Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #87 Bryan Bickell

I had a soft spot for #29 long before he got traded away, and yes he never lived up to his contract after he signed it.  The one thing is, I don’t know if the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2013 without Bryan Bickell! 

Bryan Bickell played in the playoffs during all three Stanley Cup runs by the Chicago Blackhawks, but his name didn’t get on the Stanley Cup for the 2010 championship.

Bickell made his mark in the 2013 Stanley Cup run, but I feel like fans forget that he was very solid in the 2012 playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes including an overtime goal to win Game #2.

This of course was the beginning of the myth of playoff Bickell. Well, it really wasn’t a myth, because the player that Bickell was in the playoffs, a hard hitting power forward that could score wasn’t the same guy you watched game in and game out during the regular season.

I was critical of him for skating around like it was open skate during the regular season, and Joel Quenneville wasn’t a fan of it either! Coach Q always seemed to be putting him up in the pressbox in February and March before the playoffs began to send a message.

The 2013 playoffs of course was his best ever which started with another overtime goal in Game #1 of the playoffs.

This was a huge goal to kick off the playoffs in the right fashion, and what a breakout pass from Johnny Oduya!

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Of course the most critical goal for Bickell was in Boston during the 17 seconds of greatness to win the Stanley Cup.  Bickell buried a feed from Toews that I don’t think any Blackhawks fan will ever forget.

Bickell was on the roster in 2015, but didn’t play because the team announced he had vertigo.  The contract seemed like an albatross to both Bickell and the Blackhawks.  It wasn’t his fault the team paid him that much, and in the end it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t live up to the contract because in Carolina where he was traded it was announced that he had MS>

It sure was sad hearing that Bickell had MS, and many of the fans that were highly critical of him for years were silenced and saddened.

Bickell announced his retirement, and the NHL gave him one last standing ovation at their Awards ceremony last month.

Bickell will always be a special player to me, and even though he will be out of the spotlight from now it will always be #BickellBrave

Next: 5 Thoughts Heading Into Prospect Camp

Only 87 days left until the season starts in Chicago! Are you ready?