) claimed that the team did not submit offers to their restricted free agents before the deadline. In the worst-case scenario, the team's unsigned restricted free agents at the time, including Calder Memorial Trophy finalist
Kris Versteeg, would have become unrestricted free agents. The Blackhawks continued to sell-out games, with the best average attendance of 21,356 over the Montreal Canadiens' 21,273 in the NHL, and had a total of 854,267, excluding the playoffs. The Blackhawks reached the one million mark in game 3 of the conference finals against the San Jose Sharks. The Blackhawks re-signed Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to contract extensions worth $31.5 million over five years, and
Duncan Keith to a 13-year extension worth $72 million on December 1, 2009. On April 6, 2010, the Hawks won their 50th game of the 2009–10 season against the
Dallas Stars, setting a new franchise record for wins in a season. The next night, the Blackhawks notched their 109th point of the season in a game against the St. Louis Blues, setting another franchise record. The Blackhawks made the playoffs for the second consecutive season with a regular season record of 52–22–8, finishing second in the Western Conference. They defeated the seventh-seeded Nashville Predators in six games in the first round before defeating the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks for the second straight year, again in six games. The Blackhawks then swept the top-seeded San Jose Sharks in the conference finals, advancing to the
Stanley Cup Final for the first time since
1992, where they played the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks prevailed in six games against the seventh-seeded Flyers to secure their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, and their first since
1961, ending the team's
49-year championship drought.
2010–2012: Building up for more consistency The Blackhawks immediately faced salary cap constraints prior to the
2010–11 season. The team was forced to trade several players who played an integral role to their 2009–10 Stanley Cup victory, including
Dustin Byfuglien,
Andrew Ladd,
Kris Versteeg,
Brent Sopel,
Ben Eager and
Colin Fraser. The team was also unable to agree to terms with starting goaltender
Antti Niemi, who left as restricted free agent to the San Jose Sharks. The Blackhawks signed former
Dallas Stars starting goalie
Marty Turco as his replacement, but eventually turned to rookie
Corey Crawford to become their full-time starting goaltender. The Blackhawks also acquired
Viktor Stalberg from the
Toronto Maple Leafs and signed rookies
Nick Leddy and
Marcus Kruger to three-year entry-level contracts. The Blackhawks also made a mid-season trade to acquire winger
Michael Frolik from the
Florida Panthers in exchange for
Jack Skille,
Hugh Jessiman and David Pacan. Amidst the roster turnaround, the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks finished the season with a 44–29–9 record, and placed third in the
Central Division and eighth in the Western Conference. The team's playoff fate was determined on the final day of the regular season on April 10, 2011. Had the Stars won their finale against the Wild, the Stars would’ve overtaken the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to the last playoff spot, which would’ve resulted in the Blackhawks dropping to ninth place in the West and missing the playoffs entirely by one point in the standings. In the first round of the
2011 playoffs, the Blackhawks faced the
Presidents' Trophy-winning
Vancouver Canucks, marking the third consecutive playoffs that the two teams faced each other, this time in the first round in contrast to the second round the previous two years prior. Before the
2011–12 season, the Blackhawks continued to make roster moves to optimize their salary cap situation while also trying to stay in Stanley Cup contention. The team traded winger
Troy Brouwer to the
Washington Capitals in exchange for the 26th overall pick in the
2011 NHL entry draft (used to select
Phillip Danault), and traded veteran defenseman
Brian Campbell, who had one of the richest contracts in the franchise's history, to the Florida Panthers. The Blackhawks also traded veteran forward
Tomas Kopecky to the Panthers and forward
Jake Dowell signed with the Dallas Stars in free agency in the 2011 off-season. The team bolstered their forward depth by signing veteran forwards
Daniel Carcillo,
Jamal Mayers and
Andrew Brunette in free agency, while also acquiring goaltender
Ray Emery in free agency to back-up Corey Crawford after Marty Turco left the team as a free agent. The Blackhawks also signed
Andrew Shaw to a three-year, entry-level contract. The Blackhawks placed fourth in the Central Division and sixth in the Western Conference with a 45–26–11 record, and qualified for the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. They faced the third-seeded
Phoenix Coyotes in the opening round, who eliminated the Blackhawks in six games. The series saw five of the six games going to overtime, with
Bryan Bickell (game 2) and
Jonathan Toews (game 5) scoring the only Blackhawk overtime winners of the series.
