Who makes up the Blackhawks all-decade team of the 2000s?

While he is not necessarily a household name anymore, Alex Zhamnov still put up significant point totals over the course of eight seasons with Chicago.

The Moscow-born center began his career with the Winnipeg Jets before being traded to the Blackhawks in 1997. His production began steadily increasing after his trade, and he put up 67 points in 2002, his most while in the Windy City. A leader by nature, he was the Blackhawks’ captain from 2002 to 2004. He also represented the Hawks in the NHL All-Star Game that year.

While he wasn’t the biggest player in the world (6’1, 187 lbs), Zhamnov made up for it with an impressive offensive sense, ending his career in Chicago with 424 points. He also wasn’t afraid to stand up for a teammate, racking up 419 PIMS during his time in Chicago. While his career totals began to decline after 2002, he still scored another 76 points the following two seasons before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Zhamnov has faded from memory for Hawks fans a bit after the emergence of the might of the 2010s. Despite not being the most significant player of recent, and certainly not the best to ever lace them up for the Blackhawks, Alex Zhamnov is still more than worthy of starting at center for the all-decade club. He was an offensive contributor and carried himself bigger than he was, something that is lost on the current team.

Kyle Calder is likely not the first player that Blackhawks fans think of when number 19 comes to mind. However, Calder was an integral part of the early 2000s squad, and a name that shouldn’t be overlooked.

While he was a 5th-round draft pick in 1997, Kyle Calder didn’t break into the NHL with the Blackhawks full time until the 2001-02 season. However, once he was in Chicago to stay, he did make an immediate impact on the score sheet. His 2002 campaign saw Calder score 17 goals and 36 assists for a 53 point outing. His best season numbers-wise came in 2006, when he scored 59 points in 79 games to lead the team in all major scoring categories.

Calder was a quick skating player that liked to shoot the puck, firing the biscuit on net 692 times during his career in Chicago. Also a leader like Zhamnov, Calder served as an alternate captain during his time with the Hawks. In another similar story to Zhamnov, he was eventually also traded to the Philadelphia Flyers.

The trade came the year after his outstanding 2006 season, so it’s hard to say what numbers Calder would’ve put up if he had been able to stick around with the Hawks for more time. He played professional hockey through 2012, skating for the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors, and maintained a home in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood through 2018.

While this was another tough spot to fill, there is no doubt that Calder is absolutely the right pick for the all-decade left-winger.

Although his time in Chicago was short, Martin Lapointe still had an indelible impact on the team when he was here.

Lapointe is most widely known for his time with the Detroit Red Wings, where he quickly became a star in the Motor City, and won back to back Stanley Cups with the Wings in 1997 and 1998. Despite this, he eventually made his way to the Blackhawks as a free agent starting in 2006.

While he was only with the Blackhawks for three seasons, he still left his mark on the group. A significant offensive contributor, he still put up 62 points in 216 games with Chicago. He also served as the Hawks captain towards the end of the 2006 season. While Lapointe did put up decent numbers, his team play dipped a bit as he ended his last two full seasons in Chicago as a -30 and -14, respectively.

I don’t personally view plus/minus as a good indicator of a player’s overall performance and despite these stats, Lapointe was contributing for the Hawks up until he was traded to the Ottawa Senators, with whom he would end his career. Lapointe has stayed in hockey even after his career, and he now serves as the Director of Player Personnel for the Montreal Canadiens.

Given the players to choose from on the wing, there would be nobody better to suit up for a Blackhawks all-decade team than Marty.

Most people don’t think of Duncan Keith as a standout during the early to mid-2000s. However, the star defenseman for the Hawks and future Hall-Of-Famer began his career in 2006.

A talent that was grown completely within the Blackhawks organization, Duncan Keith was drafted by Chicago in the second round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 54th overall. While players in this spot don’t always turn out to be bonafide superstars, that is definitely not the case for Keith.

The prototype defensive defenseman, Keith has never been much of an offensive contributor, although he did score nine goals in his rookie season. His highest career point totals came in 2009-10, scoring 14 goals and 55 assists for a 69 point season. This is not what he is known for, however.

Keith is known throughout the NHL and the hockey world as being an absolute workhorse. During the 2011 season, he logged over 2200 minutes of ice time and has averaged at least 20 minutes on the ice in every single season he’s played. He’s won the Norris Trophy twice as the league’s best defenseman, along with four trips to the All-Star Game.

He became the stuff of legend in Chicago in 2010 after having seven teeth knocked out during Game 4 of the Western Conference Final and then going on to finish the game and help the team clinch their trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Keith has been a mainstay on the Blackhawks blueline for years and was the shining star of the defensive core during the latter half of the 2000s. There is nobody else I’d rather have on the all-decade team, and no better person to rally the troops.

Say what you want about Brent Seabrook and his contract (and I definitely have), there is no denying that Seabs has been a staple of the Hawks blueline for a generation, and his partnership with Duncan Keith created some of the most memorable moments.

Seabrook has ended up having a remarkably similar career to Keith in terms of longevity, although he is slightly more of an offensive contributor. Seabrook was drafted 14th overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, and has been part of the Blackhawks ever since.

While he is not an offensive juggernaut like Erik Karlsson or Brent Burns, he has still put up decent numbers, including a 2016 season in which he scored 14 goals, a career-high. Plus, who could forget this:

He has struggled with injuries the past few years and was held out of most of the previous season due to shoulder and hip surgery. While he is entering the twilight of his career now, Seabrook was the other half of the Blackhawks’ defensive anchor during the latter half of the 2000s and continues to be a mainstay on the roster to this day.

Whether or not that will hold true much longer remains to be seen, but at the very least it can be said that Brent Seabrook was an indelible part of the 2000s Blackhawks era as well as the current Blackhawks era, and pairs perfectly on the blueline of the all-decade team.

There were a number of good ‘Hawks goalies during the 2000s, and this was undoubtedly the hardest spot for me to choose. However, when all things are considered, Jocelyn Thibault comes out on top as the best choice in the net.

To be completely honest, this choice was extremely difficult, and I was between Thibault and Nikolai Khabibulin. But, looking at the statistics would seem to make it clear that Thibault was the best goalie of this Blackhawks era.

Thibault arrived in Chicago for the 1998-1999 season after stints with other NHL teams, including the Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens. He immediately continued the solid play that he’d had during his previous seasons, posting save percentages of .905 and .906 during his first two seasons with the Blackhawks.

While the league average for save percentages today is around .910, Thibault’s percentages were actually above the league average for most of his career. He posted a .915 save percentage in 2003, his best with the Blackhawks. He also had a GAA below 2.80 in four of his six seasons in Chicago.

It should also be remembered that the Blackhawks teams of this time were generally quite bad, and the fact that Thibault was able to post these numbers with the team that he had in front of him is impressive, to say the least. That’s not to say that he didn’t put up these kinds of numbers on the other teams he played for, but it is an achievement nonetheless.

The Blackhawks have always had anywhere from decent to great goalies, depending on the era. Jocelyn Thibault is one of those netminders that tends to get overlooked on the list, but he is a strong starter with decent numbers and the ability to make athletic saves. I believe he would be the best choice to start in net on the all-decade team.