Why the Chicago Blackhawks aren't quite a dynasty yet
Over the past six years, the Chicago Blackhawks have arguably been the best team in the NHL. They've won three Stanley Cups. They have star forwards in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. They have a fantastic coach in Joel Quenneville. No matter the roster changes, Chicago seems the team to beat year-in and year-out.
When the Blackhawks won the Cup in 2015, it created the beginnings of an argument over whether the Blackhawks were becoming a modern-day dynasty.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman thought so.
"I'd say you have a dynasty," Bettman told Chicago fans before handing the Cup to Toews in June.
While the Blackhawks prompted the dynasty question back then, they might have answered it with a resounding "no" Monday thanks to their loss to the Blues in Game 7 of their first-round series.
The Blackhawks have failed to win a Cup in consecutive years. And in the world of sports, where back-to-back championships are one of the hallmarks of a dynasty team, that eliminates Chicago from dynasty consideration.
The greatest dynasties in hockey have gone back-to-back. The Oilers did it twice in the 1980s twice. The Islanders won four straight from 1979-83. The Montreal Canadiens went on multiple back-to-back runs through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
This rule of thumb applies across all sports. The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics both won back-to-backs. So did the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots. In baseball, the New York Yankees have won multiple back-to-backs in multiple decades.
On Monday night, there were fortunate bounces for St. Louis -- such as a Brent Seabrook shot that ping-ponged off both posts before bouncing away from the net -- that did not go Chicago's way. When a team wants to wear the "dynasty" title, it has to find a way to win anyway.
The Blackhawks are a great team. A dynasty, however, is more than being great; a dynasty is a perennial champion. And while three titles ins six years is a stellar accomplishment, it falls shy of the dynasty bar.
So the Blackhawks knocked on the door of becoming a dynasty, but with the loss to the Blues, that door remains shut in Chicago.