2012–2013: Presidents' Trophy and fifth Stanley Cup The Blackhawks started the
lockout-shortened
2012–13 season with much success by establishing several new records. On January 27, 2013, they set a new franchise record for starting the season 6–0–0 after a win against the Detroit Red Wings. On February 19, the Blackhawks tied the NHL record previously set by the
2006–07 Anaheim Ducks for earning points in the first 16 consecutive games of a season, and defeated the Ducks' record (28 points) by one point. On March 6, the Blackhawks extended the NHL record to 24 games with a record of 21–0–3, and the franchise record for most consecutive wins to 11 games. However, they lost 6–2 to the
Colorado Avalanche on March 8, Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks meet President Obama at the White House. The
United Center also recorded its 200th consecutive combined regular season and playoff Blackhawks sell-out on March 1 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which began during the 2007–08 season with the game against the Blue Jackets on March 30, 2008. The Blackhawks won the
Presidents' Trophy for the best regular season record in the NHL, and clinched home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. After dispatching the eighth-seeded
Minnesota Wild in the first round, the Blackhawks faced the seventh-seeded
Detroit Red Wings in the conference semifinals. The Blackhawks won the series opener but lost the next three games and faced elimination. However, the Blackhawks clawed back into the series, eventually winning the series on a goal by
Brent Seabrook in overtime of game 7. The team then defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion and fifth-seeded
Los Angeles Kings in five games to secure a second Stanley Cup Final appearance in four seasons. The Blackhawks faced the
Boston Bruins in the
2013 Stanley Cup Final. It was the first time since 1979 that two Original Six teams had made the Stanley Cup Final and the first time since 1945 that the last four teams to win the Stanley Cup were in the conference finals. The team was slightly altered in the off-season to remain under the salary cap. The team traded veteran forwards
Dave Bolland,
Daniel Carcillo and
Michael Frolik in exchange for future draft picks, while parting ways with veteran goaltender
Ray Emery and veteran winger
Viktor Stalberg by having them leave in free agency. Despite these changes, the Blackhawks tallied a 28–7–7 record going into January 2014. The team played their second outdoor game in franchise history, against the Pittsburgh Penguins at
Soldier Field, as part of the
2014 Stadium Series. The Blackhawks defeated the Penguins 5–1 in front of 62,921 fans. The franchise recorded its 2,500th regular season win, while head coach
Joel Quenneville won 693 wins as a coach, the third most in the history of the NHL. The Blackhawks finished the season with a 46–21–15 record, good for third in the Central Division. They opened the playoffs by losing two games to the
St. Louis Blues. The Blackhawks surged back with four straight wins to take the series. The team then defeated the Minnesota Wild for the second consecutive year. However, the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Blackhawks in seven games and ultimately went on to win the Stanley Cup. After the season's conclusion,
Duncan Keith won the
James Norris Memorial Trophy for the second time in his career, and captain
Jonathan Toews was named a finalist for the
Frank J. Selke Trophy for the second consecutive season and third time altogether. at
Nationals Park for the
2015 Winter Classic. The Blackhawks' roster from the previous three seasons remained largely intact going into the 2014–15 season. In the 2014 off-season prior to the beginning of the 2014–15 season, the team signed veteran center
Brad Richards and rookie goaltender
Scott Darling to one-year contracts, and traded veteran defenseman
Nick Leddy to the
New York Islanders in exchange for three minor-league prospects. For the first half of the season,
Patrick Kane led the team in scoring and points. The Blackhawks mustered a 30–15–2 record going into the All-Star break. The Blackhawks sent six players to the
All-Star Game, including Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford. The team also played in the
2015 Winter Classic at
Nationals Park in
Washington, D.C., where they lost 3–2 to the
Washington Capitals. However, in late February, Kane suffered a shoulder injury that was expected to sideline him for the remainder of the regular season and much of the playoffs. The team called up rookie
Teuvo Teräväinen from the AHL, and traded their first-round pick in the
2015 NHL entry draft to acquire center
Antoine Vermette from the
Arizona Coyotes. The Blackhawks also acquired veteran defenseman
Kimmo Timonen from the
Philadelphia Flyers for second-round picks in 2015 and 2016, and
Andrew Desjardins from the
San Jose Sharks in exchange for
Ben Smith. The Blackhawks finished the season with a 48–28–6 record, placing third in their division, and allowed the fewest goals in the NHL. Kane recovered quicker than expected, and was ready for the start of the playoffs. The Blackhawks dispatched the
