Chicago Blackhawks Top 100: #100 Johnny Oduya

This year our countdown to opening night will be a countdown of the greatest Chicago Blackhawks of All-Time.  Here is your chance to agree or disagree, it’s all fun looking back at some of our all-time favorite Blackhawks of all-time. 

There is one reason and one reason only that Johnny Oduya makes my list of the Top 100 of All-time, and that’s not because he filled up a stat sheet when he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2012 trade deadline for a couple of 2nd round draft picks.

This was a typical Stan Bowman kind of trade at the deadline before he shifted gears in 2015.  Back a long time ago Stan always was looking for the discount deal at the bargain bin that he thought Joel Quenneville could turn into gold.

Well gold it was because all Oduya did was win when he arrived in Chicago including two Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015.

His stats are as follows

Games-234

Goals-10

Assists-35

Points-45

Corsi- 52.2

Playoffs

Games-74

Goals-6

Assists-18

Stanley Cups-2

The Johnny Oduya/Niklas Hjalmarsson defensive pairing turned into Joel Quenneville‘s true shut down pairing during #27’s first stint with the Chicago Blackhawks.   They were always on the ice against the opposition’s top line and on most nights it was the Blackhawks that came out on top.

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In the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, Coach Q basically only played four defenseman, and it was noticeable that Oduya was injured since he basically was only playing with one arm on most nights.  The defense was enough for the Blackhawks to win the second Cup during Oduya’s tenure.

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It seems like Stan Bowman could have figured out a way for Oduya to stick around after the 2015 seasons, but he left Chicago to play for the Dallas Stars only to return in 2017 for a very brief 4 game sweep by the Predators.  Oduya never seemed healthy during his second stint with Chicago, and Stan pretty much blew up the team after the loss.

So what is your favorite Oduya play or moment? Mine is his Game tying goal in Game #1 of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs when his shot went off a Boston Bruins skate!

For now he’s #100 on my list! What do you think? Too low?  Let me know in the comments section of the post!

Only 100 Days Left Until the 2017-2018 season kicks off!