Stanley Cup winning team player losses
The Chicago Blackhawks have lost a number of players from their championship team already.
So far the losses total 6: Johnny Oduya, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Antoine Vermette, Brad Richards and Kimmo Timonen.
That is certainly an impactful group, no matter what was received in return. And an unfortunate reality of the salary cap situation.
But how does it compare against other Stanley Cup winning teams?
It is high.
According to CBS Sports, only the 2010 Blackhawks lost a higher number of players with 8. Every other team in the last decade has lost fewer than 6. Oddly enough, the Blackhawks came back from that loss to win another championship 3 years later.
More from the article:
2013-14 Los Angeles Kings (1): Willie Mitchell.
The veteran defenseman was the only player to leave the team following the Kings’ second Stanley Cup win in three years, signing a free agent contract with the Florida Panthers.
2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks (3): Dave Bolland, Viktor Stalberg, Michael Frolik
Stalberg and Frolik left via free agency while Bolland, just days after scoring the Cup-clinching goal late in the third period of Game 6 to complete a wild comeback, was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for two draft picks. He would spend one season in Toronto before signing a huge contract with the Panthers the next offseason. Those three scored 19 goals in the lockout shortened season for Chicago.
2011-12 Los Angeles Kings: (0): Every player in the lineup in their Game 6 win over New Jersey returned the next season.
2010-11 Boston Bruins (3): Tomas Kaberle, Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi
Recchi, who was 42 during the season, retired after an incredibly successful career that saw him win three Stanley Cups with three different teams and score 577 goals. Ryder moved on as a free agent and signed with the Dallas Stars where he would score 35 goals the next season, while Kaberle, who was a trade deadline acquistion signed with the Carolina Hurricanes where he was a pretty big disappointment.
2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks (8): Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Antti Niemi, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, Cristobal Huet
The original salary cap crunch in Chicago was massive and saw the team lose several key players, including both goaltenders and a significant chunk of their forward depth with Byfuglien, Ladd and Versteeg all getting traded in the days after their Cup win. That group combined to score 72 goals in 494 man-games during the 2009-10 regular season, and even though Versteeg eventually returned to the Blackhawks (and is still a member of the team today) Ladd has gone on to become the captain of the Winnipeg Jets while Byfuglien is one of the most productive defensemen in the league.
2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins (4): Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi, Miroslav Satan, Mathieu Garon
Gill and Scuderi turned their reputation as Pittsburgh’s “shutdown” defensive pairing into pretty significant free agent contracts the following offseason, while Scuderi would go on to win two more Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings. Satan, a former 40-goal scorer in the NHL, settled into a fourth-line role with the Penguins after he was brought in over the summer to help replace the free agent loss of Marian Hossa.
The Penguins also lost Petr Sykora, who scored 25 goals in 2008-09, from this team, but he was not in the lineup for their Game 7 Stanley Cup clinching win against the Detroit Red Wings. He only appeared in seven playoff games.
Find the rest of the information at CBS Sports.
