Where Blackhawks stand after NHL rules play-in series will count as playoff stats

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The Blackhawks are officially back in the playoffs.

In a joint statement by the NHL and NHL Players' Association announcing the ratification of the Return to Play plan and Collective Bargaining Agreement extension, it was revealed that all player and team stats from the round-robin tournament and qualifying round will be counted towards the 2020 postseason, and that teams participating in a best-of-five series during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers are considered to have made the postseason.

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It's the first postseason berth in three years for the Blackhawks, who made the playoffs nine consecutive seasons from 2009-17 before missing out the past two. That's good news for Chicago, but a shortened regular season comes at a price for some individuals on the roster, although they probably won't lose too much sleep over it.

  • Jonathan Toews is one of three active players and only 17 in NHL history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 12 seasons, and he was on pace to make it 13 but finished the pause with 18. Patrick Kane and Alex Ovechkin are now the only two active players whose streak have reached 13 seasons.
     
  • Patrick Kane was on pace to finish with 98 points but won't get a crack at hitting the 100-point mark for the third time in his career.
     
  • Dominik Kubalik scored his 30th goal in the final game before the season was put on pause to become the sixth rookie in Blackhawks history to reach that number, but he was on pace for 35 and was robbed of an opportunity to tie Jeremy Roenick for third-most on the team's rookie list; only Steve Larmer (43) and Darryl Sutter (40) have scored more than 35.
     
  • After scoring 28 goals his rookie season and 41 his second year, Alex DeBrincat finished the 2019-20 campaign with 18 tallies, falling short of a third straight 20-goal season.


Now for the good news:

  • Corey Crawford ranks No. 1 in franchise history with 48 playoff wins. He needs two more to become just the 20th goaltender in NHL history to hit the 50-win mark. Only three other active netminders rank ahead of Crawford: Marc-Andre Fleury (78), Henrik Lundqvist (61) and Tuukka Rask (50).
     
  • Kane ranks fourth in franchise history with 123 postseason points; he needs six more to tie Bobby Hull (129) for third.
     
  • Toews ranks sixth in franchise history with 110 postseason points; he needs one more to tie Steve Larmer (111) for fifth.
     
  • Toews is also three games away from tying Denis Savard (131) for second on the Blackhawks' all-time postseason games played list; only Stan Mikita (155) has appeared in more. Kane ranks fifth at 127, Keith is sixth at 126 and Seabrook is seventh at 123.
     
  • Connor Murphy is FINALLY set to appear in his first postseason contest after going six straight years without one. Only four active players and 10 in NHL history have had a longer drought than Murphy, who's played in 444 regular-season games.


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