NEWSLETTER
Happy Fourth of July, folks! Since we’re celebrating the birthday of the United States today, we thought it might be a fun time to make an all-time lineup of American-born players in Blackhawks history.
And when we did some digging, we found Chicago can put together maybe the greatest list of American-born players in NHL history.
Here’s our All-USA Blackhawks lineup:
Forwards
TOP LINE: Alex DeBrincat — Jeremy Roenick — Patrick Kane
How’s that for a top line? Two of the top four(?) American forwards to ever play in the NHL and DeBrincat, whose 307 regular-season points already rank fifth all-time among American-born players in Blackhawks history. These three players have combined to produce 2,083 points just for the Blackhawks.
SECOND LINE: Brandon Saad — Cully Dahlstrom — Tony Amonte
Many of us have enjoyed watching Saad and Amonte play for the Blackhawks over the past couple decades. With Amonte and Roenick in our top six, we’d have plenty of fans in Boston cheering for this team as well. And the hair factor is through the roof with Amonte. Dahlstrom was a member of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup championship team in 1938; he also won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year that season.
THIRD LINE: Doc Romnes — Tyler Arnason — Eddie Olczyk
Edzo on your third line is speaks to the quality of Kane and Amonte as your top two right wings. And we’re openly a little sad we couldn’t come up with third liners whose last names started with B and C to join Arnason on another ABC line. Romnes won two Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in the 1930s and was named the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy in 1936, making him the first Chicago skater to win the award.
FOURTH LINE: Lou Trudel — Nick Schmaltz — Wayne Presley
Trudel also won two championships with the Blackhawks in the 1930s. Schmaltz’s time in Chicago was relatively brief but he’s the next-highest scoring center on the list. And Presley enjoyed a 32-goal campaign in 1986-87 during a solid seven years in Chicago.
Defense
Chris Chelios — Gary Suter
Leading off with the greatest American-born defenseman in history is a good start. Suter gets the nod on our top pair as well, but we had a few other strong options there.
Jack O’Callahan — Phil Housley
Housley being on our second pair despite only appearing in 137 games with the Blackhawks is because he is among the top scoring players in US history. And if you don’t know why O’Callahan is on our roster you need to find a couple hours to watch the movie “Miracle.”
Dustin Byfuglien — Eric Weinrich
We needed to find a way to get Big Buff on the roster. Even though he spent a lot of time skating as a forward for the Blackhawks, we’re going to give him some run on the blue line where he spent his career after being traded out of town. And Weinrich spent six solid seasons in Chicago.
Goalies
STARTER: Mike Karakas
Backup: Scott Darling
Karakas won the Calder Trophy in 1936 and the Stanley Cup a couple years later. With 331 games played for the Blackhawks, he’s easily the most seasoned and successful American-born netminder in the history of the franchise. Darling also has a Stanley Cup ring at home and his 75 regular season appearances actually rank second in franchise history.
Head Coach: Bill Stewart
In 1938, Stewart became the first American-born coach to lead an NHL team to a Stanley Cup championship. So this was a relatively easy pick.
