Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #76 Dustin Byfuglien

The Chicago Blackhawks have had some guys that never played to their potential which is frustrating, but when it comes to today’s player we only got to see him at his best for a very brief time thanks to the salary cap. 

Dustin Byfuglien was selected 245th in the 2003 NHL draft, and after a few years he made it to the show as a defenseman.

Big Buff was a frustrating player to watch for many during the dark ages of Chicago Blackhawks hockey because you could see so much potential that never would come to fruition on a nightly basis.

When

Joel Quenneville

moved him to forward, he became a menace in the 2010 playoffs for the Vancouver Canucks especially.

If you are wanting to know what the difference was with the Chicago Blackhawks powerplay when it was very good compared to today when it’s in the middle of the pack look no further than #33.

Byfuglien could crash the net and put his big frame in front of every goalie in the league and hold his ground which made him the most valuable powerplay forward the Hawks have had in a long time.  Andrew Shaw tried to be Buff, but no one ever was that good on the Hawks powerplay especially in the playoffs.

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One of the biggest things that Byfuglien did in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final that no team in the Eastern Conference ever figured out was how to stand up to

Chris Pronger

.  Pronger was the big bully on the block, but Big Buff set the tone early in the series that this was going to be two heavyweights going at it, and in the end I believe this hit was just as important as some of the goals that were scored in the series.

Of course all the fun of winning that first Stanley Cup in 49 years was kind of taken away a bit when the team had to get dismantled in the summer of 2010 because of the salary cap.

Byfuglien was sent to the Atlanta Thrashers for basically Jeremy Morin and the rights to select Kevin Hayes.  The Hawks thought they had Buff’s replacement in Bryan Bickell which did last until 2015.

Next: The History OF Blackhawks Players Returning

I really wish Buff could have stayed in Chicago his entire career instead of being stuck in Winnipeg.  Only 76 days left until the season begins!