Has a Rebuild Like the Blackhawks’ Ever Worked in the NHL?

Has a rebuild like the Chicago Blackhawks ever been done before? 

Today, we continue our examination of rebuilds as fans either lament the third year of the current rebuild or patiently wait to see if their hopes will bear fruit.

Last week, we revisited the beginning of the Blackhawks' current rebuild. Now, we're going to identify teams that closely resemble Kyle Davidson's vision: rebuilding through the draft following a complete roster tear-down with the goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

Ground Rules

The Scope: We're focusing on post-salary cap teams. Teams that rebuilt before the salary cap did so under a completely different landscape of financial power, player availability, contract rules, etc. 

Rebuild Defined: A rebuild is when management purposely positions their team to lose with the goal of acquiring draft capital to ensure long-term success. 

There are different types of rebuilds, and today we will look for teams that have rebuilt by completely tearing the roster down. 

Success Defined: The Stanley Cup is being used as the goal post because that is what every team strives to achieve. This isn't perfect. Factors such as luck impact so many aspects of the game beyond the ice that it isn't 100% fair. But we can at least begin our analysis with teams that have won.

We will look at teams that have come close to winning a Stanley Cup and teams whose rebuilds have failed later on.

The point of this exercise is to identify a team that has done what Kyle Davidson is trying to do. Is there precedent for the Blackhawks' current rebuild? 

2005-2010

The Carolina Hurricanes (2006), the Anaheim Ducks (2007), and the Detroit Red Wings (2008) didn't win through the type of rebuilds we are looking for. Detroit was in its 17th consecutive postseason appearance in 2008, the Ducks acquired excellent players, and the Hurricanes' success was a result of rapid retooling.

The 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins are close to what we want. But can we say they intentionally started a rebuild? Prior to 2005, the team faced bankruptcy, and they were bad not because of a strategy to tank, but because they couldn't acquire the players they wanted due to financial problems. Incredible luck in the draft positioned them to launch out of mediocrity. 

What about the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks? 

The Chicago Blackhawks were bad prior to 2005, not because they initiated a rebuild with the intention of tanking. They were bad because of poor financial management. Because they were bad, they were in a position to draft high. 

We can eliminate these teams for a model of a full-blown rebuild. The Penguins and the Blackhawks were teams that found success through rebuilds in the broad sense of the term. But trying to replicate what they accomplished is trying to replicate incredible accidents.

2011-2015

The Boston Bruins of 2011 didn't undergo a full roster teardown like the Blackhawks did; instead, they drafted well and retooled their roster for success. The Los Angeles Kings of 2012 achieved similar success. Neither team undertook a full-blown rebuild. 

The Blackhawks of 2013 and 2015 won because of the smart player acquisitions that Stan Bowman made. The same can be said about the 2014 Los Angeles Kings. 

These teams were successful because of smart player acquisitions, great scouting in the draft, and still riding dominant championships. 

2016-2025

The Penguins of 2016 and 2017 won Stanley Cups because of savvy retools. The Washington Capitals of 2018 had a rebuild that started in 2003, and even though that's right before the salary cap era, this is a team worth exploring. They drafted a young core and were perennial contenders before winning their first Cup. 

The St. Louis Blues of 2019 were successful because of a retooling of their roster; however, they didn't completely tear it down to the studs.

The 2019 and 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning saw the fruit of their rebuild flourish into two Stanley Cups. Although their rebuild wasn't a scorched-earth teardown, they developed prospects for a long period of time. 

The Colorado Avalanche intentionally tanked, rebuilt from the ground up, and won a Cup in 2022. 

The Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers conducted excellent retools and won Cups. The Panthers' situation is unique due to the prolonged period of their struggles. Their rebuild doesn't mirror Davidson's plan.

The Teams

There are numerous examples of teams that have won through rebuilds, but one notable instance is the Colorado Avalanche, which intentionally tanked and ultimately won the Stanley Cup. 

Tampa Bay is still worth including here because they bottomed out and developed over a long period of time. The Washington Capitals, although their rebuild began before 2005, developed a young core that eventually went on to win a Stanley Cup. 

They aren't exact replicas of what Kyle Davidson is trying to do, but they're close. We'll examine each of these rebuilding teams more closely in a series of upcoming articles. 

In our next article, we'll take a look at those Washington Capitals and compare them to this current Blackhawks rebuild. Stay tuned.