Nashville Predators in six games and swept the Minnesota Wild to advance to the conference finals for the fifth time in seven years. The top-seeded
Anaheim Ducks held a 3–2 lead in the series, but the Blackhawks rallied back in the series to win games six and seven. The team then defeated the
Tampa Bay Lightning in the
2015 Stanley Cup Final to secure their third Stanley Cup in six seasons to solidify themselves as a modern day NHL dynasty. victory The Blackhawks' roster experienced another dramatic reconstruction before the
2015–16 season. The team was unable to come to terms with pending free agent
Brandon Saad, who had played a pivotal role in the
2013 and
2015 Stanley Cup championships. The Blackhawks traded Saad's negotiation rights (along with prospects
Alex Broadhurst and
Michael Paliotta) to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for
Artem Anisimov,
Marko Daňo,
Corey Tropp,
Jeremy Morin and fourth-round draft pick
Anatoly Golyshev in the
2016 NHL entry draft. The Blackhawks were unable to re-sign unrestricted free agents veterans Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette and
Johnny Oduya due to salary cap constraints. The team then traded longtime veteran and fan-favorite
Patrick Sharp (along with
Stephen Johns) to the
Dallas Stars in exchange for
Trevor Daley and forward
Ryan Garbutt in order to stay under the salary cap. Amidst the roster turnover, the Blackhawks signed free agent
Artemi Panarin from the
Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) to an entry-level contract. The Blackhawks' offense was led by Patrick Kane, who scored an NHL-best 106 points (46 goals, 60 assists) in all 82 games in 2015–16 capturing the
Art Ross Trophy as his 46 goals saw him finish as the runner-up for the
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy only behind Washington Capitals forward and captain
Alexander Ovechkin who scored 50 goals as the league leader. Kane also won the season's
Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, the
Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player voted by the Players association. Panarin, who skated on Kane's line, won the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's best first-year player. Midway through the season, the Blackhawks attempted to supplement their roster by making several trades. The Blackhawks dealt Jeremy Morin to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for
Richard Panik. The team then reacquired
Andrew Ladd from the
Winnipeg Jets in exchange for their first round selection in the 2016 NHL entry draft and Marko Dano. The team then traded
Phillip Danault and their
2018 second-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forwards
Dale Weise and
Tomáš Fleischmann. The team finished with a 46–26–9 record, good for 103 points and third place in their division. The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks were defeated by the St. Louis Blues in a seven-game series in the first round of the
2016 playoffs. The loss marked the Blackhawks' earliest playoff exit since
2012.
2016–2020: Post-Cup years and retooling Salary cap constraints forced the Blackhawks to make additional trades before the
2016–17 season. The team traded pending free agent
Andrew Shaw to the
Montreal Canadiens in exchange for two second-round 2016 draft picks. The Blackhawks also traded
Bryan Bickell and
Teuvo Teravainen to the
Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for another 2016 second-round pick along with letting
Andrew Ladd walk in free agency in order to free additional salary cap space. The Blackhawks brought back veteran defenseman
Brian Campbell and signed KHL stand-out
Michal Kempný during free agency. The team then turned to their farm system to replenish their depth. The Blackhawks promoted rookies
Ryan Hartman,
Gustav Forsling,
John Hayden,
Tyler Motte,
Nick Schmaltz and
Vinnie Hinostroza to their starting line-up to fill the vacancies left by Ladd, Bickell, Shaw and Teravainen. During the season,
Patrick Kane continued to spearhead the Blackhawks offense as he finished with 34 goals and 55 assists for 89 points in all 82 contests played, tying for second in scoring during the regular season among all skaters. He was aided by his linemate,
Artemi Panarin, who scored 31 goals and 43 assists for 74 points in all 82 games. Toews, Kane,
Duncan Keith and
Corey Crawford were also selected to play in the
All-Star Game. At the trade deadline, the Blackhawks re-acquired
Johnny Oduya in a trade with the
Dallas Stars in exchange for
Mark McNeill and a conditional fourth-round draft pick on 28 February 2017. The Blackhawks finished the season with 109 points, placing first in the Central Division and earning the top-seed in the Western Conference for the
2017 playoffs. Goaltender
Pekka Rinne and the Predators' defense marginalized the Blackhawks' offense, limiting the team to only three total goals in the series, including a pair of shutouts in game 1 (1–0) and game 2 (5–0) at
United Center to begin the series. Prior to the
