A Trip Down Memory Lane: Blackhawks and Penguins Cause Massive Ripple Effect
Credit: Chicago Blackhawks
An unexpectedly important game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks at the end of the 2023 regular season would make another great episode of a reality show based on the NHL. The April 11 matchup ended up causing a pretty wild ripple effect that lasted throughout the entire NHL postseason and continued throughout the offseason.
Credit: Chicago Blackhawks
The Pittsburgh Penguins had two games left in the regular season and were one point out from the playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks were tied for last place in the league and had two games remaining. Chicago fans were begging their team to lose for the sake of Connor Bedard, and Penguins fans were begging their team for a win for the sake of the NHL postseason. Despite what many thought would be the obvious outcome, a Pittsburgh win and Chicago loss, the opposite occurred. The Blackhawks stunned the Penguins with a final score of 5-2 and began what is now regarded as one of the most important games of the entire 2023 season.
How the Game Impacted the Eastern Conference
If the Penguins squad won that game, the team would have made the playoffs as the second wild card spot over the Florida Panthers. As it is all said and done now, the Panthers had one of the most surprising NHL playoff runs in recent history. Florida took out the record-setting and Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in seven games, the historic Toronto Maple Leafs in five, and swept the consistently successful Carolina Hurricanes in order to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. If the Penguins snuck into the Panthers’ spot, they would have faced the Bruins in round one. Maybe Boston would have been able to continue the regular season success, maybe Pittsburgh would have made a Stanley Cup run, or maybe the Vegas Golden Knights would have fallen to their Eastern Conference opponents in the final round. The sloppy Pittsburgh loss to Chicago caused several Eastern Conference teams to have very different 2022-23 outcomes than originally expected.
How the game impacted the NHL draft lottery
This 5-2 game resulted in Chicago ending up with the third-worst record in the league. Many fans figured their hopes and dreams of Connor Bedard in a Blackhawks sweater were over because of this seemingly meaningless win. However, the draft lottery ended up gifting the team the number one pick and the rights to draft the generational talent. If Pittsburgh had won, Chicago would have finished with the worst record and likely not have won the lottery. Bedard probably would have gone to the Columbus Blue Jackets, not the Windy City.
How the game impacted the Montreal Canadiens
When the Florida Panthers acquired defenseman Ben Chiarot in March 2022, the team sent a 2023 first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens. If the Penguins had beat Chicago, the Florida, now Montreal, first-round pick would have been in the top 15. The Canadiens already had the fifth-overall pick from their poor performance that season but could have had another high selection in one of the deepest draft classes in recent memory.
how the game impacted kyle dubas and erik karlsson
Once again, if Chicago had lost to Pittsburgh, the Penguins would have snuck into the playoffs. Not only this, but the Toronto Maple Leafs would have had a different round-two opponent, not the Florida Panthers. A week after the Maple Leafs were knocked out of the postseason, general manager Kyle Dubas was fired. The Pittsburgh Penguins wasted no time by hiring him as president of hockey operations less than one month later. Dubas ended up being the one that got Erik Karlsson to don a black and gold sweater. Had Toronto ended its 2023 NHL postseason a different way, Dubas may not have been fired, or hired by the Penguins, and Karlsson would likely not be a member of the Penguins now. Karlsson may have ended up on the Carolina Hurricanes, a reported front-runner, instead.
