The Chicago Blackhawks have been here so many times before. They’re 16 postseason wins away from a fourth Stanley Cup title in eight years, and their veteran core knows it has the talent and the experience to survive the two-month playoff grind.
Nobody else in the Western Conference playoff picture can say any of that.
None of the other seven teams has won a recent Stanley Cup. In fact, only three of those franchises have raised the Cup at all, and only two players were in their current uniform for it: Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, who won their rings a decade ago.
So is it Chicago’s conference crown to lose when postseason play gets underway Wednesday?
The top-seeded Blackhawks have been around for too long to believe anything matters except Game 1 on Thursday night against Nashville.