2017–18 season, the Blackhawks revealed
Marian Hossa would miss the entire 2017–18 season due to a progressive skin disorder. The team made two major trades before the
2017 NHL entry draft; veteran defenseman
Niklas Hjalmarsson was dealt to the
Arizona Coyotes in exchange for
Connor Murphy and
Laurent Dauphin, while Artemi Panarin was traded to the
Columbus Blue Jackets to reacquire
Brandon Saad in a four-player deal. Both Hjalmarsson and Hossa were core members of the Blackhawks roster that won three Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The Blackhawks also let
Andrew Desjardins and Johnny Oduya in free agency. The Blackhawks re-acquired winger
Patrick Sharp in free agency while also adding
Tommy Wingels and
Lance Bouma in free agency. The Blackhawks were four games above .500 with an 18–14–6 record at the end of December 2017, and only four points out of a playoff spot. However, goaltender Corey Crawford would sustain an undisclosed upper-body injury (which was later revealed to be a concussion) right before Christmas break, sidelining him for the remainder of the year. Inconsistent defense and goaltending, coupled with limited offense, resulted in the team falling to the bottom of the Central Division. The Blackhawks were eliminated from playoff contention on March 20, 2018, marking the first time in nine years that the team failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Blackhawks made modest acquisitions during the opening day of free agency in 2018 by acquiring veterans
Cam Ward,
Chris Kunitz and
Brandon Manning. The team made their biggest move of the off-season by offloading Hossa's contract onto the Arizona Coyotes by trading Vinnie Hinostroza,
Jordan Oesterle and third-round draft pick in the
2019 draft in exchange for Marcus Kruger,
MacKenzie Entwistle,
Jordan Maletta,
Andrew Campbell and a fifth-round draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. Quenneville named Ward the team's starting goaltender as Crawford missed the first five games of the
2018–19 season with concussion-like symptoms. The Blackhawks opened the season with a promising 6–2–2 start despite Crawford's initial absence. However, after losing their next five games, The team adjusted their roster by trading Nick Schmaltz to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for
Dylan Strome and
Brendan Perlini. The Blackhawks then dealt Brandon Manning to the
Edmonton Oilers in exchange for
Drake Caggiula. The team struggled despite these changes and plummeted to the bottom of the NHL's standings by the All-Star break, but then rebounded with an 18–10–3 record during the second half of the season, and missed playoffs by six points, while finishing in sixth place in the Central Division. After missing the playoffs for the second straight season, the Blackhawks won the third-overall pick in the 2019 NHL entry draft at the draft lottery, which they used to select
Kirby Dach. Prior to the
2019–20 season, the Blackhawks signed center
Ryan Carpenter and goaltender
Robin Lehner on the opening day of free agency. The team made three separate trades to acquire
Olli Määttä,
Calvin de Haan and
Alex Nylander. The team reacquired fan-favorite Andrew Shaw in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens. The Blackhawks also inserted rookie
Dominik Kubalík into their roster, whom they acquired from the
Los Angeles Kings in the previous season. Chris Kunitz and Cam Ward retired while the Blackhawks also traded veteran center
Artem Anisimov to the
Ottawa Senators in exchange for
Zack Smith and let veteran center
Marcus Krüger walk in free agency. The Blackhawks posted a 32–30–8 record and finished last in their division before the remainder of the regular season was canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The team fired
John McDonough, who served as the Blackhawks' president for 13 years. The Blackhawks obtained a spot in the
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, which used a 24-team playoff format among the top 12 teams in each conference. The 12th-seeded Blackhawks defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the qualifying round of the playoffs to advance to the Western Conference first round, where they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
2020–2023: The Toews and Kane era ends The
2020–21 season would be delayed to January 2021 and condensed to 56 games due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Blackhawks signed forwards
Mattias Janmark,
Lucas Wallmark and
Carl Soderberg during free agency to one-year deals. Veteran forward
Brandon Saad was traded to the
Colorado Avalanche for defensemen
Nikita Zadorov and
Anton Lindholm. The team's captain, Jonathan Toews, announced he would forgo the season due to an undisclosed medical illness. The Blackhawks parted with longtime goaltender
Corey Crawford, who signed with the
New Jersey Devils but ultimately retired before the season's start without playing any games for the Devils. Brent Seabrook, the team's veteran defenseman, announced his retirement midway through the season due a lingering hip injury sustained the previous season.
