Only one team wins the Stanley Cup each season, the rest are all left with some level of disappointment. For some team, a dramatic sweep in the playoffs or a bad showing against a big rival causes tempers to flare and trades to take place in the offseason, something the Blackhawks know all too well.
The 2016-17 Chicago Blackhawks finished first in the Central Division and in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks were 50-23-9, with six different players registered over 20 goals.
After a first round exit in a Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues in 2016, it seemed likely the Blackhawks would bounce back against the Nashville Predators in Round 1 and start a long postseason run once again.
The Blackhawks were just two years removed from winning their third Stanley Cup in six seasons, and there was reason to believe they would have success again with a team that now featured Artemi Panarin on the wing opposite Patrick Kane.
The Blackhawks know all too well the cost of overreacting to a bad Stanley Cup Playoff showing.
The Blackhawks were swept at the hands of the Nashville Predators, who would go on to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final. While Nashville would eventually fall short of the cup, they were one of the hostest teams through the second half of the season, a big shock to the Blackhawks in Round 1.
Then general manager Stan Bowman would go on to reshape the Blackhawks at the NHL Draft in 2017, making two trades that still surprise Hawks fans to this day, trading Niklas Hjalmarsson to the Arizona Coyotes and Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
