The 2008–09

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

was the

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season for the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

franchise that was established on September 25, 1926. Prior to the start of the season, the Blackhawks announced that 20-year-old center

Jonathan Toews Jonathan Bryan Toews ( born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre who last played for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), where he served as the team's captain between 2008 an ...

would serve as the team's captain for the 2008–09 season, thus making him the 3rd-youngest player to earn that distinction in the NHL. Their regular season began on October 10, 2008, against the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

and concluded on April 12, 2009, against the rival

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. The Blackhawks played in the

Winter Classic The NHL Winter Classic () is an annual NHL outdoor games, outdoor ice hockey game played during the National Hockey League's (NHL) regular season on or around New Year's Day. It is generally held in a American football, football or baseball stad ...

, an outdoor game, against the Red Wings at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

on January 1, 2009. The team succeeded in making the 2008–09 playoffs with a 3–1 win over Nashville on April 3 after missing the 2007–08 playoffs by three points.

Pre-season

The

had a busy offseason following the 2007–08 regular season. In late April, a few weeks after the season concluded, the Blackhawks announced that they were entering a three-year partnership with WGN (720 AM); they previously aired games on WSCR (670 AM). This coincided with a previous announcement that the team would air up to twenty games on WGN's TV affiliate. The club also brought back announcer

Pat Foley Pat Foley (born 1954) is an American retired play-by-play commentator for ice hockey. Personal life Born in Glenview, Illinois in 1954, Pat Foley is the son of Mary and Bob Foley. He is an alumnus of Loyola Academy and Michigan State Univers ...

to do the

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

announcing for all television broadcasts. The Blackhawks made a "huge splash" on the first day of free agency by signing defenseman

Brian Campbell Brian Wesley Campbell (born May 23, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the Stanley ...

and goaltender

Cristobal Huet Cristobal Huet (; born September 3, 1975) is a French former professional ice hockey goaltender who is a goaltender coach for Lausanne HC of the National League (NL). He previously played for HC Lugano and HC Fribourg-Gottéron and within the C ...

. Campbell's $57.12 million contract was the largest in team history. Along with Campbell and Huet, the Blackhawks signed three other free agents, while losing three to other teams. Long-time

coach

Scotty Bowman William Scott Bowman (born September 18, 1933) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey head coach. He holds the record for most wins in National Hockey League (NHL) history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup ...

joined the organization in late July as Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations. The Hawks also added

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

head coach

Mike Haviland Mike Haviland (born July 24, 1967) is the former head coach for the Colorado College Tigers of the NCHC from 2014 to 2021. Previously he was head coach of the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Previously, he was an assistant coach for ...

as an assistant coach, and signed former

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

coach

Joel Quenneville Joel Norman Quenneville (born September 15, 1958) is a Canadian–American professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the head coach for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Coach Q", he is second in NHL c ...

as a scout. On July 16, 2008, the NHL announced that the Blackhawks would host the second outdoor

NHL Winter Classic The NHL Winter Classic () is an annual outdoor ice hockey game played during the National Hockey League's (NHL) regular season on or around New Year's Day. It is generally held in a football or baseball stadium in the United States in an area w ...

on January 1, 2009, at

against the rival Detroit Red Wings. The game will be the 701st meeting between the two clubs, and the Blackhawks will wear uniforms similar to those they wore during the 1936–37 season. The team also announced that they intended to retire jersey number #3 in honor of defensemen

Pierre Pilote Joseph Albert Pierre Paul Pilote (December 11, 1931 – September 9, 2017) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and perennial All-Star, most notably for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), for which he served ...

and

Keith Magnuson Keith Arlen Magnuson (April 27, 1947 – December 15, 2003) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman from Wadena, Saskatchewan who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1969 and 1979. Magnuson played 589 career NHL games, ...

. Hockey Hall of Famer Pilote spent thirteen seasons with the Hawks, winning the

James Norris Memorial Trophy The James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top " defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". It is named after Ja ...

as the NHL's best defenseman on three occasions. Magnuson accumulated over 1,400 penalty minutes in eleven years with the team. Magnuson was the president of the Blackhawks Alumni Association before he died in an automobile accident in 2003.

Season events

The Chicago Blackhawks opened the season against the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

on October 10, 2008. After winning only one of their first four games, the Blackhawks fired

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Denis Savard Denis Joseph Savard (born February 4, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1997, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2017 Savard was named one of ...

. Shortly afterwards, they promoted scout

as his replacement. In 147 games as coach, Savard posted a 65–66–16 record. In December, an anonymous Blackhawks fan submitted an email to Mike Ross of

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's ''

NHL Home Ice SiriusXM NHL Network Radio is SiriusXM's talk channel dedicated to the sport of ice hockey and the National Hockey League. It features hockey talk during the day and play-by-play at night. It is the only Canadian-produced satellite radio channel a ...

'', which revealed that the team had interrupted their travel schedule to attend the wake of general manager

Dale Tallon Michael "Dale" Tallon (born October 19, 1950) is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former player. He played in the NHL for ten years as a defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Black Hawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Following his ret ...

's father. The team voted to delay their flight to Chicago during a six-game road trip in order to travel to the wake, which was in Northern Canada. The team reached the wake on two buses, and surprised Tallon, who was unaware of the team's plans. Ross was shocked that no media outlets had initially reported the story, and commented, "Its amazing that such a good story can be found nowhere on the internet, and not even mentioned in the Chicago papers. Had one of the Blackhawks got into a fight and punched some drunken loser in a Toronto bar it would be plastered all over papers and the television." The story eventually garnered much attention from various media outlets in the following week, including

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and

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Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...

commended the team's actions, by naming them the "best persons in the world" for the week. On December 28, 2008, the Blackhawks set a franchise record nine consecutive wins.

Division standings

Conference standings

Schedule and results

''Legend'':

Playoffs

*For the first time since 2002, the Blackhawks qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. *For the first time since 1996, the Blackhawks advanced to the Stanley Cup Semi-final. *For the first time since 1995 the Blackhawks advanced to the conference finals.

Player statistics

Skaters

Goaltenders

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Blackhawks. Stats reflect time with the Blackhawks only.
^‡Traded mid-season
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Awards and records

Milestones

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Draft picks

The

2008 NHL entry draft The 2008 NHL entry draft was the 46th entry draft for the National Hockey League. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL entry draft ...

was hosted at

Scotiabank Place Canadian Tire Centre () is a multi-purpose arena in the suburb of Kanata in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in January 1996 as the Palladium and was also known as Corel Centre () from 1996 to 2006 and Scotiabank Place () from 2006 to 2013. ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, on June 20–21, 2008. With the 11th pick in the first round, the Blackhawks selected

Kyle Beach Kyle Beach (born January 14, 1990) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Considered a top National Hockey League (NHL) prospect, he was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Beach never ...

from the

Everett Silvertips The Everett Silvertips are an American major junior ice hockey team based in Everett, Washington. The team plays in the U.S. Division of the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League (WHL), and hosts games at Angel of the Winds Arena. Th ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

(WHL). The Blackhawks drafted seven players (five defensemen and two forwards) in five of the seven rounds. All of the prospects were returned to their junior or professional league by the end of training camp.

External links

Chicago Blackhawks official siteRegular season statisticsSeason schedule and results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Chicago Blackhawks Season Chicago Blackhawks seasons Chicago Blackhawks season, 2008-09

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

2008 in Chicago 2009 in Chicago