Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #65 Brandon Saad

If you had asked me after the 2015 season, which jersey you should be for the long term, I would have said after 19, 88, and 2 you should purchase #20. 

If you did make that purchase right after the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning and you didn’t get rid of the jersey. You are in luck with Stan Bowman trading Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets to get Brandon Saad back in the fold.

Unlike all the other players Stan Bowman has brought back, Saad isn’t at the tail end of his career. Even though it feels like Saad has been around for a decade, He’s only 24 years old, and the one player everyone thought was part of the core before the summer of 2015.

Saad was a 2nd round pick amazingly in the 2011 draft, and yet you knew the franchise was expecting great things from him when he was on the podium to announce the Hawks draft pick of

Teuvo Teravainen

a year later.

Of course Saad got to play with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa in 2013 on the top line, and in what was a rare occasion, Joel Quenneville had patience with the rookie even though he wasn’t lighting up the stat sheet.  Saad’s stats came as he became more comfortable, and he had a decent first playoff run in 2013 which ended with the Hawks 2nd Cup in 4 seasons.

Saad really was coming into his own in 2014-2015 season.  His 200 foot game made many Blackhawks fans believe he was Marian Hossa Jr. that’s for sure, and there were times when Saad and Hossa would just dominate shifts with the puck that had to drive opponents nuts.

To me it was the 2015 playoffs that Saad became one of the greats in Blackhawks history.  He scored some of the biggest goals and made some of the best plays in that run to the 2015 Stanley Cup.

Like I said earlier, it’s great to have him back home because he has the game the Hawks need both in the regular season and in the playoffs.

Saad has only played 208 regular season games with the Hawks, and now I hope he’s home for a long long time to add not only to his stats but to the Stanley Cup banners hanging in the rafters.

What do you think? Where would you rank Brandon Saad?

Next: Looking at Kane and Toews Contract

Only 65 days left until the season begins on October 5th!