Jun 28, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center(36) during the 2013 Stanley Cup championship celebration at Grant Park. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

We had so much fun doing our Countdown to Faceoff series last season that we decided to do it again. In case you’re new to the series, we’ll do a roster preview as we count down the days until the Chicago Blackhawks October 9th season opener against the Dallas Stars.

We are down to 36 days until the Blackhawks season opener and we land on fan favorite Dave Bolland’s number. Bolland will forever be a beloved Blackhawk for scoring that magical goal in the greatest 17 seconds in Blackhawks history. Bolland was injury prone but when he was on the ice he made the Blackhawks a better team if you throw out the 2nd line center experament. Bolland is now a Florida Panther and in the incredibly weak Eastern Conference a healthy Bolland could lead Florida to the playoffs this season. Here are all the former 36’s.

1. Mike Rucinski-1989 Rucinski played 1 game with the Blackhawks and in the NHL without recording a point.

2. Jimmy Waite-1991 Waite played for the Blackhawks with different numbers but the first was #36. Waite had a record of 22-36-8 for the Hawks before moving to the Phoenix Coyotes. Waite was the choice for a backup behind Ed Belfour instead of Dominik Hasek. Now Waite will be the goalie whisperer for Corey Crawford after being hired this offseason as the Blackhawks new goalie coach.

3. Alex Zhamnov-1998 Zhamnov also wore #26 and #13 with the Hawks during his tenure which lasted from 1996-2004, and while I never liked him because he was in the trade for Jeremy Roenick he also was traded for the eventual rights to 2013 playoff hero Bryan Bickell in 2004, so the 6 degrees of Zhamnov finished well in the end for the Blackhawks if you’re not a Bickell hater.

4. Chris Herperger-2001 Herperger played 70 games for the Blackhawks scoring 10 goals and 15 assists before signing as a free agent with the Ottawa Senators

5. Mikhail Yakubov-2004 Yakubov played in 40 contests for the Blackhawks picking up 2 goals and 9 assists. Yakubov played 13 more NHL games with the Florida Panthers.

6. Matthew Barnaby-2005-2006 Barnaby signed as a free agent and played one 82 game season with the Blackhawks scoring 5 goals and 20 assists. Barnaby played 834 career games in the NHL scoring 113 goals and 187 assists.

7. Dave Bolland-2007-2013

Games-332

Goals-70

Assists-98

+33

Playoffs

Games-63

Goals-17

Assists-26

Stanley Cups-2



Be on the lookout for our Countdown to Faceoff series as we continue to work our way to the season opener on October 9th. We’re 36 days from the season opener. Is it October yet???

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