2012-13 champion Blackhawks disappointed in lack of anniversary celebration
The 10th anniversary of the Chicago Blackhawks' shocking 6-5 overtime win over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final is in two months. The 10-year mark of Chicago's stunning 3-2 win in the series-clinching Game 6 will be on June 24.
While MLB's 2013 Boston Red Sox recently celebrated their decade anniversary with a reunion, the Blackhawks aren't going down the same path. According to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, some players on the historic squad aren't happy about it.
Though three-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Toews (the team's longtime captain since his second NHL season) was recently recognized in his final game with the franchise, other key members of the organization from the 2012-13 season likely wouldn't be welcomed back, for obvious reasons.
Chicago's head coach for all three of those Stanley Cup titles this millennium (2010, 2013, 2015) was Joel Quenneville, but the 64-year-old has been out of the league since resigning as the coach of the Florida Panthers in 2021 amid the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal. Chicago's general manager (Stan Bowman) and senior director of hockey administration (Al MacIsaac) through all three championships resigned days before Quennenville's departure as well due to the scandal.
In an article published on Wednesday, Lazerus reported that "several members of the 2013 team expressed privately to The Athletic that they’ve been disappointed with how the Blackhawks failed to acknowledge arguably the greatest team in franchise history."
"I know there’s usually a 10-year reunion, and we’re hoping they do it. Hopefully, whenever it is, we’re not playing and I have a chance to come back and enjoy it. It’s always nice to get back with guys you had success with," Brandon Saad, a rookie on the 2012-13 team, said.
According to Lazerus, Saad said the subject of a 10-year celebration was discussed with Blackhawks vice president of team operations Tony Ommen in November, and Ommen wasn't sure when a possible event might occur.
Lazerus added that one former player "pointed to the recent decisions not to offer contracts to" Toews and Patrick Kane as "part of a trend." Kane was also a three-time Cup winner with the organization but was traded to the New York Rangers over the winter.
"It’s like they just want to move on from us completely," one member of the 2013 group, who was "granted anonymity because he didn’t want to jeopardize his relationship with the club," said, per Lazerus' report. "Doesn't make much sense to me."
According to Lazerus, the Blackhawks do plan to recognize all three Cup-winning squads during the franchise's centennial campaign in 2025-26, which is still in the early stages of planning, but it will be a “season-long celebration."
More must-reads: