Chicago Blackhawks’ Strangest Moments In Current Era

The John Scott experiment

This one is equal parts strange and annoying. It’s not exactly like the Daniel Carcillo, Brandon Bollig or Mashinter experiments, either. At least those three were kept to the on-ice position they were familiar with. Quenneville and the Blackhawks were so oddly enamored with Scott, they found a way to make him a forward and a defenseman.

Now, Scott actually came up through the college ranks as a defenseman, but he’s widely been viewed as a left wing in the NHL. It allows teams to put that big, imposing presence they think they need on the ice, but to more easily control his minutes as well.

More from History

• History Repeats Itself with the Blackhawks and the Expansion Draft
• Blackhawks History: Andrew Shaw trades have been both good and bad
• Blackhawks: Ten most successful coaches in franchise history
• The Blackhawks have had Great Luck with Draft “Reaches” so far
• Blackhawks’ Legend Niklas Hjalmarsson Retires After 14 Seasons

That wasn’t a concern for the defense-strapped Blackhawks of 2010-11 and 2011-12, as Scott found his way to the blue line multiple times. No doubt Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson were thrilled.

The Blackhawks rolled out some real bums on defense in those two seasons, but Scott had to have been the worst of the worst, and it was just strange it happened at all.

Corey Crawford can’t walk

The Blackhawks tend to be very image conscious, and that means they’ll firmly protect their players when they make silly mistakes that lead to injury or some sort of public shaming.

For some reason, this didn’t apply to Crawford during the 2014-15 season. Crow suffered a fairly goofy injury, hurting his foot after missing a step while leaving a Rise Against concert at the House of Blues in Chicago. While most Blackhawks would get a good cover-up treatment here, with the reason for their injury heavily under wraps, Crow was essentially left to explain and fend for himself.

While it made for some initial comedy, and is still worth a chuckle today, it was also really awkward. Why did the Blackhawks decide they couldn’t help out Crow with something as silly as this? It essentially made him look like a big doofus in the media and in the eyes of a fan base that has had noted issues getting fully behind him as a player.

The Blackhawks’ treatment of Crow in this moment was even stranger considering what would occur in the following offseason with Patrick Kane, and how the Blackhawks would react to it (more on that later).

Next: Two Awkward Moments