Three Chicago Blackhawks to remember when playing a game of ‘Puckdoku’

Puckdoku is the trivia game sweeping the hockey world. It’s the NHL equivalent of the “Immaculate Grid“, a three-by-three fill-in-the-blank puzzle which originated as an MLB game but quickly spawned variants for all kinds of other sports leagues.

The concept is simple: for each square, try to think of a player who fits into the criteria established by both the corresponding X- and Y-axis labels. For example, Ray Bourque would fit perfectly into a Boston Bruins/Colorado Avalanche square. Patrick Roy would do just fine for Colorado/Montreal. You get the idea.

Of course, it goes a little deeper than that. Sometimes, instead of teams, Puckdoku uses statistical thresholds (“200+ goals”) or career achievements (“Olympic gold medallist”) as categories. Also, if you want to use a Minnesota North Stars player for the Dallas Stars or an original Winnipeg Jets player for the Arizona Coyotes, you can.

Naturally, some players are more useful for Puckdoku than others. Someone like Maurice Richard, who spent his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens, is pretty much useless for the game unless a Habs label happens to intersect with the right statistical category.

On the flip side, players who spent time with several NHL teams are among the most valuable for Puckdoku purposes. And the more obscure the player, the lower (and better) your “uniqueness” score will be. Both Jarome Iginla and Blake Comeau are valid answers for Calgary/Pittsburgh, but one is a little less well-known than the other.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to spend some time here at Daily Faceoff highlighting three players connected with each NHL franchise who are particularly useful in games of Puckdoku. We’ll press onward today with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Brandon Pirri

Teams: Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights

Brandon Pirri could really, really shoot the puck — and that’s about it. But he managed to parlay that impressive ability into a 276-game NHL career, during which he found the back of the net 72 times and even put together a particularly memorable 20-goal season.

Pirri made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in 2010–11 after being selected by the team in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft. He spent most of his initial stint in the Blackhawks organization with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs but appeared in one NHL game with the club during its 2012–13 championship season. The following year, Pirri collected six goals and 11 points in 28 games with the Blackhawks before being sent to the Florida Panthers in a mid-season trade. He added seven goals and 14 points in 21 games with the Panthers to wrap up the 2013–14 season.

With the Panthers in 2014–15, Pirri put together one of the most legendary “Cy Young” seasons in NHL history. The six-foot winger appeared in 49 games with the Panthers, collecting 24 points … of which 22 were goals. Only the purest of pure shooters — or players from the 1910s and 1920s, when the NHL very seldom awarded assists — would ever be able to put up a stat line like that. 22 goals and two assists! “Phantom Joe” Malone would be very proud.

Pirri replicated his 24-point output with the Panthers with 11 goals and 13 assists in 2015–16. He joined the Anaheim Ducks at the 2016 trade deadline and spent the following season with the New York Rangers before signing with the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. Pirri recaptured some of his Florida magic early on in Vegas, collecting 15 goals and just six assists in 33 games over his first two seasons with the organization before being held without a goal in 16 seasons with the team in 2019–20. He played one more game with the Blackhawks in 2020–21 and is currently an unrestricted free agent.

Rene Bourque

Teams: Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche

Rene Bourque was a pretty dangerous sniper in his own right at his peak, although he offered a few more dimensions in his game than Pirri ever did. A late bloomer from the AJHL’s St. Albert Saints, Bourque emerged as a goal-scoring standout over four years at the University of Wisconsin before signing with the Blackhawks as a free agent in 2004. After being named the AHL’s top rookie in 2004–05, Bourque debuted with the Blackhawks as part of the stacked 2005–06 NHL rookie class and collected 16 goals and 34 points in 77 games. But he would never best those marks in Chicago before being traded to the Calgary Flames in 2008.

Bourque enjoyed his best NHL seasons by far in Calgary, surpassing the 20-goal plateau in each of his first three campaigns as a Flame and ultimately collecting 88 goals and 164 points in 249 games. The Lac La Biche, Alberta signed a six-year contract with the Flames in 2010 and scored 27 goals in the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, often running hot (and cold) for weeks at a time. But the Flames made the playoffs only once during Bourque’s tenure and they ultimately traded him to the Montreal Canadiens in 2012 in a memorable deal involving fellow Puckdoku superstar Mike Cammalleri.

While Cammalleri remained productive upon his return to Calgary, Bourque struggled to score throughout his tenure in Montreal — except in the 2014 playoffs, during which he collected eight goals and 11 points in 17 games as the Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference Final. The Canadiens waived Bourque early in the 2014–15 season and ultimately traded him to the Anaheim Ducks, with whom he continued to struggle; then, at the 2015 trade deadline, the Ducks flipped him to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The contract Bourque originally signed with the Flames expired in 2016, after he’d managed just seven goals and 12 points in 57 games over parts of two seasons with the Blue Jackets. Bourque attended Colorado Avalanche training camp in advance of the 2016–17 season and managed to parlay his participation into a one-year deal. He got off to a hot start with the Avs and finished the year with 12 goals and 18 points in 65 games, but Colorado finished with a horrendous 22–56–4 record and elected not to retain Bourque in the offseason.

Bourque played his final season of professional hockey in 2017–18, collecting 13 goals and 22 points in 35 Swedish Hockey League games with Djurgårdens IF. That same year, he served as an alternate captain with Team Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, tying for the team lead in goals with three and earning himself a bronze medal. (Keep that in mind for the Puckdoku Olympic categories). All in all, not a bad way for an undrafted kid from rural Alberta to wrap things up.

Erik Gustafsson

Teams: Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs

Erik Gustafsson shocked the hockey world when he broke out for a 60-point season with the Blackhawks in the 2018–19 season. The smooth-skating Swede anchored the top power play unit in 79 games with the ‘Hawks that year and finished with 17 goals, tying him with Mark Giordano for third among NHL defensemen (behind only Morgan Rielly and Dougie Hamilton).

The Edmonton Oilers originally selected Gustafsson in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Draft, but he never signed with the team. He joined the Blackhawks organization in 2015 and appeared in four NHL seasons with the club — including his standout 2018–19 campaign — before being sent to the Calgary Flames at the 2020 trade deadline. He helped the Flames prevail over the Winnipeg Jets in the 2020 qualifying round before falling to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Gustafsson split the 2020–21 season between the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens, helping the Habs embark upon a surprise run all the way to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. He picked up a goal and two assists in 16 playoff games as the Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, and Vegas Golden Knights before being defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

After returning to the Blackhawks for the 2021–22 season, Gustafsson joined the Washington Capitals as a free agent in 2022 and put up his best numbers in five years, collecting 38 points in 61 games. He joined the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2023 trade deadline and appeared mostly as a reserve defenseman as the club made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 19 years.

Through 379 career games with the Blackhawks, Flames, Flyers, Canadiens, Capitals, and Maple Leafs, Gustafsson has collected 39 goals and 191 points. He signed a one-year contract with the New York Rangers on July 1.