After a season in which it seemed likely the Blackhawks would miss the playoffs for a third straight year, all of a sudden under the NHL's 24-team playoff format to resume play, that have a legitimate chance to be in.
Under the format that the NHL is hoping to see put into action by late July, the Hawks, who were 12th in the Western Conference at the time of the NHL pause on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will take on the Edmonton Oilers, who were 5th in the West, in a best-of-5 play-in series with the winner advancing to the first round of the playoffs.
Former Blackhawks turned analysts Patrick Sharp and Eddie Olczyk weighed in on the matchup on NBC Sports and NBC Sports Chicago after the tournament details were announced by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday.
"When you look at it, with this unchartered territory here, with these players being off as long as they have (been), to come back and maybe you get a team that gets a goaltender extremely hot and all of a sudden gets them through that play-in round," Olczyk said. "Now all of a sudden, you have a legitimate chance, you're in the final eight in the conference.
"To me, this thing is absolutely wide open. It doesn't matter what a team did three months ago, that is out the window."
If a goalie were to get hot during the play-in round, Corey Crawford has a better chance than most. The two-time Stanley Cup champion knows what it's like to play in big games on big stages and has had better numbers this year in net than his likely opposition across the ice, Mike Smith.
NHL
A big concern for Chicago will be limiting the offensive production of Edmonton forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, number one and two across the league in points, respectively.
"Two of the top forwards in the game," Sharp said of the scoring threats. "Whenever they're on the ice, you're going to notice it. They're the most dynamic players to watch and whoever they were going to be playing in this matchup in the (play-in), I'd be tuned in to watch just to see some highlights.
"Now you flip it over and you got the Chicago Blackhawks. It's been a while since the Hawks have been in the playoffs but this guy right here, number 88 (Patrick Kane) lives for these big moments. It seems like every time he's in the playoffs he wants that puck on his stick, he wants to be Showtime."
Related: Patrick Kane was a reason players voted against best-of-3 series
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