A Trip Down Memory Lane: Marcus Kruger

Marcus Kruger spent 9 years in the NHL and 8 of those were for the Chicago Blackhawks. His first season he only played seven games for the team because he was still playing for a professional hockey team in Sweden. His first full season was in 2011-2012 where he played 71 games and had a total of 26 points (9 goals and 17 assists).

Kruger had a huge impact on the ice and was one of the reasons the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in both 2013 and 2015. One of his memorable plays was when he set up Dave Bolland's goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2013. That goal was the game winning goal that ultimately won the team the cup. Without Kruger setting up the play, who knows what the outcome would've been. The "17 seconds" goals are still my personal all time favorite memories.

That's not his only memorable play during the postseason that end up leading to winning the cup. We all remember Game 2 of the Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks in 2015. That game went into triple overtime and is actually the longest playoff game in the Blackhawks franchise. Kruger scored the game winning goal, which then gave the Blackhawks home ice advanatge in the series. Home ice advantage is extremely important in every playoff series because teams play better at home. The Blackhawks went on to win the Stanley Cup that year as well.

Kruger was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights and then traded again to Carolina Hurricanes in 2017. After playing 48 games for the Hurricanes that season, he was traded to the Arizona Coyoes, who then traded him back to the Blackhawks in 2018. He ended his NHL career after the 2018-2019 season with a career total of 520 games played and 123 points. Currently, he's back to where he started and is playing hockey in Sweden.