Andrew Shaw, who previously rejoined the Blackhawks in 2019, also announced he would retire from playing due to concussions suffered throughout his career. The Blackhawks relied heavily on their rookies during the season to replenish their depth, including forwards
Brandon Hagel,
Philipp Kurashev and
Pius Suter, defensemen
Ian Mitchell and
Wyatt Kalynuk and goaltender
Kevin Lankinen. Despite the roster turnaround, the Blackhawks completed the first half of the season with a 14–9–5 record and sat in fourth place in their division. The team struggled from mid-March through April, going 8–15–1, and subsequently traded away Janmark, Wallmark and Soderberg at the trade deadline. The team made some significant changes in their front office, promoting the general manager, Stan Bowman, to the role of president of hockey operations, and appointing Jaime Faulkner as the new president of business operations. Beach filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks for failing to adequately address Aldrich's wrongdoings or file formal police reports. A separate party, a former high school student whom Aldrich sexually assaulted during his tenure at
Houghton High School also filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks, alleging the team gave a positive reference on behalf of Aldrich and failed to disclose any details about his sexual assault in 2010. Quenneville, by then head coach of the Florida Panthers, resigned after meeting with Bettman on October 28, and will also have to meet with Bettman if he wants to work in the league again. Bettman subsequently met with Cheveldayoff, by now the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, but cleared him of wrongdoing. Bettman stated that he could not "assign to [Cheveldayoff] responsibility for the Club's actions, or inactions" because Cheveldayoff was not a member of the Blackhawks' senior leadership team at the time. Aldrich's name was removed from the Stanley Cup, as requested by the team. Beach and the Blackhawks reached an undisclosed settlement on December 15. However, the second lawsuit filed against the Blackhawks by a former high school student was dismissed. Before his resignation, Bowman intended on building a competitive team that could make the playoffs immediately rather than focusing on rebuilding for the future. The team traded veteran defenseman Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a draft pick and
Caleb Jones. The Blackhawks traded Brent Seabrook's contract to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for center
Tyler Johnson. On November 6, Colliton was fired after leading the team to a 1–9–2 record to start the season, the second-worst in the NHL at the time.
Derek King, former Rockford IceHogs head coach, was named his interim replacement. Davidson was formally named the team's general manager on March 1, 2022. The Blackhawks were unable to recover from their poor start and fell out of playoff contention by the trade deadline. The team traded Brandon Hagel to Tampa Bay in exchange for two first-round picks,
Boris Katchouk and
Taylor Raddysh, while also trading Fleury to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a second-round pick. The team finished sixth place in Central Division with a 28–42–12 record. The 2021–22 season also marked announcer Pat Foley's final season with the Blackhawks, who had been with the team for 39 years. as the 40th coach in their franchise's history in 2022. On June 27, 2022, the Blackhawks named
Luke Richardson as their 40th head coach in franchise history. General manager Davidson announced the Blackhawks would commit to rebuilding their roster and acquiring draft capital. The team traded
Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators and Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the 7th and 13th picks in the
2022 NHL entry draft. The team fell to the bottom of the Central Division and again emerged as sellers at the 2022–23 trade deadline. Patrick Kane was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for
Vili Saarijarvi and Kane was then later sent to the New York Rangers as part of a three-team trade. The Blackhawks received
Andy Welinski, a conditional second-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick in 2025 from the Rangers to complete the trade. Captain Jonathan Toews missed 29 games while recovering from
Long COVID. Before their final regular season game, the team also announced that they would not re-sign Toews. The Blackhawks finished last in their division with the third-worst record in the NHL.
Danny Wirtz era (2023–present) 2023–present: Rebuilding and beginning of the Connor Bedard era The Blackhawks won the 2023 draft lottery and received the first overall pick in the
2023 NHL entry draft. The team drafted
Connor Bedard first overall. The Blackhawks subsequently made trades to acquire veteran forwards
Taylor Hall,
Nick Foligno and
Corey Perry. Rocky Wirtz unexpectedly died on July 25, 2023, at age 70. Danny Wirtz, his son, was named the chairman and president of
Wirtz Corporation, the company that owns the Blackhawks, on July 30. The team was devastated by injuries to several skaters throughout the season, including Bedard, Hall,
Andreas Athanasiou, and
Colin Blackwell. The Blackhawks also terminated the contract of Corey Perry, who violated the team's code of conduct policy. Bedard was recipient of
Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's top first-year player. On December 5, 2024, the Blackhawks fired
Luke Richardson after tallying a league-worst 18 points through the first 26 games of the
2024–25 season, naming
Anders Sorensen interim head coach. ==Team information==